THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ent for an application of this method of stringing in 1851, but it 

 never became popular. Steinway & Sons, however, took up the 

 idea in its crude stages a few years later, and applied it success- 

 fully. They not only developed overstringing, but it is to them 

 we owe the improved disposition of the strings below. They were 

 the first to exhibit a square piano containing a practical and suc- 

 cessful development of 

 the overstringing prin- 

 ciple, which has since 

 been accepted every- 

 where. An instrument 

 made on these im- 

 proved lines was ex- 

 hibited at the Ameri- 

 can Institute Fair in 

 1855. It was awarded 

 a gold medal, and was 

 practically the parent 

 instrument of that or- 

 der, not only as regards 

 the arrangement of the 

 strings, but in the 

 structure of the plate 

 and most other general 

 features. Bass over- 

 stringing, passing over 

 three bridges, was a no- 

 ticeable feature in that 

 piano. A full metal 

 plate, covering the 

 wrest-plank, having a 

 solid bar, was also used, 

 with imj)rovements 

 which insured greater 

 resistance against the 

 pull of the strings. 

 Another feature em- 

 bodied in this instrument was the arrangement of the bridges. 

 These were x>laced farther in on the sounding-board, so as to 

 bring into sympathy hitherto dormant sections of its surface. 



Passing over the numerous inventions brought out by Stein- 

 way & Sons, following the success of their squares made on the 

 system referred to, their patent for stringing in grands claims a 

 brief notice. This is illustrated in Fig. 16. They were granted a 

 patent for this invention in 1859. In the instruments made on 

 the new lines the strings were spread out in fan-shape, in con- 



FiG. 16.— Interior of "Steinway" Grand, showing 

 Disposition of the Strings Fan-shape. 



