IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOS
Year: 1884

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
I JAMES YATE JOHNSON of 47 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PIANOS" which Invention has been communicated to me from abroad by
Lucien Lescuyer of Mulhouse Merchant to be as follows:-
This Invention of improvements in Pianos consists in the employment of supple-
mentary strings or chords arranged at the back or under side of the ordinary
sounding board and adjusted or tuned to vibrate in unison with the ordinary strings
or chords.
In applying the invention to existing pianos of ordinary construction a frame
preferably of metal is employed being provided at each extremity with blocks of
wood for the reception of pins or pegs to which the strings or wires are attached
and by means of which they are tuned and also provided with a sounding board
provided on both sides with suitable ledged or transverse blocks-Over both sides
of the frame (which may be conveniently placed behind the ordinary sounding
board in an upright or Cottage piano or in the wood work underneath the ordinary
sounding board in the case of a grand piano) are stretched strings or wires which
are turned to vibrate or sound in unison with the ordinary chords of the instru-
ment.
The vibrations of the ordinary chords are transmitted to the supplementary
strings or wires and the sound of the piano is thereby strengthened or intensified
the effect produced being regulated or controlled if required by means of a damper.
In the construction of new pianos the Invention may be conveniently applied by
simply stretching the supplementary strings wires or chords at the back (or under-
side) of the ordinary sounding board with or without a supplementary sounding
board according to the effect that it is desired to produce.
J. HENRY JOHNSON.
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.O.

page_text: I JAMES YATE JOHNSON of 47 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PIANOS" which Invention has been communicated to me from abroad by Lucien
Lescuyer of Mulhouse, Merchant and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This Invention of improvements in Pianos consists in the employment of supple-
mentary strings or chords tuned to vibrate in unison with the ordinary strings or
chords
>
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same and for that purpose shall refer to
the several figures on the annexed sheet of drawings the same letters of reference
indicating corresponding parts in all the figures.
Figures 12 and 3 of the accompanying drawings represent respectively an
elevation, a longitudinal section, and a transverse section of a frame provided with
strings, wires or chords according to this invention.
A is a frame preferably of metal provided at each extremity with blocks B of
wood for the reception of pins or pegs C to which the strings wires or chords are
attached and by means of which they are tuned and also provided with a sounding
board H provided on both sides with suitable ledges or transverse blocks D. Over
both sides of this frame A (which may be conveniently placed behind the ordinary
sounding board in an upright or Cottage Piano or in the woodwork underneath
the ordinary sounding board in the case of a Grand Piano) are stretched strings
chords or wires c which are tuned to vibrate or sound in unison with the ordinary
wires or chords of the instrument. The vibrations of the ordinary chords are
transmitted to the supplementary strings chords or wires c and the sound of the
Piano is thereby strengthened or intensified, the effect produced being regulated or
controlled if required by means of a damper. The foregoing is the arrangement
most convenient for the application of the Invention to existing Pianos. In the
construction of new Pianos the invention may be conveniently applied by simply
stretching the supplementary strings, chords or wires c at the back (or under-
side) of the ordinary sounding board with or without a supplementary sounding
board according to the effect that it is desired to produce.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1st In Pianos the employment of supplementary strings wires or chords capable
of being tuned to vibrate in unison with the ordinary strings wires or chords and
arranged in combination with the ordinary or an additional sounding board or
both substantially as hereinbefore described.

page_text: 2nd Augmenting and enriching the tone of Pianos of ordinary construction by
providing them with a series of supplementary chords wires or strings e stretched
on a frame A provided with a sounding board or boards H and placed at the back or
underside of the ordinary sounding board and provided with means for tuning
them substantially as herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
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