CERTAIN IM- of Ber, my Invention of, for, and containing PROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES
Year: 1836

page_text: KNOW ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME GREETING,
I, the said WHEATLEY KINK, of Leeds, in the West Riding of the County
of York, Music Seller and Pianoforte Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourteenth day of May, in the sixth year of His reign,
did give and grant unto me, the said Wheatley Kirk, my exors, admors,
and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Wheatley Kirk, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said Wheatley Kirk, my exors, adñññors, and assigns, should
at any time agree with (and no others), from time to time and at all times
hereafter, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
"CERTAIN IM-
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of, for, and containing
PROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso that I, the said Wheatley Kirk, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my Invention aforesaid, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be
inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, reference being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Wheatley Kirk, do hereby declare the nature of my Inventon, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
unto the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists primarily, fundamentally, and chiefly in the introduc-
tion of a double sounding board, and a complete metallic frame or support.
Now I, the said Wheatley Kirk, do further by these Presents declare that
the principal and practical use of my Invention extends to all descriptions of
the pianofortes heretofore known, manufactured, or usd.
Plate First, A, B, C, D, simply represents the exterior framework of an
upright pianoforte; and Plate Second, E, F, G, H, the inclination of the body
or action, as incorporated with the improvements above mentioned.
Plate Third, w, x, y, z, shows the metallic frame with its proportions into
which the sound board is introduced. The marks numbered 11 to 28 inclusive
are perforations of the metal thro' which the bolts pass. The cavities or holes
numbered 1 to 10 inclusive are parts or apertures entirely dispens'd with,
mainly for the purpose of lessening the specific weight of the frame. In
the old construction of pianofortes a number of wooden uprights or props
were usd in lieu of the said metallic frame. It, the afore-named metallic
frame, is for the two principal purposes; first, of obtaining increas'd space
within the instrument; and, secondly, of effecting sympathy and likeness of
nature betwixt the strings of the instrument and the power which supports
their pressure, and to which they are attached, that this metallic frame is
substituted.
By virtue of the aforesaid Letters Patent, therefore, I, the said Wheatley
Kirk, claim generally and particularly for every description of metallic frame
or support which shall entirely or in part dispense with the use or necessity of
wooden uprights or supports or props, or of any of the said purposes or
general purposes of supports or props, however or of whatsoever material
constructed.
Plate Fourth, O, P, Q, R, exhibits the double sounding board in its
proportions. It, that is to say, the double sounding board, mainly occupies
the space which under the old system is appropriated to and fill'd up by the
wooden props, supports, or uprights afore mentioned. This, namely, the
double sounding board afore named, is constructed of and from the usual
wood, and for the common and commonly understood purposes of a sounding
.board, but is inclosed on all sides similar to a violin and in the form of a
case. It is uniform in its thickness or depth of unoccupied space; it is free
and independant of any direct and attach'd connection with the frame, into

page_text: which it fits, thereby being in a state of release from the injurious effects to
which the sounding boards on the old construction are subjected by the
immense pull of the strings. The apertures c, e, g, are for the same purpose
as to what are called sound holes in the violin, namely, to give full scope or
emission to the tone and its vibration. The stripes c, s, and o, p, are the
bridges over which the strings of the instrument pass; but the said stripes
marked respectively c, 2, and o, p, I do not claim as my Invention; they are
merely what are called, as above stated, namely, the bridges, and illustrated
in Plate Second, which were similarly apply'd in pianofortes made on the old
system or construction. The part represented on Plate Fourth, marked A, E,
I, O (which is similarly lettered in Plate Second), is a board or succession of
boards glued crosswise, to which the metallic frame aforesaid is attached by
means of bolts through the holes, as shewn in Plate Third, and numbered, as
before stated, 11 to 28 inclusive. The number of bolts I reserve to myself
the power of varying at pleasure, but for this likewise, that is to say, the
board or boards marked as aforesaid A, E, I, O, I do not claim as my original
Invention, but that I apply it differently in the wise, that in instruments on
the old construction it was attached to the wooden supports, props, or
uprights afore mentioned; whereas in my pianofortes it is bolted on to the
metal.
Lastly, therefore, I limit this (that is to say, my Specification of the
improvements entituled, as herein-before stated, "Certain Improvements in
Pianofortes," which are set forth and in part recited in the "Royal Letters
Patent," as aforesaid described and granted by and in manner therein stated),
to the afore herein mentioned and explained metallic frame or support, in
pursuance of and in relation to the Illustrations, Drawings, Figures, Letters,
or other characters herein-before adverted to or entered into, and to the
afore-nam'd double sounding board, in accordance with the explanations,
Illustrations, Drawings, Figures, Letters, or other characters herein-before
set forth and shewn; and altho' double sounding boards may (but have not
to the knowledge of the aforesaid Wheatley Kirk) have been manufactured
or usd heretofore for pianofortes, my claim to originality for the purposes of
the said Patent must be considered to rest equally on the ground of a different
application as of an Invention, because in the old system of manufacturing
pianofortes (from the instruments being filled up as before stated in a great
measure with wooden props, supports, or uprights before adverted to, and
necessary to support the pull or pressure of the instrument,) there was not
a possibility of introducing the double sounding board for want of space, and,
therefore, a flat board or thin surface of wood constituted the sounding board;

page_text: whereas now that I have abolished the said wooden supports, props, or uprights,
and have substituted my metallic frame, shewn in Plate 3rd or Third, the
interior is entirely or sufficiently free for the insertion of the double sounding
board-before-mentioned and described.
And in conclusion, I, the said and aforesaid Wheatley Kirk, do hereby by
these Presents utterly, unequivocally, and without qualification, disclaim all or
any other part of or parts of or in the general mechanism, action, shape,
construction, material, or other part, by whatsoever name it may be designated.
or known, and contained in the pianoforte, as my Invention, for the purposes
or for any purpose of and included in the grant of the Royal Letters Patent
afore mentioned, save, except, and permitting the exceptions with their par-
ticulars, namely, but specifically, the complete metallic frame and the double
sounding board before or herein-before mentioned and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Wheatley Kirk, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six