Steinway and Sons' Manufactory
New York is the principal centre in the United States of the manufacture of Pianofortes. There are over fifty different manufactories ; and though we believe there are none so extensive and complete as the one that we are about to describe, yet among them are many fine and some large establishements.
The name of Steinway as a manufacturer of Pianofortes has long been a familiar one to the musical artists of Germany. Mr. Henry Steinway, the founder of the immense establishment which strangers from afar now visit as one of the wonders of New York, commenced the business of making Pianos in Brunswick, Germany, nearly fifty years ago ; and though during a quarter of a century in which he prosecuted the business he probably did not make as many instruments as his establishment now turns out in a single year, yet he acquired a reputation, and his European career as a master-builder may be said to have been a successful one. When, however, the uprising of the German people for their constitutional liberties in 1848 and 1849, in which he sympathised, proved a failure, he resolved to escape from the despotism that followed the subjection of the "liberal party," and to seek a more congenial field for the free exercise of his genius and enterprise. As a prudential measure he sent his son Charles to America as a pioneer and explorer, to report upon the prospects of emigration which the country would be likely to afford the familyu. His son arrived in June, 1849, and his report confirming the previous favorable impressions of the father, he followed with the family just one year after. Although possessed of some means, he deemed it advisable before commencing business on his own account to study the rotine of manufacture as practiced in American workshops, and he and his sons commenced as journeymen in some of the best manufactories then in the city of New York. The advantages of his thorough training, which rendered them practically familiar with the American and European methods of manufacture, soon became manifest when the products of their skill and handiwork were entered in competition with those of others, even the best makers.
Their first instrument, made in 1853, in a small rear building in Varick street, at once attracted the attention of professional musicians, and at the "National Fair" in Washington, was awarded, by the unanimous vote of the jury, the first premium, notwithstanding there were some twenty competitors from the principal cities of the Union, including most of the names then of established reputation. A demand for their instruments at once sprung up, and a change of location to one possessing more extensive facilities for manufacturing soon became an absolute necessity. The popular favor which rewarded their early enterprise has in this instance manifested none of its proverbial fickleness, but has increased and widened until from one Piano a week they are now called upon to make seven a day. During the last four years we are informed that over twenty first-class premiums have been awarded them by American associations for the promotion of industry and encouragement of talent ; and at the late exhibition or World's Fair in London, in 1862, a jury composed of the most renowned musical celebrities decreed to Steinway and Sons, of the United States, the first premium for "powerful, clear, brillian and sympathetic tone, with excellence in workmanship, as shown in grand and square Pianos." This was indeed a remarkable triumph that could not have been won except by the exhibition of the most marked, unquestionable and super-eminent excellence. In ffact, the superiority of these American Pianos over their European competitors has excited the attention of connoiseurs throughout Europe, and all the principal musical journals in London, Paris, Vienna and the continent noted the fact with astonishment and confirment the opinion of the official jurors.
It is an axion that there can be no great mechanical excellence without corresponding merit in the mechanic. Luck, whaterver may be its influence in the speculative enterprises, has no appreciable place in manufacturing operations. We may not be able to analyze or trace causes in results, but we can safely infer that where there is great success there is also adequate cause for it. One circumstance which has doubtless contributed to the success of this firm, is that all its members are practical Piano makers, and each takes in charge and superintends a special department of the manufacture. Another advantage which they possess is that they are musicians and adepts in the science of music and acoustics, which, combined with their practice, renders them scientific as well as practical workmen. They are also inventors, and have taken out some fifteen patents for new actions and scales. Among their first or earlies improvements was a new reversed bridge, constructed of metal, for improving the treble ; a new way of bracing their Pianos by which they could use much thicker strings, thus producing a more powerful tone ; and ingenious arrangement in the scale, having the sounding board nearly double as large as that in any other Pianoforte, which of course gave much greater volume of tone.
In 1859 Mr. Henry Steinway Jr. succeeded in overcoming the difficulties which had heretofore been deemed insurmountable in the way of overstringing Grand Pianos. The arrangement of the strings of the lower notes in a tier above others, for the purpose of using larger strings, had been quite commonly adopted in the construction of square Pianos, and a substantially similar system of stringing had been applied to upright Pianos, but owing to the form of the case and arrangement of the key-board and action of Grand Pianos, it had been deemed impracticable if not impossible to apply the principle in their construction. But Mr. Steinway has succeeded in overcoming these difficulties by an improvement which he has patented, and arranges the strings of a grand Piano in two tiers, with the same advantageous results as had been obtained in Pianofortes of other forms, while the bridges are also brought nearer the middle of the sound-board than they are in any other Grand Piano. In the same year Mr. Steinway patented another valuable improvement, the object of which was to permit the use of "agraffes" for the tuning block-bearings of treble strings, and yet to permit the strings to be struck as close as is desirable to those bearings. This was effected by constructing the cast-iron plate which covers or partly covers the tuning block with a projection on its under side, to lap over the edge of and abut against the tuning-block, and in scewing the agraffes down from the upper surface of the plate into the projection. Both of these inventions and improvements have been generally adopted by manufacturers abroad, which is significant evidence that they appreciate their value.
