A NEW OR IMPROVED KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hubert Cyrille Baudet, of 2, Rue Sainte Appoline,
Paris, in the Empire of France, Mechanician, for the Invention of
"A NEW OR IMPROVED KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT."
Sealed the 30th January 1866, and dated the 5th August 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hubert Cyrille Baudet at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th August 1865.
I, HUBERT CYRILLE BAUDET, of 2, Rue Sainte Appoline, Paris, Empire of
France, Mechanician, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A NEW OR IMPROVED KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT," to be as follows :-
My Invention consists in the employment of strings made of steel wire,
similar to those used in pianofortes, but coated with lead or other materials to
give them weight, the lead or other material being covered with cotton or
other substance to give the strings a good sound. The strings are provided
with what I term "locks" (mèches) or appendices placed perpendicularly to
the said strings,and about the height at which the hammers strike the strings
of the piano. These locks are, by preference, made of hair; in the bass
there are, say, 70 hairs diminishing successively to six. The locks may
however be made of silk, or metallic thread, or other material found con-
venient; each of them, when the note to which it corresponds is required to
speak is taken between a cylinder and a roller, and the end opposite the
י.n

page_text: strings must not pass the part where the roller touches the cylinder. In the
four upper octaves there are 1, 2, and 3 strings, but there is only a lock for
each
group, in order to maintain the harmony. The friction cylinder, as well
as the rollers, may be made of any material considered sufficiently strong, and
is or are fitted with felt, leather, skin, or other substances capable of receiving
colophony; in other respects the cylinder and rollers which are acted on and
under the command of the keys of the instrument may be made of wood
without lining.
The accompanying Drawings illustrate how the Invention may be carried
into effect.
In Figure 1 the string a is provided with a lock a'; the two cylinders b
and c have a continuous rotary motion imparted to them by means of one or
two pedals worked by the feet of the performer or otherwise.
There is a
roller din front of each string or group of strings, and it or they receive a
vertical motion by means of a stop f, to cause the roller d to come in contact
with the cylinder c, and to press the lock a¹ between it and the cylinder b; as
the roller is drawn by the rotary motion of the long cylinder c, it follows
that the lock is excited by the motion of the cylinder b and roller dand which
excites the string a; as this string is stretched vibrationsareproduced whereby
the desired notes are sounded as if a viclin bow made the strings vibrate.
An instrument containing the same number of notes as a piano being con-
stracted as described, it will be seen that music may be produced almostin a
similar manner to that on a piano, the distinctive feature of my Invention
consisting in the employment, in combination with strings, of an appendix
which I call a lock, capable of being made of any material or materials suitable
for communicating a vibrating motion to strings producing the desired notes.
In order to communicate the continuous rotary motion to the cylinders b
and c, I employ the arrangement shown in side view at Figure 2, and in front
view at Figure 3. The pedal gis jointed at g' and the other end carries the
string passing round the loose pulley is the other end of this string is hooked
to the end of a helical spring attached to a fixed part of the instrument. On
the axis of the pulley i there is another pulley g, keyed on the shaft, and in
the throat of which an endless string k passes, which also passes round the
pulley m, the axis of which carries a second pulley, which receiving a rotary
motion from the pulley m, communicates its motion, through the endless
cord n, to the cylinders b and c, and the latter transmits it at the desired
time to the rollers d. There is a fly wheel o mounted on the shaft of the
pulleys i and q, as well as a lever p carrying a spring catch taking into the
throat of the pulley it, and forming part thereof, in such manner that as the

page_text: pulleys move so does the lever p, and consequently the shaft on which it is
keyed, but when the pedal ascends the helical spring; recalls the stringh, and
causes the pulleys i and i to rotate in the contrary direction, although the fly
wheel o continuos to cause the shaft to rotate in the same direction, an action
which is obtained by the contraction of the spring of the catch of the lever p,
and when the pedal y descends, its action causes the rotation of the flywheelo
to continue, as well as its shaft, always in the same direction. Keys may be
used for keeping the endless strings continually in a state of tension.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hubert Cyrille Baudet in the Great Seal PatentOffice on the
5th February 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HUBERT
CYRILLE BAUDET, of 2, Rue Sainte Appoline, Paris, Empire of France,
Mechanician, send greeting.
WHEREAS Hər most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Hubert Cyrille Baudet, Her special licence that 1, the
said Hubert Cyrille Baudet, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Hubert Cyrille Baudet, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT,"upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Hubert Cyrille Baudet, 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 I, the said Hubert Cyrille Baudet, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same -is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the

