Thom

Biography

Thom, in partnership with a maker named Allen, is credited by Dolge with inventing in 1820, in London, the first acceptable system of bracing pianos with iron tubes. This addressed a problem that had defeated many earlier experimenters, who had tried metal tubes and bars as braces underneath and above the soundboard without lasting success, and even the full iron frame patented by Hawkins in 1800 had failed. Allen and Thom's system was sound enough that they sold the patent rights to Robert Stodart, who immediately built a grand pianoforte using it, successfully withstanding a string tension of 13,000 pounds. Dolge treats this as a milestone that paved the way toward the full iron frame later perfected by American makers such as Jonas Chickering and Steinway & Sons. Thom, of London, is named jointly with a partner, Allen, as having patented in 1820 a grand piano possessing a complete metal framing system, an early step toward full iron-framed grand pianos. No further biographical information is provided by the text. From Spillane (1890): James Thom, also recorded as Thoms, was a Scotsman who served as foreman at the London piano-making firm of Stodart's. He is credited with translating William Allen's theoretical concept for a metal tube-and-plate bracing system into practical form, and the two men jointly patented the invention in 1820. The system, using metal tubes in sockets cast into plates fixed to the wrest-plank and hitch-pin block, was significant enough that the Stodarts secured it for their own instruments, and it influenced later bracing improvements by Broadwood, Erard, and Pleyel.

Highlights

• With Allen, of London, patented a grand piano with a complete metal framing system in 1820
• Co-invented, with Allen, the first acceptable system of bracing pianos with iron tubes (London, 1820)
• Sold the patent rights to Robert Stodart
• As foreman at Stodart's, put William Allen's theoretical metal tube-and-plate bracing idea into practical shape; jointly patented the invention in 1820.

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 59, 69.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), p. 41.

Public domain.