Mr Henry Fowler Broadwood, son of James, and grandson of John Broadwood, and also great-grandson of Shudi (Tschudi), invented a grand pianoforte to depend practically upon iron, in which, to avoid the conspicuous inequalities caused by the breaking of the scale with resistance bars, there should be no bar parallel to the strings except a bass bar, while another ilanged resistance bar, as an entirely novel feature, crossed over the strings from the bass corner of the wrest-plank to a point upon the string-plate where the greatest accumulation of tension strain was found. Broadwood did not continue, without some compromise, this extreme renunciation of ordinary resistance means. After the Great Exhibition of 1851 he employed an ordinary straight bar in the middle of his concert grand scale, his smaller grands having frequently two such as well as the long bass bar. After 1862 he covered his wrest-plank with a thick plate of iron into which the tuning pins screw as well as into the wood beneath, thus avoiding the crushing of the wood by the constant pressure of the pin across the pull of the string, an ultimate source of danger to durability. The introduction of iron into pianoforte structure was differently and independently effected in America, the fundamental idea there being to use a single casting for the metal plate and bars, instead of forging or casting them in separate pieces. Alphaeus Babcock was the pioneer to this kind of metal construction. He also was bitten with the compensation notion, and had cast an iron ring for a square Piano in 1825, which, although not a success, Q ® gave' the clue to a single casting resis0 tance framing, successfully accomplished by Conrad Meyer, in Philadelphia, in 1833, in a square piano which still exists, and was shown in the Paris Exhibition of 1878. Meyer's idea was improved upon by ]onas Chickering (1797-1853) of Boston, who applied it to the grand piano as well as to the square, and brought the principle up to a high degree of perfection -establishing by it the independent construction of the American pianoforte.
We have now to do with over- or
cross-stringing, by which the bass division 0 of the strings is made to cross
sgfgéing, over the tenor part of the scale in a single, double or
treble disposition at diverging angles the object being in the first instance to get longer bass strings than are attainable in a parallel scale, and in the next to open out the scale and extend the area of bridge pressure on the sound-board. In the 18th century clavichords were sometimes overstrung in the lowest octave to get a clearer tone in that very indistinct part of the instrument (strings tuned an octave higher being employed). The first suggestion for the over stringing in the piano was made by the celebrated ilute-player and inventor Theobald Boehm, who carried it beyond theory in London, in 1831, by employing a small firm located in Cheapside, Gerock & Wolf, to make some overstrung pianos for him. Boehm expected to gain in tone, Pape, an ingenious mechanician in Paris, tried a like experiment to gain economy in dimensions, his notion being to supply the best piano possible with the least outlay of means. Tomkinson in London continued Pape's model, but neither Boehm's nor Pape's took permanent root. The Great Exhibition of 18 SI contained a grand piano, made by Lichtenthal of St Petersburg, overstrung in order to gain symmetry by two angle sides to the case. It was regarded as a curiosity only. Later, in 18 55, Henry Engelhard Steinway (originally Steinweg; Smnwv 1797-1871), who had emigrated from Brunswick to New York in 1849, and had established the firm of Steinway & Sons in 1853 in that city, effected the combination FIG. 32.*M€y€f'S
Metal Frame for a
Square Piano, 1833.
In a single casting
of an overstrung scale with the American iron frame, which exhibited in grand and square instruments shown in London in the International Exhibition of 1862, excited the attention of European pianoforte makers, leading ultimately to important results. The Chickering firm claim to have anticipated the Steinways in this invention. They assert that ]onas Chickering had begun a square piano on this combined system in 18 5 3, but, he died before it was completed, and it was brought out later. It is often difficult to adjudicate upon the claims of inventors, so rarely is an invention the product of one man's mind alone. However, the principle was taken up and generally adopted in America and Germany, and found followers elsewhere, not only in grand but in upright pianos, to the manufacture of which it gave, and particularly in Germany, a powerful impetus. ) <. c,
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FIG. 33.—Steinway's Grand Piano, 1884. Metal framing in a single casting and overstrung.
Since 1885 the American system of a metal plate in one casting, and cross- or over-stringing by which the spun bass strings cross the longer steel diagonally, has become general Rena; in Europe with the exception of France, Where 5U'"UfUf~'11 musical taste has remained constant to the older C"“"3”wooden structure and parallel stringing throughout. The greater tenacity of the modern cast-steel wire favours a very much higher tension, and consequent easier production of the higher partials of the notes, permitting a sostenuto unknown to Beethoven, Schumann or Chopin. While in 1862 the highest tension of a concert grand piano worked out at sixteen tons, since 1885 thirty tons has been recorded. Generally speaking, the rise in tension may be expressed musically by the interval of a minor third, to the great advantage of the standing in tune. First shown by Henry Steinway in the London Exhibition of 1862, this altered construction attracted extraordinary attention at Paris in 1867, and determined the German direction of manufacture and a few years later the English. What is now particularly noticeable wherever pianos are made is the higher average Of excellence attained in making, as well as in piano playing. Naturally the artistic quality, the personal note, characterizes all first-class instruments, and permits that liberty of choice which appertains to a true conception of art. Much attention has been given of late years to the touch of pianos, to make it less tiring for the modern performer, especially since, in 188 5-1886, Anton Rubinstein went through the herculean feat of seven consecutive historical recitals, repeated in the capital cities and principal musical centres of Europe. For even this stupendous player a light touch was indispensable. In
