Improvements in and relating to Pianofortes and other Stringed Instruments.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd July, 1897
Complete Specification Left, 6th Jan., 1898-Accepted, 12th Feb., 1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Pianofortes and other Stringed
Instruments.
I, CHARLES HICKS, of 199, Fratton Road, Landport, in the County of Hampshire,
late Gunner of H.M. Navy, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to pianofortes and other stringed instruments and has for
its object to provide simple means for delicately and accurately adjusting the
tensile strain upon any wire or string of such instruments for the purpose of tuning
same.
The means employed according to my invention consist in specially constructed
adjustable tuning pegs which are fixed to one or other of the tuning boards, pre-
ferably for convenience of access and use, the upper one. Each such adjustable
tuning peg comprises a body part or plug of cylindrical or other shape having a
coned lower end with a screwed extension therefrom and a squared head for receiv-
ing the turning key. The said screwed extension engages in a female nut which
is fixed to the same tuning board and has an open meeting end; either plain or
correspondingly coned internally so as to allow the coned plug to enter for its full
length: between the two said parts, (that is to say, the open end of the nut and
the coned plug) is interposed a metal ring or annular thimble having its aperture
equal in diameter to the base of the plug cone and preferably coned. It is provided
with a peripheral groove or the like for the convenient attachment of the wire from
which it passes to one of the usual steel pegs on the other or lower tuning board.
In use the screwing in of the coned plug operates upon the ring in such a manner
as to increase the tensile strain on the wire attached to it in a delicate and positive
manner and vice versa.
When by stretching of the wire the screwing in of the adjusting plug has caused
the base of the adjusting cone to have passed fully into the ring, the adjustment is
no longer available; the plug then is to be unscrewed, allowing the ring to fall
back upon the open
end of the nut; then a sufficient amount of the slack of the wire
is taken up by the corresponding peg of the other set of ordinary steel pegs, and the
adjustment may then again be delicately effected by rescrewing in the coned plug
as above described.
By this means the tone of an instrument can be as readily lowered as raised,
which has not hitherto been the case.
1
T1007

page_text: F
Improvements in and relating to Pianofortes and other Stringed
Instruments.
I, CHARLES HICKS, of 199, Fratton Road, Landport, in the County of Hampshire,
late Gunner of H.M. Navy, do hereby declare the nature of this 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 relates to pianofortes and other stringed instruments, and has for
its object to provide 'simple means for delicately and accurately adjusting the
tensile strain upon any wire or string of such instruments for the purpose of tuning
same.
For this purpose according to my invention..I employ specially constructed
adjustable rotary pegs or plugs which may be used either alone or in connection
with the usual pegs or with equivalent fixed points. Each of my improved tuning
pegs consists of three parts, viz., (1) a tubular nut for fixing in the tuning board,
preferably for convenience of access and use, the upper one; (2) a coned operating
plug screwed thereinto; and (3) a metal ring or loose annular collar. These,
together with their operation and use I will now fully describe in reference to the
accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation showing the three
component and coacting parts of one of my improved tuning pegs loosely assembled.
Fig. 2 is a similar view showing them put together and screwed down. Fig. 3 is a
similar view showing a complete peg fixed into the tuning board of a pianoforte
with a wire attached. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of my improved peg showing its
use in connection with an ordinary or fixed peg and Fig. 5 is a perspective view
showing the latter method of using my improved pegs in a pianoforte.
for
The shank of the plug P is screwed about its lower part p and has at its upper
part a coned shoulder p surmounted by a collar 72 and a squared head
receiving the tuning key. The tubular nut N has a central opening o and has a
female screw n at its base of less diameter than that of the opening o. The head
is open to receive the cone p¹ of plug P and may either be coned internally at 'n'
to correspond with plug cone, or it may have a cylindrical recess equal in diameter
to the largest diameter of the cone so that in either case the cone can enter the
recess n¹ for its full length. C is the loose annular collar, the aperture of which
may be parallel sided but it is preferably coned internally and it has a flange c to
serve as a bearing for the cone collar and a peripheral groove c¹ is formed for
the reception and fixing or passage of the wire or string W.
.
When the three parts are not tightly screwed up as will be seen there is a slight
play between the plug P and the nut N owing to the difference of diameter of the
plug shank and the space o.. This is provided in order to allow greater range
of motion of the parts in tuning, see for example Fig. 3 where the tension of
the wire W imparts a slightly inclined position to the plug P' as long as it is not
screwed in tightly.
:
Fig. 3 shows the peg used alone and screwed into the tuning board B of a piano,
the wire being attached to the ring collar C. Fig. 4 shows the wire passing over
the ring C as a pulley and fixed at its end to an ordinary or fixed peg T. For
convenience in fixing and removing the nut N, it is preferably threaded for a
suitable distance d externally and provided with cross cuts in its head to receive
a simple screw driver. Preferably, these tuning pegs together with the fixed
pegs Tif used, are fixed to the upper tuning board B of an instrument and the other
end of the wire W is attached to one of the usual steel pegs T¹ on the other or lower
tuning board B', the arrangement being such as is illustrated in Fig. 5.

page_text: and
As will be seen the ring C will slide upon the cone p' as the plug P is screwed
into or out of the nut N and according to its position thereupon whether the wire
be fixed to the ring C or passed over same and fixed to peg T so is the strain
upon the wire W increased or decreased by simple turning of the plug P, and in a
delicate and positive manner; assuming a position of the parts such as Fig.
the tone flat, to tighten the string the cone P is to be screwed further into the nut N
and the ring C sliding up the ingoing cone p¹ tightens the string W, and by the
reverse operation the tension on the string will be released and the tone flattened.
When by reason of the stretching of the wire the screwing in of the adjusting
plug has caused the base of the adjusting cone to have passed fully into the ring,
the adjustment is no longer available; the plug then is to be unscrewed, allowing
the ring to fall back upon the open end of the nut; then a sufficient amount of the
slack of the wire is taken up by the corresponding peg T¹ on the other set of
ordinary steel pegs, and the adjustment may then again be delicately effected by
rescrewing in the coned plug as above described.
By means of this invention the tone of an instrument can be as readily lowered
as raised which has not hitherto been the case.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
An adjustable rotary tuning peg for pianofortes and other stringed instruments
consisting of 3 component coacting parts, viz., a tubular nut N for fixing in the
tuning board, a coned operating plug screwed thereinto, and an annular collar C
to which the wire is attached (or over which it passes to an ordinary peg) the tensile
strain on the said wire being adjusted as required, by regulating the position of
the ring C on the cone p by operating the plug P, the whole combination being
constructed and adapted when assembled to operate substantially as described and
illustrated.