![smith and barnes chicago cabinet grand upright piano smith and barnes chicago cabinet grand upright piano](https://photos.offerup.com/vtCeitbt-ncuqGEl17JbEhiO_74=/600x337/299a/299a4286c7de4418857722cbe6092d09.jpg)
The latter gained great popularity in the Viennese centre. Streicher in 1823) and single English actions with a single escapement appeared, bringing together elements of the Viennese and English actions (also patented by J. At the same time, down-striking actions (first patented by J. Walter, were introduced, which further unified the Viennese action (see Fig.2). In Stein-Streicher’s and their followers’ actions the metal hammer fork (Kapsel) and the back-check, adopted from A. The action itself underwent only small transformations, yet its size and weight rose gradually, which later resulted in the limitation of its efficiency in fast repetitions. However, comparing to the English pianos, all of these innovations were a dozen or more years late. In 1833, Johann Baptist Streicher patented the compensating frame tubes, and in 1839 Friedrich Foxa – the metal frame. Gradually, its construction was strengthened as a heavier string set was being introduced (compass extension and overspun bass strings – still not very common). The enlarged case measured in the 1820s up to about 250 cm in length and 125 cm in width, but it retained the old lightness of its silhouette. The old keyboard coloring (naturals dark, sharps bright), taken after the harpsichord, was abandoned and the layout used now emerged.
![smith and barnes chicago cabinet grand upright piano smith and barnes chicago cabinet grand upright piano](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/991/75002/39053325_1_x.jpg)
The keyboard compass was gradually extended from five to five-and-a-half octaves after 1810, and six and a half after 1820. Their instruments underwent successive transformations, however maintained the constructional and sound characteristics that made them different from pianos made elsewhere. Among a few hundred workshops, concentrated mainly in the Austrian capital, such excellent makers as Anton Walter, Johann Schantz, the Stein-Streicher family, Matthias Müller, Conrad Graf and many others were active. Vienna continued to be a leading piano making center in Europe. The Piano of the First Half of the Nineteenth Century