Robert Stodart

Biography

Robert Stodart purchased the patent rights to the iron-tube bracing system invented by Allen and Thom of London in 1820. He immediately put the system to practical use, constructing a grand pianoforte braced by this method that successfully withstood a total string tension of 13,000 pounds, a considerable figure for the period. Dolge cites Stodart's instrument as an early demonstration that iron bracing could meaningfully strengthen a piano's frame, part of the broader nineteenth-century progression toward the full iron frame later perfected by Alpheus Babcock, Jonas Chickering, and the American makers who followed them. No further biographical detail about Stodart, such as dates or later career, is given in this portion of the text. Robert Stodart, of London, started a piano-making business in New York in 1820. In 1821 Dubois joined him and the firm operated as Dubois & Stodart until 1836, when Stodart retired. The firm subsequently passed through several changes of partnership and name, eventually becoming the Bacon Piano Company, incorporated in 1904. From Spillane (1890): Robert Stodart, Jr. arrived in New York from England in 1819 and initially imported pianos made by his uncle, also named Robert Stodart, who was in business in London and was himself a son of the "original Stodart" of the historic English piano-making family. Finding that these high-priced imported instruments could not compete with the ordinary imported pianos already sold in the city, Stodart began manufacturing pianos in New York in 1820. In 1821 he joined William Dubois to found Dubois & Stodart, with Dubois supplying capital and Stodart the practical expertise; the firm quickly became prominent. When a Mr. Chambers was admitted as partner some years later, Stodart withdrew and began manufacturing in a new field.

Highlights

• Purchased the Allen and Thom iron-tube bracing patent
• Built a grand pianoforte withstanding 13,000 pounds of string tension using the new system
• Started a piano-making business in New York in 1820
• Firm became Dubois & Stodart, an ancestor of the Bacon Piano Company
• Arrived in New York from England in 1819, initially importing pianos made by his uncle, also named Robert Stodart, of London.
• Began manufacturing pianos himself in New York in 1820.
• Co-founded Dubois & Stodart in 1821, supplying manufacturing expertise while Dubois furnished capital.

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 69, 277.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), p. 108.

Public domain.