Fred Sturm wrote: > I tried a different browser, and was able to see the images of the > other pages (displayed as TIFF files). The text seems to confirm what I > had inferred: The sostenuto rod is mounted to the bellyrail in the 1875 > patent, and the 1916 patent does not seem to mention mounting, referring > only to hinged tabs. (I have to admit I skimmed the text). > Regards, > Fred Sturm > University of New Mexico > fssturm at unm.edu > > > > On Jul 18, 2008, at 2:21 PM, Fred Sturm wrote: > >> On Jul 18, 2008, at 1:12 AM, David Ilvedson wrote: >> >>> Does anyone know if the NY Steinway Sost system or the Hamburg Sost >>> system came first? >> >> The patent for sostenuto dates way back to 1874 - for a square of >> all things, then adapted to uprights and grands in 1875. The Steinway >> site has what appears to be a complete listing of Steinway patents, >> unfortunately just titles, dates, brief description, and patent >> number. Searching the US Patent office >> http://www.uspto.gov/patft/ under patent number 164,052, I found a >> drawing that seems to show a bellyrail mounted system. There is >> another sostenuto patent in 1916, which appears to be for the hinged >> tab, though the picture may imply mounting to the action bracket. I >> had some problems with viewing some of the images (there were >> supposedly four pages of drawings for the 1916 one, but I was only >> able to view one. No text for patents that old). Maybe someone else >> will have better luck. >> In any case, it appears that what Steinway initially invented for >> the grand piano was belly mounted, and that at some later point they >> switched to the current NY action mounted system. >> Regards, >> Fred Sturm Thanks Fred, I had seen the 1916 patent, but not the 1875, called an improvement in piano attachments. <G> But the text describes it as a cord, wire, or strip, so maybe it doesn't count. Ron N
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC