Smithsonian Institution The William Steinway Diary: 1861-1896
Steinway & Sons Records and Family Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Steinway Patents that Deal with Scales
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A search of all Steinway patents issued through April 4, 1885, when the last patent taken out by Theodor Steinway was issued, indicates that the following patents dealt with scales:
- Patent 26,532, Henry Steinway, dated December 20, 1859, Grand Piano. This patent is mainly involved with applying overstringing to grand pianos. It notes that the design details are such that the same horizontal distance is maintained between strings throughout the whole of the scale so that no change in the construction of the grand action is required.
- Patent 126,848, C. F. Theodor Steinway, dated May 14, 1872, Improvement in Duplex Agraffe Scales for Piano-Fortes. This patent describes the design changes made to incorporate duplex scales in pianos.
- Patent 127,384, C. F. Theodor Steinway, dated May 28, 1872, Improvement in Piano-Fortes. This patent covers the use of a cupola shaped metal frame and other changes, including the use of a curved sounding board bridge. The patent notes that use of the curved sounding board bridge allows all of the strings to be supported by the same bridge, allowing the scale of the piano to be reduced and also resulting in improved performance.
- Patent 204,108, Christian F. T. Steinway, dated May 21, 1878, Improvement in Piano-Fortes. This patent covers the use of a metallic bridge-plate which is fastened to the wrest-plank in a manner that so that the wrest-plank, as it shrinks and swells, can move under the metallic bridge-plate without disturbing the dimensions of the scale.
- Patent 204,111, Christian F. T. Steinway, dated May 21, 1878, Improvement in Capodastro-Frames for Piano-Fortes. This patent covers the modification of the capodastro frame to provide for a triplex scale.
- Patent 314,742, C. F. Theodor Steinway, dated March 31, 1885, Piano-Frame. This patent notes that the nature of the scale used requires that the string frame have a depressed portion to allow for the passage of the longest uncovered strings.
The main change to scales covered by the patents listed above was, most importantly, the successful introduction of overstringing. This was later followed by the introduction of the duplex scale and then by the introduction of the triplex scale.
