US1990574A - Piano - Google Patents

Description

E. F. STORY Feb. 12, 1935.

PIANO Filed July 10, 19153 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 .17 am! KSZO E. F. STORY Feb. 12, 1935.

PIANO Filed July 10, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 E. F. STORY 9 PIANO Filed July 10, 1933 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 E. F. STORY Feb. 12, 1935.

PIANO Filed July 10, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 & mp

Patented Feb. 12, 1935 PATENT OFFICE PIANO Edward 1'. Story, Chicago, 111., assignmto Story &

Clark Piano Company, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Delaware Application July 10, 1938. Serial No. 679,727

8 Claims.

This invention relates to pianos, and more particularly to upright pianos, although some of the features of the invention may be used in grand pianos. I

Generally stated, the oblect of the invention is to provide a novel and improved construction whereby the use of wood and cast-iron for certain things is obviated, more or less, and whereby it is made practical to employ pressed sheet steel in place thereof, thereby to reduce the weight and cost of production of pianos, and at the same time to insure good tone and appearance.

It is also an object to provide certain novel features of construction and combinations tendlngto increase the general efllciency and desirebility of pressed sheet steel pianos of this character.

To the foregoing and other useful ends, the invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is an and elevation of an upright piano embodying the principles of the hiventlon, with the rear portion shown in vertical section.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail or fragmentary section on line 2-4 in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the string-plate and sounding board of said piano, on a smaller scale, being a vertical section on line 3-3 in Fig. 1 of the drawings. n

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the piano on the same scale as 3 of the drawings Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail section on line 55 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged horizontal section on line 66 in Fig. 3 with portions broken away for convenience of illustration.

Fig. '7 is a similar section on line 7'l in Fig. 3.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged section on line 8-8 in 3 of the drawings.

As thus illustrated, the invention comprises a pressed sheet metal steel back 1, rectangular in outline, and formed with'rear or outside flanges 2 along its four edges, through which screws 3 are inserted into the casing 4 of the piano. Said steel back is preferably formed with vertical hollow ribs 5 that stiffen the back 1. Rectangular openings 6 are provided between said ribs.

Against the back 1 are placed the upper pin plank '7 and the lower or base plank 8, and against the planks is placed the sounding board 9 having the oblique ribs 10 on the rear side thereof,- the planl; 8 being preferably first glued to the sounding board. I The steel string plate 11 is rectangular except for the curved edge 12, and is formed with edge flanges 13 that are fastened by screws 14 to the casing 4 of the piano. Also, the annular edge 15 detracts from the rectangular form of the steel string-plate, and the latter is also formed with flanged openings 16 and 17 and 18, as shown. The tuning pins 19 are inserted through the plate 11 and the sounding board 9 into the pin plank 7, and the strings extend over the angle irons 20 and 21 to the anchor or hitch plates 22 and 23 on the steel plate 1, while bridges 24 and 25 for said strings are secured as shown to the face of the sounding board.

Bolts 26 secure the steel back 1 and the sounding board 9 and the front plate 11 together. Also, the horizontal row of bolts 27 extends through the steel back and front plate, through the sounding board, and through the pin plank 7, whereby these elements are all solidly bolted together.

Thus the sounding board structure has a pressed steel front plate and a pressed steel back, and the edges of said steel plates are fastened to the piano casing in the manner shown, the sounding board having brackets 28 where the front plate is not secured to the casing. Preferably, box-like stiffening ribs 29 and 30 are provided on the front of the steel front plate 11, and with this construction the rectangular sounding board structure, with its strings and two steel plates, is very strong and stiff and highly resilient and resonant. Moreover, the parts thereof are removably or separably bolted together, instead of being glued or otherwise permanently united, and the board and plate and plank can be easily taken apart for the purpose of repair or substitution. For example, if the sounding board should become cracked or warped, it can easily be taken out and a new one can be put in its place. By removing the screws 3 and 14 the entire structure can be taken out as a unit.

The whole unit is strong, but comparatively light, and in addition the cost of production is comparatively low, as the steel front and back plates are susceptible of standardization and do not need any machine or hand work to finish them. And, as no gluing is employed to hold the back and planks and sounding board together, the structure is less susceptible to moisture.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the sheet metal back 1 is formed of a single piece of sheet metal, preferably sheet steel, and that it is all in one integral piece. The sheet steel string plate 11 is formed with the recesses 12 and 15 at the opposite sides of the plate, so that the soundlng board is not unduly covered or muffled. and

the openings shown in the string plate serve further to release the sound vibrations so that the full and proper quality of the sounding board is obtained. Both steel plates are preferably flanged at their upper and lower and side edges, as shown, for the purpose shown and described. It is obvious, moreover, that the portion 21 may be an integral portion of the string plate 11 simply punched and turned outwardly, instead of the separate angle iron shown and described. This is also true of the portion 22, as here again the hitch pins for the strings may be fixed to an integral portion of the string plate 11, punched and bent outwardly, forming; an integral flange in-.

stead of the hollow rib 22 shown and described;

t is also obvious that the sheet steel back 1 may be formed with suitable openings of anysuitable shape, instead of the opening 6, and thatithis steel back may be strengthened or stiffened and described is illustrative of one form of .the

invention.

