William F. Cooper
inventor
Biography
William F. Cooper is described as a prolific inventor with wide experience in the player-piano field. The A. B. Chase Company engaged him to construct a player piano embodying new and desirable features not yet found in other instruments. The result, the 'Artistano', differed from other player mechanisms in being a unitary structure that could be placed below the keyboard and inside the ordinary piano case without increasing its size, and it worked equally well in grand and upright pianos. No further biographical detail about Cooper himself is given in this passage.
Highlights
- Engaged by the A. B. Chase Company to design their player piano mechanism
- Created the 'Artistano', a unitary player mechanism fitting inside the ordinary piano case without enlarging it
Source
Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. II (1913), p. 67.
Public domain.