US1073673A - Piano or other string instrument. - Google Patents

Description

F. FRANKEL. PIANO OR OTHER STRING INSTRUMENT.

I APPLICATION FILED JUNE 22, 1912.

1,073,673. Patented Sept. 23, 1913.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH C0 WASHINGTON n c FRIDOLF FRANKEL, 0F STOCKHOLIMQ SWEDEN.

PIANO OR OTHER STRING INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Lettrsiatenh 313 1113991 Sept. 23, 1913.

Application filed June 22, 1912. Serial No. 705,161.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRIDOLF FRANKEL, a subject of the King of Sweden, residing at Stockholm, in the Kingdom of Sweden, have invented new and useful Improvements in Pianos or other String Instruments, of which the following is a specification, reference be ing had to the drawings accompanying and forming a part hereof.

This invention relates to improvements 1n pianos or other string instruments in which music or sound is produced by vibrating strings or wires strung upon a sounding board. In such string instruments, for instance a piano, the strings are bent across a support or bridge resting upon the sounding board, and exert a pressure through the bridge against the sounding board in order that a good tone shall be obtained. While it is known from experience that the parts of the sounding board which belong to different string groups require different pressures, it will often occur that the pressure upon certain parts of the sounding board may be too strong or too weak. In either case the tone of the instrument is impaired; in the first case the tone will be dry and short, and in the second case sharp and thin. The consequence is that only a small number of all the pianos produced are really good or firstclass, the greater number being inferior.

The object of my invention is to obviate this difficulty, and to provide means for regulating the pressure against the different parts of the sounding board after the strings have been strung thereon, and thereby also regulate the tone of the piano. My invention consists mainly in providing means for adjusting the distance between the sounding board and the ends of the strings. This can be done, for instance, by attaching the end of the string in a groove formed at the upper end of an adjusting screw, which may be screwed into the string plate to a suitable depth.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 shows the customary manner of stringing the strings, Fig. 2 shows my improved arrangement, and Fig. 3 shows the above mentioned adjusting screw.

In the drawings 1 represents the string, 2 the iron string plate in which the strings are strung, 3 the sounding board, and 4 the bridge resting upon the sounding board against which bridge the strings press. One

end of the string is fastened to the customary tuning .pin 5 for stretching the string. According to the old arrangement in Fig. l the other end of the string is fastened to a stud 6 inserted in the iron string plate. According to my invention the said stud is replaced by an adjustable hitch pin 7, provided with a groove 8 in which the end of the string is attached. The hitch pin 7 is arranged to be screwed into the iron string plate 2 to a suitable depth, and in this man ner the distance between the plate and the string is adjusted so that the pressure of the string on the bridge 4 and the sounding board 3 may be increased or decreased, as desired.

It is a well known fact that as the instrument grows older the sounding board will sink byreason of the strong pressure from the strings, and as a result the tone becomes thin and sharp or as the time goes, the piano is played-out. All that is necessary is then to follow up with the adjustable hitch pins 7 in order to again obtain the same good, full and singing tone as when the instrument was new.

What I claim is:

1. In pianos or other string instruments the combination of a sounding board, a bridge thereon, a string arranged to press against the said bridge, an adjustable means applied at and acting exclusively on the end of the string lying nearest to said bridge for adjusting the distance between said end and the sounding board.

2. In pianos or other string instruments the combination of a sounding board, a bridge thereon, a string arranged to press against the bridge, means applied at one end of the string for stretching the string, and an adjustable means applied at the other end of the string for adjusting the distance be tween the sounding board and the end of the string. 4

8. In pianos or other strin instruments the combination of a sounding board, a bridge thereon, a string plate, a tuning pin secured therein, an adjustable hitch pin arranged to be screwed to a variable depth into the string plate, and a string attached with one end to the tuning pin and strung across the bridge and having the other end attached to the adjustable hitch pin so as to be adjustable to and from the sounding board.

4:. In pianos and other string instruments, the combination of a sounding board, a

bridge thereon, a string plate, a tuning pin being provided With a groove engaged by secured therein, an ad ustab1e 111tch-p1n arthe end of the strlng.

ranged to be screwed to a Variable depth into 7 the string plate, and a string attached With FRIDOLF FRANIXEL' one end to the tuning pin and strung across Witnesses the bridge and having the other end attached FREDR. NORDSJ6, to the adjustable hitch pin, said hit-ch pin AXEL JQHANSSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

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