The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1954)(about) |
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Thursday 25 November 1926
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PIANO INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA
Largest Factory In The British 'Empire
AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIES
IT is not generally known that
Australia has the largest piano factory
in the British Emplie but this is one of the distinctions to day of the wasindustry which founded more than 10 tears ago by Mr Octavius Beale
The industry was founded at Annan- dale Sydney in 1805 and has done a great deal towards dissipating: the idea that we must look to other countries for products of the highest technical
skill, expert knowledge and superior workmanship
In the face of earlv difficulties stub bom obstacles and a bitter and un re
lentlng foreign compet tion the little factory of 18J5 has prown until to-daj it cover 10 acres of ground Two of the buildings alone have a flooi space of 43 000 square feet and the output has already exceeded 60 000 Instruments
The achievement is the result of the fa th which Mr O C Beale lounder of Beale &. Co Ltd had in his own abilit> and that of Australian workmanship
In describing the Bea c industi y as the most remarkable m Australia one is impies ed by the fact that the Aims factory at Annandale Is more selt-con tained than any otho piano factoij .n the world In most other countiies vvhero panos are produced there e 1st aupply factoiles from which the p ano manufacturer can buy ceitain parts auch as iron trames ^ound i boaids keys bridges \cnecr etc In many cases what are called lactoi les are noth ng möie than assembling houses us-
ing material manufactured b> other
concerns with no definite control over its quality oi suitability
SELl CONTAINED TVCTORY
Theie are no supply houses in Aus tralia| Ihis faet has been turned to =ood advantage by the Lompany which naiiulactures eveij requhement in its own factoiy By this means better tone juahtie-. are possible than under other conditions From the raw material to the finished product every stage of man
ufactuie can be checked Experimental altei ations the construction of special models and a geneial eohes on of de ->ign und ciattmenship aie permitted jy such a policy all of which tend to the constant impiovemont of the fin shed pioduct
The p ano factory is housed in ten arge buildings and piesents an appear ¿nee moie like an educational institute
than a factory They contain a sui
prising number of floors and abundanct of space so that noth ng is overci owdca and eveijthng d splays the peifecton of oidoilmess and good svstem
The lundamental part of a piano is ..he frime and it is the manutacture of th s which calls for the mtiouuctor of manj patents and special devices no"t of which have been developed in ^he Australian piano industry A piane
lame has to lestst a stia n equal te 6 to 20 tons Climatic condition's pla> an înipoitant paît in the industrj ana îecessltatc attention and many consid îatioiis some ot them microscopic \hlch are bestowed upon the instiu nent in the making
i lie i ii-sion sciews on which the p ano tunga are stietched are mide by in ^cn ous machines designed and made n the factorj 'lhese tuin out tension oCicws at a lcmukible pace
lJeihai)s the most e\dUaive fcatmc jf the beale Piano and one of th jrinc pal lactoi s in establishing it
ame is the ill non wrest plank-tin. lrm s own patent This has been de
icribed by an eminent w i iter as the nost epochal advance in piano con jtruction for 50 yea is
The wiest plank is that pait of the piano that holds the wrest p ns aioune vhich the steel stunts are wound In ill other pianos these pins are wedged nto wood uhieh howevei well se isoned and stia ¡,lit «,iamed it mi¡,ht be cannot JC depended upon to st ind the stiain vhich is neailv 30 tons when the puno s strung up There is no wood gio\ n vhich cun icsist such a stia n without Jie libres bein^ uitmutclj ciuohed lhe Jins consequently Let looac and the nanos c innot be kept in tune
This has been one ot the ¡,revtest oroblen.> of piano niinufactuieis ill over the uoild ind it is an outstandnif achievement in Auotial an mdiistn i ho in\entois weie confronted with several difficulties Whatever impiove
nent was made the p na had lo be just as accessible and as C¿L^, ly turned
for tuning purposes as in the o d fash- ioned woolen plank Then they had to be capable of stand ng the onoimou3 strain ot the stiingfe. without slipping or turning even the thousandth pait of an inch Again the tone had to be as good if not bette-, than with the
old wooden fíame
THE MAGIC SOUNDING BQARD
Any Onental would îmest a Beale sounding-board with magical faculties It ¡s one of the most wondeiful of the paiti, which make the piano
