AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MAKING OR CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTES INVENTED BY MYSELF
Year: 1836

page_text: GODWIN'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GODWIN, of Cumberland Street, Hackney Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Pianoforte Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King William the Fourth, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Eighth day of March, in the sixth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His
heirs and successors, give and grant unto the said John Godwin, His especial
license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Godwin,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Godwin,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time, and at all times during the term of years therein ex-
pressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MAKING OR CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTES INVENTED
BY MYSELF;" in which Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said
John Godwin, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in
His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar. months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Godwin, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to consist in

page_text: the following improvement, that is to say, in the new arrangement of the
strings in square and in cottage and piccolo pianofortes, by stretching or
placing one part of the strings across or obliquely over the lines or direction in
which the other part of the strings are stretched or placed, by which in square
pianofortes an improvement is made in the treble or upper octaves, by opening
the scale and producing a fuller and more perfect tone; and in cottage and
piccolo pianofortes an improvement is made in the bass or lower octaves, by
allowing greater length for the bass or lower strings; and in further compliance
with the said Letters Patent I hereby describe the manner in which the said
Invention is to be performed, that is to say :-
In square pianofortes with a down striking action I place the strings in the
lower octaves from the lowest note in the bass or largest string up to the upper
note in the third octave, or higher if it may be thought necessary, parallel to
each other the lengthway of the instrument in the manner those strings are
now arranged, and which I do not claim as any part of my Invention, and the
remainder of the strings, forming the three or more upper octaves, I place
directly across the instrument, or nearly at right angles with the direction
of the strings of the before-mentioned lower octaves; and it is this arrange-
ment of the strings across each other only which I claim as my Invention. To
effect this I divide and alter the position of the bridge, as shewn in the annexed
Drawing No. 1, which I refer to as part of this description. B 1 is a bridge
commonly used in cabinet and cottage, and also in horizontal grand piano-
fortes, and I place it in a somewhat similar position on the sounding board of
the instrument C, across which the three or more upper octaves of smaller
strings are placed in parallel lines, as shewn in the Drawing, one end of
such strings being attached to the block at the back part of the instrument
in the usual manner, and the other end, except about the fourteen upper
strings, being attached to a small iron plate D screwed to the front of the
instrument, and the fourteen or thereabouts of the upper or smallest strings
(the exact number not being material but depending on the openness of the
scale and the space to receive the same) being attached to the usual metallic
or iron plate E, which is to be cut out or made as shewn in the Drawing to
allow those strings to be stretched in the required direction; and that part of
the plate to which those strings are attached is to be cast or wrought with a
rabbet or sunk edge one quarter of an inch lower than the general level
of the surface of the plate, in order that the strings may bear on their
own bridges, which bridges are to be one quarter of an inch lower than
the bridges A and A I, in the same Drawing, which are intended to carry the
lower octaves of strings so as to keep the lower octaves of strings at a level of a

page_text: quarter of an inch above the upper octaves, and thereby to prevent their
coming in contact during vibration; and as the lower octaves of strings will be
more elevated than the upper octaves, it will be necessary that the heads of
the hammers intended to strike those strings may be made proportionably, or
one quarter of an inch shorter than the heads of the other hammers. In case
it should be considered desirable to avoid the great length of string behind the
bridge in the upper octaves, the iron plate to which a part of those strings are
fastened instead of being in the form D may be carried from the front of the
instrument in the shape C, and may be firmly secured to the bracing at the
bottom of the case by an iron pillar five-eighths of an inch square screwed into
the bracing and passing through the sounding board, which is to be cut away
for that purpose, so as to allow the sides of the pillar to pass through clear
without touching the iron pillar, having a shoulder at the top for the plate to
rest upon, and terminating in a screw passing through the plate to receive a
nut H which firmly screws down the plate. In a square pianoforte with an
up striking action, I fasten the fourteen upper strings to the metallic or iron
plate as before described, and the rest of the strings, which are stretched across
the instrument from back to front, I fasten by pins in the usual manner to the
bar of iron B, affixed to the upper part of the name board A. In the annexed
Drawing No. 2, to which I refer as part of this description, which iron bar at
the bottom inside edge is made or cast with a flange edge projecting one inch
in that part of the bar which is comprised between the two outer braces D, D,
to receive the pins, and I make the upper part of the name board at least two
inches thick, and the same is firmly fixed or glued at each end to the case, the
lower part only of the name board being moveable and taken out or put in
with the action. And in order to counteract the great tension of the strings
which run across the instrument, I brace or strengthen the same as follows:-
B, Drawing No. 2, is an iron bar or brace five-eighths of an inch thick, and
two inches and a half deep, firmly let into the blocks at each end of the
instrument, and screwed to the piece before described as the upper part of the
name board, which board is cut away to receive the same, and C, C, C, are iron.
braces which run across the instrument, the ends at the back being firmly
fastened to or inserted in the block, and each end in the front terminates in a
flat piece of iron which I call a strap, and which comes over the top of the
fixed part of the name board, and is screwed or otherwise securely fastened at
D, D, D; the other strings are then placed lengthways in the usual manner,
and the strings, which are placed longitudinally in the usual manner, are to be.
carried by their bridges one quarter of an inch farther from the sounding board
than the shorter or upper strings, so as to keep clear during vibration, the

