Richard W. Gertz

Biography

Richard W. Gertz was the inventor of the Tension Resonator for Pianos, patented October 2, 1900. The device was designed to regulate the pressure exerted by the soundboard's arch against the strings and to assist the vibratory efficiency of the whole soundboard, thereby increasing the intensity of tone produced when the hammer struck the string. A second function was to restore the soundboard's original arched form once age or atmospheric conditions had allowed it to sag under string pressure. Tension rods with conical heads, inserted into the piano's rim and radiating from the center of the instrument to all parts of the rim, could be screwed up either simultaneously, to pressure the whole board, or individually, to correct a flattened section; the rods also helped maintain the correct form and shape of the rim itself. The text illustrates the invention with a cutaway view of a grand piano's underside and a technical drawing of the resonator mechanism, both credited to Gertz, and notes that Mason & Hamlin adopted the device for all of its grand pianos after the patent was granted. Gertz is described as a devoted student of piano tone quality whose exacting, almost eccentric attention to the smallest parts of a piano shaped the design of the Mason and Hamlin grand and upright pianos of the period. Working with ample facilities, he developed the idea of a tension resonator into a practical device, obtaining a patent in 1900 and a further improvement patent in 1905, intended to keep the sounding board and strings under considerable tension for a more sonorous tone. He is also credited with a tone-sustaining pedal and damper frame, and, as an expert in pneumatics, with a patent (granted April 15, 1913) for a controlling device for automatic musical instruments. In recognition of his contributions he was elected secretary of the Mason and Hamlin Company in 1903 and president in 1906. Gertz is named in Alfred Dolge's foreword together with Henry Ziegler, Frank J. Conover, and Paul G. Mehlin as one of several contemporaries whose ongoing work the author regretted being unable to cover, the book being limited to past events. Dolge describes the group as men 'earnestly engaged in improving the heritage left us by the masters of the past,' suggesting Gertz was active in advancing piano design or construction circa 1911. No additional biographical detail, company name, or specific achievement is provided in this text. Gertz is noted in the account of the World's Fair held at St. Louis in 1904 as having acted as technical expert for the International Jury on musical instruments, the exhibition at which the Baldwin Company of Cincinnati carried off the highest award, the Grand Prix, for their products. No dates, nationality, or other biographical details about Gertz are given in this passage beyond his role adjudicating the musical instrument exhibits at that exposition.

Highlights

• Named by Dolge in the foreword among contemporaries whose current work fell outside the book's historical scope.
• Described as 'earnestly engaged in improving the heritage left us by the masters of the past.'
• Obtained a patent on October 2, 1900 for a Tension Resonator for Pianos that regulates the pressure of the soundboard's arch against the strings
• His resonator, using radiating tension rods with conical heads, could restore a soundboard's original arched form after it flattened from age or atmospheric influence
• The invention was applied to all grand pianos made by Mason & Hamlin following the granting of the patent
• Acted as technical expert for the International Jury on musical instruments at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair
• Invented the tension resonator for pianos, patented in 1900 with a further improvement patented in 1905
• Also devised a tone-sustaining pedal and damper frame, and patented a controlling device for automatic musical instruments (player pianos) on April 15, 1913
• Rose to secretary of Mason and Hamlin in 1903 and to president in 1906

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 109; Vol. II (1913), pp. 28, 149, 150.

Public domain.