Henry Hartye

Biography

Henry Hartye, described as "another remarkable member of the Teutonic race," appeared in Baltimore in 1826 and began making pianos on Hanover Street in 1827, becoming, in the author's estimation, a far more remarkable maker than Joseph Hiskey. One of his instruments, exhibited at a fair in Philadelphia, so impressed the British Minister resident in Washington that he purchased it on sight and ordered two more of the same kind to send as gifts to English friends. On May 12, 1836, Hartye patented an improvement to the English system of applying metal plates to the pianoforte, claiming novelty in carrying the tuning-pin through the metal plate into the wrest-plank beneath -- a method the author calls a rough anticipation of a system later in general use. Despite his contemporary reputation, the author notes that Hartye's name had, by the time of writing, been largely forgotten, unlike those of Babcock, Stewart, Osborn, or Hiskey. William Knabe went to work in Hartye's shop upon arriving in Baltimore in 1833.

Highlights

• Appeared in Baltimore in 1826 and began making pianos on Hanover Street in 1827, becoming, per the author, "far more remarkable" than Hiskey
• One of his pianos so impressed the British Minister resident in Washington that he purchased it on sight and ordered two more as gifts for English friends
• Patented, on May 12, 1836, a method of carrying the tuning-pin through a metal plate into the wrest-plank, an early anticipation of a later general-use system

Source

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 128, 129.

Public domain.