<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16640" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV>Hi Alan,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Richard asked me some months ago if I might throw some early Steinway grand stuff at him....how about....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>What is "Patent Resonator?"</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Theodore Steinway's system of compressing the soundboard at perimeter points which Steinway used from 1866 through about 1878.  It's the first documented evidence of the deliberate crowning of the soundboard that I've found, but it may have been effective just because of it's influence on soundboard impedance.  Sometimes the "Patent Resonator" consisted only of an iron flange at the bass cut-off bar with bolts turned into the soundboard at the cutoff bar.  In the most complete implementation, it consisted of a double-iron plate (a cage-like single casting in two planes) from which the soundboard/rim assembly was "hung" and compressed with a full-perimeter bolt compression system.  The latter was on most uprights from 1866 to 1872, but it can also be found on just 7 prototype grands built in 1869 (the first, S/N 19434, we found in Belgium and documented).   Through the 1870s Steinway grands and uprights can be sometimes be found with a treble compressing bolt and bass cutoff-bar compression bolts.  (The upright patent was 1866 under William Steinway's name...Theodore had just arrived from Germany and couldn't get his name on a patent.....and the grand was patented in 1869 - by Theodore).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The "Patent Resonator" was very prominent in the catalogs of the time, but Steinway's "self-compression" system combined with the continuous rim seems to have completely displaced the concept by the 1880s, never to be heard about again - until now!  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>There's also the  "Patent Pulsator" - the strip of wood under the soundboard which is glued across 3 or 5 ribs - every "B" has one, it can be found on all the "Centennials" - sometimes in two or three places - and the original patent included an iron or steel bar above the sounboard, fastened through bolts to the pulsator strip/ribs below - from the patent text this bar seems to have been an early "mass loader" as well as a structural stiffener (tying the ribs together for extra strength and possibly to manage impedance).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Patented in 1878, it can be found on pianos built several years before the patent....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Finally, there's the "Patent Vibrator" - oh, sorry, that hasn't turned up in my research yet.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Hope this is helpful!   I've got pictures if you'd like.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I've gotta admit, I've become a fan of Tic-Tac-Tooner!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Bill</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Bill Shull</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 5/9/2008 6:58:40 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, reggaepass@aol.com writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Greetings,<BR><BR>One of the highpoints at this year's National Convention will be "Tic-Tac-Tooner."  Fashioned after the Hollywood Squares game show format, this love child of Richard Davenport and Co. has been presented three times already at California conventions to great acclaim.  (More details are available at thePTG website.)  <BR><BR>Those of us involved in this high production-value event (and that includes many of PTG's finest) are interested in soliciting questions from participants on the pianotech and CAUT lists.  Questions can be technical (what is this thingee?  How do you do such-and-such? etc.), historical, trivial...your imagination is the only limitation.  Now, I know from being on these lists many a year now that there are some disturbingly inquisitive minds out there, so don't be bashful.  Please send your proposed questions to me, and I will forward them to the Executive Producers for consideration.<BR><BR>See you in Anaheim (or not!).<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR><BR>Alan Eder, RPT</FONT> <DIV class=aol_ad_footer id=u8CA7FF27A94C10B-12EC-40B><FONT style="FONT: 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF; COLOR: black"> <HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px"> Plan your next roadtrip with <A title=http://www.mapquest.com/?ncid=mpqmap00030000000004 href="http://www.mapquest.com/?ncid=mpqmap00030000000004" target=_blank>MapQuest.com</A>: America's #1 Mapping Site.</FONT> </DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? <A title="http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001" href="http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001" target="_blank">Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>