Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/504

486 was never found applicable to the grand or upright, owing to their different construction, though the late C. F. Chickering took out a patent for a "circular scale" for the latter instrument in 1871.

The term "scale" in the technical vocabulary of the pianomaker means—superficially—the disposition of the strings; but it really means far more, for the scale draughtsman has to make radical changes in the case, action, structure of the plate, and other lesser features to correspond with any changes made in the arrangement or use of the strings. The Chickering "circular scale "' is regarded as a most important contribution by old pianomakers, though it was never carried beyond the square.

Loud Brothers, of Philadelphia, had in the mean time brought out and patented many features of moment, which gave impulse to other thinkers, but nothing of consequence comparable with Chickering's achievements. New York makers were not slow to see the advantage of the latter's plates, which were copied in various forms. A few of the more ingenious managed to use plates almost similar to Chickering's, without exposing themselves to legal proceedings. The "circular scale," being an unpatentable species of innovation, was, however, freely copied.

The most notable of the makers in New York around the "fifties" were the Nunns family and Bacon & Raven. The former introduced the French square action into this country, and are known to have brought forward some minor imjjrovements.

The next and most important advance in piano construction was overstringing. In the old system of stringing—which is yet in use among English makers—the strings throughout were placed almost parallel, in harp-fashion. In the illustration of a Chickering plate (Fig. 14), this method of string adjustment 7nay be seen. British and French makers yet stick to the old system to some extent, though they have adopted many of the progressive traits of American pianos. Even the eminent house of Broadwood & Son, London, still use the "flat scaling," as it is called, in preference to overstringing, on the ground that it yields a purer quality of tone. This is only a matter of opinion, however, about which the best makers and experts of Germany and this country differ. One thing, meanwhile, is indisputable—viz., that English pianos lack the power and resonance of American instruments, and would never stand this climate. They are constructed for sweetness and daintiness of tone rather than for volume. American pianos, on the other hand, possess a remarkable combination of all those qualities which are in the highest sense related to musical art.

Overstringing was anticipated about the beginning of the century by the elder Thomas Loud, but nothing came of his experiments. Overstringing—which means simply the crossing of