Alpheus Babcock

Encyclopedia : A : AL : ALP : Alpheus Babcock

Iron frame

Alpheus Babcock (1785-1842) was a piano and music instrument maker in Boston, Massachusetts and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the early 1800s. Babcock is best known for patenting a complete iron frame in a single casting used to resist the strain of the strings in square pianos, he also patented a system of stringing in squares, and improvements in piano actions.

Babcock worked for musical instrument maker Benjamin Crehore (d.1828) before 1809. He established a workshop in Boston with brother Lewis^{[#endnote_cromb]} at 44 1/2 Newbury Street ^{[#endnote_pierc]}, but in 1812 entered a partnership with the Hayt brothers and Thomas Appleton (1785-1872; organ maker, left 1820) on Milk Street, reorganized in 1815 under R. Mackay and William Goodrich (d.1834; organ maker, partners with Crehore in 1804) who continued support throughout the turbulent economy of the 1820s. Babcock received a silver medal and special mention at the 1827 Franklin Institute exhibition in Philadelphia for his square with patented iron frame (1825), and by 1830 he moved to this city where he continued improving the square piano (at the time Philadelphia led the manufacture of pianos in the United States), introducing what he called "cross stringing"^{[#endnote_cross]} (1830) and resilient cloth hammer coverings (1833)^{[#endnote_dolge]}. Babcock was associated with Klemms (string instrument makers), Smith and Wilson (piano makers) and William Swift (piano maker), and in 1837 returned to Boston in the employ of the Mackays (R., Wm., and John, Capt. d.1841) who in 1830 had formed a parnership with Jonas Chickering (d.1852; piano maker, in 1819 he worked for Osborne, another associate of Crehore). His improvements helped Chickerings lead the American piano industry through the 1850s.

↑ Crombie ((1995) Piano. GPI Books) reports Lewis died 1814, but a square (412) in the [Eddy Collection] dated after 1824 is signed "L. Babcock" on the action and keywell.
↑ Pierce, Bob. The Piano Atlas.
↑ Not related to over stringing, this invention involved twisting shared wires at the hitch pins.
↑ Dolge mistakenly writes this was felt. Pianos and their Makers. (1911)

References

Biographical Memoir of William M. Goodrich, Organ Builder. (1834) The New England Magazine
Stevens, Paran. (1870) Manufacture of Pianos in the United States. Reports of the United States Commissioners to the Paris Universal Exposition, 1867. Govt. Print. Off., Washington, D. C.
Harding, R. (1978) The Piano-Forte. Gresham Books. Old Woking, Surrey.
[American Music, Music Trades] (2005) Music Encyclopedia
Arzhruni, Ahan. Liner notes. [Childhood Memories]. New World Records 80590-2

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.