CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANO- FORTES
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
LIDEL, late of Arundel Street, Panton Square, in the County of Middlesex,
but now residing at No. 12, Store Street, Bedford Square, in the same County,
Professor of Music, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Seventeenth day of February, in the sixth year of His
reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Lidel, His especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Joseph Lidel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Joseph Lidel, my executors, administrators, 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 mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANO-
FORTES," being a communication made to me by a certain foreigner residing
abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the
said Joseph Lidel, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, par-
ticularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next

page_text: 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
Joseph Lidel, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
These improvements in pianofortes consist, in the first instance, in two
novel arrangements, combinations, or constructions of mechanism or parts
forming what is technically called "the action" of a pianoforte, by which the
hammers are caused to strike upon the strings and produce the notes, both of
which constructions have for their object the quick escape, removal, or dis-
charge of the hammer from the string after striking, in order to avoid inter-
And in
rupting the free vibration of the string or sounding of the note.
addition to these there are improvements in the means of bringing the pedal
into operation upon the said mechanism, for the purpose of shortening the
stroke of the hammers for producing piano and crescendo, without changing
the character of the sound of the notes; and further, in the manner of
connecting the box or frame containing the keys and "action" to the
instrument, for the purpose of allowing an easy access to the strings and
pegs when the instrument has to be tuned, the hammers remaining in a
proper position for sounding notes during the tuning operation.
The second feature of theso improvements is, a peculiar construction of
sounding board for pianofortes, the parts of which board are intended to
correspond in their vibrations with the respective strings distended over them.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a key with the mechanism of one of the novel
arrangements or construction of "action," as adapted to an horizontal piano-
forte, parts of the instrument being shewn in section. The action of the
hammer in this arrangement is designed to strike downward upon the strings,
the keys and mechanism in this Figure being shewn in the quiescent state.
Fig. 2 represents the positions of the parts after the key has been depressed
to produce a note, and the hammer appears in the act of striking on the
strings, the damper being raised. Fig. 3 shews the positions of the parts
after the note has been struck, and the hammer has escaped or been removed
from the string, which is free to vibrate. A is the key; B, the hammer;
C, the string; D, the damper. The key is mounted in the instrument in the
usual manner; but carries at its inner end the piece c, with a hook d screwed

page_text: into it, which takes into a peculiarly formed notch e in the tail piece of the
hammer, having its fulcrum on a pin at h. The lever of the damper, is con-
nected to the ledge k, by the joint o, and to the key by a hook q.
The opera-
tion is as follows:-As the outer end a of the key is being depressed to produce
a note, its inner end b is raised, and with it the piece c, which by the hook d
draws up the tail piece f, and causes the hammer to strike with a quick blow
upon the strings, at the same time the damper D is raised from the string by
the hook q, drawing up the lever 1, as shewn in Fig. 2. The further depres-
sion of the key while the note is sounding brings the piece c into contact with
an adjustable pin or stop i, by which its further upward movement is arrested;
but as the end 6 of the key continues to rise (see Fig. 3), it causes the
piece c to move on the pin i as a fulcrum, which causes the hook a to move
along the notch e, whereby the tail piece f becomes depressed, raising the
hammer from the string, and leaving it free to vibrate, the damper being kept
elevated until the finger is removed from the key; by these means the
hammer is removed from the string the moment after the note is struck, that
is, the instant the piece c touches the pin i, the further upward motion of the
end of the key carrying the hammer further from the string. On the
finger of the performer being removed from the key, its inner end & imme-
diately falls by its own gravity, and with it the damper, into the position shewn
at Fig. 1, the hammer at that time being kept from the strings by a spring m,
forcing out the piece c, and also by the connection of the notch e, and hook d.
The operation of the pedal to produce piano and crescendo, is as follows:-
The bar or ledge k, which carries the dampers and the rests for the keys,
extends across the pianoforte, and is affixed to the ends of two levers n
(one on each side of the instrument), having their fulcrums at the side of the
key box, in a line with or opposite to the dampers. The rod v leads from
the pedal, and on the foot piece being depressed, this red rises and carries up
the ledge k with the key A, the piece c, the hook d, and the tail piece f,. of
the hammer, which movement depresses the hammer and brings it nearer to
the strings, as shewn in Fig. 4, and thereby shortens its action and produces
piano." The jointed end of the lever is at this time raised with the bar k,
the damper D remaining upon the strings. It will be seen that this operation
of the pedal limits the movements of the keys and hammers without in-
terfering with the freedom of their action, and that as the extent of the
movement of the hammer is increased from "piano," "crescendo" will be
produced. The operation of the pedal to produce "forte" and "decrescendo "
is communicated through the rod u, which raises one end of the lever r, and
with it the lever 1, and the damper off the strings, the other end of the lever r

