US2081704A - Upright piano - Google Patents

Description

May 25, 1937. H. R. HELLER 2,081,704

UPRIGHT P IANO Filed Aug. 16, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 1N ENTOR Z5 ATTORNEYS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 25, 1937. H. R. HELLER UPRIGH? PIANO Filed Aug. 1e. 193s INV a .b M M M f@ 4 .w 0 M M Il 4% w xiv Z M i.. H w ,m

INVENTOR ATTORNEYb May 25, 1937. H. R. HELLER 2,081,704

UPRIGHT PIANO Filed Aug. 16. 1955 I5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR CID ' ln upright pianos.

Patented May 25, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

My present invention relates to improvements The invention modifies and converts an upright piano so that it has the appearance of a square piano or spinet. The construction not only lightens the appearance of the instrument and emphasizes its horizontal lines at the expense of its vertical lines, but also provides for the proper support of the piano on four legs. The construction enables the legs to be well spaced from the ends of the lower or depending portion of the piano case. Further the appearance is lightened and the tone is improved by narrowing the lower piano case, the sound-board and the piano-back below the keybed; also by there making the piano case shallower than in the standard upright piano. An improved disappearing fall-board construction is provided in connection with the foregoing cooperative therewith.

With these and other inherent objects and advantages in View, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which show for the purpose of illustrative disclosure a preferred embodiment of the invention, it being understood however that various changes may be made in practice therein within the scope of the claims without departing from my inventive idea.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front perspective view of the instrument with the case closed;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same with the upper and lower front panels removed together with the fall-board;

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the instrument;

Figs. 4 and 5 are fore and aft sectional views of the instrument, Fig. 5 being a partial duplicate of Fig. 4 with the difference that it shows the fall-board in its up position wherein it is concealed by the upper front panel; and

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic perspective view of certain parts shown in position for assembly; and

Fig. 'l is a horizontal sectional view partly in plan on the line 'I-I in Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, the piano there shown comprises a piano-back Iii', a soundboard I2, string-plate I4, piano-action I8, keybed I8, and key-board 20. The piano-back I0 and sound-board I2 are modied and narrowed below the key-bed I8 to substantially the extent permitted by the string-plate I4 which, as will be seen from Figs. 2 and 3, is much narrower at the bottom than at the top. Thus the pianoshoulders I Ilc.

back I0 instead of being rectangular as in the standard upright piano is formed as shown in Figs. 3 and 6 with its lower part much narrower than its upper part, the ends Illa of its lower part being abruptly connected with the ends IIIb of the upper part by means of the horizontal Preferably the ends Illa of the lower part are concaved inwardly as shown.

The width and shape of the lower part of the sound-board I2 "conform to the piano-back which is another radical difference from the standard upright-piano wherein the sound-board is rectangular like the piano-backand extends for substantially the full-length of the plano both above and below the key-bed.

The piano-case comprehensively designated 22 is also narrowed below the key-bed and has or may have inwardly' concaved ends 22a to conform with the piano-back.

The string-plate, sound-board and piano-back are combined and secured together in accordance with standard upright piano construction.

The shoulders I0c of the piano-back rest upon end-beams 24 which in turn are supported by piano legs 26 so that preferably the bottom 22h of the piano-case is clear of the floor as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The cheeks 22o of the piano case are glued or otherwise suitably secured to the upper end portions of the pianoback in the position shown in Fig. 3. These cheeks also rest upon the end-beams 24 as shown in Fig. 3. The ends of the key-bed I8 also rest upon said end-beams. Fig. 6 shows how the keybed has each of its ends formed to be receivable into a recess 22d in the adjacent cheek-piece 22C. Screws 28 (Fig. 6) secure the cheek pieces to the key-bed. Other screws 30 secure the endbeams to the piano-back shoulders, and to the cheek pieces, Figs. 3 and 6.

The piano-legs 26 are preferably directly secured to the end-beams 24, so that in case a leg has to be replaced, it is easy to unscrew the endbeam carrying the broken leg and replace it with another with legs intact. This construction locates the piano legs, two on a side, well spaced laterally from the lower or depending portion of the piano case and gives a spinet appearance to the upright piano.

The key-board 20 and the piano-action I are supported in proper operating position relatively to the strings and other parts as in standard upright-piano construction.

