1802

Erard's Paris factory was organised along the production lines of Broadwood's factory.

1802

Broadwood's six-octave grands were selling in London for £84. Dealers got a 25% discount. Around this time John Broadwood was paid a salary of £5,000 while a skilled worker would be paid £100.

1804

Challen Pianos London were established. Their clam to fame is that they made the world's largest grand, at twelve feet long. They were later acquired by Barratt & Robinson, England.

1804

Johann Strauss was born.

1804

Johann Baptist Cramer's first venture into publishing was with the company known as Cramer & Keys. For more history on Cramer see the History of Johann Baptist Cramer.

1807

The sticker action was invented by William Southwell (1756-1842). He was an apprentice to Weber's of Dublin, from 1772 to 1782. He went on to open a workshop at 26 Fleet Street, Dublin. The sticker action was fitted in upright pianos and cabinets (also known as wall-climber pianos). In this action the hopper is fitted by a vellum hinge, vertically to the back of the key, and escapement pins pass through the hopper. The stick or jack raises the butt on a long centre. The over-dampers can normally be removed as a complete part, though on some of the larger cabinets or (wall-climber pianos), a stool was needed for the piano tuner to reach the tuning pins.

1807

Ignace Joseph Pleyel was born in Ruppersthal, Lower Austria, on the 1st of June 1767, and died in Paris on the 14th of November 1831. He opened his piano factory in Paris in 1807. Anxious to create a Pleyel instrument accessible to all, the company developed an excellently crafted square piano in 1839, at a very reasonable price. His son Camille took over in 1831, and won many gold medals for his pianos. Pleyel made the first double grand, two pianos in one case, with one keyboard at each end. Pleyel was in partnership with the pianist Kalkbrenner. He was also a pupil of Haydn. He liked Warnum's small pianos so much in 1815 he asked Henri Pape to organise the construction of cottage pianos on the Warnum pattern. This could have been the deciding factor in starting his own line of small pianos. Pleyel introduced the upright piano to France. In 1961 they merged with Erard, and in 1971 Erard struck a deal with Schimmel to manufacture Erard and Pleyel pianos. Some of their first pianos were called "Pleyel Ignace" in Paris.

1807

Erard first used the metal stud bridge (brass agraffe).

1807

A fire on the 20th of March at the Clementi piano factory caused an estimated capital loss of £40,000, of which the insurance companies paid out only £15,000. Broadwood's, their main competitors and rivals, came to Clementi's aid, helping him to fulfil orders, and Broadwood's workmen collected enough money among themselves to re-equip Clementi's men with the tools of their trade.

1808

Bracing bars of metal were used to support the wooden frame in Broadwood's grands.

1809

Erard patented wrest pin bushings. The English patent number was 332. Not all pianos have bushed wrest pins.

1809

Erard introduced the "Roller Double Escapement" or compound escapement action. The roller lifts the hammer in two ways, by the jack and by the repetition lever. The repetition lever's main job is to catch the hammer when it drops onto the roller and hold it there, or lift it slightly; there have also been a few modifications to this action.

1809

Robert Warnum patented the cottage piano, which was a small upright and he later invented the tape-check action, patented in 1826. It was also known as a pianino or piccolo. The action was a sticker with only short shanks. Their pianos became very popular. Large upended grand type pianos were sometimes known as giraffe pianos and others as pyramid pianos. There were also harp pianos with exposed strings above the action level and with wrest pins at the top and a sort of upright harpsichord which plucked the strings which was known as a clavicytherium.

During the first part of the 18th century the street piano or barrel organ was invented. It had no dampers and was not tuned chromatically.

1810

Chopin was born.

1810