A METHOD OF KEEPING IN TUNE VARIOUS MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS BY MEANS OF AN APPARATUS
Year: 1800

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
LITHERLAND, of Liverpool, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, Watch
Maker; send greeting.
: WHEREAS His present Majesty did, by His Letters Patent under-the
Great, Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the. Thirty-first day of July, last,
give and grant unto me, the said Peter Litherland, His especial licence
that I, the said Peter Litherland, during the term of years therein, men-
tioned, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A
METHOD OF KEEPING IN TUNE VARIOUS MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS BY MEANS OF AN
APPARATUS;" in which said Letters Patent there is containeda, proviso,, obliging
me, the said Peter Litherland, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months after the date of the said recited Letters-Patent,
as in and by the same may, more fully appear.
J.....
NOW KNOW YE, (that in compliance with the said proviso, I;, the: said.
Peter Litherland; do hereby declare that my said - Invention is described
in manner following, that is to say
The utility of my Invention is to keep perpetually, the tension of the strings
to all kinds of musical instruments strung with wire, gut, or any other
materials so that the same tones will be produced at all times notwithstanding
the expansion and contraction of the strings by heat and cold, ¡or from
atmospherical variations, with respect to moisture and dryness, or any alteration

page_text: that should take place in the figure of the instruments from those causes.
My methods of effecting this are as follows, viz-If by springs, I take any
elastic substance, simple or compound, that is sufficiently hard and capable of
being bent, cut, cast, or otherwise formed into a curve, and I make the same
into springs, helical, spiral, straight, or otherwise, as best suits my purpose for
keeping strings of instruments to their tension; if by weights, I take for a
piano-forte about twenty-four pounds of lead (more or less) or any other
matter, and suspend it by or to the end of the string of the instrument; and
to take off the friction I let it run in a pully fixed at a convenient place for
the purpose. Another method is to make use of a wheel and axle. By this
means the weight may be reduced to a smaller quantity; suppose eight
ounces, make the wheel forty-eight times the diameter of the axis and it will
produce the same effect as the twenty-four pounds (allowing for friction), by
wrapping the spring of the instrument round the axis, and attaching a small
line or cord to the circumferance of the wheel, and suspending to it eight
ounces to draw the string to its due tension; if the axis of the wheel be made
one-sixteenth of an inch diameter (which will be sufficiently strong if short),
the wheel may be two inches and an half diameter. As it is necessary here to
have a wheel and axle to each string, a frame of wood or metal must be
constructed for the purpose, and fixed at the most convenient part of the
instrument; but these would vary so much on account of the many different
sorts of instruments, it will be unnecessary to give any particular discription, as
it would depend upon or be governed in a great measure by fancy. Another
method is by applying the arm of a lever to the axle, or having the fulcrum
fixed at any other part as may be thought the most convenient for applying the
strings to, will produce the effect: let, for instance, the lever be twelve inches
long from the prop (more or less) and attach the string of the instrument to
the other end of the lever at half an inch from the prop or centre of motion,
and suppose the string to require twenty-four pounds weight to draw it to the
tension required, a one pound weight applied to the longer arm of such lever
will produce the same effect as before mentioned in the other cases. preceding,
allowing for friction, and this may be further reduced and rendered more
eligible by the application of a pully for the string to run in. An helical or
otherwise formed spring applied to the longer end of such a lever of a proper
strength will keep the string to its due and requisite tension, the same as in the
former case. But as springs singly without these appendages are the most port-
able, cheap, simple, and elegant, and answer with so great an exactness to all
kinds of instruments that have wires or strings of any sort, I generally chuse
to make use of them simply applied. The helical being uniform in its action

