Votey

Biography

Votey was one of the patentees whose inventions were utilized by the experimental department of the Aeolian Company, named alongside Pain, Kelley, Young, and Schnabel. The text credits him specifically with an important innovation: elongating the case of the Grand Piano so that the player mechanism could be embodied as an integral part of the piano instead of remaining a separate outside attachment. The author notes this was considered a significant improvement, and that Votey was complimented by seeing the idea copied, in a somewhat modified form, by the large Hupfeld Company of Germany. No other biographical detail (dates, nationality, or full name) is given in this text. Votey, associated with the Aeolian Company, is named among the students who trained at the Estey factory and later made names for themselves in the organ world.

Highlights

• Described as a graduate of the Estey school of organ building, associated with the Aeolian Company
• Elongated the grand piano case so the player mechanism could be built in as an integral part of the instrument rather than as an outside attachment
• This innovation was copied, in modified form, by the Hupfeld Company of Germany

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 364; Vol. II (1913), pp. 32, 33.

Public domain.