'Looking at Fig. 3 of the drawings, it will be seen that the'two sets of strings are arranged as usual, crosswise of each other, in the manner shown and described. Ordinarily, in running the scale on a piano having strings thus arranged, there is a break in the quality of the tone, in running the scale from one set of strings to the other set of strings. However, with the new construction shown and described, involving the one-piece sheet steel back, and the steel string plateshown and described, with the sounding board bolted between the two steel plates, it is found that practically no break in the quality of tone occurs in running the scale from one set ofstrings to the other set of strings. With the ordinary piano, with the stringsfarranged in this conventional manner, the two sets of strings are in quality of tone somewhat like two different pianos, for while they correctly represent the notes of the chromatic scale, the quality of tone in one set of strings is recognizable as being different from the quality of tone of the other set of strings. But with the novel construction shown and described, involving the two steel plates and the sounding board clamped between them, this inequality of and the steel string-plate and the sounding board with the string-plate provided with circumscribed openings, and also with lateral notches or recesses exposing the sounding board in the desired manner, are bolted together to form a unit which is attached by the rear flanges 2 and the front flanges 13 to the casing of the piano. Thus the piano can be shipped knocked-down, so to speak,

and can be easily assembled when received.

Again, the steel construction thus provided is vertical rows adjacent the vertical side flanges of said back.

practically moisture-proof, and there is less danger of warping of the sounding board unit from that cause.

It will be seen that the nuts on the bolts 26 and 27 engage the wall of theback 1 of the piano, and that these nuts, as well as the screws 3, are accessible from the rear of the piano, so that the back can be removed separately, should occasion so require. The horizontal elements '7 and 8, shown in Fig. 1, together with the similar elements 31 shown engaging the bolts 26 in Fig. 7 of the drawings, between the back 1 and the sounding board 9, form a frame-like structure,

between the steel back and the steel string plate,

with the sounding board clamped between this frame-like structure and the string plate, the latter being spaced from the sounding board by the spacer strips 32 extending along the four edges of the sounding board, in the manner shown and described.

What I claim as'my invention is:

I 1. In a piano having an outer casing, an organized unit therefor comprising an upright framelike structure having a tuning pin plank forming the upper portion thereof, a sounding board of "less height than said structure and disposed on the front side thereof, a one-piece sheet steel back engaging the rear side of said structure and formed with rearwardly extending flanges at the upper and lower and side edges thereof, means accessible from the rear of the piano for attaching said flanges to said casing, a sheet steel string plate engaging the front of said pin plank and formed with forwardly extending flanges at the upper and lower and side edges thereof,

"means accessible from the front of the piano for 2. A structure as specified in claim 1, said-back V tension.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1, said string plate having its top flange continuous and unbroken for the full lengththereof, and having its side edges formed with flanged recesses to expose the sounding board, so that the flange for the lower edge of the string plate is of lesslength than the upper flange thereof.

4. A structure as specified'in claim 1, some of said bolts being disposed in horizontal rows adjacent the top and bottom flanges of the back,

and other bolts being disposed in a horizontal row adjacent the upper edge ofthe sounding board, and adjacent the lower edge of said pin plank, and some of said bolt being disposed in flanges'and means accessible from-the rear of the piano for securing said flanges to the top and bottom and side walls of the piano casing, whereby said one-piece sheet of steel thus fastened in place forms the entire back oi the piano and is separately removable from the rear of the casing.

'7. In a piano having a casing, a unitary back and tuning pin plank and sounding board and string plate unit,insertable in and removable from the piano as a unitary structure, said string plate being of sheet steel and having topand bottom and side flanges on the front thereof detachably secured to the upper and lower and side walls of the casing, serving to hold the unit in place, and said string plate thus formed having its side edges formed with flanged recesses to expose the sounding board, so that the bottom flange oi the plate does not extend the full width of the latter, as does the upper flange of the plate, whereby the side flanges of the plate that are attached to the casing extend downwardly a distance from the upper edge of the plate and terminate above said recesses, but are integral with the flanges of the latter.

8. A structure as specified in claim 6, said back having vertically disposed channel portions alternating with vertically disposed openings between them, whereby the back is stiffened from top to bottom to resist the buckling strain imposed by the tension of the piano strings.

EDWARD F. STORY.

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