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20 january 1824
- ENGLISH IRON WIRE -
WANT OF ENGLISH IRON WIRE FOR MUSICAL
PURPOSES. — I beg, through the medium of your Journal, to introduce to the notice of the practical mechanic, an article, the manufacture of which is at present, in consequence of the want of a proper material, solely conducted in Berlin, and from whence England and most other parts of Europe are supplied, — Iallude to iron (commonly called steel) wire, for musical instruments. It may be considered a trivial affair; but when I state, that upon an average 3 cwt. is consumed by piano-forte makers per week, in London, this will plead an apology for my wish to see it made by Englishmen: at present, as before stated, we are supplied from Berlin, on the most disadvantageous terms, three months notice to the maker being required before advice of the goods can be obtained; and then the crafty German takes care so to forward it, that it is paid for before delivery.
We have in England hitherto
failed in making it, entirely through the inferiority of our iron; for our
wire-drawing is by far superior to theirs, as I have found to my cost,
having frequently been obliged to pay in London one shilling per lb. for
re-drawing the Berlin wire, in consequence of its inaccuracy. Mechanics' Magazine and Journal of Science, Arts, and Manufactures, Volume 1, 31 January, 1824, p. 359
2 february 1824
"Musical Wire No. 8,
Union-place, New Kent Road, Feb. 2, 1824.
If he will take the trouble
to call on Mr. Lewis, No. 4, Nassau-street, Soho, or to write to my friend,
Francis Deakin, Suffolk-street, Birmingham (the manufacturer), he will find
he may be supplied with any quantity of steel wire, much superior to that
imported from Germany.
17 february 1824
ENGLISH MUSICAL WIRE. "that he is no stranger to Mr. Deakin's wire; that it has been tried, and found much inferior to good Berlin wire;" he admits, or "has not much doubt that it will bear as great a strain in a straight line," but denies the possibility of stringing instruments in the ordinary way with it, "as it snaps at once." Now, I will venture to affirm, that not one word of this is true; the wire made by Mr. Deakin for musical purposes is a tempered steel wire, which, at a given temper, is sufficiently flexible to coil round a pin in the ordinary way, in which state its cohesion is greater by 20 to 30 per cent than any Berlin "wire of equal size which I have ever used, or seen used. I have now standing upon an instrument several strings of Mr. Deakin's wire, put on in the ordinary way (to replace others of the Berlin wire, which broke in tuning), end which will bear the tension of a whole tone above concert pitch. The scale of this instrument is an equal ratio, and the length of C on the first ledger-line below is 24 inches, which is one inch longer than is usually given. With regard to the complicated fastening which your correspondent has mentioned, it is in principle and application very simple, and affords a facility ,and precision in tuning, of which the common wrest-pin is incapable.
With this fastening Mr.
Deakin's wire will, when at that temper which affords the greatest possible
power of cohesion, stand at concert pitch, when middle C is 16 inches long
(being* 4 inches longer than the best Berlin wire will stand at); at this
tension I have some now standing upon a new instrument, and there is still
enough of cohesive reserve to raise the pitch another tone. Mechanics' Magazine and Journal of Science, Arts, and Manufactures, Volume 1, 6 march, 1824, p. 442
20 april 1836 ON TUNING PIANO-FORTES. "Sir, — Many, when they first commence learning to tune, are contented to begin simply with tuning, properly so called, instead .of what is technically called roughing-up. This consists in taking the instrument rough from the stringer, and drawing it up until such lime as it stands at concert pilch. It may be urged that a person who possesses a delicate ear will learn sooner on the first plan, inconsequence of the ear not being vitiated by the discordant sounds that are the necessary attendants upon roughing up; but such a person would be quite at a loss when he bad to tune an instrument half a note, or even two half-notes (which is not uncommon) below concert pitch.
From his comparatively
bungling manner of proceeding, he would be three times as long over his work
as one that has learned by roughing-up. In short, it is like learning to
write elegantly before pothooks and hangers are acquired.
This is remedied by drawing
that part up considerably above the pitch you are working upon, and, by the
time you have finished the treble, it will have settled pretty well down to
the perfect octave. Again, the first-named would probably make his pitch
exact at starling, instead of allowing for the falling' of it afterwards. Of
course, I only speak of an instrument that is very fiat.
The reason of this is, that
in the latter the strain is in a perfectly vertical direction, and,
consequently, they stand longer in tune; but in the two former it is all
diagonal — and, indeed, it has been jocularly said, that the square
piano-forte is so called, because there is nothing square about it ! It also has the advantage, where a string is false, i. e. not perfectly round, of causing it to become more pure in its tone. Until of late years, piano-forte makers were sadly bothered for wire. The best that could be procured then was the Berlin, or German wire, as it was generally called. But bad was that best; it was only iron wire, and neither, round, square, oval, nor any other shape. It was very scarce, and difficult to froqure in time of war; when Napoleon shut the foreign ports against us, tdtivit, 4t wes a.favour to get it at all at 10s.. 6d. or 12s. per lb., and there has been the unexampled price paid for it of 25s. per lb. at a public sale. It was also very wasteful; ring after ring having to be thrown aside in consequence of brittleness. The proud boast was reserved for an Englishman (Wr. Webster, of Penns, near Birmingham) of overcoming these difficulties, and furnishing steel wire as near to perfection (He professes to send it out quite perfect, and will exchange any quantity from a quarter or" an ounce to a quarter oi a ton.) as any thing in this sublunary world. There had been countless trials and experiments made to give to steel such a temper as would fit it for music-wire; but the patience of the English piano-forte makers had been nearly exhausted by their repeated disappointments, and it was some time before it came into general use. Now, not only is nothing else used in England, but at Paris, Vienna, Hamburgh, and even Berlin itself, the German wire has been completely beaten out of the market. This created a new era in piano-forte making; for I think I may safely assert, that piano-fortes have been considerably more improved within the last ten or twelve years than during the previous thirty or forty.
Independent of this, it has
grown up more into a distinct trade per se; formerly their shops were
supplied with artisans from the joiners and cabinet-makers — now they are
supplied with men regularly brought up to the business from their childhood.
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