US654715A - Piano. - Google Patents

Description

No. 654,7I5. Patented .luly 3l, |900.

. J. F. CNOVER.

PIANO.

- (Application mea sape. 28, 189s.)

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet I.

THE Noam: Ps'rfzns co. PHOTO-uwe.. wAsmNsrcN D c Patented lul-y3l, |900. J. F. CUNDVER.

PIANO.

(Application led Sept; 28, 189B.)

No. A654.7!5.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2. n

(No Model.)

Y? y Eff) No. 654,715. Patenta my 31, i900. J. F, CON-OVER. PIANO.

` (Application filed Sept. 28, 1898.) (No mnelf; s sham-sheet '3.

iwi

TH: Nomus Pneus co.. PgormLnmo., WASHINGTON. n. c.

NiTn STATES .PATENT Ormes.

JAMES F. CONOVER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PIANd.

SPECIFICATION fouling part if Letters Patent No. 654,715, ated July s1, 1900. Appunti@tieasepteitems,189s. startnummer?. ditmaal.)

To @ZZ 'whom it may concern,.- p

Be it known that I, JAMES F. CoNo'vER, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Chiments in the construction of the strain-sup-- porting parts of a piano and also to the means of adjusting and securing the interior parts of the piano within the case. The pianostrings when under tension impose a great strain upon their fastenings and also upon the means for supporting the parts to which the strings are secured. In the earlier forms of piano construction the frame or strain supporting member was made of wood. In the evolution of the instrument an iron string plate or frame was adapted, secured upon the wooden frame, and by this means it became possible to increase the tension of the strings, and thereby enlarge the tone. Thus an iron plate or frame is used, backed and reinforced by heavy beams of wood, constituting the wooden frame. This wooden frame is securely glued and fastened permanently and firmly to the necessarily-heavy end pieces of the case, these two end pieces unitedly assisting in supporting the string-plate and resisting the increased strain. vThis means of supporting the string plate or frame has not proved satisfactory, owing to the unequal eX- pansion and contraction of the wood and iron under varying temperatures. This construction also renders it necessary to secure the internal parts within the interior of la nished case, and thus the work of action-finishing, action regulation and timing can only be done after the long and elaborate process of nishing the case has been completed. It also renders any change or substitution of cases impracticable.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a metal supporting-frame of such a construction as to withstand that great strain of the strings tending to buckle or twist the frame, which shall hold the wrest-pin or tunin g-pin block from distortion under the strain of the strings and which shall also afford a solid foundation for the sounding-board and inclose both the sounding-board and tuningpin block, thereby shielding them from injury, and accomplish these ends without employing the heavy wooden supporting or backing frame hitherto used. My invention in this connection consists in a double or duplex string-frame of a construction hereinafter described, between the two parts or members of which the sounding-board is positioned and secured.

i Y My invention has a further object in view to provide means whereby my improved duplex frame, with strings attached, containing and holding the sounding-board and tuningpin block, may be connected to and with the key-bed to provide a structure capable of support entirely independent of the case, whereby the work of action iinishing,regulating,and

tuning may progress simultaneously with the work of finishing the case, thereby effecting a v -described, reference being now had to the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure lis a front elevation of my improved string-frame with the sounding-board and wrest-plank or tuning-block adjusted in position between the two parts of said frame. Fig. 2 is a top edge view of the front plate of the string-frame, which front plate carries the strings. Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the back plate of the string-frame. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view on the line l l of Fig. 3, partly broken away. Fig. 5,v is a side elevation of the duplex string-frame, the supporting-legs being shown by'dotted lines. Fig. 6 is a vertical sectionalview on the line 2 2 of Fig. l, showing the manner of securing the two parts of the duplex. frame together, with the sounding-'board between them, and also the manner of holding the wrest-plank IOO or tuning-pin block in position. Fig. 7 is a plan View in detail, showing the construction of the key-bed. Fig. 8 is a detailed section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 5. Fig. t) is a detailed sectional view on the line l 4 of Fig. 7.

I will iirst describe the construction of the two parts of the duplex iron string-frame and then point out the way in which they are held together, and also the means for holding the sounding-Aboard and tuning-pin block in position.

The front plate or member of the stringframe A is designated at B, Figs. l and f3, and comprises what may be termed the body or main portion B2 and the downward extension B3, which latter projects below the key-bed when adjusted in position thereon. This front plate isl eut away at its extreme upper portion to provide means of access to the wrest-plank or tuning-pin block D from in front of the string-frame A. The tuningpin bleek is secured in a nia-nner about to be described.

