US100948A - Improvement in iron frames for upright pianos - Google Patents

Description

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GEORGE STECK, OFNEW YORK, N. Y.

Letters Patent No. 100,948, dated March 15, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN IRON FRAMES IOR UPRIGHT PIANOS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent. and making part of the same To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE S'rncK, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented au Im proved Iron Frame for Upright Piano-Fortes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact desciiption thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings making part of this specification- Figure I being a front elevation of the frame.

Figure II, avertical transverse section of the same.

Figure III, a horizontal transverse section thereof.

Figure IV, a rear elevation of the frame.

Like letters designate corresponding parts in all of the figures.

My invention consists incertain improvements in the construction of and attachments to au upright piano-forte iron frame, whereby it is made complete and independent in itself, and may be inserted in the case of the instrument and withdrawn without disturbing any part, and by which the instrument is iliade much lighter and cheaper, with equal strength and durability.

The frame, having the proper form to receive the strings, is la. light skeleton or open frame, and consists of a broad plate, A, at tle top, side uprights B B', and bottom (l, the top and bottom being connected by oblique brace-ribs D 1) D, extending in the direc tion of the strings, and by an oblique counterbrace, E.

Attached to one side and to the bottom C, at one end, is a plate, F, in which the pins of the small i strings or wires are inserted. The frame, thus formed,

is cast all in one piece.

My improvements are made in connection with this front frame, as follows:

Behind the top plate A of the frame, in a recess therein, so as to bear upon a ledge, s, on the back side of the frame, is secured the wrest-plank G.

Then, upon the back ofthe mest-plank are secured the upper ends of a. set of metallic braces, H H H, which extend downward across the back side of the frame obliquely in the same direction as and directly behind the brace-ribs D I) D of the frame.

The wrest-plank projects back from the fi'ame, so as to separate the braces H H H sufliciently from the fiume to give the desired leverage of strength, and to furnish room for the admission of the sounding-board between them and the frame; and in order to hold the braces away atan equal distance from the frame at the bottom, raised bearings or projections :t z a: are

cast upon the back sides of the brace-ribs D DI)` to which the lower ends of the braces are secured by bolts or pins.

These braces hook or clamp around the bottoms of the projecting bearings w x, as shown at c, Fig. II, and also around the top of the wrest-plank Gf as shown at w in the saine figure, .there being suitable metallic blocks or strips m nt nt i serted in the wrestplauk for the hooks or heads of the braces to bear on, as represented.

The braces arc secured by bolts to tbe wrest-plank and front frame, as shown. A similar brace, H', may extend down behind the end B' in a vertical direction, as shown in Fig. IV.

A rabbet, n, is cut in the corner of the wrcst-plank to receive the edge of the sounding-board for fastening the same in its place between the front frame and the rear braces.

This construct-ion and arrangement ofrear clampbraces, in combination with the front frame, prevent the warping or yielding of the lframe to the force of the tuned strings wit-l1 the lightest possible construe tion, the braces being so applied as to act most etliciently to strengthen the frame.

The construction is simple and easy; and, altogether, not only is the whole instrument made much ligb ter thereby, but very materially cheaper than other wnst-ructions, with equal strength and durability.

The frame is entirely complete and independentin itself, and it has two lugs, a, (t, projecting from the sides near the bottom, by which the frameis supported in the case of the instrument, as they simply rest on bearings or blocks therein. Then the top is secured by bolts or screws in the upper part of the case. Thus it iseasily secured in place, and can be removed for repairs or other purposes with great facility without disturbing tbe rest of the instrument.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isf 1. The arrangement, in combination, of the iron frame A B C D, tbe wrest-plank Gr,l and the rear c1amp-braces H H, so that the wrest-plank forms the intermediate connection between the frame and the upper ends of the braces, and the sounding-board is admitted between the said trame and'braces, substantially ashercin specified.

2. The lugs a ay on the sides of the frame, for the purpose specified.

Witnesses HENRY E. konnen, J onsT CHRIST.

GEORGE s'rEcK.

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