Edwin S. Votey

Edwin Scott Votey (June 8, 1856 – January 21, 1931) was an American businessman, inventor, industrial designer, and manufacturer of pianos and organs. He worked in the organ field all his adult life and had over twenty patents. He invented or co-invented several inventions for World War I. One was a pilotless airplane that was going to be used to drop bombs on the enemy but was never used.

Edwin S. Votey
Circa 1895
Born(1856-06-08)June 8, 1856
Ovid, New York, US
DiedJanuary 21, 1931(1931-01-21) (aged 74)
Summit, New Jersey, US
NationalityAmerican
Occupationinventor, manufacturer
Spouse(s)Annie M. Gray
Children3

He invented the first practical piano player in 1895. It was a cabinet-like box mechanism attached to a conventional piano that automatically played the piano. It was foot operated and played a song through a programmed perforated paper roll. The mechanism was given the name Pianola and was made commercially available to the public in 1898. The original was given to the Smithsonian Museum.

Early life

Votey was born in Ovid, New York, on June 8, 1856. His father was Charles Votey, a Baptist pastor. Votey moved with his family to West Brattleboro, Vermont in April 1873. His father had been put in charge of a newly established Baptist church there. He lived in this town until 1879. Votey went to the local public schools in Ovid and West Brattleboro for his initial formal education.[1][2]

Mid life

Votey started his first full-time job as a clerk for the Estey Organ Company in Brattleboro in 1873. He became a salesman for them in 1877. Votey's interest in organs and their construction was sparked with this company. He moved to Detroit in 1883 to become a mechanical engineer and salesman for the newly formed Whitney Organ Company. He was in a management position. Clark J. Whitney and Votey were the initial owners of the company. William R. Farrand joined them a few months after the company was organized and became the company's Secretary/Treasurer. Whitney sold all of his equity interest in the firm to Votey and Farrand in 1890.[3] The Detroit company reorganized to become Farrand & Votey Organ Company. It bought out Granville Wood Pipe Organ Company at that time. Votey took off six months for the interest of his company in 1890 and went to Europe to study the construction of pipe and reed organs.[4] His reed organ manufacturing company then had added pipe organs to its line of products.[5]

Inventions
Aeolian Company's first Pianola catalog, 1898.
Original Pianola piano player being presented to Smithsonian Museum as gift by Edwin S. Votey the inventor (right, pointing) on December 7, 1922.

Votey had over twenty patents on pianos and organs and related items.[3] He invented or co-invented several inventions used in World War I.[6] One of note was a pilotless airplane that was going to be used to drop bombs and explosives on the German army had the war continued beyond 1918.[7][8]

Votey in 1895 invented the first practical self playing mechanical piano that played complete musical performances by means of perforated paper rolls patterned for a particular piece of music.[8][9][10] The cabinet device could be attached to and removed from a typical piano.[11] Prototype testing for manufacturing the product started at the end of 1896 by Aeolian Company. In 1897, at the age of 41, Votey became vice president of the company.[10] Votey filed his patent application for the piano player on January 25, 1897. It was issued to him on May 22, 1900.[12]

The self playing mechanical piano device was put into full production and introduced to the public in 1898.[13][14][15] It was a mechanical piano player and received the name Pianola by the Aeolian Company, which was their trademark. The company came out with their first Pianola catalog in 1898 that introduced their new line of Pianola products.[9][16] Votey's first Pianola piano player was given to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. on December 2, 1922.[7][17]

The large as a piano device was a cabinet-like box mechanism that was pushed up to and attached to a conventional piano.[18] The piano player mechanism was operated by the performer with their feet pushing pedals for the power needed to make the device work. The inside of the device consisted of a set of bellows that was operated to make compressed air. This air was forced through the holes of the rolled paper. The air received on the other side from a particular hole in the perforated scroll roll went through a set of linkage arms that ultimately triggered a small felt covered wooden lever, acting like a finger, that struck the corresponding correct piano key.[19] As the roll of perforated paper spun around on its axis the small punched out holes patterned for a music piece passed the air through that triggered the mechanical fingers that played the music.[20]

Personal life

Votey was a director at the Detroit First National Bank and Trust Company. He was a board member at the Detroit National Lock Washer Company. Votey was an officer at the State Title and Mortgage Company.[8] He retired from business in April of 1930 and went to his vacation summer home at Lake Dunmore in July. Soon after arriving he became ill and went to the Porter Hospital at Middlebury, Vermont. In September 1930, he returned to his permanent residence in Summit, New Jersey. Votey's health continued to deteriorate from then on.[21] He died at his home in Summit on January 21, 1931.[1][8] Votey was married in 1878 to Annie M. Gray and they had three children, Charles, Fanny, and Edwina.[5]

