Key levelling device

[Kerry Cooper]

The Lindner piano made in Ireland (from a Rippen design) had the key
levelling done by a screw on to the backtouch. It had a separate screw
adjustment for the lost motion, this was very effective even if the piano
was not much good.

Kerry Cooper
Piano Technician
Accredited Member: APTTA, PTTGQ
brispiano@optushome.com.au
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Phillip Ford [mailto:fordpiano@earthlink.net] 
Sent: Saturday, 18 December 2004 9:12 AM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Re: Key leveling device

>Phillip Ford wrote:
>
>>I believe that I've come across the patent for the key leveling device 
>>that was mentioned a few days ago.  The device is essentially a giant 
>>drop screw through the key just in front of the balance rail pin.  The 
>>head of the screw rests on the balance rail and is turned to level the
key.
>>
>>Patent 1,592,778 to L. Perry for Ludwig & Co. on July 13, 1926.
>
>Phil,
>
>And I believe it was a late 20s Ludwig grand I tuned which had that 
>feature. It's been 5 years since last tuning so I may see it again soon. I 
>might level the keys while I'm at it just to say that I did the whole job 
>in 5 minutes.
>
>Tom Cole

Ha.  Hey, I'll level your keys for a cup of coffee (I'll level your keys 
while you make the cup of coffee).  A possible downside I see in this 
design is the potential for pulley keys.  Since the fulcrum point of the 
key is actually the screw head rather than the point on the key at the 
balance rail pin, it seems that there could be some fore and aft force at 
the pin, potentially enlarging the hole.  Jack Wyatt reports that this was 
not a problem on the one (ones?) that he saw.  Perhaps you could look for 
that if you see the Ludwig again.  It would be interesting to see one 
that's had heavy use and see if the holes are any more enlarged than you 
would expect them to be on a conventional setup.

Phil Ford



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