INDUSTRIES 



The principle of division of labour is adopted 

 to a large extent in pianoforte making in 

 order to ensure the utmost precision of detail. 

 Rimbault gives a list 60 of over forty different 

 workmen, each of whom, with his assistants, 

 is exclusively engaged in a special branch of 

 the manufacture. At the Great Exhibition 

 of 1851 the exhibitors of pianofortes included 

 thirty manufacturers in London and six from 

 provincial towns. 



The founder of the firm of John Brins- 

 mead & Sons was John Brinsmead, who 

 was born at Wear Gifford, North Devon- 

 shire, on 13 October 1814. He began 

 business at 35, Windmill Street, Tottenham 

 Court Road, in 1836, removing in 1841 to 

 Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square ; he took 

 out a patent 61 in 1862 for improved me- 

 chanism in grand and upright pianos, ' produc- 

 ing a perfect check, great power, and quick 

 repetition.' On taking his sons into partner- 

 ship in 1863 the firm removed to 18, Wig- 

 more Street, Cavendish Square, their present 

 warehouse; and between 1868 and 1879 

 John Brinsmead took out three further 

 patents. 62 For his meritorious exhibits at the 

 Paris Exhibition of 1868 he received from 

 the French government the cross of the 

 Legion of Honour. Thomas James Brins- 

 mead, a member of the firm, was granted a 

 patent on 21 May i88i, 63 and Edgar William, 

 his younger brother, and author of The 

 History of the Pianoforte (Cassell, 1 868 ; 

 Novello, 1879), also patented some further 

 improvements on 4 December i883. 64 The 

 firm became a limited company in January 

 1900. 



Reed Instruments. Messrs. H. Potter & Co. 

 are a firm of high standing in the metropolis ; 

 eminent musical instrument makers of this 

 family are met with from the 1 8th century to 

 the present day. Richard Potter, who is said 

 by Captain Day to have been the grandfather 

 of the famous Cipriani Potter, 66 made flutes 

 in London before 1774 with the then newly- 

 invented keys for fH, g|, and b|j. On 28 Oc- 

 tober 1785 a patent (no. 1,499) was granted 

 to Richard Potter for improvements in the 

 German flute. These consisted of a graduated 

 tuning slide, graduated cork, and metal plugs. 

 Four concert flutes by this maker were ex- 

 hibited at the Royal Military Exhibition of 



1890, one is illustrated in the catalogue, 86 

 and another gives Potter's address as Johnson's 

 Court. In his patent he is described as of 

 Pemberton Row (Gough Square) in the City 

 of London, and this is the address also (no. 5) 

 of William Henry Potter, flute maker, in the 

 patent for improvements in the flute which 

 he took out on 28 May 1808 (no. 3,136). 

 An iSth-century tabor-pipe bears the inscrip- 

 tion ' Henry Potter 2 Bridge Street West- 

 minster,' but is probably before that maker's 

 time. 67 The Hon. Artillery Company pos- 

 sess a key bugle, presented to their light 

 infantry in 1828, which is stamped 'Potter 

 King Street Westminster." 8 Messrs. H. 

 Potter & Co., who have for many years occu- 

 pied their present premises at 30, Charing 

 Cross, are contractors to the government for 

 army instruments and large exporters to our 

 colonies and to distant foreign countries. A 

 branch of the firm was founded in 1860 and 

 carried on under the style of George Potter 

 & Co. 



William Bainbridge, who devised several 

 improvements in musical instruments, was 

 living in Little Queen Street in 1803 when 

 he patented a device for more easily fingering 

 the ' flageolet or English flute.' 69 In 1807 he 

 was in business as a musical instrument maker 

 in Holborn and patented further improvements 

 in the flute. 60 About this date he was joined 

 by Wood, and flageolets with the makers' 

 stamp ' Bainbridge and Wood, 35 Holborn 

 Hill ' are described in Day's Catalogue.* 1 



Brass Instruments. Messrs. Rudall, Carte 

 & Co. claim to be (with Messrs. Kohler) the 

 oldest manufacturers of brass instruments in 

 this country. The founder of the firm was 

 Mr. Kramer or Cramer, who came over from 

 Hanover in 1 746 to take the post of band- 

 master to King George II and established a 

 music business. 62 Cramer subsequently took 

 Thomas Key into partnership ; a bassoon of 

 late 1 8th or early igth century is stamped 

 ' Cramer and Key London Pall Mall,' and a 

 clarionet of early igth century bears the mark 

 ' Cramer London.' 63 On another clarionet to 

 which no date is ascribed the firm appears as 

 'Cramer & Son London 20 Pall Mall,' 64 

 and on two serpents occur ' Key and Co. 

 1820' and 'T. Key 20 Charing Cross' (date 

 about i83o). 6S Rose states that Key had a 



50 Pianoforte, 213-14. 



61 ii Feb. 1862, no. 358. 



"6 Mar. 1868, no. 774; 18 Mar. 1879, 

 no. 1,060 ; 16 Aug. 1881, no. 3,557. 



"No. 2,232. "No. 5,635. 



" C. Russell Day, Cat. of Musical Instruments 

 tt Roy. Mil. Exhib. Lond. 1891, p. 25. 



66 PL i, fig. H, and pp. 32-3. 



"Ibid. 14. "Ibid. 173. 



59 No. 2,693, i Apr. 1803. 



60 No. 3,043, 14 May 1807. " pp. 17, 19. 

 6 * Algernon Rose,Trf/& with Bandsmen (i 897), 1 1. 

 63 Day, op. cit. 78, 114. 



"Ibid. 127. "Ibid. 163-4. 



187 



