Improvements in Pianofortes.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Mar., 1897-Accepted, 12th June, 1897
Improvements in Pianofortes.
I, EDMUND SYHRE, of Rosen Strasse, 49, Dresden, in the Kingdom of Saxony and
Empire of Germany, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described in
and by the following statement :-
This invention has for its object means for improving the tone of pianofortes,
protecting the action and the wires against atmospheric influences, preventing access
of foreign bodies (such as dust and the like) into the same when the case is open as
well as to prevent anyone tampering with the mechanism.
This invention is illustrated in section in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings.
The drawings show only so much of the interior of the pianoforte as is affected
by this invention.
G is the casing of the pianoforte d the hinged top, s the strings and m the
mechanism.
The improvement consists in providing a hood or screen a within the casing so
as to cover the strings or wires and the mechanism. One part of this hood or screen
forms a wall as nearly as may be parallel to the wires. The other portion just
below the aperture formed by raising the top d (to afford passage for the tone), is
arched.
It is obvious that the screen or hood protects the wires and the action of the
instrument against atmospheric influences also against the entrance of foreign bodies
and also against being tampered with.
On the tone of the instrument the effect is as follows:
The scattered sound waves falling directly against the screen a are reflected by
the same.
Those that strike the arched part, there converge, collect, and are thence
reflected. All the sound waves collected by the screen are thrown against the sound
board and thereby the tone issuing to the ear from the sound board becomes more
full and rounded than without the screen a.
If the material of which the screen consists is chosen with due consideration for
the acoustic properties of the pianoforte it not only gains in volume of tone but
sings better, and when chords are sounded there is a better range of "
tones" whilst single notes gain in clearness, purity, and duration.
"
"
over-
The improvement in the tone of the three topmost octaves will strike even the
laymen as particularly marked. This is specially important for manufacturers as in
that part the sound board has what may be termed "dead" parts.
If in an old piano the sound board has given way the tone-collecting action of the
screen will give new brilliancy to the tone.
Besides improving the tone in this direct manner the screen a contributes to this
indirectly also, as it prevents any noises produced by the action (such as knocking,
scraping, and the like) reaching the ear of the performer; by suppressing these noises
the screen a contributes to the purity of the tone.
Fig. 2 shows a modification of the screen a, in this form it consists of plates,
one overlapping the other. This form acts in the same manner as that shown
in Fig. 1.
وو
For what are known as "horizontal grands" and "; square pianos the screen
s made arched in the horizontal plane as represented in section Fig. 3 which is
aken on line x, y, in Fig. 4, which is a plan as represented with reference to a

page_text: horizontal grand. This curved or arched shape imparts greater firmness to the
screen a.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the saine is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
In pianofortes a screen a covering the action (mechanism) m and the wires a
partly to protect these against atmospheric influences and foreign bodies, (dust and
the like) partly to give fulness and roundness to the tone and to render inaudible
noises produced by the action (scraping, knocking, or the like) so that, as a general
result the tone is improved.
T31
Mach 1907
NEWNHAM BROWNE,
Agent for the Applicant.