The cheeks 22e of the piano case at the ends of the key-board are or may be higher than in the standard upright and preferably extend up to about the level oi the hammer-rail lill, but may be higher or lower lthan that, depending upon the effect and appearance desired. These cheelrs ille as shown in Fig'. l preferably entend at the sarne height clear to the bacli: of the case. 'lihe 'upper ends 22e of the piano case have a fore and ai't dimension at the 'top which is or may be substantially the same as the corresponding,r dirnen sion in the standard upright case. ll'he lorwar-d edges 22] of 'these ends preferably incline downm Wardly and forwardly to the oheelrs lille as shown in Figs. l, 6, etc. 34 is or niay be standard up-n right piano-lid hinged at its bach. The usual heya slip 36 is secured between the cheelrs lille the front ends of the lreys.

The upper front panel lill il'ie's. l, Ll and il) oi the piano case is hinged at its upper edge between the ends of the case, so that it can be swung .tor-- wardly and upwardly to enable the iall-board lto be received and concealed behind it, when the keyboard is exposed ior playing. The iall board as best shown in Figs. il and. 5 consists ot a verti cal panel 4ta and horizontal panel llllb hinged together at Alle. The horizontal panel lll-lib at its back edge dbd is pivotally supported between the cheek-picces- The hinge llllc between the panels permits them to be collapsed against each other. They can then be swung upwardly and rearwardly about the pivot 4nd into the position shown in Fig'. 5 wherein they rest against a projection or stop 42. To permit the foregoing, the iront pane1 38 is temporarily swunga outwardly and up-u wardly as shown in Fie'. 5. When returned to its normal position, this panel 3H eiiectiyely conceals the fall-board. The iront panel illi is or may be provided with a foot-portion 33a to form a musicrack or desk.

The piano-back, soundboard and piano-case are not only much narrower in lateral expanse below the key-bed than in the standard upright, but also the piano-case is Ithere much shallower in fore and aft direction than in the standard upright. This is best seen in the end elevation Fig. 4 Where the fore and aft dimension or depth of the lower part of the case is seen to be conn siderably less than the upper part of the case at the top.

The pedals are operatively supported on a lyre 44 as in a grand piano which is secured to the key-bed in front of the lower front panel 46 (Fig. l).

The effect of the entire construction as compared with the standard upright is to improve both the tone and the appearance.

There is a marked improvement in tone in the instrument as compared with the standard upright having the same sized string-plate. The tone is decidedly fuller and more sustained. This is accounted lor by the narrower sound-board and piano-haelt construction below the lrey-bedills-o the narrower and shallower lower piano-caso probably contributes to the improved tone by producing a smaller chamber which is more reinforcing to the tone. .also the fact that the bottom of the piano case and the contained construction are preferably supported free oi the door is believed to improve the tone.

'.l'he whole appearance is lightened and changed :troni the wardrobe appearance of an upriehtm piano to the appearance of a spinet. This is complished by the marlred narrowingl or the caso and other parts below the lreybed with resulting' accentuation or the horizontally projecting ends oi the key-bed and positioning oi the piano legsn two at each end, spaced well away from thc ends lilla oi the narowed piano case.

lllhat li claim is:

l. ln combination, a pianoebaclt, sound-boart'i| stringplate, bey-bed, lieg/board piano-actlou and piano-case combined as in a standard upn right piano but wherein the piano-haelt, soundboard and piano-case are narrowed below the lrey-n bed to substantially the extent permitted by the string-plate, the piano-bacia; having horizontal shoulders connecting the narrowed lower portion thereof with its wider upper portion; end-beams whereon said shoulders rest and are secured; and

piano-lees secured under the iront and rear ends oi each bearn.

2. The combination claimed in claim l further characterized by the ends of the narrowed'lower part of the piano-case, piano-back and sound board being inwardly concaved,

3. The combination claimed in claim l, iurm ther characterized by the said lower pianocase being' shallow from iront to rear and only deep enough substantially to take in the piano-baclr, soundboard and string-plate.

4. The combination claimed in clairn l, further characterized by said legs being long enough to support the piano case and contained parts ofi the licor.

5. The combination claimed in claim l, iurther characterized by having cheeks at the ends of the key-board united with end portions of the piano-case above said cheeks, the ends of the key-bed being supported on the aforesaid end beams and being united with said cheeks.

6. The combination claimed in claim l, further characterized by having cheeks at the ends of the key-board united with end portions of the piano-case above said cheeks, the ends of the key-bed being supported on the aforesaid endbeams and being entered into recesses formed in said cheeks and being united with said cheeks.

' HENRY R. HELLER.

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