Improvements in Pedal Mechanism for Pianofortes.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 29th May, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 26th Feb., 1894-Accepted, 25th May, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Pedal Mechanism for Pianofortes.
I, LOUIS NOEBE, of Homburg v/d Höhe, Germany, Musical Instrument Maker,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :—
It is well known that the ordinary existing pedal arrangements for pianofortes do
not satisfy fully the conditions which they are required to fulfil.
It has before been attempted to graduate or divide the damping action, but these
arrangements have not been capable of practical adoption because they did not fulfil
the expectations raised and were too complicated in their action.
A principal want in all existing mechanisms for this purpose consists in the absence
of any pedal arrangement which, in playing duets, can be used separately by two
persons, bass and treble, divided, and are also so arranged that in playing duets one
of the performers alone can operate the entire mechanism without requiring any
preparation, so as to be able to use the same in rapid succession, either coupled up
or separately.
The present invention has for its object to obviate this defect, and it consists in
employing for this purpose four pedals divided into two groups, which are arranged
directly side by side. They are situated, as with ordinary pedals, in the middle of
the instrument and are so arranged that a performer can depress all the four pedals
simultaneously by his two feet.
The arrangement is shewn on the accompanying drawing in which A' and B'
Fig. 1 are respectively the pedals for the bass and treble divided hammer shifting
gear, and A and B' the pedals for the bass and treble damping gear of a cottage
piano.
a, and b, is the divided moveable hammer rail which rests on a fixed bar C and
which is shifted longitudinally by means of the rods d d and gear which can be
arranged in various ways according to the construction of the instrument.
If the hammer shifting mechanism is to be left undivided, the gear is arranged as
shewn at Fig. 2, so that the group B' B' constitutes the bass and treble divided
damping mechanism, while A' constitutes the undivided hammer shifting gear.
The pedal A has in this case a special lever mechanism e which has for its object
to lift the dampers of only a small portion of the deep bass strings, in order to obtain
continued organ stop sounds independently of B¹ and B'.
The performer can use the different pedals divided in any desired manner while
by simultaneously depressing both pedals A' A' as also B1 B2, the bass and treble
action are worked together, or coupled up.
By means of the peculiar form and grouping of the pedals, both pedals in the
groups A' A and B¹ B' can, without difficulty, be depressed by one and the same
foot, and thus the piano and the forte pedals can be coupled in any desired
combination.
The position and grouping of the pedals remains the same in all kinds of pianos,
whether cottage, grand, &c.
Dated this 23rd day of May 1893.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Pedal Mechanism for Pianofortes.
I, LOUIS NOEBE, of Homburg vor der Höhe, Germany, Musical Instrument
Maker, 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, that is to say :-
It is well known that the ordinary existing pedal arrangements for pianofortes do
not satisfy fully the conditions required for the interpretation of the music of the
great classical and modern composers. It has already been attempted to graduate
or divide the damping action and to actuate each part by divided pedals; but these
arrangements were troublesome and incapable of general practical adoption and
therefore could not fulfil the expectations raised.
A principal defect in all existing pedal mechanism of this kind has been the want
of a divided pedal arrangement which could be used by each of two performers, bass
and treble, when playing duets, and at the same time be so arranged that one
performer alone could use the entire mechanism, either coupled or divided, in rapid
succession without any previous preparation.
The said invention is illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings in which
Figures 1 and 2 show the improved pedal arrangement as applied to a grand
piano, and
Figure 3 the same as applied to pianos with dampers above, and Figure 4 a
detail view showing part of the damper mechanism and strings of the same piano.
The hammer-shifting or softening mechanism is preferably left undivided and is
operated by the half pedal A', whilst the half pedal A² raises the part e which
operates the damper for the lower part of the bass as shown most clearly in
Figure 4; this latter pedal A' may be brought into action at the same time as the
pedal A¹ because the lifting of the dampers of only a small portion of the deep
bass strings at the same time that the hammer-shifting or softening mechanism is
brought into action is sometimes desirable, as the beauty of tone produced by the
strings so treated is considerably increased, the said tone becoming thereby more
sustained and far reaching. The half pedals A' and A' may however be used
separately if and when desired. The divided loud pedal B enables the part c, and
with it the part e of the damper mechanism of the left hand side, to be raised by
the half pedal B₁, and the part d of the damper mechanism at the right hand side
to be raised by the half pedal B' while both halves can be used together as an
ordinary loud pedal. That is to say that the depression of the two half
pedals B' B together operates the damper mechanism for the whole width of the
piano so as to remove the dampers from all the strings at the same time either by
arrangements similar to those shown in Figure 4, or by any other suitable and well
known arrangements, while the depression of the half pedal B' only removes from
their strings the dampers which are operated by the parts cand e of the damper
mechanism and the depression of the half pedal B³ only removes from their strings
those dampers that are operated by the part d of the damper mechanism.
"
The left hand half pedal of the ordinary piano, Figure 3 for example, operates
the softening mechanism but the half pedal A² is connected with the parte of the
damper mechanism which only frees or undamps the very lowest strings which, by
reason of their resonance, are suited to take from the softer tones their inherent
dry character and to improve their tone as above described.
This divisible mechanism is used in exactly the same way as the loud mechanism
already described. The mechanical apparatus, by which the damper bar is raised
by the pedals, does not differ materially from that usually employed in pianoforte
mechanism. In grand pianos, for example, the said apparatus may be conveniently
arranged as shown in Figures 1 and 2 (Figure 2 being an underside view of the

page_text: instrument) levers a' and a transmitting the movement by means of the rods a
and b to the part e, of the damper mechanism while in the arrangement shown in
Figure 3 the movement is transmitted by means of the lever a and rod b.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
:-
First. A loud pedal mechanism divisible into bass and treble parts which consists
of the usual damper bar which serves for increasing and reducing the sound of the
entire piano but which damper bar is divided, and is operated by two pedals B' B*
grouped together in such a manner as to allow either pedal to be pressed down to
undamp either the bass or the treble, or both pedals to be pressed down
simultaneously with the same foot to undamp both bass and treble, in very rapid
succession, substantially as described in reference to the accompanying drawings.
Second. The combination with the soft pedal mechanism of a countertone
damper mechanism, a group of two pedals A' A' one of which pedals raises the
damper e from those lower strings which, by reason of their resonance, are suited
to take from the softer tones their inherent dry character, the other of which
pedals acts upon the softening mechanism, and both of which pedals are movable
together or separately substantially as described in reference to the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 26th day of February 1894.