IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTE HAMMERS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Alexander Horlick, of Racine, in the
County of Racine, in the State of Wisconsin, United States of
America, now of the British Hotel, Cockspur Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTE HAMMERS."-A communication from.
Brewer of Racine, aforesaid.
ohwood by C.
W
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Joseph Alexander Horlick
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 14th July 1869, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
ALEXANDER HORLICK, of Racine, in the County of Racine, in the
State of Wisconsin, in the United States of America, Gentleman, now
residing at the British Hotel, Cockspur Street, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOPORTE HAMMERS," and have petitioned Her
Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her

page_text: Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration,
that the said Invention is a communication to me from abroad by
. W . Brewer, of Racine, aforesaid.
C
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Alexander Horlick, do
hereby declare that the following Complete Specification, under my
hand and seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to, the Drawing
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention has reference to an improvement in the construction of
pianoforte hammers, the object is to improve the tone generally, and to
obviate what are called bell toues in the lower octaves when the keys
are struck with force. This imperfection in tone. exists in almost all
pianos commonly known as square pianos. In order to obviate this
imperfection I insert in the felt portions of the felt and buckskin
hammer head as now used a soft india-rubber tube of various dimen-
sions and thicknesses, or a piece of solid cylindrical india-rubber, as
after described. By this means, applied as herein-after described, an
elastic action is imparted to the hammer, which when it strikes the string
obviates the prolonged ringing of the hell tones so. called, which is so
objectionable.
I am aware that hammers have been made with india-rubber tubes
combined with the old buckskin hammer, the tube being in contact
with the wooden part of the hammer head, and the buckskin wrapped
over the tube, but when the tube or cylinder is combined with the felt
alone or felt and buckskin, in the manner after described and shown
in the accompanying Drawing, the desired object of rounding and
closing the tones of the lower octaves when struck forcibly is
"
produced.
The accompanying Drawing represents a perspective elevation of the
hammer. A is the stem; B, the wooden head on which the buck-
skin d'and felt b are fixed in the mode ordinarily adopted; a is the
india-rubber tube or cylinder passing through and surrounded by the
felt, one surface of which is shewn at the Drawing at a.
For the hammers for the lowest strings I prefer to use a thick hollow
'tube having, a diameter of about a quarter of an inch, and an aperture
of about of an inch. For the centre strings I prefer to use a solid

page_text: cylinder of india-rubber of a somewhat smaller diameter, and I diminish
the size of the cylinder according to the size of the hammer.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be put in practice, I do not claim any of the
parts separately; but what I claim is an elastic pianoforte hammer,
constructed substantially in the manner and for the purpose above
described.
In witness whereof; I, the said Joseph Alexander Horlick, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of July One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
J. A. HORLICK. (L.S.)