Pianoforte-Tuner ? ca. 1843

"To Henry Du Bochet, of 46, South Mall, in the city of Cork, Ireland, piano-forte tuner, for a new method of making piano-fortes.—[Sealed 11th February, 1843.]
This invention relates to the class of instruments termed "grand square piano-fortes;" and is shewn in Plate XII., at fig. 1, which represents the "action" of one of these pianofortes. The improvements consist, firstly, in the application of a small block of wood a, (bevilled on one side,) to the upper end of the clapper b, of the hopper; from the under side of which block a, a wire c, with a screw formed upon it, projects, and is screwed into the head of the clapper; so that by turning the wire, the height of the block may be regulated with great exactness. Secondly, in fixing a piece of felted cloth or other elastic substance d, to the front of the check e: which cloth rises about a quarter of an inch above the head thereof, to check the hammer at a point between the said check and the string, when the key is struck with less force than is necessary to bring the hammer down to the check. The object of these improvements is to obtain a repeating touch which can be made available at any required depression of the key.
In cases where it is not considered requisite to use a regulating screw c, as above described, for the purpose of raising or lowering a block a, on the top of the clapper of the hopper, the repeating touch is obtained by altering the hopper in the manner shewn at fig. 2, combined with the application of the felted cloth to the check. A hole, one-eighth of an inch in diameter, is bored through the upper end of the clapper b, at about three-eighths of an inch from the top; through this hole is passed a piece of wire f, of a thickness equal to one-fourth the diameter of the hole, and threefourths of an inch long, with a screw formed upon it from one end to the other; one end of the wire is screwed into a small block of wood g, (see the detached view, fig. 3,) bevilled in a similar manner to the block a, and on the other end of the wire is a wooden nut or button h, by means of which the block g, may be fixed at any position within the range of the hole.
The patentee says, that for instruments of an inferior description, he glues the block g, to the clapper.
He claims as his invention the new method of making piano-fortes, as above described, being a new combination of mechanical means, by which the desired effect of the repeating touch is better than heretofore obtained in grand square piano-fortes.[Inrolled in the Inrolment Office, August, 1843.]" The London journal of arts and sciences and repertory of patent inventions ..., 1844, p. 266

(*1802): 'The Gentleman and Citizen's Almanack, for the Year of Our Lord', 1802, p. 38

(x1830): 'Wilson's Dublin Directory for the year 1830', p. 63