Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/732

720 the tuning, and another problem, 'compensation,' received even more attention than 'resistance' had done. To solve this a young Scotch tuner, named Allen, employed at Stodart's, set himself; and with the fervour proverbial in the youth of his country, he soon succeeded in producing a complete and satisfactory upper framing of hollow tubes in combination with plates of iron and brass, bound together by stout wooden crossbars, the whole intended to bear the pull of the strings, and to meet, by give-and-take, the variations in the length of the wires, due to alteration of temperature. The patent (No. 4431) was taken out by William Allen and James Thorn (who supplied the necessary technical knowledge of pianoforte making); it is dated Jan. 15, 1820, and the exclusive right to use it was acquired by Messrs. Stodart to the great advantage of their business. The accompanying diagram of a Stodart pianoforte with Allen's framing, shows the aim and completeness of this remarkable invention, from the inventor's point of view.

But tension soon asserted itself as more important than compensation, and a rigid counterpoise to it by means of metal still presented itself as the problem for solution to James Broadwood, who had, years before, initiated the idea; and we learn from Mr. Henry Fowler Broadwood ('Times,' May 10, 1851) that Samuel Herve, a workman em ployed by his father, in vented in 1821 the fixed stringplate, in that year first applied to a Square piano of Broadwood's. From 1822 to 1827 James Broadwood tried various combinations of the stringplate and tension bars, and in the latter year permanently adopted a system of solid metal bracing (Patent No. 5485). The tension bars not having been patented had been adopted by other makers, and in 1825 Pierre Erard had in his turn patented a means of fixing the tension bars to the wooden braces beneath the soundboard by bolts passing through holes cut in the soundboard (Patent No. 5065) [App. p.748 "add that Pierre Erard had patented a system of fixed iron bars in Paris in 1822. He could not do so in London, being barred by Stodart's (Thorn & Allen's) patent. Stodart refrained from opposing the Broadwoods when James Shudi Broadwood took out his patent for stringplate and bars in 1827. The writer had this particular information from Mr. Joseph Ries who died in 1882". There is no mention of a stringplate in this patent, but a proposition is made to strengthen the case by plating it with sheet iron, which however came to nothing.

The William Allen who had invented Stodart's compensating framing did not rest satisfied with his first success, but invented, and in 1831 patented (No. 6140), a cast-iron frame to combine stringplate, tension bars, and wrestplank in one casting. Wooden bars were let into the wrestplank to receive the ordinary tuning-pins, which would not conveniently work in metal. This important invention did not find the acceptance which it deserved, and the compound metal and wood framing continued to be preferred in Europe under the idea that it was beneficial to the tone. But Allen's proposal of one casting had been anticipated in America by Alpheus Babcock of Boston, U.S., who in 1825 patented a cast-iron frame for a Square piano. The object of this frame, like that of Allen's first patent, was compensation. It failed, but Babcock's single casting laid the foundation of a system of construction which has been largely and successfully developed in America. Besides Allen and Babcock, who in those days of imperfect communication are hardly likely to have known of each other's attempts, Conrad Meyer of Philadelphia claims to have invented the metal frame in a single casting in 1832. Whether Meyer was aware of the previous efforts of Allen and Babcock or not, he has the merit of having made a good Square piano on this plan of construction in 1833. The frame of it is represented below. This instrument, which the writer saw and tried at Paris in 1878, was exhibited when first made at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, and was sold; but Messrs. Meyer bought it back in 1867 and exhibited it in the Centennial Exhibition in 1876, and again, as mentioned, in the Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1878. of Boston in 1837 improved the single casting by including in it the pinbridge, and damper socket-rail, a construction which he patented in 1840. Chickering subsequently devised a complete frame for grand pianos in one casting, and exhibited two so made at the Great Exhibition of 1851. On the same occasion Lichtenthal of St. Petersburg exhibited two grand pianos 'overstrung,' that is, with the longest bass spun-strings stretched obliquely over the longest unspun ones, a method that is now very well known and extensively adopted but the advantages of which have hitherto been impaired by inequality in the scale, invention of overstringing has more than one claimant, amongst others the ingenious. We have found no earlier date for it than 1835, when, well known in connection with the flute, contrived an overstrung square, and an overstrung cottage piano, and had them made in London by Gerock of Cornhill. In the next year, 1836, John Godwin patented (No. 7021)