CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTES OR SIMILAR STRINGED INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Henry Lakin, of the Town and County of
Aberdeen, North Britain, Music Seller, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTES OR
SIMILAR STRINGED INSTRUMENTS."
Sealed the 6th July 1865, and dated the 17th January 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Henry Lakin at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th January 1865.
I, FRANCIS HENRY LAKIN, of the Town and County of Aberdeen, North
Britain, Music Seller, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND CONSTRUCTION OF PIANO-
FORTES OR SIMILAR STRINGED INSTRUMENTS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to a novel method of and means for tightening or
slackening the strings, wires, or cords of pianofortes or similar stringed instru-
ments, and is designed for the purpose, first, of effecting the more ready and
accurate tuning of the instrument; secondly, of enabling stronger and thicker
strings to be used, whereby greater fulness of tone is obtained; thirdly, of
enabling the "key board" to be extended beyond the usual compass.
My improvements consist in the novel application and use of short bell-
crank levers, each having a fulcrum at about its corner or angle; one end of
the levers is slightly hooked, and over which one end of the strings is looped,
the opposite and longer end of the lever being flat and acted upon by screws

page_text: which raise or depress the end of the lever to tighten or loosen the string
attached, the opposite end of the string being secured to a pin as usual. The
screws pass through nuts in a metallic plate extending on the framework or
"bracings" at right angles to the strings, and the levers are held in position
or divided and supported laterally by a metallic comb also fixed to the
"bracings." Thus by turning the screws the pitch of the string may be
raised or lowered by the use and arrangement of such mechanism instead of
the ordinary screwed pins, space is economized, and stronger strings than
usual may be used.-
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Henry Lakin in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
HENRY LAKIN, of the Town and County of Aberdeen, North Britain, Music
Seller, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Francis Henry Lakin, Her special license that I, the said Francis Henry
Lakin, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Francis Henry Lakin, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time, and in 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PIANOFORTES OR SIMILAR STRINGED
INSTRUMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Francis
Henry Lakin, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that J, the said Francis Henry Lakin, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
My Invention relates to a novel method of and means for tightening and
slackening the strings, wires, or cords of pianofortes or similar stringed
instruments, and is designed, first, for the purpose of effecting the more ready
and accurate "tuning" of the instrument; secondly, of enabling stronger and
thicker strings to be used, whereby greater fulness of tone is obtained; and,
thirdly, of enabling the "key board" to be extended beyond the usual
compass.
My improvements consist in the novel application and use of short bell-
crank levers, each having a fulcrum at about its corner or angle; one end of
the levers is slightly hooked, and over which one end of the string is looped,
the opposite and longer end of the lever being flat and acted upon by screws
which raise or depress the end of the lever to tighten or loosen the string
attached, the opposite end of the string being secured to a pin as usual. The
screws pass through nuts in a metallic plate extending on the framework or
"bracings" at right angles to the strings, and the levers are held in position
or divided and supported laterally by a metallic comb also fixed to the
"bracings." Thus by turning the screw the "pitch" of the string may be
raised or lowered by the use and arrangement of such mechanism instead of
the ordinary screwed pins, space is economised, and stronger strings than
usual may be used.
By the novel application and use of the bell-crank levers acted upon by
the screws or other equivalents, and the general arrangement exhibited, I am
enabled to employ stronger and thicker strings or wires, and also to use
strings of a greater length between the "bridges;" for example, instead of
making the string of the pitch note C on the third space of the treble cliff
eleven and a half or twelve inches long, as at present, the aforesaid arrange-
ment will enable it to be used fifteen inches long and upwards, and all other
strings in proportion, which will improve the quality of tone, and the key-
board may also be extended thereby beyond the usual scale or compass.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings, similar letters of
reference being marked upon corresponding parts of the apparatus.
Fig. 1 represents an end sectional view of a pianoforte; a, a¹, being the
framing, and b is a metallic plate, angular in shape, and extending the entire
breadth of the pianoforte, which I attach to the bracings or upper part of the
piano c by screws or other metallic bindings. In this metallic plate the
screws or turning pins d for every string are arranged so as to act upon

page_text: the upper arm of the metallic levers e, one lever being required for each
string; these levers may be of various shapes and sizes, and are placed on a
metallic base or fulcrum f, slotted or otherwise formed to receive and hold
them. The upper arm of each lever is kept in position by being inserted in
the grooved or slotted under sido 9 of the metallic angle plate, or it may be
kept in position by a metallic comb being fixed to the angle plate or to the
bracings of the piano either under or above the screws or tuning pins between
the openings of which comb the levers would move. To the lower arm of
each lever the string his attached, and by the screw or tuning pin acting on
the upper or longer arm of the lever the tension of the string is regulated,
and either raised or lowered in pitch of tone with great nicety and certainty.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I claim the application of the levers to which the strings are
attached in combination with the screws or other equivalents for actuating the
same so as to regulate the tension of the strings, and for the purpose of
enabling stronger strings to be employed, and of greater length between the
"bridges," whereby also an extended compass may be obtained, as herein-
before described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Henry Lakin, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.