IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANO FORTES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hesketh Hughes and William Thomas
Denham, both of Cottage Place, City Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PIANO FORTES."
Sealed the 30th November 1858, and dated the 31st May 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hesketh Hughes
and William Thomas Denham at the Oflice of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 31st May 1853.
We, HESKETH HUGHES and WILLIAM THOMAS DENHAM, both of
Cottage Place, City Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PIANO FORTES to be as follows:-
The object of our Invention is to produce a lasting and powerful
sound in pianofortes, or to cause a note or notes to sound until the
finger is withdrawn therefrom; and this we effect by means of a cam
wheel, or similar contrivance, which strikes the bottom of two hammers,
one after the other, and brings them successively into action upon two
wires of equal sound. Immediately before the effect produced by one

page_text: blow of one hammer ceases, the other hammer is brought into play, and
as long as the finger is kept on the note the hammers continue striking.
We cause the cam wheel to rotate by means of a drum or pulley,
worked by a treadle put in motion by the foot or feet of the performer,
or by any other convenient means. We sometimes employ only one
hammer.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Hesketh Hughes and William Thomas Denham
in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the 30th November 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
HESKETH HUGHES and WILLIAM THOMAS DENHAM, both of Cottage
Place, City Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Hesketh Hughes and William Thomas Denham,
Her special licence that we, the said Hesketh Hughes and William
Thomas Denham, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Hesketh IIughes and William Thomas Denham,
our 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANO FORTES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Hesketh Hughes and William Thomas Denham, or
one of us, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, 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

page_text: Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Hesketh Hughes and William
Thomas Denham, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, 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):
Our Invention consists in the production of a lasting and powerful
sound in piano fortes by causing the note or notes to sound until the
fingers are withdrawn from the keys; this we effect by means of cam
wheels or similar contrivances, which act upon levers thrust in beneath
the rods of the hammers when the key or keys is or are depressed.
We place two hammers to the wires of each note, and so arrange
the
cam wheels that the hammers shall be brought successively into action
upon the wires, so that immediately before the effect produced by one
blow of one hammer ceases the other hammer is brought into play, and
as long as the finger is kept on the note the hammers continue striking.
In some cases we use but one hammer, when it would be necessary
that the beat of such hammer should be materially quickened in order
that the interval of time elapsing between the beats should affect as
little as possible the sound of the note. The Drawings hereunto
annexed represent a cross section of a piano forte constructed according
to our said Invention. The arrangement of the casing of the instru-
ment and the disposition of the keys may be the same as those in
existing piano fortes. A, A, is the casing; B, the keys; and C, the
wires; D, is an upright lever, centred at a, to the key, and rising with
it when the note is required to be struck. A similar lever is centred
in each of the keys. These levers have centred in the top
each of the two horizontal levers, similar to that shewn at E.
shaft which runs from end to end of the instrument, and has keyed
upon it a number of cams G, one to each of the levers E. These cams
are arranged in pairs, but in such a manner that the risings of one of
the cams shall be opposite the hollows of the other. II, H, are other
horizontal levers, centred at c, in the back board I, and arranged one to
each of the levers E, upon the ends of each of which they rest.. K, is
part b, of
F, is a

page_text: a series of vertical rods, attached at their lower ends to each of the
levers II, and connected at their upper parts by pieces of leather d, to
the hammers L. These hammers are centred upon pins e, in the back
board I, and there are two hammers to each note. M, is a front board
fixed in each end of the instrument; and N, a similar board, centred
upon pins f, in each end of the piano, so that when it is acted upon by
the wedge O, placed between it and the board M, through the medium
of the connecting rods P, and treadles Q, it shall be thrust forward or
drawn back by the springs 9, and thereby cause the note to be either
piano" or "forte," as herein-after explained. The ends of the levers
D, and E, and also of the board N, have formed upon them cams or
risings. R, is a pulley wheel, centred upon a spindle h, beneath the
key board, and caused to revolve by means of the treadle S, connecting
rod T, and crank U, and thereby to give motion to the shaft F, and
cams G, through the intervention of the strap V, and pulley W. The
action of this arrangement is as follows:-Upon the key being depressed
the levers D, are raised, when the cams upon their upper parts come in
contact with the cam on the board N, whereby the levers E, are thrust
backward until their cams come within the action of the cams G, when
they are caused to alternately rise and fall, and communicate a similar
action to the levers H, and rods K, and through them to the hammers,
which are thereby caused to alternately strike the wires and produce a
continuous sound as long as the fingers are kept upon the keys. The
cams G, are caused to revolve during the performance upon the instru-
ment by the foot of the performer acting upon the treadle S. When
it is required to produce a "piano" or "forte" sound the foot or feet
of the performer is or are placed upon either of the treadles Q, or X,
so as to draw down or lift up the wedge O, and thereby to regulate the
thrust of the levers E, so as to bring them more or less into the action
of the cams G, and thereby to regulate the force with which the
hammers strike the wires, and consequent increase or decrease in their
sound. Should it be desirable, the tone of the instrument may be
materially increased by an arrangement of four wires to each note, that
is to say, two wires to each hammer; and the piano sound may be pro-
duced by throwing one set of hammers out of gear with the cams by

page_text: means of a treadle and rods, so as to lift every alternate lever H, out of
action.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim,-
The several methods of and arrangements for the striking action of
piano fortes, herein-before described, and represented in the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, we, the said Hesketh Hughes and William
Thomas Denham, have hereunto sct our hands and seals, this
Thirtieth day of November, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-three.
HESKETH HUGHES. (L.S.)
W THO DENHAM.
(L.S.)
HESKETH HUGHES. (L.S.)
W THO DENHAM.
(L.S.)