Luther Phileo

Biography

Luther Phileo made pianos in Utica, New York, beginning in 1841. Like G. H. Hulskamp, he is described as a German maker. In 1846 he patented an improvement to the French square piano action, notable chiefly as evidence of his inventive ingenuity rather than for practical value; the patent included a method of self-adjustment for regulating the escapement of the hammer, described as feasible-looking in text but never accepted into general use. The author notes that Wise, of Baltimore, had anticipated several of Phileo's ideas toward a self-escaping 'jack' movement as far back as 1838, and that the quest for such a mechanism was a point of jealous contention among piano makers of the 1840s and later, producing many rival patents.

Highlights

• Made pianos in Utica, New York, beginning in 1841
• In 1846 patented an improvement in the French square piano action featuring a self-adjustment method for regulating the hammer escapement
• His self-escaping jack scheme was anticipated as early as 1838 by Wise of Baltimore

Source

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 145, 146.

Public domain.