Mathushek

Biography

Mathushek was a piano soundboard designer credited with devising one of the more scientifically notable schemes for countering the downward pressure strings exert on a soundboard. In 1879 he patented his 'equilibre' system, described by the author as perhaps the most scientific of such devices, though its results did not justify its increased cost. Mathushek reportedly surmised on his own -- a conclusion later established scientifically by Hansing -- that the soundboard is not driven by airborne sound waves. After discarding the costly equilibre system, he reverted to a thick, ribless soundboard, and in 1891 patented a 'duplex' soundboard: two boards, cross-banded and glued together, made thickest at the center where the bridge rests, to better withstand string pressure. Mathushek is credited with inventing the hammer-covering machine in America in 1850, an innovation that raised piano hammer making to the dignity of a specialty industry in the United States, in contrast to England where handmade hammers continued to be produced as a house industry for many years afterward. No further biographical detail is given about Mathushek in this text beyond credit for this invention and its date.

Highlights

• Patented an 'equilibre' system in 1879 intended to sustain the soundboard's resistance against the downward pressure of the strings
• Abandoned the equilibre system due to its high cost and returned to a thick, ribless soundboard, then in 1891 patented a 'duplex' soundboard made of two cross-banded boards glued together, thickest at the bridge
• Invented the hammer-covering machine in 1850, launching hammer making as a specialty industry in America

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 109.

Public domain.