Trivia , Who had Aluminum plates?

[Tom Servinsky]

Since we're talking trivia...
The engineering and design of the aluminum plate was done by one of my
former clients. His name escapes me at this time as he has been deceased for
about 10 yrs.
We had quite the conversations about the aluminum plate idea because he was
hell-bent on selling the idea to Steinway and the rest of the industry. He
felt his idea was pooh-poohed much too quickly still thought that the idea
had merit.  I didn't have the heart to tell him otherwise.
He was one of the head engineers with Alcoa and apparently was encouraged to
find other uses of  aluminum.
Why piano plates was on that list I'll never understand.
Tom Servinsky,RPT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2001 7:17 AM
Subject: Re: Trivia , Who had Aluminum plates?


> Yup, it's aluminum. I have one Winter spinet that I service. Stamped
Alcoa,
> and a magnet does not stick to it. I have serviced worse pianos (although
> this one is not far from the lower end of the spectrum).
>
> Terry Farrell
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tom Driscoll" <tomtuner@mediaone.net>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2001 5:50 AM
> Subject: Re: Trivia , Who had Aluminum plates?
>
>
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Richard Moody" <remoody@midstatesd.net>
> > To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2001 9:18 PM
> > Subject: Re: Trivia , Who had Aluminum plates?
> >
> >
> > > . Winter's Aluminum plate.
> > >
> > > I tuned a Cable (Nelson ?) console that I think had an aluminum plate.
> > >  It was silver colored and had Alcoa stamped on it.   I forgot to get
> the
> > > serial number and didn't think to try my magnetic picker upper on it.
> > > Does anyone know of this company used aluminum plates?  ---ric
> > >
> >     ric,
> >      If it said Alcoa it was . I've seen them mostly on  Winter's and
> almost
> > all were built in 1947-8. Seems to have been a brief experiment. The
best
> > part about these things is how light they are. Like lifting a bureau!
> > Probably  has nothing to do with the plate, but the side -back glue
joint
> > seems to fail on the Winters.
> >     Tom Driscoll
> >
>