CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES," commu- nicated to me by a certain foreigner residing abroad
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
GUYNEMER, of Manchester Street, Manchester Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Professor of Singing, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of March, in the sixth year of His reign, did, for
Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles
Guynemer, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Charles Guynemer, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles Guynemer, my exors, admors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANOFORTES," commu-
nicated to me by a certain foreigner residing abroad;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Charles Guynemer, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Guynemer, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say):-
The Invention consists in subjecting each of the metallic cords or wires of
pianofortes to the action of a spring, and, by means of an index connected
to that spring, to render manifest to the sight and sensible to the touch the
exact degree of tension or departure from harmony each cord (or string) has
sustained, and to mark precisely what degree of tightening or of slackening is
requisite to restore the instrument to true harmony, and thus afford to the
most unskilled and ignorant persons in music and musical instruments facile
and certain means of correctly tuning their own instruments. These improve-
ments are applicable to all kinds of instruments whose action depends upon
the vibration of metallic cords or wires, by making such a modification of their
form as may be necessary or convenient, but without departing from the
constituent principles or characteristic features of the Invention.
In the annexed Drawings those parts of a piano which are placed in
connection with these improvements are brought into view, and I have, by
preference, adopted drawing screws instead of the ordinary drawing pins
in more general use, although the Invention is equally applicable to both
modes of producing the tension of the cords.
Figure 1 exhibits a section of a part of a pianoforte. a', a", a¹, is a front
view of the springs, denominated "indicateurs de l'accord," which may be
varied in form and size; bis a hooked or dovetailed bar of iron, having
conical holes, through which are passed the drawing screws; the bar is sunk
into the solid portion of the wood and retained by means of dovetailed claws
or feet.
c, c, are the drawing screws. The drawing screws are provided with
square heads d, d, d, the lower range of which slido in grooves made to receive
them in a brass plate e, in order that the lower row of screws may advance or
recedo without turning round, and to prevent the upper row of drawing screws
from turning round, a narrow groove is cut longitudinally on their upper sides,
in which small keys f are inserted. The cords or wires are attached to the
drawing screws, as shewn at g, by passing them through holes in the heads,
and are made fast in the required position by means of pins h driven into the
holes. i, i, are the heads of the drawing screws, with their nuts; and to
prevent the friction of the latter against the iron bar b, a plate of brass k is

page_text: interposed. is the foremost of three cords which surrounds the spring a', of
which the second surrounds a" and the third a, the second and third cords
being concealed in this horizontal view by the first; m, studs, fixed in the
bridge to stay the cords; n, the hand or index, which is connected to the
spring by the jointed levers delineated; instead of a point the hand has a slit
cut in the upper end; the line of this slit coincides with another fine line
made on the top of the spring when the cord is in its proper tension.
o, p, show by dotted lines those changes in the position of the hand when it is
intended to raise or lower the tone of a string to a fourth part of a tone,
or more or less of the diapason of its first concord; 9 are small screws with
pierced heads. When the cord passed round the spring has been regulated,
and the slits before-mentioned in the hand and spring coincide, the hand is
fixed by these screws, so that it will not alter its position without a greater
tension or relaxation of the cord, which cord recovers it concord, resulting
from a known degree of tension, when the hand is replaced in its first position.
r, r, are forked ends of the spring, which are rounded smooth at the bottom
that they may slide when a cord is tightened or slackened. The length of the
forked ends is adjusted to the tension of the cord, and they are retained firmly
in their position by their pressure against the horizontal surface of the wood
underneath. s is the front of the piano, above the keys of the instrument, and
so placed that it may be easily removed whenever it is desired to adjust the
concord of the strings; t is the desk; and u, the top of the piano.
Figure II. represents a plan of a part of a grand piano, having three strings.
The details of the indicateurs de l'accord are only shown as applied to three
of the strings, it being of course understood that all the springs are provided
alike. The letters of reference, wherever given in the previously as well as in
the subsequently described Figures, indicate the same parts, though differently
viewed.
Figures III. and IV. exhibit sections made through the lines A, B, and C, D,
on the plan, which are designed to shew the positions of the two ranges of
drawing screws.
Figure V. exhibits a front elevation, Figure VI. a side view, and Figure VII.
a plan, of an indicateur de l'accord with two hands, which is designed to
render minute alterations from the proper tension of a string more obvious
to the sight; the contraction or expansion of the cord, in acting at the same
time on the two hands M, M, produce an equal movement in each one to the
right and the other to the left, and consequently doubles the space travelled by
a single hand. The plan in this Figure gives the geometrical projection of the

page_text: indicateurs de l'accord, as seen from beneath, and thereby.shows how the cord
which surrounds the spring crosses underneath, and thence proceeds in opposite
directions.
Figure VIII. exhibits a front elevation; Figure IX. a side view, and
Figure X. a plan, of an indicateur de l'accord adapted to the strongest cords.
Instead of surrounding the spring with the cord, the cord is in this case
attached to two hooks, which are connected to the forked ends of the spring.
The plan exhibits a geometrical projection of these parts as seen from
beneath.
Figure XI. exhibits a front elevation, Figure XII. a side view, and
Figure XIII. a plan, of another mode of connecting the indicateurs de
l'accord to the cords of an instrument, which being more simple, and having
a more direct action, deserves, in the opinion of the Patentee, a decided
preference over those previously described. By reference to Figures XI.
and XIII., it will be seen that two rods A and B are attached by pins to the
.extremities of the spring, and that the other or hooked end of B passes
through a loop made in the end of the cord, and that the other end of A is
-provided with an eye, through which is passed a crotchet hook C, that is
formed at the end of the drawing screw. In applying drawing pins to this
indicateur de l'accord, the rod A is to be formed into a hook, like that at B,
.in order to connect it by a spring or wire to its drawing pin.
Figure XIV. exhibits a geometrical projection or plan of the principal parts
of a grand piano of two cords, as seen from above, shewing the application of
the general system of the indicateur de l'accord. The piano of two cords has
been chosen only to give to a drawing on a small scale the greater. clearness in
its details; for, as before observed, the indicators are applicable to pianos of
all forms and sizes, and having two, three, or four cords. To obviate the
excessive friction of the wire or strings against the little studs or pins,m, in
Figures 1 and 2, when the wires are being stretched, the new contrivance,
delineated in Figures 15, 16, and 17, has been adopted. It consists in the
application to each-wire-of-a-moveable-little-metal-bridge-of-brass-of-the-pear--
like shape delineated at Figure 17, but which are flat, as seen by the edge
view of one at a, Figure 16. It has a hole through the upper part for the
wire to pass through; the notch or slit of the lower part rests upon an
angular edge of iron y, as shewn in section in Figure 15, and in elevation in
Figure 16; the tension of the wires keeps these moveable bridges in their
places, which also turn as levers on their fulcra (3) upon the expansion or
contraction of the wires.

page_text: Having now described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I desire it to be distinctly understood that
I claim, under this Patent, only the mechanism denominated "indicateurs de
l'accord," and the moveable bridges described in Figures 15, 16, and 17.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Guynemer, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-six.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventeenth day of August, in
the year of our Lord 1836, the aforesaid Charles Guynemer came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.