The present manufactory of Messrs. Steinway and Sons is one of the larges of its kind in the world. It was erected in 1859, and occupies an entire block fronting on Fourth Avenue, and extends from Fifty-Second to Fifty-Third street. The front on Fourth Avenue has a length of two hundred and one feet with a depth of forty feet. The wing on Fifty-Second and Fifty-Third Streets are one hundred and sixty-five feet in length and forty feet in depth. The whole building is six stories high including the basement. The architecture is of the modern Italian style, with brick lintel arches, brown stone trimmings, and brick cornices. It is very substantially built, the basement-wall being grouted brick two feet thick, the first story walls twenty inches and the upper walls sixteen inches in thickness. The main building covers fourteen city lots, eleven other lots being used for the purpose of seasoning lumber, of which there is a stock of about 2,000,000 feet always piled up on the grounds. In the yard there are four drying houses, each of which is heated by 2000 feet of steam-pipe, and contains about 60,000 feet of lumber, so that there are about 240,000 feet of lumber constantly under the process of kiln-drying.
There are about 400 men constantly employed, who turn out forty-Square and five Grand and Upright Pianos every week. The machinery is driven by a splendid engine of fifty-horse power situated outside the building in the yard. It was manufactured by the Corliss Steam Engine Company, fo Providence, and contains all their latest patented improvements. All the heavier portion of machinery is located in the basement. In this room are three large planers, one of whic hwas made expressly for this establishment, and is certainly one of the largest instruments of its class existing, planing the parges Piano tops or bottoms at once. There are also four up-and-down saws and several circular saws, besides turning lathes, etc. etc. These wonderful and powerful instruments are constantly at work shaping the rough plnak ready for use in the first floor above, where the bottoms, blockings, wrest planks, and other parts of the case are got up, with the aid of moulding, jointing, and other machinery.
The three stories above are occupied by the case makers, who take all those single parts make below, put them together, and veneer and finish the cases ready to go up to the top floor or varnishing room, where every case remains from three to four months to be thoroughly varnished. On each case making floor there are three large warming boxes constructed of sheet iron and covered with wood, with sufficient steam pipes in them to raise the heat to 200 degrees. The varnishing department comprises the top floor, extending the whole length of the front and side buildings - a length of five hundred and thirty-six feet. From this floor the completely varnished cases are taken one floor lower down in the front building - the sounding-board floor - where the sounding-boards are fitted in.
In the floor below the instruments are strung, and the action and key boards, and the tops, legs, and lyres adjusted and put on. The partly-finished instruments are then taken first to the floor below where the action is regulated, and thence to the first floor, where the hammers and tone are regulated ; after which the final polish is put on the cases and the perfect Piano is ready to be sent down to the sales room. This floor also contains the office of the establishment, situated on Fifty-Third Street, through which every person entering or leaving the building has to pass.
In connection with the office is the store room, which contains the actions, felts, hardware, ivory, cloth, pins, wire, etc. used in the interior works of Pianos. Of these materials there is a vast supply always on hand amounting in value to over thirty thousand dollars.
The front basement contains all the iron work, plates and bars, drilling machines, japanning works, and the rosewood veneers. Of the last the stock on hand is rarely of less value than eight thousand dollars. No fire of any kind is used within the building. Every part of the factory is heated by means of steam pipes, 40,000 feet of which line the interior. The wood-heating apparatus is also warmed by steam, which also heats the kilns for japanning, etc., etc.
In the two extremes of the building are placed tell-tale clocks for the purpose of testing the trustworthiness of the night-watchmen. Wires are carried to each floor, and if they are not touched at certain intervals the watcher has neglected his rounds, and the tale is recorded on the faces of the dials.
There are from six to seven hundred pianos constantly in course of construction, and these, in connection with the hardware, machinery, engine, veneers, lumber, etc., etc., represent at least the sum of $400,000, exclusive of the buildings. The cost of the building and ground was about $150,000.
The distance between their Sales Room, on Walker Street, and the up-town factory, is so great, and the need of immediate communication so frequent, that a telegraphic correspondence was found to be necessary. Consequently a private telegraph line has been established between Walker Street and Fifty-Third Street, bringing the two business places into intant communication.
