AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF KEYS OF PIANOFORTES AND OTHER SIMILARLY KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel George Staight and Stephen Staight, of
Charles Street, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Manufacturers, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF KEYS OF PIANOFORTES AND OTHER SIMILARLY KEYED MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS."
Sealed the 21st November 1873, and dated the 31st May 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel George Staight
and Stephen Staight at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 31st May 1873.
WC, DANIEL GEORGE STAIGHT and STEPHEN STAIGHT, of Charles
Street, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturers, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF KEYS OF PIANOFORTES AND OTHER SIMILARLY KEYED
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS," to be as follows:
1
Our Invention consists in employing alabaster, gypsum, or other
variety of the sulphate of lime prepared for that purpose, neutral or

page_text: colored, or tinted, as a substitute for ivory or bone in the construction
of keys for pianofortes and other similarly keyed musical instruments.
The material is prepared by the application of heat and subsequent
immersion in white hard varnish or olive oil, or in other oleaginous fatty
or waxy matter, and then by repeated immersions in water heated for
the purpose, according to improved methods now in use to produce
from the same or similar substances imitations of ivory or bone.
The color or tint is imparted by charging the heated water in which
the substance is about to be immersed with any particular mordant, dye,
or color, according to the usual method of dyeing.
After the material is prepared as aforesaid we glue or fasten it to the
keyboard, and then cut it to its proper form or shape.
In cutting we do not cut the material of one uniform thickness as we
cut ivory keys, but vary the thickness to suit the nature of the
material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Daniel George Staight and Stephen Staight
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, DANIEL
GEORGE STAIGHT and STEPHEN STAIGHT, of Charles Street, Hatton
Garden, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Daniel George Staight and Stephen Staight,
Her special license that we, the said Daniel George Staight and Stephen
Staight, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said Daniel George Staight and Stephen Staight, 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, usc, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the

page_text: Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF KEYS OF PIANOFORTES AND OTHER SIMILARLY KEYED
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Daniel George Staight and Stephen Staight, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 we, the said Daniel George Staight and
Stephen Staight, do hereby declare the nature of the 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,
that is to say :-
:-
Our Invention consists in employing alabaster, gypsum, or other
variety of the sulphate of lime prepared for that purpose, neutral or
colored, or tinted, as a substitute for ivory or bone in the construction of
keys for pianofortes and other similarly keyed musical instruments.
The material is prepared by the application of heat, and subsequent
immersion in white hard varnish or olive oil, or in other oleaginous fatty
or waxy matter, and then by repeated immersions in water heated for
the purpose, according to improved methods now in use, to produce from
the same or similar substances imitations of ivory or bone.
The color or tint is imparted by charging the heated water, in which
the substance is about to be immersed, with any particular mordant, dye,
or color, according to the usual method of dyeing.
After the material is prepared, as aforesaid, we glue or fasten it to the
keyboard, and then cut it to its proper form or shape.
In cutting we do not cut the material of one uniform thickness as
we cut ivory keys, but vary the thickness to suit the nature of the
material.
Having thus described our Invention and means which we adopt in
carrying the same into effect, we would have it understood that what we
claim is, the employment of alabaster, gypsum, or other variety of the

page_text: sulphate of lime treated, substantially as described, as a substitute for
ivory or bone in the manufacture of keys of pianofortes and other
similarly keyed musical instruments.
In witness whereof, we, the said Daniel George Staight and
Stephen Staight, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this 5
Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
DANIEL GEORGE STAIGHT.
(L.S.)
STEPHEN STAIGHT.
(L.S.) |