H. W. Smith

Biography

H. W. Smith of the Smith American Piano Company designed the firm's 'Regal Piano,' constructed on novel principles after his own designs and patent. Having studied for many years the laws of resonance and sympathy in pianos, he concluded that tone quality could be considerably enhanced by insulating the instrument's vibratory body from its case, which he accomplished by covering the piano with a soft velvety material that also gave it an artistic finish. The instrument, exhibited in August 1889, drew marked notice in New York and Boston. Smith was born in Enfield, Mass., in 1830, and became an apprentice in the factory of Hill, Ryder & Owen, where he learned piano-making before turning to organ-making. His father, David Smith, was a noted inventor of cotton machinery credited with the old-fashioned speeder, and Spillane frames H. W. Smith's inventive genius as inherited. He held many patents relating to organs and pianos, and served as Vice-President of the Smith American Organ and Piano Company.

Highlights

• Inventor of the 'Regal Piano,' which insulated the instrument's vibratory body from its case with a soft velvety covering to enhance tone; exhibited August 1889.
• Apprenticed at Hill, Ryder & Owen, learning piano-making before moving into organ-making.
• Son of inventor David Smith, credited with the cotton-machinery 'speeder.'

Source

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 306, 307.

Public domain.