IMPROVEMENTS IN ORGANS AND HARMONIUMS AND SIMILAR KEYED INSTRUMENTS."
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ralph Smyth, of Hastings, in the County of Sussex,
Retired Lieutenant-Colonel of Her Majesty's Indian Army, and Wardle
Eastland Evans, of Market Place, Great Portland Street, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORGANS AND
HARMONIUMS AND SIMILAR KEYED INSTRUMENTS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ralph Smyth and Wardle
Eastland Evans at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 20th July 1865.
We, RALPH SMYTH, of Hastings, in the County of Sussex, Retired Licu-
tenant-Colonel of Her Majesty's Indian Army, and WARDLE EASTLAND EVANS,
of Market Place, Great Portland Street, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORGANS
AND HARMONIUMS AND SIMILAR KEYED INSTRUMENTS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of an improvement in the adaptation of the "knce-
action pedal board," as patented by Ralph Smyth, dated February 23rd,
1865, No. 541, by applying a sound board containing extra vibrators or reeds
to those in the instrument, such sound board being affixed to either the front,
back, or interior of the instrument, and supplied with air by a communication
with the wind chest, the pallets being acted on by the knee pedals, and
communicating with them by means of connecting rods; the sound board
containing any number of vibrators, either for the purpose of being used.

page_text: singly or together. This is effected by the introduction of a metal slide, the
face of which is perforated to correspond with the apertures in the sound
board, so as on being moved to the right or left it shuts and opens the
aperture of any particular note or notes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ralph Smyth and Wardle Eastland Evans in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 20th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, RALPH
SH, of Hastings, in the County of Sussex, Retired Lieutenant-Colonel of
Ter Majesty's Indian Army, and WARDLE EASTLAND EVANS, of Market Place,
Great Portland Street, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, hearing date the Twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Ralph Smyth and Wardle Eastland Evans, Her special licence that we,
the said Ralph Smyth and Wardle Eastland Evans, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Ralph Smyth and Wardle
Eastland Evans, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ORGANS AND HARMONIUMS AND SIMILAR KEYED INSTRUMENTS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Ralph Smyth and Wardle Eastland Evans,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the saine to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Ralph Smyth and Wardle Eastland
Evans, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement:-
This Invention consists of an improvement in the adaptation of the "knee-

page_text: action pedal board," as patented by Ralph Smyth, dated February 23rd, 1865;
No. 541, by applying a sound board containing extra vibrators or reeds to
those in the instrument, such sound board being affixed to either the front,
back, or interior of the instrument, and supplied with air by a communication
with the wind chest, the pallets being acted on by the knee pedals, and
communicating with them by means of connecting rods; the sound board
containing any number of vibrators, either for the purpose of being used
singly or together This is effected by the introduction of a metal slide, the
face of which is perforated to correspond with the apertures in the sound board,
so as on being moved to the night or left it shuts and opens the aperture of
any particular note or notes.
In order that our said improvement may be fully understood and carried
into effect, we proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto annexed.
Figs. 1 and 2 represent, the former a plan and the latter a section of the
knec-action pedal board as now adapted on the improvement under this
Joint Patent, where e, f, g, h, shews the pedal board. a, b, c, d, is a sound
board containing a series of reeds or vibrators, to which the pedal board'
e, f, g, h, is affixed, and then attached to the panel board of the instrument
by two small brass clamps below (as shewn in Fig. 4), catching over wo
screws fixed in the panel board, and above by two metal hooks r, r, one at
each end, fastening into eyes also fixed in the panel board; wadding, leather,
or galvanized india-rubber being introduced between the edges of the sound
board and the panel board to make the compartment air-tight. Communi-
cation between the sound board and the air reservoir of the instrument is
effected by two circular holes bored at 2, z. The pedals Y, Y, are affixed to
the pedal board, in which apertures are cut for their admission, by a hinge att,
communicating with the pallet by the arm v, v, which is screwed on to the
top of the pedal, as shewn in Fig. 2. The spring w, screwed on at æ, keeps
the pallet
position. It follows that any pedal Y on being pressed in by the
knee will raise the pallet and sound the note on the bellows being worked by
the feet, and on removing the knee the spring w will cause the pallet and
pedal to resume their original positions. y is a piece of leather running the
whole length of the pallets to mellow the sound of the notes K, K, the two
outside pedals are made to push outwards, and affixed by a hinge at m, but
acting on the pallets in the same manner as the other pedals, as shewn in
the dotted lines in Fig. 2.
Fig. 3 represents the plan of a metal slide perforated at the spaces
marked x, x.
This slide is made to move to the right or left by the handle
and arm N, N, moving on a pivot Q fixed to a brass plate R, which latter is

page_text: screwed to the top of the pedal board. This arm N, N, has an opening at
the end fitting a small rod T, which is firmly fixed in the perforated slide, as
shewn in section, Fig. 2. The handle N being then moved to the right or
left, the slide will move with it. The sound board is made to contain either one
octave of 8 feet, or two octaves, viz., one of 8 feet and one of 16 feet notes.
Under each pallet there are two apertures, one for the 8 feet and one for the
16 feet notes, and acted on by the same pedal, and the slide is so perforated,
as shewn in Fig. 3, that on being moved by the arm N to the right, the blank
spaces G, G, will close the left aperture of each pallet, and on being moved
to the left will close the right aperture, and on being placed exactly in the
centre will leave both apertures open. A pedal bass can thus be sustained of
8 feet or 16 feet notes separately, or of both together if required.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we would remark in conclusion that we do
not limit ourselves to the precise details and configuration of parts we have
expressed and shewn, as the same may obviously be varied or modified-with-
out in any way departing from the principles on which the Invention is based;
but what we claim and desire to be secured to us by the herein in part
lecited Letters Patent arc, the "Improvements in Organs and Harmoniums
and similar-Keyed Instruments," substantially as herein specified.
In witness whereof, we, the said Ralph Smyth and Wardle Eastland
Evans, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth day of
January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-six.
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE,
Office for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.
(L.S.)
R. SMYTH.
W. E. EVANS. (L.S.)