Alfred Dolge

Biography

Alfred Dolge is the author of this history and a piano-hammer and felt manufacturer based at Dolgeville, N.Y. He acquired Rudolf Kreter's 1850 hammer-covering machine in 1871 and later sold it to Brooks of London as a curiosity. In 1873, at his Dolgeville factories, he supplied Steinway & Sons with unusually thick hammer felt (1 3/4 inches, 22 lbs per sheet) for concert grand hammers, though the resulting hammer proved too heavy for good touch. In 1887 he patented an improved hammer-covering machine built on the principle of drawing felt upward via an inclined plane, which became standard in most prominent shops and factories and enabled the heavier 'single coat' hammer. He continued experimenting for decades, and in 1910, with his master mechanic Gardner, built the Dolge-Gardner compressed-air hammer-covering machine, letting operators precisely regulate pressure with independent cylinders. Inspired by John Ammon's 1893 patent, Dolge developed the improved 'Ammon-Dolge' hammer, using a split, clasp-like molding and metal agraffe to prevent the felt from flattening; he tested it in a grand piano at his own home, where it withstood years of daily practice by his five sons. Earlier (1867-69) he worked at the Mathushek factory, conducting extensive experiments on soundboard thickness. Writing in the first person as the author of this history, Alfred Dolge recounts personally recalling, as of 1879, London piano makers still sawing logs by hand with a two-man pit saw. He describes revolutionizing the soundboard supply business by beginning in 1874 to manufacture finished soundboards for sale to the trade at his own mills in Dolgeville, N.Y. -- an innovation that let piano makers keep a full stock of boards on hand for thorough seasoning in their own factories, at less investment than carrying raw soundboard lumber. He and his associates devised a number of special, unpatented machines for gluing up and planing whole soundboards, most notably a cylinder planer with a bed and knives five feet wide; every machinery builder he approached had refused the order, insisting three feet was the safe limit for a planer cylinder, but his machine succeeded and similar machines came into use in factories across Europe and America. With it, two men could plane 300 soundboards to perfection in ten hours, and up to 400 boards a day could be finished on a modern cylinder sandpapering machine, compared to about 10 boards per day by hand with the best workman. Alfred Dolge, the author of this text, founded felt factories in 1871 that came to control much of the American and export market for piano hammer felt. In 1874 he invented a process feeding wool through carding machines according to a precise mathematical calculation, forming a continuous apron of carded wool of correct taper and thickness for six sheets of felt at a time — replacing the older, less uniform hand-laying method. His felt received the highest awards at the World's Fairs of Vienna (1873), Philadelphia (1876), Paris (1878), and Chicago (1893), and was preferred by leading American makers and many of the foremost European makers as well. American hammer-covering machines built to his design, referred to as the "Dolge model," were introduced into London shops around 1880. The text notes that his felt factories were later amalgamated with other commercial felt factories and the product lost its distinct identity. From Spillane (1890): Alfred Dolge was born in Chemnitz, Saxony, on December 22, 1848, and raised largely in Leipzig, where he attended school until age thirteen before apprenticing in his father's firm, A. Dolge & Company, piano manufacturers. He received a diploma for progress at an Industrial Sunday-school in 1865. In 1866, at seventeen, he emigrated to the United States, first working as a piano-maker in the shop of Frederick Mathushek. He briefly returned to Germany, declined an offer to become a partner in his father's firm, and returned to New York determined to build his career in America. Observing that materials such as hammer felt and stringing wire used in American pianos could be improved, he began importing German leather and Poehlmann's wire, and in 1869 devoted himself entirely to importing piano materials. In 1871 he began manufacturing felt himself, overcoming early difficulties to win the highest prize at the 1873 Vienna World's Exhibition. He was awarded a succession of patents for hammer-felt manufacturing processes, becoming, per the text, virtually the sole holder of American patents in this branch, and he also patented a hammer-covering machine. He was noted as a philanthropic employer of labor. Alfred Dolge was a felt manufacturer and industrialist who built the largest supply business of its kind for the piano and organ trades. Besides hammer-covering felt, he manufactured rubbing and polishing felts and, after relocating his factory in 1874 to Brockett's Bridge (renamed Dolgeville in his honor), expanded into sounding-board manufacture. He held patents for felt-fulling machines (Nos. 397,812 and 397,813, granted February 12th, 1889) described as revolutionizing the fulling process, and a hammer-press (No. 361,144, April 12th, 1887) that was in wide use in American and European piano factories. Under his direction Dolgeville grew from about one hundred to seventeen hundred inhabitants, with over six hundred employees housed and paid according to his methods. He adopted a profit-sharing scheme for his workers, and his political speeches and life history, delivered during the 1888 American campaign, were published in France for the 1889 Paris Exposition, drawing tributes from French statesmen reprinted in German and English papers. Alfred Dolge is credited by Spillane with "exceptional genius" in developing more advanced hammer-covering machinery than Rudolph Kreter's original invention, though Kreter is identified as the true initiator of the concept. In 1870 Dolge acquired Kreter's original hammer-covering machine, which had been used by Nunns & Clark since 1850, and sent it on to Brooks & Company of London. Spillane refers readers elsewhere in the book for fuller treatment of Dolge's career. Alfred Dolge is invoked by Spillane only in passing, as a comparison point when praising the high moral business methods of Miller & Sons. Spillane ranks Miller & Sons alongside Dolge and other unnamed 'philanthropic members of the trade' for paying workmen according to honorable standards and treating them as equals rather than mere labor.