page_text: being jointed to the ledge k. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a key and me-
chanism of the other novel arrangement, construction, or combination of tho
parts of the action of a pianoforte, represented in the quiescent state. Fig. 6
is a representation of the same parts when the hammer is in the act of
striking on a string and the damper is raised. Fig. 7 shews the hammer
discharged or removed from the string after the note has been struck and the
string free to vibrate. In this arrangement the discharge or escape of the
hammer is effected by the falling of a part of the key, which is composed of
two pieces jointed one to the other and connected together, while in the act of
striking a note, by catches, which are released immediately after the note has
been struck, the one part of the key falling away from the other, and produce
the escape of the hammer. A is the key; B, the hammer; C, the string;
D, the damper; the key A is composed of two parts a and b, connected
together at c by a flexible joint; & and d are the catches or hooks, which
take one into the other, and connect the parts of the key, so as to form one
continuous lever, as shewn in Fig. 5. On the key being depressed in the act
of producing a note, the end 6 of the key is raised (as in Fig. 6), which by
incans of the hook c draws up the tail piece f, and causes the hammer to
descend on to tho string. On the picce d* coming in contact with the end
of the damper lever n, that end of the lever is raised and the reverse end
depressed, which, through the rod p, acts upon the lever q, and raises tho
damper off the strings. The further depression of the key raises the projecting
stud or pin of the hook piece d against the under side of the ledge k, which
arrests its progress, and disengages the catches & and d* from cach other, as
shewn in Fig. 7. The inner end of the part 6 of the key, being thus dis-
engaged from the part a, immediately falls and causes the hook e to return the
hammer to its former position, as shewn, the damper being kept clevated
during the time the note is sounding. On the removal of the finger from the
key the parts immediately fall into the quiescent position, as in Fig. 5, the
looks d, d, being made to take into each other as they come together by
means of the spring m. The operation of the pedal upon this construction
of action to produco "piano" or "crescendo" is as follows:-On the foot
piece being depressed, the rod w rises, and with it the shorter ends of two
levers (one on each side of the instrument), which levers turu on fulcrums
placed in a line with those of the hammers at h), the longer ends of the levers
are depressed, as shown in Fig. 8, carrying with them the piece v and the stop
or adjusting pieces u, which limit the movements of the hammers, and it will
be perceived that as the rod w is raised by the pedal, more or less, so will the
extent of movement of the bammers be limited or extended. When the

