Ebenezer R. Currier
piano maker
apprentice
inventor
Biography
Ebenezer R. Currier was a Boston piano-maker and pupil of John Osborn who partnered with Timothy Gilbert, trading at 398 Washington Street. In 1831 he patented a pianoforte design with a shifting action modeled on the grand action, along with a keyboard placed midway across the case to yield a seven-octave compass—evidence, per Spillane, that experimental seven-octave squares existed well before 1840. Currier also patented a down-striking grand action, broadly similar in plan to Loud's square action of 1827. What became of his 1831 patent after that year is unknown to Spillane.
Highlights
- A pupil of John Osborn who partnered with Timothy Gilbert, trading at 398 Washington Street, Boston.
- In 1831 patented a pianoforte with a shifting grand-style action and a midway keyboard giving a seven-octave compass.
- Also patented a down-striking grand action similar in plan to Loud's square action of 1827.
Source
Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 89, 96.
Public domain.