1880

MESSRS. J. & J. HOPKINSON.

"THE firm of J. & J. Hopkinson was established by Mr. John Hopkinson in the year 1842 at Leeds, a business which is still carried on.

In the year 1846 Mr. Hopkinson took his brother, Mr. James Hopkinson, into partnership with him and removed the factory to London, where the business was established in Mortimer Street, under the style of J. & J. Hopkinson.

Very soon afterwards the factory was removed to Diana Place, Euston Road, and here, in 1856, the fire occurred which with one exception was the largest which had ever taken place at a pianoforte factory.

The factory was at once rebuilt and enlarged, and in 1867 a still larger factory, which the firm at present occupies, was erected at Fitzroy Road, Primrose Hill. The London warerooms of the firm of John & James Hopkinson, after they removed from Mortimer Street, were in Oxford Street, and afterwards in Soho Square.

Mr. John Hopkinson had not been long in London before he turned his attention to improvements in pianoforte manufacture.

On June 3rd, 1851, he took out a patent (No. 13,652), the most important part of which consisted in "certain mechanism for communicating motion from the keys to the hammers," or otherwise the origin of that repetition and tremolo action which, according to Rimbault' (1860), "seems to have brought the mechanism of the pianoforte to perfection."

Various arrangements are shown in the drawings, which are printed. To quote the official language: In one the sticker (which acts directly on the hammer) is composed of two parts, jointed in the middle to allow of movement in the length.

Apparatus is also shown for relieving and checking the hammer, by which greater power, quicker repetition, and certainty of the blow, with a check quick and efficient, are obtained.

Another shows a similar combination, wherein the sticker, instead of acting directly on the hammer, acts on an interposed lever ; while another shows a modification of the combined apparatus to render it suitable for upright pianofortes."

During the same year, 1851, Messrs. J. & J. Hopkinson exhibited at the first great Exhibition, and obtained a prize medal for a "horizontal grand pianoforte, with new patent action."

In 1855 Messrs. Hopkinson exhibited at the Paris Exhibition, at which a certificate by M. Fétis, still in the possession of the firm, declares that they were awarded, with Messrs. Erard and Messrs. Herz, one of the three gold medals. Ultimately, on the intervention of the Emperor Napoleon III., the medal awarded to Messrs. Hopkinson was given to a firm of native manufacturers.

In 1856 the firm moved their warerooms from Soho Square to their present premises in Regent Street. Here Mr. John Hopkinson continued to improve his action, and in 1860 Rimbault describes it as follows :

"The repetition and tremolo action of Messrs. Hopkinson is accomplished by means of the pin-jointed sticker attached to the key and hammer-stick, which sticker, being in connexion with the relieving action, brings the action of the hammer upon the strings completely under the control of the performer.

A check is provided to prevent the hammer from vibrating after a powerful stroke, but for a gentle touch the check is not required, and the hammer remains near the string, ready to be acted upon by the slightest movement of the finger.

By means of this mechanism the utmost possible delicacy of touch is combined with a far greater power than has hitherto been obtained in any pianoforte we have seen. So sensitive is this action and so accurately may the amount of tone desired be regulated, that the tremolo (similar to that produced by the violinist or the voice of a finished singer), may be produced by the mere trembling of the finger when pressed upon the key.

At the same time, a performer of only moderate power of finger can by it fully develope the most powerful effects of the modern school of pianoforte playing."

On May 21st, 1862, Mr. John Hopkinson patented (No. 1,530) his "harmonic pedal," and improvements in the hammer-rail. This patent is printed with drawings.

The first part of the patent is "a method of applying stoppers of vulcanized indiarubber, cork, and other elastic substances, aided by springs or other contrivances, and made to press upon certain parts or equal divisions of the strings of pianofortes, so as to divide the vibrations, and to produce sounds called 'harmonics, which differ from the original notes or sounds of the strings."

The second is "a new hammer-rail for upright pianofortes, by which the butt hinges are brought much nearer to the strings, and a quicker and more certain return of the hammer after having struck the strings is obtained, and which remedies a defect in the mechanism of these pianos, and compensates for the difference between them and the grand or horizontal pianofortes. The important point is the position of the hammer butts in reference to the strings."