Highlights

• Patented an improved 1887 hammer-covering machine using an inclined-plane principle to draw felt upward, which became widely adopted in the trade
• In 1910, with his master mechanic Gardner, built the Dolge-Gardner compressed-air hammer-covering machine allowing precisely regulated pressure
• Developed the 'Ammon-Dolge' hammer, using a split clasp-like molding and metal agraffe to prevent felt from flattening with use
• Beginning in 1874, revolutionized the soundboard supply trade by manufacturing finished soundboards for the trade at his mills in Dolgeville, N.Y., rather than selling raw lumber
• He and his associates invented (without patenting) a number of special gluing and planing machines, including a cylinder planer with a bed and knives five feet wide, at a time when machinery builders considered three feet the safe limit for a planer cylinder
• His five-foot planer allowed two men to finish 300 soundboards to perfection in ten hours, versus about 10 boards per day by the best hand-plane workman
• Founded felt factories in 1871 and in 1874 invented a mechanized process for carding wool into mathematically calculated, tapered sheets for piano hammer felt
• Won the highest awards for hammer felt at the World's Fairs of Vienna (1873), Philadelphia (1876), Paris (1878), and Chicago (1893)
• His hammer-covering machine design (the "Dolge model") was introduced into London shops about 1880
• Credited by Spillane with "exceptional genius" in developing improved hammer-covering machinery
• Acquired Rudolph Kreter's original hammer-covering machine in 1870 and sent it to Brooks & Company of London
• Cited by Spillane, alongside Miller & Sons, as an example of a philanthropic member of the piano trade for fair, honorable treatment of workmen
• Emigrated from Saxony to America at seventeen in 1866, worked first for Frederick Mathushek, and later built the dominant American piano hammer-felt manufacturing business
• Won the highest prize at the 1873 Vienna World's Exhibition for his felt only two years after starting manufacture
• Held a series of U.S. patents (including those dated March 1885, May 1887, and June 1887) for hammer-felt processes, and patented a hammer-covering machine
• Patented a hammer-press (Patent No. 361,144, April 12th, 1887) acknowledged as the most perfect system known, which 'draws' the felt instead of merely pressing it onto wooden mouldings
• Founded and built up the village of Dolgeville, N.Y. (originally Brockett's Bridge), growing it from about one hundred inhabitants to seventeen hundred and employing upward of six hundred hands
• Instituted a profit-sharing scheme for his employes; his life history and political speeches were published for the 'Participation du Personnes dans les Benefices' section of the 1889 Paris Exposition and drew praise from French statesmen and press

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 99, 101, 103, 104, 105, 106, 118.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 153, 154, 177, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322.

Public domain.