AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS UPON THE PEDAL HARP
Year: 1819

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WILLIS, of Upper Norton Street, in the Parish Saint Marylebone, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Thirteenth day of February, in the fifty-ninth year of His reign,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, did give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Willis, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said Robert Willis, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
by myself and themselves, or by my or their deputy or deputies, servants
or agents, or such others as I, the said Robert Willis, my executors, admi-
nistrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all
His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS UPON THE PEDAL HARP;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Robert Willis, to
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal; and to cause the same to be inrolled in His

page_text: Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the said Letters
Patent, reference being thereto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Willis, do hereby declare that my said invention of an Improvement
or Improvements upon the Pedal Harp is described and ascertained in manner
following, that is to say:-
My improvement or improvements are applicable to those pedal harps
which are called double-action harps, in which each pedal can be made to
operate twice successively upon the same string of the harp, that is, at two
different parts of the same string, in order to obtain three different sounds or
tones from each string, viz, when the pedal is not employed neither of the
actions operate upon the string, and the effective or vibrating length of the
string is all that part thereof which is extended between the bridge pin and
the sound board. The sound produced by the string is then a flat note or
When the pedal is pressed half down one of the actions operate upon
the string, to confine it at a part beneath the bridge pin, and thereby to
shorten the length of the effective or vibrating part of the string, so as to make
the sound produced by the string as much more acute or sharp than in the
former instance as will give the natural note or tone. When the pedal is
pressed quite down the second action is made to operate upon the string, to
confine it at a part still lower beneath the bridge pin, thereby to reduce the
effective or vibrating part of the string to a still shorter length, and make the
sound produced by the string as much more acute or sharp as to give the sharp
tone.
note or tone.
Now my improvement or improvements consist in new forms and arrange-
ments of the mechanism for producing the double action upon the strings,
which improvement or improvements I conceive will be of public utility,
because the double action will be thereby produced without bending or
straining the strings of the harps so much as is done by the present double
actions, and therefore the strings will stand better in tune, and last longer also.
By my improvement or improvements the mechanism is rendered more simple
than the present double-action harp.
My improvement on the double action is effected by applying mechanism
to what is now called the upper bridge pin of each string, viz, that pin
which forms the termination of the vibrating port of the string, when it
sounds the flat note. My said mechanism gives motion to this upper bridge
pin, and causes it to retire from and quit the string when the double action is
made to operate thereon.

page_text: Three different pieces of mechanism, which effect this improvement, are
represented in the Drawing hereunto annexed. The first piece of mechanism
is marked Figures 1, 2, and 3. W is the string of the harp. H, the wrest
pin on which the string is wound up, in order to tune it. I is a pin to sustain
the string in a perpendicular direction or parallel to the other strings, and
keep them in one plane. K is my moveable bridge pin, which performs the
office of the upper bridge pin in the common harps, because it limits the
vibrating length of the string when it sounds the flat note, and my improve-
ments consist in applying mechanism to this pin, to render it moveable,
and capable of retiring from the string. L is the pin which is brought
to act upon the string to produce the natural note, as shewn in Fig. 2, and
M is the lower pin which is brought into action, as in Fig. 3, to produce
the sharp note. All the pins K, L, and M are fixed at the extremities of the
short levers or arms which are attached to those small arbors which pass through
the plates of the harp, and which arbors serve as centers of motion to the said
levers or arms K, L, M. To each of these arbors a short lever or crank d, e,
and f, is attached, and all these cranks are connected together by a leading wire
or bar g, which occasions all the three arbors to turn round together, and
with equal motions. When the pedal is up the string touches or bears against
the upper pin K only, as in Fig. 1, and then it gives the the flat note. When
the pedal is put half down the pin K retires from the string, as shewn in Fig. 2,
and the pin L advances to receive and bear the string, and then it sounds the
natural note. Lastly, when the pedal is put quite down the lower pin M
advances to bear the string, as in Fig. 3, and then it gives the sharp note.
The leading wires which communicate the motion of the pedal to the actions
just described may be connected to any one of the cranks d, e, or f, or to any
other arm, lever, or crank fixed on either of the arbors of those cranks, viz,
either the top or the middle or the lower one, and such motions may be commu-
nicated by long leaders or connecting rods by the aid of cranks and other means
well known to harp makers; but the means of communication which I have
invented constitutes another part of my improvement or improvenients, and is
shewn in Figure 13, which is a section of the upper part of a harp, to shew
the interior movements, and which will be herein-after explained. The cranks
or short levers d, e, and f, are fixed on the arbors withinside the comb or upper
part of the harp, that is, between the plates thereof.
Figures 4, 5, and 6 represent another arrangement of my mechanism for
given motion to the upper bridge pin K. The same letters of reference
The cranks e and f
are employed in these Figures as in Figures 1, 2, and 3.
are connected by a leading wire g, which occasions both those cranks and
arbors to move together and equally. The upper crank d is connected by a

