AN IMPROVEMENT IN PIANOFORTES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Owen, of the firm of Owen, Stodart, and
Company, of Red Lion Square, in the County of Middlesex, Pianoforte
Manufacturers, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PIANOFORTES."
Sealed the 10th July 1856, and dated the 25th January 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Owen at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition on the 25th
January 1856.
I, WILLIAM OWEN, of the firm of Owen, Stodart, and Company, of Red
Lion Square, in the County of Middlesex, Pianoforte Manufacturers, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
PIANOFORTES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the employment in pianofortes of a second or
supplementary sounding board, and in fixing the bridge upon the second
sounding board, which I place in front of that usually used in all pianofortes
as now ordinarily constructed; or I place two or more sounding boards
behind the strings. I connect the sounding boards to each other and to the
bars. By means of this additional sounding board I am enabled to produce,
for instance, in an instrument of no greater height than three feet, quantity,
quality, and tone of sound, equal to that produced from a first-class grand
piano. I have found the best results from the employment of two sounding
boards, though more than two may be used; but what I intend to claim is
the employment of one or more sounding boards placed behind that on or to
which the bridge is affixed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Owen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
OWEN, of the firm of Owen, Stodart, and Company, of Red Lion Square, in
the County of Middlesex, Pianoforte Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Owen, Her special licence that I, the said William Owen,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Owen, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PIANO-
FORTES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Owen, 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.
L
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Owen, do. hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to. be particularly described and, ascertained in and by the. following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:
ין
My Invention consists in the employment in pianofortes of..a. second or
supplementary sounding board, and in. fixing the bridge upon the second
sounding board, which I place in front of that usually used in all piano
fortes as now ordinarily constructed;..or I place two or more sounding boards
behind. the strings... I connect.. the sounding boards to each other and to the
bars. By means, of the additional sounding, board or boards; I am enabled to
produce, for instance, in an instrument of no greater height than three feet,
quantity, quality, and tone of sound, equal to that produced from a first-class

page_text: grand piano. I have found the best results from the employment of two
sounding boards, though more than two may be used.
The Drawings hereunto annexed shew the manner in which I carry my
Invention into effect. Figure 1 is a front view of the framework of a piano,
over which the wires are stretched; Figure 2, a section of the same, through
the line a, b; and Figure 3, an edge view of the treble side of the pianoforte,
shewing my double sounding board applied thereto. A, A, is part of the
frame; B, B', the bridge, which is made in two parts, as herein-after
explained; C, supplementary sounding board, on the face of which one-half
of the bridge B is fixed. On the inside of this sounding board I place
strengthening rods or bars of wood E, E, shewn in dotted lines at Figure 1.
At the treble side of the sounding board C, I cut away a part, as shewn by the
dotted lines g, g, and over that space I glue or otherwise fix a piece of wood F,
of the same shape, but overlapping the cut away edge. The top part of this
piece F is rabbetted to correspond with the rabbett cut on the upper bridge G,
and this piece forms the treble part of the supplementary sounding board,
being reverberatory or causing double vibration. In the sounding board C
is a hole or slot H, communicating with the space between the sounding
boards. The second board I is fastened at top. to the fillet K, on the rest
plank M, and secured at bottom to the bent side or piece L. Between these
two sounding boards the second part of the bridge B' is secured, corresponding
with the part B on the face of the supplementary sounding board C. Over
the bridges B and G the wires are stretched. The sounding boards are fixed
by screws e, e, passing in opposite directions. N, Figure 2, is a block of wood
for the purpose of keeping the sounding boards apart at bottom.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, the employment
in pianofortes of one or more sounding boards placed behind that on or to
which the bridge is affixed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Owen, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of July, One thousand eight hundred
WILLIAM OWEN. (L.s.).