US371578A - Still well harcourt - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)v

" S. HARCOURT.

PIANO FORTE ACTION.

Patented Oct. 18, 1887.

N. PETERS. PMWLMmlv-lphn Within-tom DC UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STILLIVELL HAROOURT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE \V. WV.

, KIMBALL COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

PIANO-FORTE ACTION.

SIECIPI'C'A'I'ION forming part of Letters Patent No. 371,578, dated October '18. 1887.

Application filed May 31, 1887. Serial No. 289,809. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, STILLWELL HARooUR'I, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Piano-Forte Actions, of which the fol lowing is a specification.

' To obtain a quick-repeating action by the hammer, which will insure the sounding of the string with partial successive strokes of the key, such as areimparted in trilling,without preventing the escape of the jack from under the butt, when thatis necessary,isthe object of this invention, and I accomplish such object by the use of a light wire spring extending from the butt of the hammer to the jack, with one end secured in each. This spring, while it doesnot prevent-the separation of the butt and jack, yet brings them together again quickly, and when thekeyis repeatedlystruck between the upper and lower planes of its dip, as is the case in trilling, the spring maintains the proper relative position of the butt and jack to insure striking by the hammer with every impulse given to the key. All this will be better understood from the description given below when considered with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical sectionof a piano action to which my improvement has been applied. Fig. 2 is an enlarged section showing the manner of securing the spring in the hammer-butt, and Fig. 3 is a view of the spring detached.

are of the ordinary construction.

The spring, which forms the subject-matter of the invention,is shown at H. Its upper end is loosely inserted in a hushed opening, h, in the back side of the hammer-butt, assuming that the jack in its escape moves to the front side thereof, (see Fig. 2,) and its lower end is secured to the corresponding side of the jack, about midway of the latter, by means ofa hushed pin, t, passing through the jack and through a coil, j, in the spring, thejack being properly recessed to receive the coil. The lower leg, k, of the spring bears upon the surface ot'thejack. I- do not wish, however, to be limited to this particular method of securing the spring to the parts upon which it acts, except that it is essential that the spring be sufficiently long between the point where it is secured to thejack and the point where itbears upon the butt to give it the character required for the work it performs-that is to say, said spring should yield very readily at the start of the jacks escape, so as not to interfere with that operation, and it should at the'same time possess all the strength requisite to quicken thejacks return to position under the butt. A short spring would be apt to seriously interfere with and often wholly prevent'thejacks escape, even if made of the lightest wire capable of any usefuleffect inhastening the return. It will be seen that this spring, which is preferably oflight wire,will tend with gentlepressure to keep the butt andjaek in operative position at all times when they are not positively separated by the stop 6, and hence secures quick-repeating action by the hammer under SUCCGSSlXO strokes of the key.

I am aware that various methods have been adopted to secure the same end which I accomplish by my invention; but the means used by me are very different and much simpler than those heretofore employed.

I claim- In combination with a hammer and jack of v

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