page_text: leader h, with the end of a longer arm k, which proceeds from the crank f,
nearly at right angles thereto. The action of this mechanism will be aparent
by, the inspection of the Figures 4, 5, and 6, which shew it in it's three different
positions, corresponding to the flat, natural, and sharp. When the pedal is
put half down to bring the middle pin L into contact with the string to pro-
duce the natural note, the upper pin K advances a very little towards the
string, as shewn in Fig. 5, but when the pedal is quite depressed to produce
the sharp note, as in Fig. 6, then the upper pin. K quits the string
entirely, at the same time that the lower pin M advances to bear the string.
The motion from the pedal must be communicated to a lever crank or arm
fixed to the arbor of the double crank or lever f, k, or otherwise to the arbor
for the middle pin L, but not to that for the upper one.
Figures 7, 8, and 9 repersent another arrangement of my mechanism for
producing the motion of the upper bridge pin. These Figures shew the
positions which produce the flat, natural, and the sharp. This arrangement is
adapted to the small movements for the upper notes of the harp, because it
only requires two arbors or centers instead of three, as in the other methods,
and therefore the interior movements occupy less room. The upper pin K
and the middle pin L are fixed at the opposite of a lever K, L, the center of
motion of which lever is an arbor situated at the middle. thereof. e is a short
arm or crank fixed to the arbor of the lever K, L, and this is connected by
the leader g with the crank f on the arbor for the lower pin M. This com-
munication by the wire g occasions the two arbors to turn together, and with
equal motion, by which means the upper pin K recedes from the string when
the middle pin L is brought up thereto, as shewn in Fig. 8 and 9.
Figs. 10, 11, 12, represent another arrangement of my mechanism. It is
represented in the three different positions. The crank f is fixed to the arbor
for the lower pin M, and is connected by the leader g with the crank e on the
arbor of the middle pin L. The upper pin K is moved by a leader h, which
extends from the arm k of the crank f for the lower pin M to the crank d
upon the arbor for the upper pin K. In this arrangement the three pins
K, L, M, are all on the same side of the string, but they produce the same
effect as the preceding pieces of mechanism, viz, for the flat tone Fig. 10,
the string bears against the upper pin K, but the other two pins L, M, are
both withdrawn from the string. When the pedal is put half down for the
natural note, as in Fig. 11, the middle pin L'advances to bear the string, and
the upper pin at the same time quits the string. Lastly, when the pedal is put
quite down for the sharp note, as in Figure 12, the the lower pin M advances
to bear the string and the middle pin L leaves it.
Fig. 13 is a section of the comb or upper part of a harp, constructed

page_text: according to my improvements, and shews how the motion of the pedals are
communicated to all the actions for the strings.
Fig. 14 is a transverse section answerable to Fig. 13. There are seven
pedals, as usual in double-action harps, and a wire from each pedal is carried
up through the column or pole of the harp, as shewn at N, Figs. 13 and
19. The upper ends of these wires are connected with the long arms of the
cranks O and P, and the short arms of the same cranks communicate by
short leaders with other cranks Q and R, and these again are united with the
cranks S and T, from which the long connecting or leading wires V, V, and
X, X, proceed and pass along between the plates and within the comb of the
harp, to communicate motion to the actions for all the different strings. There
are four cranks at O, Q, and T, situated one behind the other on the same
cylinder or center pin, and three cranks at P, R, and S, therefore the long
leading wires from four of the pedals proceed at X along the top of the
hollow space within the head of the harp, and these leading wires are con-
nected with the arms 7 of the cranks d, which are fixed on the arbors for the
upper pins K, Figs. 1 to 3. The leading wires from the other three pedals
proceed at V, V, along the lower part of the space in the comb of the harp,
and are connected with the arms m of the crank f, which are fixed on the
arbors for the lower pins M. The effect is the same in this movement
whether the motion is communicated to the arbor for the upper pin, or to
that of the lower, as before stated; but by placing some of the leading wires
above, as at X, and the others below, as at V, I am enabled to make the comb
of the harp much thinner than by the usual arrangement. To distinguish
the different actions, all those which are actuated by the same pedal are
coloured of one colour, which renders it easy to trace them in the Drawings
without further explanation. All the arms or cranks 1 or m, which are con-
nected together by the same leading wires X or V, are made of the same
length from their arbors or centers of motion, and are all parallel to each
other.. This admits the leading wires X or V to be made in one entire piece
from one end along nearly two thirds the whole length thereof, or even through
the whole length when the same actions are continued throughout, without
any joints in the leading wires, as is usual in other harps. Therefore the actions
for nearly two thirds of the whole number of strings in the harp, or in some
cases the whole number throughout, are actuated by the four leading wires at
X, and the three at V; and the said actions are constructed in the manner repre-
sented in the Figs. 1, 2, and 3, but the other actions herein-before described
may be used in lieu thereof, at the discretion of the workman, only observing,
as before, that the mechanism shewn in Figs. 7, 8, 9, is best adapted for the

