IMPROVEMENTS IN GRAND PLAVORARIES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Nicholson Wornum, of Store Street, Bedford
Square, in the County of Middlesex, Pianoforte Manufacturer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GRAND PLAVORARIES
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Nicholson Wornum
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th July 1856.
I, ALFRED NICHOLSON WORNUM, of Store Street, Bedford Square, in the
County of Middlesex, Pianoforte Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature
of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GRAND PIANOFORTES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the action of those
descriptions of grand pianofortes in which the string is struck from the top;
and, firstly, the Invention consists in the use of a spring attached to the end
of the key, and acting on the end of the crank lever, so as to keep it always in
contact with the end of the key.
Secondly, the Invention consists in a method of arranging the button which
acts on the hopper (or instrument which gives motion directly to the hammer),
so as to raise it from the hammer as the hammer approaches the string, the
object being to facilitate the adjustment of the button from the top. On the
hammer rail is fixed a bar of wood, in which there is a groove in which the
buttons can slide up and down, as the adjustment requires. Through each of

page_text: the buttons a screw passes, and this screw has a plain stem, which enters a
hole in the bar attached to the hammer rail, so that when the screw is turned
the button is raised or depressed, as required.
Thirdly, the Invention consists in a method of obtaining a rapid repeat in
those descriptions of instruments to which this Invention applies. The spring
which is usually employed to keep the hopper in contact with the hammer
butt is dispensed with, and in place thereof a spring is attached to the hopper,
which by coming in contact with the stump on the hammer butt prevents the
hopper from rising; and this spring is so arranged, that as the hammer
descends it goes out of contact with the stump, but when the blow has been
struck, the recoil of the hammer is immediately checked by the stump coming
again in contact with the end of the spring.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Nicholson Wornum in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
NICHOLSON WORNUM, of Store Street, Bedford Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Pianoforte Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Alfred
Nicholson Wornum, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred Nicholson
Wornum, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alfred Nicholson Wornum, my 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN GRAND PIANOFORTES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Alfred Nicholson Wornum, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, 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 same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent,...

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Nicholson Wornum, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the action of those
descriptions of grand pianofortes in which the string is struck from the top;
and, firstly, the Invention consists in the use of a spring attached to the end
of the key, and acting on the end of the crank lever, so as to keep it always in
contact with the end of the key.
Secondly, the Invention-consists-in-a method-of-arranging the button which
acts on the hopper (or instrument which gives motion directly to the hammer),
so as to raise it from the hammer as the hammer approaches the string, the
object being to facilitate the adjustment of the button from the top. On the
hammer rail is fixed a bar of wood, in which there is a groove in which the
buttons can slide up and down, as the adjustment requires. Through each of
the buttons a screw passes, and this screw has a plain stem, which enters a
hole in the bar attached to the hammer rail, so that when the screw is turned
the button is raised or depressed, as required.
Thirdly, the Invention consists in a method of obtaining a rapid repeat in
those descriptions of instruments to which this Invention applies.
The spring
which is usually employed to keep the hopper in contact with the hammer
butt is dispensed with, and in place thereof a spring is attached to the hopper,
which by coming in contact with the stump on the hammer butt prevents the
hopper from rising; and this spring is so arranged, that as the hammer
descends it goes out of contact with the stump, but when the blow has been
struck the recoil of the hammer is immediately checked by the stump coming
again in contact with the end of the spring.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
A is the key which gives motion to the crank B, turning on the centre b;
C is the hopper, which at one end is jointed to the crank, and at the other
end rests in a notch on the hammer butt D, and this is centred to the hammer
rail E, and is kept in a raised position by the spring F, so that the stem of the
hammer rests against the hammer ruler G; H is the stump mounted on the
hammer butt; and I is the check. All the parts hitherto mentioned are old.
J is a brass spring, applied, according to the first part of my Invention, to keep

page_text: the crank always in contact with the end of the key. This spring is fixed at
one end to the key A, and at its other end it passes through a small hole
drilled through the stud 63 on the end of the crank B. K is the button, which
throws the hopper out of the notch on the hammer butt as the hammer
approaches the string; this button is arranged according to the second part
of my Invention, and is capable of sliding up and down in the groove of the
bar K attached to the hammer rail.
A plan of the button K is shown at Figure 2. k is a screw which passes
through the button; it has a plain stem, which enters a hole in the bar K.
L is a spring fixed on the hopper, and arranged according to the third part of
my Invention; it is used in place of the ordinary hopper spring, which is fixed
to the crank and presses down the hopper. The end of the spring L is
furnished.with a pad 1, which rests against the stump H, and so prevents the
hopper from rising out of the notch on the hammer butt until the hammer
has descended towards the string, but then it goes out of contact with the
stump, and allows the hopper to be thrown off without offering any resistance;
whereas on the old construction the hopper is thrown off against the resistance
of the hopper spring at its strongest; as the hammer returns from the string,
the pad on the end of the spring L again comes in contact with the stump
H, and thus the return of the hammer is checked before it is far removed from
the string, which enables the performer to repeat the note more rapidly than
would be possible were the hammer not thus checked in its recoil.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Nicholson Wornum, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven..
Witness,
E. BARKER.
.A. N. WORNUM. (L.S.)