page_text: shorter ends of the levers are raised, they carry with them the rods x, which
are connected to the movable piece y, carrying the fulcrums o of the damper
levers n, which movable piece is jointed to the ledge k at . This arrangement
allows the fulcrums of the levers n to be raised a little, while the movement
of the keys and hammers are limited, so as not to remove the dampers off the
strings, all parts having their proper action, though contracted in extent. The
action of the pedal to produce forte or decrescendo is effected by raising the
rod u, which carries with it the fulcrum v, lever q, and lifts the damper off the
strings. I would here remark that parts of the keys must be properly weighted
to assist the action, which I propose to do by running lead into the keys at the
parts marked
in the Figures. The box or case E, E, containing the
keys and action is connected to the instrument by hinge joints F, coinci
dent with the line where the hammers strike the strings. When it is desired
to get at the pegs or strings for the purpose of tuning or replacing them, the box
or case is to be raised upon the hinge joints and held up by a stick or stretcher,
which movement does not take the hammers out of the proper place of action
on the strings; the tuner can then use one hand to strike the keys, and the other
to tune the strings.
The second feature of these improvements in pianofortes, vizt, the novel
construction of sounding board, is exhibited in Figures 9, 10, and 11 of
the accompanying Drawings. The board is constructed according to the
principle of vibrating staves, which are fastened at one end only, and free
to vibrate throughout their whole extent. It consists of an upper and
under horizontal slab or plate formed by staves of pine or other suitable wood
united at their edges, their fibres running in the direction of the staves, and
the component parts of the boards, that is the staves, should respectively
answer in their vibratory action and tone with the strings severally extended
over them, in order to produce by their vibration similar or corresponding
sounds. Fig. 9 is a horizontal view of the upper surface of the improved
sounding board, as adapted for a horizontal grand pianoforte; Fig. 10 is an
edge view of the sounding board as seen on its curved side; Fig.11 is a plan of
the lower sounding board, the upper one being removed. The staves composing
the sounding boards are properly fastened and secured to the peg board of the
instrument in the line a, a, a; from this line to the extremity b, b, b, the board
is free to vibrate, its thickness at the bass may be as usual, but the treble part
should be reduced to about a quarter of the thickness of the bass; c, c, c, is
the bridge, which by this improved construction may be situated nearer to the
extremity than formerly. The dotted lines d, d, d, shew the position of the
ribs extending along the under side of the top sounding board, which ribs are

page_text: also constructed as vibrating staves, and are placed in the direction in which
the fibres of the staves run, in order that all the fibres may vibrate together,
and be considered to form part of such vibrating staves. Between the ribs a
sound hole is cut of the f shape, like that of a violin, which severs the fibres
of the wood between the ribs; e, e, c, represent the strings; f.ff, are the
ribs of the lower sounding board, corresponding with those on the upper one,
by which the air between the two boards is divided into volumes corresponding
to the staves, by which their sounds are made to reverberate. The two boards
are connected together by the sound posts g, g, placed round the curved edge
opposite the ends of the ribs d and f, and communicate the vibration of the
upper to the lower board, and answer in effect and purpose to the sound post
of a violin; they may be strengthened if thought necessary by a band of
veneer, or their wood extended along the curved edges of the board at top and
bottom of the posts; his the part of the board answering to the bass, and i
that of the treble. It will of course be understood that the shape of this
improved sounding board must depend on the kind of instrument intended to
be made, therefore it will not be necessary for me to shew all the forms in
which it is capable of being constructed. Figure 12 represents the figure of a
sounding board adapted for a square pianoforte, having an upward beating
action of the hammer. In this arrangement the keys can be placed in the
centre of the instrument instead of on one side, as in common. Fig. 13 shews
the corresponding lower sounding board detached. Fig. 14 is the form of
sounding board adapted for a square pianoforte with a downward beating
action.
I would here remark, that what I consider the peculiar novel feature of this
improved construction of sounding board is, as before stated, that the vibration
of all the parts, or what may be called the staves, answer or correspond to the
sound produced by the strings passing over them, and that all parts of the
board is free to vibrate from the line a, a, a, is not being allowed to touch the
instrument or its case in any other part.
And further, I would remark, that I do not mean or intend to confine
myself to the precise form of the various parts shewn in the Drawings and
described in this Specification, as they must of course be varied to suit
different kinds of pianofortes, either of the upright or horizontal construction.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Lidel, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
(1) ILIASO
LIDLL.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventeenth day of August, in
the seventh year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the
said Joseph Lidel came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and
acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth
year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Seventeenth day of August, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-six.