The timber used in a sounding board is decidedly thoioughbred It is a vari- ety of spruce taken liom specially se- lected trees which muot glow in thet noithern slopes of hills where they will not get the direct Ja>s of the sun Only a sma'l part of the ttee-the outer shell-can be used and the grain must he perfectly straight and of even tev fure Ibis is better tlnn any other wood because it contains millions of micio'-coplc resonators which provide the necessary acoustic properties
VENEER BUT NO1" SHAM
One of the processes which has been In a large measure i espon.jibie tor gam- ing Austialian pianos reputation lor Dcauthul flush and gieat dtuability is veneering It is an expensive proces3 as pei foi mod by the Beale Company It recalls to mind that one of the Caesars gave what would to day repiosent the sum of £20 000 for a writing tablet the îesult of this ancient loi m of handi- craft One also remembers that from King Tutankamcn s tonjb the dlscovei - ers took a bov -veneered with ebony (the most îefiuctory of all timbers) and inlaid with i\oiy and "old The ven eermg of wood has therefoie been piacticed for some thousands of years
The Beale Company has applied the
old craft to piano making -with! tha
floatest possible skill and caie The mportance of veneering in this Indus- try may be judged b> the fact that if a piano was built of say bun walnut now ever beautiful that timboi may be it -would fall to pieces like giavel on the flooi Yet bj veneer ng it the makef
ombines peimanence with its natura
ocauty As the cost of the veneer is'
so high only the finest timbéis can bt -rnployed foi piano construction as any jefect would showf up tluough the ven
er
,The Beale Compam is the only piano .house in the woild which cuts yeneeis
tom the law log The company uses australian timbéis so far as it is pos- ible }
SUPER SKIÍÍrTlN'STRINGING
The quajities of the coppei and iron ores Droduced m Austt ilia ate demonstiated n the tact that Vustrallan lion which s brought up to a definite chemical ppcificUion is found to he tougher and
more suitable for for the piano industry t.ian any from otnor parts of tho wo.-ld. Australian copper, too,' is bettor than culi be produced in other countries.
lhe neeu of the h.ghest, accuracy in the copper employed .u emphas.sjd bj
.he fact that the string'-d.ameter of a p ano is ca.culated up to 100th part o¿ an inch. . Aioupd that string will b^.
loilcn as many as COO turns of copper wire. Piano manufacturers on the Con- tinent and, in England and the- United States are, on the whole, satisfied with
hard'and fast standards in this respect
governed by the ' price, of copper. In
Australia known scientific facts and de- finite calculations are applied.
'No one," claims Mr. Beale, "has ever known copper'wire as well as fhey do it at Port Kembla." They have at-y calned an abso.utcly equal graduation of the steel strings in relation to the coppei"" covering wire, which is drawn through to 1/10,000 part of an inch.
The pressure bar is another Important feature in Australian pianos. This ba- ls used to deflect the Vibrations of the string back into the string, to energise the sound board and to give it tone. It. therefore, require a very heavy ana dense pressure . so as not to raise the strings to a'point where the tuner can-
not get at thom. These pressure bars have a power of resistance equal to 6 tons. 'Those used in all other pianos 'are drawn brass rod or iron. The drawn brass, it is expla.ned, tends to pull the fibres or molecules apart and . cause minute.holes-in the brass. In the Baale factory they use excruded bronze-that is to say, they force the cold bronze
through a die b~y^ hydraulic pressure. Tlils class of work* is done specially for ..he firm by the Austral Bronze Co., of Sydney.
* ' STUDIES IN GLUE. .
Australian glue is the finest» becausf ni abundance of good hides is obtain .ble. The glues are subjected lo varioui .ests as to water absorption, dissolving /iscosity, etc., the most important beint he shearing test. ¡In this, Australiai. ;lues show up the best of all. These ests enable the technical department o know definitely the holding-powei .nd durability of the glue.
It is an interesting fact that anothoi
australian concern, 'the Davis Gelatine Jo., brought out a shear-testing machine, or testing the strength of the joints n this, as in many ways, has the en
.erprise of Beale Company encouraged' hat of other industries.
SYSTEM AND SERVICE.
The Beale works comprise a set of systems which go to form one single system, and,-that one perfect. .
for example, you will find a foundry which is remarkable, not 'only for what it.1 produces but also because it < is a department wliTciris not" to'be found in any other piano factory in the world In this foundry is produced every piece of cast work used in the Beale plane fiom the frame to the 'smallest piece
of ornamental scroll work.
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