page_text: arrangement of the strings on the sounding board being the same both in a
low striking and up striking action. In arranging the strings, the number to
be placed according to my Invention across the instrument, in a square piano-
forte, depends entirely on the judgment of the workman; but I consider the
most convenient mode to be to divide the strings into about two equal parts,
and to place about one half each way, or in case of an unequal division to place
the greater number longitudinally. In the old method I use a sounding board,
passing the whole length of the instrument, or what is called by pianoforte
makers a long belly, and in the upstriking action I support the treble of the
sounding board where the same is cut away to allow the hammers to pass
through to the strings by thin metal brackets screwed to the rest block, and
passing underneath the edge of the sounding board to support the same, and
which I prefer to wooden brackets, as being thinner and taking less room. In
cottage or piccolo pianofortes I place the strings, commencing with the upper
treble or smallest string, in the usual manner, so far down the scale as from
the height of the instrument length, for the strings can be obtained, which
strings I fasten at the upper end to the block in the usual manner, and at the
lower end to the iron plate C, in the Drawing No. 3, hereto annexed, to which
I refer as part of this description, and which plate is to be made as is usual in
upright instruments in which a plate is used, and is to be sufficiently strong to
bear the tension or pull of the strings, being in thickness one quarter of an inch,
and in width at the upper end four inches, and increasing in width to six inches
at the lower end, and which plate I screw through the block and case at the
bottom of the instrument in the usual manner, as shewn in the Drawing; and
it is also screwed in the usual manner to a solid piece of wood at the points
D, D, D, D, down to the point where the lower strings intersect the direction
or line of tension of the upper strings, as shewn in the same Drawing, which
piece of wood, from the point of intersection to the bottom of the case, is cut
away to the level of the surface or front of the bracings, to allow the sounding
board E and the lower strings to pass across the instrument, and the plate is
then to be supported through the sounding board, as shewn in the Drawing at
F, from the bracings by means of an iron pillar in the usual manner, with a
shoulder to carry the plate, the sounding board being cut away all round the
pillar so as to let the same pass clear without touching, and the sounding board
is also to be placed behind the plate as to be quite clear of the same without
touching. The remaining strings, which will be about one octave and a half
in the cottage pianoforte and two octaves and a half in the piccolo piano-
forte, forming the bass or lowest notes of the instrument, are then placed
obliquely from left to right, as shewn in the Drawing, crossing the former

page_text: strings at such angles as may be necessary to obtain the length required or the
greatest length which can be had for the longest string, and are fastened in
the usual manner to the blocks at the top and bottom of the case; a bridge A I
is placed on the sounding board to carry these strings, the position of which
bridge will slightly vary with the degree of obliquity given to the strings; and
this bridge, and also the bridge A and the blocks to which these strings are
fastened, are to project or be made one quarter of an inch deeper than the
blocks and bridge of the strings producing the higher notes, so as to carry the
strings producing the lower notes a quarter of an inch further from the
sounding board, and prevent their touching during vibration; and I make the
heads of the hammers to strike the respective strings longer or shorter, as
may be required, in proportion to the greater or less distance of the strings
from the sounding board, and the sounding board at the upper part is to be
cut away to the curve of the metallic plate C, but at the point at which the
shortest of the bass strings crosses this metallic plate the sounding board
passes under the same clear without touching quite across the instrument, as
shown by the line G. My Invention, as before stated, being confined to the
placing or arranging the strings in one part of the scale in a direction across
or passing over the line of tension of the strings in the other part of the scale,
at such distance from each other as will keep each clear without touching,
during vibration. And such my Invention being to the best of my knowledge
and belief entirely new and never before used within that part of His
Majesty's Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His said
Dominion of Wales and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare
this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my
said Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or
disguise with the proviso in the said herein-before recited Letters Patent
contained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege
to the said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Godwin, have hereunto set my hand
and seal the Fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixth day of September, in the
year of our Lord 1836, the aforesaid John Godwin came before our said Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.