Citations
  1. "Pianola Inventor Dies in Summit". The Brattleboro Reformer, page 1. Brattleboro, Vermont. January 26, 1931 – via Newspapers.com . Votey had been president of the Farrand & Votey Organ company of Detroit.
  2. "Edwin Votey, Inventor of pianola". The Pianola Institute. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  3. "The OHS Pipe Organ Database/Edwin Scott Votey". The Organ Historical Society. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  4. "Windham". The Vermont Tribune. Ludlow, Vermont. May 2, 1890. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com .
  5. "Pianola Institute Fact Sheet". The Pianola Institute Ltd. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  6. "First Pianola to U.S. Museum". The Baltimore Sun. Baltimore, Maryland. December 2, 1922. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com . Edwin S. Votey, of New. York, one of the inventors of the pilotless aeroplane and pioneer in the manufacture of pipe organs and player-pianos, today presented the original pianola to the National Museum.
  7. "First Pianola Presented to National Museum". Altoona Tribune. Altoona, Pennsylvania. January 5, 1923. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com . Edwin Scott Votey, 74, vice president of the Aeolian Piano company and inventor of the pianola, said to be the first mechanical piano, died Jan. 21 after a long illness at his home in Summit, N.J.
  8. "Pianola Inventor Dies in Summit". The Courier-News, page 1. Bridgewater, New Jersey. January 22, 1931 – via Newspapers.com .
  9. Ochse 1975, p. 295.
  10. "Edwin Votey - Inventor of the Pianola". Retrieved January 20, 2020. But his Pianola, the first of which he completed in his home workshop at 312, Forest Avenue West, Detroit, by the spring or summer of 1895, was the first roll-operated piano playing device that transcended the experimental, and so allowed truly musical performances to be achieved by means of piano rolls. ... with other prototypes following in 1896/97, and production starting in earnest in 1898. ... A handwritten note on the Aeolian Company's file copy of the patent quotes Aeolian director, George B. Kelly, as follows: "This patent is not for the original player, which was made in 1895, but a proposed form which was not adopted, and the older form was used in manufacture."
  11. Kane 1997, p. 26.
  12. Dolge 1911, p. 150.
  13. Rosen 2020, p. 47.
  14. "Object:Player Piano". Retrieved January 20, 2020. In 1896, the first self-playing piano was introduced by Edwin Scott Votey, who invented the pianola – another word for a player piano - in his home workshop in Detroit, Michigan.
  15. "The Aeolian Company's New Piano-player / THE PIANOLA". St. Louis. St. Louis, Missouri. August 28, 2005. p. FO11 – via Newspapers.com . 1897 - The Pianola , invented by Edwin S. Votey, goes on sale in the United States.
  16. "History of the Pianola - An Overview". The Pianola Institute Ltd. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  17. "First Pianola Now Museum Feature". Reading Times. Reading, Pennsylvania. December 7, 1922. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com . The original pianola (above) is now in the National Museum in Washington, D. C. Photo shows Edwin S. Votey (right) presenting the instrument - the father of piano players.
  18. Ord-Hume 1970, p. 33.
  19. Mitchell 2004, p. 97.
  20. "The Pianola:Instrumental In Music". Retrieved January 20, 2020. The invention of pneumatics changed all this. Air was used to strike the piano strings and this made it possible for thin paper to be used to play and store music. American inventor Edwin Scott Votey was the first to see the possibilities of this paper performance and set about working on a new music player in his home workshop in Detroit in 1896, which worked with perforated rolls and a foot pedal.
  21. "Edwin S. Votey obituary". Rutland Daily Herald, page 10. Rutland, Vermont. January 23, 1931 – via Newspapers.com . V

Sources
  • Dolge, Alfred (1911). Pianos and Their Makers. Covina publishing Company. OCLC 840505557.
  • Kane, Joseph Nathan (1997). Famous First Facts, Fifth Edition. The H. W. Wilson Company. OCLC 970714418.
  • Mitchell, William J. (2004). Me++ ; The Cyborg Self and the Networked City. MIT Press. ISBN 0-26225-046-2.
  • Ochse, Orpha (1975). History of the Organ in U. S. Indiana University Press. OCLC 1164778098.
  • Ord-Hume, Arthur W. J. G. (1970). Player Piano: History of Mechanical Piano. The H. W. Wilson Company. OCLC 478540868. The first pneumatic piano player that was practical was the Pianola, invented in 1896 by Edwin S. Votey of Detroit, MI, who received a patent on May 22, 1900. The patent was for an attachment of practical and economical construction that could be applied to and removed from any piano. It was introduced by Aeolian Company.
  • Rosen, Gary A. (2020). Adventures of a Jazz Age Lawyer. University of California Press. ISBN 0520969758.
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