page_text: following statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
In those, musical instruments played with bows or sticks the strings are
touched transversely, that is, perpendicular to or at right angles or nearly so
to the strings; now in order to mechanically obtain this result it would at.
first be thought necessary to make the instruments very large, and require
much power to drive them. According, however, to my Invention the instru-
ments may be made of any desired size, the notes produced being always
regulated by the weight and length of the strings, notice being taken of other
considerations which Ishall explain, for in this new application the strings for
the bass are composed of steel wire as for pianos, on which lead is placed, in
order to increase the weight of the strings. I sometimes employ gut or other
material instead of lead, but to obtain a suitable touch. or sound for the string
I place cotton on the lead. The strings are provided with what I call "locks"
set perpendicularly to the said strings, and there is a lock. for each string or
group of strings. These locks are made of hair, silk, metallic thread, or other
suitable material; each of them when the note to which it corresponds is
required to speak is taken between a cylinder and a roller, and the end opposite
the strings must not press the part where the roller touches the cylinder. In
the four upper octaves there are 1, 2, and 3 strings, but there is only a lock
for each group in order to better maintain the harmony. In the bass the
lock is composed of, say, seventy hairs, and in the treble of, say, six hairs.
The friction cylinder, as well as the rollers, may be made of any material
considered sufficiently strong, and is or are fitted with felt, leather, skin, or
other substances capable of receiving colophony; the cylinder or the roller
may be made of wood or other material without lining.
The accompanying Drawings illustrate how the Invention may be carried
into effect.
In Figure 1 the string a is provided with a lock a¹, placed below the long
cylinder b; the two cylindersband c have a continuous rotary motion imparted
to them by means of one or two pedals worked by the feet of the performer or
otherwise. There is a roller din front of each string or group of strings, and
it receives a vertical motion by means of a key f; in this position the roller d
touches the long cylinder c, and compresses the lock a¹ between it and the
cylinder b; and as this roller d is drawn by the rotary motion of the long
cylindercit follows that the lock a' is attracted by the motion of the cylinder b
and roller d, and which excites the string a, but as this string is stretched
vibrations are produced, whereby the desired notes are sounded, as if a violin
bow. made the strings vibrate,

page_text: An instrument containing the same number of notes as a piano being con-
structed as described, it will be seen that music may be produced almost in a
similar manner to that on a piano. This instrument may be used in com-
bination with other musical instruments, such as the piano, organ, harmonium,
or it may be used alone; it may also contain one or two mechanical arrange-
ments with one or two pedals. The keys may be held to allow certain notes
to speak while others are played on, and the notes released by a movement
from the knee or hands.
The instrument may be fitted with one or several keyboards, placed in such
manner as to be able to play on all, one (for example) for the piano, the other
for the piano-violin. The two keyboards may be on the same side, or one in
front of the other.
In order to communicate the continuous rotary motion to the cylinders b
and c I employ the arrangement shown in side view at Figure 2, and in frout
view at Figure 3. The pedal g is jointed at y', and the other end carries the
string, passing round the loose pulley i; the other end of this string is hooked
to the end of a helical spring, attached to a fixed part of the instrument; on
the axis of the pulley i there is another pulley 2, keyed on the shaft, and in
the throat of which an endless string or wire / passes, which also passes
round the pulley m, the axis of which carries a second pulley, which receiving
a rotary motion from the pulley m, communicates its motion through the
endless cord n to the cylinders b and c, and the latter transmits it at the
desired time to the rollers d. There is a fly wheel o mounted on the shaft of
the pulleys i and q, as well as a lever p, carrying a spring catch taking into
the throat of the part, and forming part thereof, in such manner that as the
pulleys move so does the lever p, and consequently the shaft on which it is
keyed, but when the pedal ascends the helical spring j recalls the string, and
causes the pulleys i and i¹ to rotate in the contrary direction, although the fly
wheel continues to cause the shaft to rotate in the same direction, an action
which is obtained by the contraction of the spring of the catch of the leverp,
and when the pedal g descends, its action causes the rotation of the fly wheel o
of the shaft always in the same direction.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself to the
precise arrangement herein-before described, as the mechanism fortransmitting
the motion and the generalconstruction of the instrument maybe considerably
varied without departing from the essential features of my Invention, which
are, the use of the lock or appendix for transversely attacking the strings, and
causing them to vibrate by means of a keyboard, producing sounds resembling.

page_text: those obtained on the violin, and by the combination aforesaid of a novel
instrument, which I term "piano-violin," producing the lowest notes in
counter bass, and the highest violin notes, as well as all the notes of instru-
ments of this class; but I claim the construction, employment, and method of
action of musical instruments, substantially as herein-before described, and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hubert Cyrille Bandet, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the First day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
H. C. BAUDET. (L.S.)