Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Oct., 1898-Accepted, 14th Jan., 1899
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:
-
My invention relates to an improvement in actions for grand and square
pianos, the object being to confer upon the piano-forte some of those rare qualities
sacrificed with the abandonment of the clavichord, and to enable performers of
moderate skill to produce in perfection with the piano-forte those effects, (par-
ticularly those of minute dynamic variation), hitherto only within the reach of
virtuosi of the highest rank who are able to secure them by a training of the
muscles of the hands and arms carried so far as to make the same, in a sense,
supplemental to the instrument rather than mere media of performance.
With these ends in view, my invention consists in, a piano-action having cer-
tain details of construction and combinations of parts as will be hereinafter
described and particularly recited in the claim.
In the accompanying drawing:
Figure 1 represents a view in side elevation of a piano-action constructed in
accordance with my invention.
Figure 2 a detached broken plan view thereof.
In carrying out my invention as herein shown, the key A is provided in the
usual manner with a fly B, secured in place at its rear end by a screw B₁, and
made vertically adjustable by a screw 12, passing through its forward end. In
this fly I mount a jack C, which may be arranged perpendicularly, or slightly
inclined forward or back, as may be found desirable in adjusting the action. At
its lower end the jack is provided with an arm c¹, which co-acts with a regula
ting-screw D, mounted in the horizontal portion of a flange E, extending forward
from the lower edge of the hammer-lever rail E. A regulating screw horizon-
tally mounted in the jack itself co-acts with the vertical portion of the flange E
before mentioned. A regulating-screw G co-acting with the outer face of the jack
near its upper end, is mounted in a horizontally arranged regulating-screw rail G¹.
The extreme upper end of the jack co-acts with an oblique operating-face H,
which constitutes the lower face of the forward end of a balanced hammer-lever H',
which is horizontally arranged, and mounted in a butt H³, secured to the upper
end of the hammer-lever rail E¹, before mentioned. A hook I mounted in the
upper end of the jack, extends over the upper face of the forward end of the
balanced hammer-lever H¹, and, so to speak, articulates the jack with the balanced
hammer-lever and insures the restoration of the hammer-lever to its normal posi-
tion with the descent of the jack. This hook co-acts directly with a strip J of
felt or equivalent material, the operating-face H being also furnished with a strip

page_text: of felt or equivalent material J¹. At its rear end the hammer-lever is furnished
with a balancing extension H3, in which I by preference locate one or more disk-
like weights Hof lead. The upper rear corner of the said balanced lever H¹
is cut away on each side to produce a tongue H³, in which I form a horizontal
slot H, which is lined with a strip of felt or leather h. The said slot receives a
horizontal pin K, mounted in the arms of a yoke K¹, formed at the rear end of
the hammer-body K2, which is pivotally mounted in a butt L, secured to the hori-
zontal hammer-rail M. A slit H forming a continuation of the slot H6, extends
into the body of the hammer-lever, and permits the slot to be constricted or en-
larged by means of a screw H. A hammer-arm N rigidly secured in the rear
end of the hammer-body K2, carries the hammer-head N', which is furnished in
the usual manner with a heavy cushion N2 of felt. The tail N³ of the hammer-
head co-acts with a back check O, carried by an inclined wire 01, mounted in the
extreme rear end of the key A. When the hammer is at rest, the hammer-arm N
is supported upon the hammer-rest rail P.
It will be seen from the foregoing description that my improved action is com-
posed not only of few parts, but that those parts are simple in themselves, and
simply related in a continuous chain or articulated parts between the hammer
and the key.
In the piano-forte as ordinarily constructed, the jacks co-acts directly with the
hammer, which under the impulse communicated to the jack by the key, causes
the hammer to leap freely into the air and deliver, a sharp blow upon the string,
after which the hammer falls back without restraint to its depressed position.