The brasses to which the butts are attached bring them so near the strings that when the hammers reach the strings they readily fall from them, not being brought, as usual, into a vertical position. A brass bridge has also more recently been patented by the firm.

At the second great Exhibition of 1862, Messrs. J. & J. Hopkinson were bracketed with Messrs. John Broadwood & Sons as superior to all the rest of the English makers, and equal to such foreign makers as MM. Herz, MM. Pleyel, Messrs. Bechstein, and Messrs. Steinway. The official report, signed by Mr. William Pole states :

"To Messrs. Hopkinson (United Kingdom, 3,412) the jury award a medal for great excellence of tone and invention of a pedal for producing the harmonic octave. Messrs. Hopkinson exhibit seven pianos, namely,

1. A full-sized concert grand, in elegantly inlaid walnut case. The action of this instrument is on a peculiar construction, originally patented by this firm in 1850, and since considerably improved; the last patent being dated in the present year. The ordinary hopper is dispensed with, and its place supplied by kind of knee-joint.

Messrs. Hopkinson have found this action work well, and it gives a good touch, but it has not yet been adopted by any other makers. Models of the new action are exhibited in its original form and its various stages of improvement.

2. A similar grand, but in plainer case.

3. A boudoir or short grand.

4. A rosewood boudoir grand, having a highly novel feature in the shape of an harmonic pedal. This contrivance is so arranged as to allow a frame to descend over the strings, and to drop a light knifeedge of felt exactly in the middle of their length, by which, when the hammer strikes, the tone of the harmonic octave is produced instead of the fundamental note of the string. The effect is pleasing, and the arrangement so ingenious as to justify favourable notice; but it is necessarily expensive and must be of doubtful general utility.

5. An upright, in elegantly carved case.

6 and 7. Two upright pianos; one of which is constructed to sell at a moderate price, and the other with a new arrangement of the hammer-shaft, compensating for difference between horizontal and upright pianos.

In 1869 Mr. John Hopkinson retired from the business.

Messrs. J. & J. Hopkinson exhibited at the exhibitions in Dublin (1865), Wakefield (1865), York (1866), Dublin (1872), Leeds (1875), and South Africa (1877), and at every exhibition carried off the highest honours awarded.

In 1878 Messrs. Hopkinson took the only gold medal awarded to British pianoforte manufacturers at the Paris Exhibition.

Messrs. Hopkinson have for some months past largely adopted the black and gold casings and the iron framings, and have recently adopted the system of overstringing. Their iron frame is continued even along the bent side, the hitchpins being all in it.

The full iron frame for their ordinary-sized cottage or upright increases the weight of the piano about a hundredweight. Composite iron frames are also used for other classes of pianos, two bracings of iron and three of wood being utilized.

The system of iron framing has, indeed, been the subject of many experiments by the firm, and the results as to the slender pianinoframes, the heavy cottage frames, and the composite framings will, it is believed, meet the wishes of all schools of thought in piano manufacture.

The system of overstringing adopted by the firm has also been the subject of much calculation. The length of string in the overstrung bass is fifty-six inches, or fifty-two inches from bridge to bridge, this being about the length of string allotted to the boudoir grand. With the exception of the check-actions and the iron frames and other hardware, the various parts of the pianos are made in the factory, and all are fitted and finished there.

A special feature has been recently introduced in case work by Messrs. Hopkinson, in hand-painted tablets for the panels of upright pianos. These tablets consist of oil paintings of birds and flowers, with a background of gold, and also water colours on silk.

The factory in the Fitzroy Road now employs about 300 hands, and upwards of 400 pianos are always in progress. It is a double factory, divided by fire-proof doors and with ladder fire-escapes. The factory, machine rooms, drying sheds, and timber yard cover about an acre of ground.

Messrs. Hopkinson's principal novelties are their iron-framed pianinos; their hand-painted, panelled, black and gold, walnut, and other cases; and their overstrung and other ironframed grands and cottages, combining the latest improvements in pianoforte manufacture with the solidity and lasting qualities of English workmanship." The London and Provincial, 15/11/1880, p. 4

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