Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/510

492 imported and made in this country about the time they came into use abroad. Timothy Gilbert, of Boston, introduced an improvement in the upright and its action in 1841, but it amounted to little. Jonas Chickering also paid some attention to the perfecting of the instrument, and many excellent uprights of his production may be found, but the public did not take kindly to them at the time. In addition to many minor inventions in the upright, he is said to have applied overstringing to them in 1851. But it was only after 1870 that the upright found any favor in this country.

The late C. Frank Chickering introduced some remarkable upright scales about 1870, having devoted much time and experiment to the perfecting of the instrument, and these were generally copied by competitors of less originality or spirit. Frederick Mathushek, previously mentioned, is also on record as having made some striking advances in the adaptation of the upright form to the popular demand. I have in mind the years preceding 1876. It would, however, be impossible to follow out in detail all the minor contributions made to the upright up to that year.

Excellent uprights are now manufactured by the leading firms, and in all may be found an average in the shape of improvements—the full iron plate in its most modernized form, overstringing with improved acoustic conditions, a good action well regulated, and almost every other feature that existing inventions warrant. But this is not to be interpreted as a declaration that further evolution is impossible. Meanwhile there are specialties in use in the instruments of some firms which I shall try to point out in a brief way. One of the most peculiar of these is the Mason & Hamlin system of tuning and stringing which they have introduced in all their pianos. Notwithstanding a disbelief freely expressed at the outset, their innovation has been, in fact, very successful. Instead of the conventional tuning-pin driven in a pin-block (known as the wrest-plank), they use a screw-headed blade, having a slot at one end for the string, and a screw at the other end by which it can be tightened. The principle is illustrated somewhat in a violin-bow. The blade runs in another slot to keep it from twisting, and the tension of the string is imposed upon a flange cast in the plate. This device is applied to their grands and uprights with most satisfactory results. Decker Brothers, Sohmer & Co., Steck & Co., Weber. Decker & Son, of New York, Hallett & Davis, Emerson Co., Miller & Sons, of Boston, and various other houses, also manufacture instruments with patented improvements, but though most of them are meritorious they are not revolutionary or striking. Behr Brothers, of New York, have, however, attracted much attention