1709 ----Gravicembalo col piano e forte by Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori; 4-1/2 octaves (C-F).

1720 ----Cristofori adds the back check to his actions.

1730 ----First German pianos are built by Johann Andreas Silbermann.

1732 ----First music published specifically for piano appears in Italy: Twelve Sonatas for Soft and Loud for Harpsichord with Hammers by Lodovico Giustini.

1742 ----Christian Ernst Friederici builds the first square piano and vertical grand.

1760 ----The pianoforte arrives in England.

1760s ---Johannes Zumpe builds the first English square piano.

1767 ----Johann Christian Bach gives the first public pianoforte solo performance in London playing a piano built by Johannes Zumpe.

1770 ----Johann Andreas Stein adds an escapement to his downstriking actions.

1770 ----John Broadwood builds his first square piano.

1775 ----Johann Behrent of Philadelphia builds the first American square piano (the start of piano building in America).

1777 ----Sebastian Erard introduces Paris to its first square piano.

1777 ----Patent is issued to Robert Stodart for the English grand action and damper rail.

1782 ----John Godfrey Hildebrand constructs a square piano placing the hammers above the strings to strike the strings with a downward blow.

1783 ----John Broadwood introduces the sustaining pedal, replacing the knee lever. He receives patents for scale designs incorporating two or more soundboards in the same piano, and for a soundboard with sound-post (bridge).

1786 ----John Geib adds the hopper (escapement) to his actions, known as the grasshopper.

1788 ----John Broadwood builds his first grand piano.

1790 ----John Broadwood builds a grand piano with 5-1/2 octaves.

1793 ----John Broadwood builds a square piano with 5-1/2 octaves.

1794 ----John Broadwood extends the keyboards of grands and squares to 6 octaves.

1794 ----William Southwell places a grand on keyboard end to construct a vertical grand.

1795 ----William Stodart patents his upright grand.

1798 ----First giraffe upright is built in Vienna.

1800 ----John Isaac Hawkins of Philadelphia lowers the upright piano strings below the keyboard to floor level, and is later credited with having made the first upright piano in America.

1804 ----Grands and squares with 6-1/2 octaves appear. (Late Beethoven piano).

1807 ----William Southwell introduces the cabinet piano.

1807 ----Ignaz Pleyel founds his piano factory in Paris.

1808 ----Sebastian Erard invents the agraffe.

1811---- Robert Warnum introduces a small upright piano.

1815 ----The English double action with escapement is used in square pianos.

1820 ----Robert Warnum invents the tape - check action for the upright piano.

1820s ---High tensile steel wire is produced for piano strings.

1821 ----Sebastian Erard patents the double escapement (repetition) action.

1821 ----Samuel Herve, employed by Broadwood, applies the metal hitch-pin plate to a square piano for the first time.

1823 ----George Read, son-in-law of Phineas Pratt, makes the first ivory key covers for Jonas Chickering.

1824 ----Sebastian Erard builds a 7 octave grand piano.

1825 ----Alpheus Babcock patents a one-piece cast iron plate made in a single casting for a square piano.

1826 ----Henri Pape patents his scale design for cross-stringing in upright pianos.

1826 ----Henri Pape patents felt hammers of graduated density.

1827 ----Henri Pape builds a piano with the action placed above the strings.

1828 ----Henri Pape introduces his scale design for overstringing.

1828 ----Alpheus Babcock introduces his scale design for cross-stringing.

1830 ----Thomas Loud builds upright pianos with overstringing.

1836 ----Wheatly Kirk patents a complete iron frame (likely cast-iron) for an upright piano.

1842 ----Thomas Loud receives patent for the shifting keyboard on square and upright pianofortes.

1843 ----Jonas Chickering developes the one-piece cast iron plate for a grand piano.

1844 ----Jonas Chickering becomes the first exporter of American pianos. The first shipment is sent to India.

1855 ----Steinway & Sons invents and exibits the first overstrung scale in a square piano, known as the American System.

1859 ----Steinway & Sons receives a patent for the overstrung scale in a grand piano.

1866 ----Production of Broadwood square pianos ends.

1868 ----Patent is issued to Steinway & Sons for tubular metal action frame.

1871 ----C.F. Theodore Steinway patents a grand action with counter spring.

1872 ----C.F. Theodore Steinway patents the duplex scale and the cupola iron plate.

1873 ----Aliquot system of stringing is patented by Julius Bluthner.

1874 ----Steinway & Sons makes improvements for the sostenuto pedal.

1875 ----Patent is issued to Steinway & Sons for the capo tasto bar in the cupola cast iron plate for grand pianos.

1878 ----Steinway & Sons receives patent for a grand piano case with bent rims.

1884 ----Sohmer & Co. patents the first American 5' baby grand piano. (The size was first invented by Ernest Kaps of Dresden in the 1860's.)

1887 ----Torakusu Yamaha establishes Yamaha Reed Organ Manufacturing, and becomes the father of Japan's music instrument industry.

1887 ----Alfred Dolge patents an improved hammer covering machine.

1889 ----S. Hansing receives a patent for the muffler on the upright piano.

1890 ----The 7-1/4 octave keyboards become the standard.

1900 ----A patent is issued to Richard Gertz for a tension resonator used in all Mason & Hamlin pianos.

1900 -----Yamaha Corporation (Nippon Gakki) begins production of vertical pianos in Japan.

1902 ----Yamaha Corporation begins production of the grand piano in Japan.

1925 ----A-440 concert pitch is established in the United States.

1960 ----Yamaha Corporation establishes Yamaha International Corporation, California, USA.

1960s ---The Korean Piano Industry is founded by Young Chang Akki Company, LTD. and Samick Corporation.

1977 ----Yamaha introduces the Vacuum Shield Mold Process (V-Process) to cast iron plates for pianos.

1988 ----Yamaha reinvents the player piano and introduces the Disklavier piano.

Mathis Piano Service
West Bend, WI