Under the ordinary construction, therefore, no note can be produced unless the
key is depressed with sufficient shock to effect the leaping of the key into the
air with enough impulse to strike the string a blow, for the principle of construc-
tion on which the ordinary piano action is based, does not permit the key to
strike the string as the result of a soft even downward pressure upon the key, but
requires a blow, not necessarily a hard blow, but at the least a blow of sufficient
force to produce the shock required to cause the key to leap free into the air and
strike the string. Pressure, mere pressure, will not achieve this result, and can-
not answer the purpose. Players of great skill, and refinement-virtuosi-and
also others who may have a natural touch, produce these necessary blows with
such minute dynamic variations with such perfect gauging of the blow to the
force with which the hammer must strike the string, that the objectionable
features of the ordinary piano as an instrument of percussion are, for the time
being, veiled. With the average performer, however, there is a constant failure
to proportion the force of the blow upon the key to the exact volume and kind
of tone required, so that the player fails to reproduce his own personal and
sympathetic interpretation of the score before him. Either the strings are struck
too hard, or, owing to the fear of striking too much of a blow and producing too
loud a tone, not at all. The action of the ordinary piano as ordinarily played is
therefore distinguished by a series of blows more or less sharp of the hammers
upon the strings, and is a hard and mechanical action, the harshness of which
can only be overcome by the trained and sensitive touch of a virtuoso. In my
improved piano-action, however, I employ a hammer-lever which is interposed
between the hammer and the jack, and which is articulated loosely but positively
with the hammer on the one hand, and with the jack on the other. Then, no
matter how softly the key is struck, the hammer never fails to strike the string,
and even a steady and uniform pressure upon the key will necessarily cause the
hammer to lift and strike the string. Nor after the hammer has struck the string
does it drop back into its normal position, but so long as the key is depressed it
holds a position slightly below the string, to which it may, from that elevated
position, be raised for repeating the stroke by depressing the key farther,
the jack at this time working upon the rear end of the obtuse angled operating
face upon the lower face of the forward end of the hammer-lever. Inasmuch as
under my action the hammer is not sent flying into the air by the depression of

page_text: its key, the performer maintains over the instrument a much more perfect con-
trol than he can command over an instrument of the ordinary type, and for the
same reason he is enabled to establish between himself and the instrument a rap-
port before unknown; at the same time my improved action enables the performer
to produce a forte as powerful as that of an ordinary piano, and with more purity
of tone, while he may also produce pianissimo, crescendo and diminuendo effects
impossible on the common instrument. Furthermore, his control of the hammer
is so perfect that he may produce a beautiful singing legato without effort, and
without training. As to staccato passages, they may also be produced with crisp-
ness, clearness and brilliancy. Although my improved action is well adapted, as
abore stated, for forte and piano playing, and for the execution of the most brilliant
scherzo passages, it is particularly suited for playing accompaniments and melo-
dies, and all work requiring softness of tone without loss of purity or roundness.
It permits an unskilled performer to produce a cantabile which on the ordinary
instrument would be far beyond his powers.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. In a piano-action, the combination with a key, a jack, a hammer-lever with
the forward end of which the jack co-acts, and a hammer loosely articulated with
the rear end of the said hammer-lever.
2. In a piano-action, the combination with the key thereof, of a jack mounted
thereupon, a hammer-lever provided with an oblique operating face with which
the jack co-acts, a hook secured to the jack and passing over the forward end of
the hammer-lever so as to articulate the same with the jack, and a hammer loosely
but positively articulated with the forward end of the hammer-lever.
3. In a piano-action, the combination with a hammer-lever formed with a
tongue having a slot from which a slit extends to permit the slot to be constricted
or enlarged by means of an adjusting-screw, of a hammer having a hammer-body
formed with a yoke to receive the tongue, and provided with a pin passing into
said slot in which it moves back and forth so as to loosely but positively articulate
the hammer and lever.
Dated this 22nd day of October 1898.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.