NEW IMPROVEMENTS IN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS,, CHIEPLY APPLICABLE TO HARFS AND PIANOPORTES
Year: 1801

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CONRAD BECKER, of Princes Street, Soho, in the County of Middlesex, Musical-
Instrument Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His:
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain;
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of November, in,
the forty-second year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said
John Conrad Becker, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His special.
licence that I, the said John Conrad Becker, my executors, administrators,.
and assigns, 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, my "NEW IMPROVEMENTS IN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS,,
CHIEPLY APPLICABLE TO HARFS AND PIANOPORTES;" in which said Letters Patent,
there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Conrad Becker,.
under my band and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to:
be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
month next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited,
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may;
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said;
John Conrad Becker, do hereby declare that my said Invention consists in,
the following improvements in the harp and pianoforte; of the harp as follows,.
that is to say:-

page_text: I produce the sharps, flats, quarter notes, or any intermediate variation
deviating from the natural notes, by causing (what are commonly called) the
wrest pins, I mean the pins by which the strings are extended and tuned,
to move partly round their centers, and thereby increase or decrease the
tension of the strings more or less, as may be required to answer the desired
change of the notes. To this purpose the said wrest pins are connected with
the pedals by an apparatus hereby described, and more clearly expressed by
the annexed Drawing.
Figure 1. a, a, represents the wrest pin passing through a socket b, with
a lever c, c, on which slides a quadrant d. On this quadrant are fixed the
links e, e, kept stationary by a regulating screw f. These links communicate
with the pedals by the interposition of a crank g, Figure 2, where are seen
all these quadrants d, with levers and wrest pins belonging to their respective
strings of the same denomination. On the said crank g is also a regulating
screw f, to adjust the whole to the motion of the pedals. Now if any one of
the pedals is pressed down, all its appertaining quadrants, with the wrest pius,
must follow, and, consequently, the tension of the appending strings will
be increased accordingly, and, as soon as the pedal is left at liberty, the strings
will, by their reaction, resume their former degree of tension, and the pedal
its former station; hence, it follows that a variety of changes may be effected
on each string, throughout the instrument, by the motion of the pedals.
It is obvious, that to this end the quadrants, and the parts of the wrest pins
round which the strings coil, must, in regard to their circumferences, be so
proportioned that, by the motion of the pedals, each string shall have it's tension
altered uniformly with the rest of the strings belonging to the same pedals,
so as to keep in time together. If, in case new strings are put on, perhaps
differing in size or quality, any irregularity should take place, this must be
corrected by the regulating screw f, for if by this screw the quadrant is moved
towards or from the centre of the wrest pin, it's motion will be accordingly
more or less. To stop the pedals at four different stations, answering to the
natural note, to one quarter, to one half, and to three quarter notes, I apply
a kind of rack, as seen in Figure 5. a, b, c, are the steps, which, being so
disposed, preserve the pedal in each situation in a perpendicular line, and
thereby prevent them coming too close to one another. To ease the motion
of the pedals, having each of them six or seven strings to act upon, I apply a
spring to each pedal, to counteract the tension of the strings, and thereby
render the motion of the pedals as easy as I please. As in tuning the harp
it is generally attended with difficulty to find out the wrest pin belonging
to its respective string in the bass, particularly for short persons, I reverse

page_text: the wrest pin, and form the square for the key, by which the instrument is
tuned, at the same end where the string is applied, as Figure 3. To facilitate
the tuning of this instrument I have still another contrivance, videlicet, instead
of turning round the wrest pin in its socket, in which it must move tight to
be capable of sustaining the stress of the string, I fix it into the socket, and
to receive the string I apply a separate piece k, Figure 4, with a notched
rim, to be turned by an endless screw f, which is supported by a collar"
firmly fixed to the pin. When the former method is made use of it will be
necessary to apply a set of springs, as shewn at Figure 2, to support the'
levers (c) belonging to the smaller strings, in the act of turning in their
proper position, for as the wrest pin in drawing up the string moves in the
same direction as it is propelled by the pedals, the lever will be carried along
with it, if nothing is put in opposition to overcome the friction which subsists
between the wrest pin and socket. This friction may be adjusted by the
socket (6), Figure 1, being slit at h, and an adjusting screw 1 introduced;
besides this a lining of leather, or any other elastic substance, within the
socket may be of some service. Instead of the spring 3, Figure 2, several
other mechanical contrivances may be made to answer the same end. In
pianofortes, or other stringed instruments played with keys, I use one or
more wheels, to cause the strings to vibrate. These wheels are placed under
or above the strings, and put in motion with a pedal or pedals, or any other
mechanical power, and the strings are, by the touch of keys, inclined to the
wheels. In the manner of extending and inclining the strings consists the
principle of my Invention. In the Diagram, Figure 6, a represents the
string fastened by a loop and pin at b, and extended by a moveable lever or
brace, with two points or knife edges resting against two props at c, c. Ilere
it may be easily conceived that if the string passes through the direction of
the points of motion c, c, of the lever, the string has no inclination to either
side, but may, without materially altering it's tensions, be moved up or down
a little way by d, and very little power will keep it in due bounds. The
gravity of the lever, connected with a key, will be sufficient to keep in balance
with the string, when its direction is a little above those points of motion,
hence it is easy to construct an instrument on this principle, so as to make
the keys with the strings move a little way up and down very freely. Secondly,
if the said lever, on it's extremity, instead of two points or knife edges, forms
part of a circle, the radius of which is the length of the lever, and rests against
two circular surfaces, described by the part of the string from c to b, Figure 7,
here it is evident that by moving the lever at d up to m or down to n, the
tension of the spring will not in the least be altered, and yet yield to the

page_text: slightest touch. The applications of this principle is not confined to these
two instances, but will admit of a variety of forms and applications. If,
therefore, the string is anyways extended, or anything moveable having it's
prop or fulcrum anywhere within the extent of the string, or its two ends
higher or lower, for the purpose of inclining or moving the string to the
wheels, or altering the tension of the strings to raise or lower the tone thereof,
it will comprise the principle of my Invention. Where hammers and dampers
are used, I mean to connect both, so as to constitute one piece, by letting one
or two slips of any convenient material pass through between the strings,
which are to be fastened to the hammer below the strings, and likewise to
the dampers above them. By that means the mechanism will be simplified
and their gravity is thereby united, and serves each alternately. The hammer
may move on a hinge in any of the usual ways, or otherwise, and the damper-
form part of the said hammer.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Conrad Becker, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Fifth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and one.