Improvement in Piano Actions.
Year: 1898

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvement in Piano Actions.
I, CLIFFORD ROBERT STEPHEN JOHN HALLE, Lecturer & Musician, of 8, Abingdon
Villas, Kensington, London, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to bo
as follows:
The simplification of the check action by lengthening the hammer stock so that
there is room below the groove in which the tumbler, acts for a bar on which is
fitted a shaped wooden nut which can be adjusted as to distance from the hammer
stock by means of a screw. This bar juts out at right angles or nearly so from
the hammer stock & passes through the tumbler, which is bushed so as to deaden
all sound. As the bottom lever is pushed up by the key, the tumbler raises the
hammer stock until the moveable nut on the bar pushes it out of the groove &
then the hammer falls back until the bar is stopped by the end of the slit in the
tumbler. The check & repeat are thus obtained by the same tumbler that gives
the original blow.
Dated this 20th day of Vox 1808
Improvement in Piano Actions.
I, CLIFFORD ROBERT STEPHEN JOHN HALLÉ, Lecturer & Musician, late of S,
Abingdon Villas, Kensington, London, now of 50, Pembroke Road, Earl's Court,
London, 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:-
The accompanying drawing will show the nature of the improvement which
consists in slightly lengthening the hammer butt (A in drawing) so that there
is room for a projecting wire between the centre and the notch. This wire C
passes through the tumbler or hopper E which has a slit cut through it for the
purpose, this slit is of course bushed with cloth so as to be noiseless. On the
wire C are two round buttons, which are capable of being screwed along, the wire
being tapped at either end. The button B is between the hammer butt A & the
hopper E, the button 1) is at the end of the wire.
The hopper may be centred directly on to the lever G or preferably as in drawing
the lever G may have an upward extension m & the hopper be centred to this.
This upward extension of the lever m may be raised sufficiently so as itself to act
as a check, or as in drawing a piece of wire F with a padded head piece may be

page_text: fastened into it. The action of the mechanism is as follows. When at rest the
wire C is resting on the bottom of the slit in the hopper E, the hopper lying with
its tip in the notch of the hammer butt A. As the lever G is raised the hopper
forces the hammer up & as the hammer rises, the button B gradually pushes the
hopper away from the butt till at the moment of striking the strings the hopper
is completely out of the notch. The rebound of the hammer is checked by the
wire, which has (in the upward lift of the hammer by means of the hopper) left
the bottom of the slit in the hopper, again falling back onto the bottom of the
slit, & in the case of a rapid repeat, the repeat blow is given by the action of
the hopper on the wire without the necessity of the tip of the hopper re-entering
the notch in the hammer butt. The second check Facting on the button Dis
only for the purpose of steadying the hammer, the real check being the slit in
the hopper.
Having now particularly described & ascertained the nature of my said invention
& in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is:-
The action as herein described with a projecting wire underneath the notch
in the hammer butt, which wire passes through the hopper & acts by means of a
moveable button as a set off to the hopper and as a check in two ways. 1st. By
falling back on to the bottom of the slit in the hopper & 2nd. by checking in the
ordinary manner.
1000
LINT
1800.