J. Sylvanus McLean

Biography

J. Sylvanus McLean, of New Jersey, received the first United States patent relating to pianofortes, granted May 27, 1796, six years after the founding of the Patent Office, for "alterations in the scope and make of the pianoforte." No further specification of the invention survives, and the original patent drawings were destroyed in 1836 and never replaced. Spillane speculates that McLean may be identical with an unnamed piano maker known to have lived in Bordentown, New Jersey, around the same period, and suggests he may have anticipated or even inspired Hawkins's later upright piano, though this cannot be confirmed.

Highlights

• Received the first United States patent relating to pianofortes, granted May 27, 1796, for "alterations in the scope and make of the pianoforte."
• Possibly identical with an unnamed piano maker of Bordentown, New Jersey, though this cannot be verified; the original patent drawings were destroyed in an 1836 fire and never replaced.

Source

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 111, 112.

Public domain.