page_text: smaller movements. The manner of communicating the motion from the
pedals to the said upper movements is clearly shewn by the Drawings, and
needs no further explanation, particularly as I make no claim to improvement
in that part of the communicating movements.
Another part of my improvement or improvements consists in the manner
of applying the spring or springs which are to act against the pedals. This
I effect by means of a combination of levers, which are so arranged that one
spring may be made to serve any number of pedals, and therefore all seven
pedals may be counteracted by one or two springs. Three different arrange-
ments of this combination are shewn in Fig. 15 to 20, and Fig. 13. Fig. 20
shews it in it's most simple form. Fig. 17, 18, 19, shew its application to
the harp where one spring is required to counteract all the pedals, and Fig.
16, 15, and 13, shew its arrangement when two springs are employed. In
Fig. 20, 1 is the spring which is attached to a pair of levers with equal arms,
3, 3, by means of a rod 2. At the extremities of the arms 3, 3, are jointed
similar levers 4, 4, to the extremities of which are, in like manner, jointed
levers 5, 6, 7, 8. These have at their extremities leading wires or rods 9, 9,
which may be connected with the pedals, cranks, or levers in any way suitable
to the position thereof, and this combination of levers may in like manner be
extended to cause the spring to react against any number of pedals or levers
whatever.
Fig. 17, 18, 19, shew another arrangement of this combination, adapted to
the upper part of the head of the harp, and answering to Fig. 13. 1 is the
spring, 2 a wire, by which it draws the crank 8. This crank is introduced only
for the purpose of equalizing the force of the spring, which force naturally
augments when it becomes strained, and diminishes as the spring relaxes.
From the other arms of the crank 3, Fig. 17 and 19, proceed two leading
wires 4, 4, the extreme ends of which are jointed to two arms 5, 5, moveable
about a common center 15. These wires and arms serve to support two
double cranks 6, 6, the form of which is seen distinctly in Fig. 17. These
cranks support two leading wires 7 and 8, which pass through and support
the two short levers 9, 11, and 10, 11, to the extremities of which are jointed
long levers 12, the ends of which are united to their respective cranks
O and P by leading wires 13, except the extremity of that numbered 14,
which, having no crank answering to it, its leading wire is attached to the
plate of the harp by a screw and washer, Fig. 17. By this arrangement the
spring reacts against all the seven cranks, and if any of the seven pedals
which act on the cranks at O and P are depressed, the spring 1 will act
against it with the required force, or if two or more pedals are depressed

page_text: together the spring will act against them all with the required force for
each one.
The leading
Fig. 16 and 15, and the upper part of Fig. 13, shew another arrangement
of this combination, which may be employed when it is required to introduce
two springs to react against the seven pedals. In this case there must be two
sets of levers exactly similar to each other, one acting upon four pedals and
the other upon three, as shewn in Fig. 15, 16. In these Figures 1 is the
spring; 2 a wire by which it draws the equalizing crank 3. From the other
arm of the crank 3 a leading wire 4 proceeds, and the extreme end thereof
is supported by an arm 5, which is moveable on a center pin 10.
wire 4 passes through the middle of a short bar 6, which is seen more clearly
in Fig. 16, and is pinned thereto to form a moveable joint. This bar 6 is
situated between two long levers 7, 8, and each end thereof is jointed to one'
of the said levers, as is clearly shewn in Fig. 16. The extreme ends of the
long levers 7, 8, are connected by leading wires 9 to the tails of the cranks'
O and P, which, as before mentioned, communicate with the pedals by means
of the wires N. By this means of communication the force of each spring I
reacts against four cranks, viz, two at O and two at P, corresponding to the
same number of pedals, except the arm 14, which is pinned, as before, to the
plate. The joints which connect the bar 6 with the levers 7, 8, are situated
at one third from the end of each long lever, therefore, considering the joint
as the center of the lever, one arm is double the length of the other. Now
the leading wires 9 which proceed from the short arm of each lever 7, 8,
are connected with the cranks O and P, near the centers of motion thereof,
and the leading wires 9 which proceed from the long arm of each lever are
connected with the crauks O and P, at a double distance from their centers
of motion. By this arrangement, if any one of the four pedals which act on
the cranks at O and P is depressed, the spring 1 will react against it with
the required force; or if two or more pedals are depressed together, the spring
will react against them all with the required force for each one.
I have now described my improvement or improvements; which consist, as
aforesaid,
First, in the mechanism for giving motion to the upper bridge pin to cause
it to retire from the string when the other actions are made to operate thereon,
of which mechanism I have shewn four different arrangements.
Secondly, in so arranging the different movements within the comb of the
harp that the long leading wires V, V, and X, X, Fig. 13, can be made each
in one entire piece, extending two thirds (more or less) of the whole length

page_text: of the comb, or even through the whole length, when the same movements
continue throughout, without necessity for any joints therein.
Thirdly, in the combination of levers described in Fig. 15 to 20, whereby
one spring is made to react against any number of pedals, so that one or two
springs will be sufficient to react against all the seven pedals of the harp.
Of which mechanism I have also shewn three different arrangements.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Willis, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and nineteen