page_text: and the most applicable to all kinds of instruments of the above description,
and, moreover, on account of its figure, and being easily made of any size and
dimension, they are the most preferable of course. I make them of wire drawn
out of steel (as this metal produces the most elastic force when properly
tempered I prefer it to any other); this wire I coil round a cylinder of a size
such as I intend to make the springs, and after it is coiled to the length
wanted I bent outwards about half a turn at each end for a loop. My method.
of tempering them is as follows viz: I make them rather more than what
is usually termed a blood red heat and then immerse them in oil; if they are
hard, I lay them on a plate of iron with as much oil as will nearly cover them
and make them so hot as to turn them of a light brown colour; I find this to
be the best methed of tempering springs of every description for this purpose,
and if properly attended to they will never lose their elastic force. The
method of applying the helical springs to a grand piano-forte is between the.
bridge and the pin on which the string is wrapped, as being the most con-
venient; but if the frame is a parallelogram or oblong square, such as the
form of the common pianos, then at the contrary end of the instrument that
the keys are placed at, between the pin and the bridge. In consequence of
the strings of these instruments being so contiguous to each other, the springs
are required to be about one-tenth of an inch diameter, made of wire of about
a fortieth part of an inch thick, and coiled round a cylinder of the same size;
I make them of one, two, three, and four inches long, more or less as best
suits the instrument; I take of these springs and attach the string of the
instrument to one of the loops, and another piece of wire to the other loop, for
the use of wrapping round the pin, by which and with the aid of the turning.
key I can draw the string to the tension required; at the same time the
spring expands till it has acquired sufficient elastic force to give the string the
tone wanted. I use the same method of applying them to a harpsicord or
spinet as to a piano-forte, and I make the springs of such a size and strength
as best suits the thickness of the string and the space allowed to fix them; the
springs being smaller, the wire to make them of may be a size or two under
what is given for the above instruments. The application of an helical spring
to a pedal harp is in the following manner, viz: At the head of the instrument,
between the pin on which the string is wrapped, and the pin which determines
the length of the string, this is the space most proper to apply the springs;
the instrument should be so constructed as not to have less than three inches of
space for this purpose; and those now made without having so much space for
such purpose may have an ornamental appendage to the head above it, to admit
of the application and action of the springs without prejudice to the instrument.

page_text: The springs are made.in the same manner as mentioned above. The size for the
string for the lowest or bass note may be made of wire, about one-sixteenth of
an inch thick, and coiled round a cylinder. one-fourth of an inch diameter,
niore or less, as may be thought most proper; and for the string of the higliest
note the spring may be made of wire, about the one-thirtieth part of an inch
thick, and coiled round'a cylinder of one-fifth of an inch diameter; 'but for the
springs in the intermediate space between the highest and lowest note, the
wire to vary in thickness, to produce the different degrees of tension and effect;
as may be required; the string of the instrument to be attached to one loop of
the spring, and an extra piece to the other loop, for the purpose of wrapping
round the pin to draw up the string in the usual way. The place for applying 'the
helical spring to a violin, and every instrument of this "description and class!
is the space occupied by the tail piece; and as one much shorter than
common will answer without prejudice, and thereby leave sufficient room or
vacancy for the springs to act, I attach one end of the spring to such
shortened tail piece, and the string of the instrument to the other loop of the
spring, and by drawing up the string in the usual way the spring will
expand till it has acquired the tension wanted to give the string its proper
tone. For this instrument I make the springs of wire, about the 'fortieth part
of an inch thick, and coiled round a cylinder of one-eighth of an inch diameter,
and not less than two inches long. The springs for the violoncello are made of
wire, about one-sixteenth of an inch thick, and coiled round a cylinder of one-
fourth of an inch in diameter, and not less that four inches long; and for the
double bass viol the springs are made of wire, one-tenth of an inch thick, and
coiled round a cylinder of half an inch diameter. The manner of applying
the springs to these last instruments is the same as to the violin. The guitțar
will require springs nearly the same as to a violin, and as long as can be got in
the space between the bridge and the end of the instrument. The mandoline
will require springs made of wire, about the twentieth part of an inch thick,
and coiled round à cylinder of three-sixteenths of an inch, and as long as can
conveniently be got in the space between the bridge and the end of the
instrument. To all the above-mentioned instruments, strung with gut, the
springs must not come nearer the bridge than, about three-fourths of an inch;
and also observe, that the strings must not press the pin of the bridge too
much, if so, the springs would lose their effect, by not coming into action-so
freely; but the strings. pressing it with an angle of about one hundred and
seventy-six degrees, or bent from a right line at the bridge four degrees or
thereabouts, will permit them to slide with freedom, so that the springs will
have their full effect. There are many other instruments with which the

page_text: helical spring is applicable to not specified, as considering the above
Specification sufficient for those not mentioned. The above are the best
methods I know of applying the helical springs; and if any other kinds of
springs (or weights) should be more applicable than the helical, on account of
the figure of the instruments, I apply them as best suits their form and
dimensions. N.B.-All the above given proportions for different sorts of
instruments are the most proportionate, but may be deviated from where it is
necessary; for a spring made of any given sized wire and coiled round a
cylinder of a given dimension will vary its elastic force in proportion as the
cylinder is increased or diminished in diameter; the cylinder being smaller, the
spring will be proportionally stronger, and vice versa.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Litherland, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twentieth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and one.
PETER LITHERLAND. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twentieth day of January,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Peter Litherland came before our
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in
that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Twenty-third day of January, in the year above written.