Messrs. Steinway have just erected on East Fourteenth Street, a few doors from Union Square, near the Academy of Music, a splendid marble building, which they are now about occupying for a Piano Ware Room - the upper part being fitted up for a Concert Hall. Like their manufactory, it will stand as a monument of their enterprise, while is is also an ornament to the City fo New York.
Haines Brothers' Piano Forte Manufactory,
Thought less extensive and imposing in external appearance than the one already noticed, deserves a place among the larges and most important establishments of the kind in the United States. It is located on a corner of Twenty-second street and Second Avenue, and, including the space appropriated to storing lumber, covers about half an acre of ground. The manufacturing operations are carried on in two buildings - one, six stories high, having a front of sixty-six feet, and a depth of ninety feet ; and the other, sixty by one hundred feet, four stories in height. Connected with the latter, is the Lumber Yard, in which a stock of nearly a million of feet is constantly kept, underqoing the process of thorough seasoning. No lumber is used by this firm, in the construction of Pianos, until it has been seasoned at least a year, and then dried for four months longer in rooms, kept at a uniform heat of about 100° Fahrenheit. The drying-rooms are most admirably arranged, with a capacity sufficient to contain one hundred thousand feet of lumber.
The selection of lumber, and its careful preparation, are points of essential importance in making Pianos that will be durable in any climate ; and we know of no firm, engaged in the manufacture, who give more attention to this important particular than Haines Brothers, in which they are aided by a large capital.
After the lumber has been thoroughly dried, and judged fit for use by a high and rigid standard, it is converted into cases, in the building on the north side of Twenty-second street, which is provided with all the tools - such as planers, circular saws, upright turning saws, etc. - necessary for expeditious wood-working. The machinery is propelled by an engine of forty-horse power, and three boilers to furnish steam sufficient for the drying-rooms, and to heat both buildings, in which there are ten thousand feet of steam pipes, and which are connected by means of pipes under the street. Passing to the main building, we find the office and warerooms on the first floor, two entire stories occupied as varnish rooms, and the other portions divided into numerous rooms, each devoted to a special purpose. About three hundred Pianos are in course of construction in this manufactory each day, and, consequently, the workmen have constant employment in that in which long experience has made them perfect. In the Action-regulating Department, for instance, there are men who are employed all the time in adjusting and regulating the "action," which, though composed of several pieces, has been arranged according to a mathematical scale, and made by those skilled in the several parts. Perfect workmanship is hardly attainable, except in establishments like this, where the business is sufficiently large to afford the principal workmen constant employment in one line of duty.
The capital employed by this firm, in the manufacture, exceeds two hundred thousand dollars, which enables them to procure materials in large quantities, and on favorable terms. In the store-room, there are as many as two hundred and fifty sets of keys, ready for use, and a large stock of wire, buckskin and metallic plates. The steel wire used by them is of American manufacture, which is quite equal (and some say superior), is quality and finish, to the foreign wire. All of the seven-octave Pianos, manufactured by this firm, have iron frames, with overstrung bass ; and their seven-and-a-quarter-octave Pianos is the most powerful and superb instrument that has, as yet, been made. Among the improvements made by them, and which are adopted in all their Pianos, the least costly as well as the most expensive, is a peculiar construction of the sounding-bard, and the substitution of Wooden for Iron bridges. The latter, it is asserted, is one cause of the distinguishing feature of the Haines Pianos, viz. : evenness and equality, as well as purity of tone. Among the novelties to be eseen in their ware-rooms, is a Stereoscopic view of the interior of their manufactory, prepared at a cost of six hundred dollars, byu whihc the visitor may see all parts of the extensive establishment, while comfortably seated on a Piano stool.
The firm of Haines Brothers is composed of Napoleon J. and Francis W. Haines, both practical workmen, who served a long apprenticeship in their present vocation. The senior partner has been engaged in the manufacture of Pianos since 1839, and, after thirteen years' service in other establishments, commenced business for his own account in 1852, in which he was shortly afterward joined by his brother. Adopting, from the beginning, the principle of making a thoroughly reliable instrument, adn selling it for a moderate price, they, like the Steinways, have achieved a success that may truly be called remarkable. In 1856, they were enabled to erect their present manufactories, now too small for their extended operations ; and, in 1857, they built the marble warehouses, now owned by them, Nos. 626 and 628 Broadway. Encomium, in instances of this kind, is but a just tribute to meritorious enterprise, which has compelled the musical journals of London to acknowledge that Americans are "much farther advanced in the art of manufacturing Piano Fortes than is generally supposed in Europe." Over 1000 Pianos were made by this firm in 1867.