Alpheus Babcock

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Alpheus Babcock (September 11, 1785 – April 3, 1842) was a

Babcock received a silver medal at the 1824 Exhibition of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia^[2], as well as in 1825, and in 1827 a silver medal and special mention for a square with his patented solid cast-iron frame (1825).

In 1830 he relocated to Philadelphia, at the time the largest producer of pianos in the United States, where he patented what he called "cross stringing",^[3] and introduced resilient cloth hammer coverings. He was associated with instrument maker and seller John C. Klemm, his former agent, and by late 1832 worked as foreman for piano maker William Swift, at whose warehouse at 142 Chestnut street, he advertised in The Daily Chronicle in 1833, one could see iron framed pianos for which he claimed sole manufacturing rights. Babcock won honors at the 1833 Franklin Institute exhibition, along with C. F. L. Albrecht of Philadelphia, and Nunns & Co. of New York.

Babcock returned to Boston in 1837 employed by Chickering & Mackays^[4] who had formed a partnership in 1830. Babcock's improvements helped Chickerings lead the American piano industry through the 1850s.

Notes

1. John Mackay (Boston Industrialist), and "R. Mackay" as Ruth, (1744–1833) widow of Mungo Mackay
   , and mother of John Mackay, but Holman writes she died 1820, and that John Mackay was married to her daughter Fanny.
2. ^ For "the best horizontal piano", a square "made for J. Mackay, of Boston" with "the strings of the lower octaves... covered with flattened wire" Spillane, p. 86
3. ^ Not related to over stringing. Babcock's invention involved winding shared wires around the hitch pins.
4. ^ Babcock assigned his 1839 patent to John Mackay, William H. Mackay and Jonas Chickering. John Mackay, like George D. Mackay in 1822, had given Babcock's address in 1825, 1828, and 1829 Boston Directories.