In Fig. 3 the back plate E is shown having the outline and shape of the front plate A and comprising the body portion E2 and the extension EB. The front plate B has a supporting-flange l), extended from its rear side, Figs. 2 and (S, and the back plate E has a supporting-flange t7, extended transversely along its front surface. This back plate also has a marginal flange e about its extension E3. The two plates B and E are secured together, with the sounding-board G between them, by means of boltsff, Fig. 6, the sounding-board having an outline similar te that of the plates and fastened to the back plate E by means of screws g, Fig. 8, penetrating 'the lining lo of the sounding-board. rlhe wrestplank or tuning-pin bleek D is held in place between the two plates by means of the supporting-flange l) on the front plate B and the transverse flange d on the back plate E, Figs. 5 and G. The marginal flange e on the back plate E, together with the lugs 7.; 7e, serves to keep the two plates the required distance apart and prevents buckling or twisting, and as the flange c and lugs 7.'. are wider than both the flange Z) and the flange d the latter do not meet together when the bolts j are adjusted, and therefore the tuning-pin block D is firmly compressed between the plates and held upon said flanges bythe bolts. As the front plate B is open at its upper portion, Fig. l, access may be had tothe tuningpins j of the strings ll from the front of the string-frame A.. The key-bed J is cut out, as shown in Fig. 7, and it is screwed to the duplex string-frame A by means of bolts on m, which clamp the key-bed at the front to the rim n and lugs p 79 of the front plate B, and to a flange g on the bach of the baclr plate E, Figs. 6 and Q. Thus the flange e and the lugs /t' k, bearing upon the front plate, when the front and back plates are bolted together serve to stiften and reinforce the string-frame and render it impossible to buckle or twist the frame under the strain of the strings. By this means the heavy wooden backing frame is dispensed with and a complete metal stringframe is provided.

and securely between the two plates and,with the sounding-board, is inclosed between the plates and protected from injury.

lVhen, the string frame containing the psounding-board and tuning-pin block is se cured to the key-bed and the whole unitary structure supported temporarily, the work of action finishing, regulating, and tuning may progress independent of the case, which is not possible in the present forms of construe` tion, in which itis necessary to securely fasten the interior mechanism and structure within a finished case and then perform the work of action finishing, regulation, and tuning.

The case may be secured upon the interior structure by bolts or screws in any suitable manner.

Having thus described my invention, what l claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. ln a piano a duplevh er doublehstring frame, comprising a back plate having a main or body portion and an extension therefrom, a front plate also having a main orbody por tion and extension therefrom, a soundingn board between said plates, means for seeur ing said plates together and a marginal web on one of said plates projecting angularly therefrom to meet the opposite plate and form a marginal casing to the sounding-board.

2. ln a piane construction, a duplex. frame having a main or body portion and an entension therefrom, the body portion projecting on either side of the extension to form shoulders, a hey-bed secured to said shoulders and cut away to admit the extension and support ing-legs secured to the lreybed to support the frameand other parts of the piano from the floor independently of the ease.

3. ln a piano construction, a string-frame comprising a front plate and a back. plate, which said plates are connterparts in margin nal outline and each consisting` of a body porn tion and an extension therefrom, shoulders formed on either side of the plate, a sounding-board and tuning-pin block held. between said plates, which latter are bolted together, a key-bed secured to the shoulders and sup porting-legs secured to the key-bed to sup-A port the parts from the floor independently of the case.

4:. In a piane, a duplex or double-string frame comprising a front plate and a bach plate each having a main or body portion and an extension therefrom forming shoulders, means for securing said plates together and a marginal web on one of the plates project" ing anguiarly therefrom to meet the opposite plate and form a m arginal easing to the sound ing-board.

The tuning-pin block is held very firmlyV IOO IIO

IZO

5. In a piano, a, string plate or frame comparts of the piano are supported from the prising in construction a main or'body porioor independenty of the case. 1o tion and an extension therefrom, the body In testimony whereof I affix my signature portion projecting on either side of the exin presence of two witnesses. Y

5 tension to form shoulders, a key-bed secured JAMES F. CONOVER.

under said shoulders and out away to admit Witnesses:

the extension and supporting-legs secured to CHAS. C. BULKLEY, Jthe key-bed whereby the frame and all the A. MILLER BELFIELD.

Images