William M. Bauer

Biography

William M. Bauer was elected vice-president and general manager of Julius Bauer and Company in 1900. Described as naturally modest and conservative, his ambition lay less in manufacturing volume than in originating and constructing improvements to the Bauer piano, for which a number of patents are recorded in his name. His most notable innovation was an upright piano design using a wooden plate (built of five glued crosswise quarter-inch veneers) in place of the conventional iron plate, serving as pin block, with an ingenious agraffe system attached to the sound board bridge said to individualize the vibrations of each choir of strings and produce a mellower, less "metallic" tone than an iron-plate piano. Large holes were cut into the plate below the hitch pins to allow air circulation. He also held patents covering a novel fall-board, swinging music desk, improved pedal, pedal action, and action bolt, reflecting attention to the piano's minor parts as well as its main structure. Bauer took over management of Julius Bauer & Company following the death of his father and the firm's founder, Julius Bauer, in 1884.

Highlights

• Took over able management of Julius Bauer & Company after his father Julius Bauer's death in 1884
• Elected vice-president and general manager of the corporation of Julius Bauer and Company in 1900
• Invented a wooden-plate construction for upright pianos (replacing the conventional iron plate) with an agraffe system fastened to the sound board bridge to individualize string vibrations
• Held patents for a novel fall-board, swinging music desk, improved pedal, pedal action, and action bolt

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911); Vol. II (1913), pp. 37, 38, 39.

Public domain.