NMM 6853. Cornet in E-flat by Isaac Fiske, Worcester, Massachusetts, ca. 1870-1886
Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Stamped on bell: ISAAC FISKE / MAKER / WORCESTER MASS /
PATENTED / OCT. 30. 1866. NOV. 12. 1867. / FEB. 11. 1868.
The signature text refers to Isaac Fiske’s three American patents: no. 59,204 (improvement of the construction of string rotary valves); no. 70,824 (improvement of the manufacturing process of small curved tubes or crooks); and no. 74,331 (improvement of the windway). However, the design of the cornet most closely resembles U.S. patent no. 143,134 (September 23, 1873), relating to piston-operated string-rotary valves. The idea of combining rotary valves with a piston action was patented in 1857 by Joseph Higham of Manchester, England (British Patents 123). However, the integration of a piston action with a string rotary-valve design was a novelty. Fiske's improvement featured a straight, up-and-down movement of the push rods instead of the arcing motion of normal rotary valves. Fiske is known to have offered cornets built with this configuration in catalogs printed in 1873 and 1881.
This particular cornet had to have been made before December 1886, when C. G. Conn bought out Fiske’s Worcester operation.
Body: Brass with German-silver touchpieces. Single-looped tubing: leadpipe with wing screw for telescoping tuning slide; conical first bow; valve segment; conical bellpipe in one integral part; overlapping tab seam; French rim.
Valves: Three piston-action string-operated rotary valves. Spiral-spring return mechanisms enclosed in piston; reciprocal driver pivot stopped by V-shaped cork buffers. Internal slide tubing. Windway: third, second, first valve.
Accessories: Oak case, stained brown. German-silver cornet mouthpiece contemporary with instrument, stamped P / PAT. FEB. 23. 1876. Straight brass tuning slide with ears for the leadpipe.
Sounding length: 955 mm; internal diameter, leadpipe: 11 mm; bore diameter (inner valve slides) 11.8 mm; bell diameter: 117 mm.
Go to Links to Four of the NMM's Eight Brass Instruments by Isaac Fiske
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