Digitorium finger exercise machine
Object No. 2001/12/1
The Digitorium is part of a genre of 19th century finger exercise machines that were made for a mainly amateur pianist market. The piano had become a hugely popular instrument throughout the middle class during this time and devices such as the Digitorium were created to assist in the physical development of a player's fingers and hands. These devices came in a variety of forms and allowed players to strengthen their fingers by playing weighted keys, the weight of which could be adjusted. Other devices were made to assist in the stretching of the fingers by inserting wedges between the fingers. The Digitorium also illustrates the response by 19th century manufacturers to capitalise on the public enthusiasm for the piano and for the growing popularity of the virtuoso performer as a public figure. Manufacturers seized on the opportunity to create finger exercise machines to satisfy the desire of amateur players wanting to improve their playing ability, encouraged to a certain extent by seeing the ability of popular virtuoso players. These machines however are reputed to have caused damage to people's hands rather than of being of any great benefit.
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Summary
Object Statement
Digitorium finger exercise machine, timber / ivory / metal, made by Chappell & Co, London, England, 1860-1880
Physical Description
Square wooden box featuring five ivory piano keys. The device has a small timber slide at the front with a central hole. Panels attached to the sides and back are covered with worn gold-coloured velvet, while the base is covered in green baize. A plaque on the top of the box reads 'The Digitorium' and lists information about the patent and manufacturer. The number '2/2681' is stamped into the wood on the front of the unit below the keys and also on the timber slide. The letters C, D, E, F and G are stamped into the front side of the wood panel above each key. The letters R, M, B, L and B are handwritten on the front of each key.
DIMENSIONS
Height
69 mm
Width
162 mm
Depth
210 mm
PRODUCTION
Notes
The Digitorium was made by Chappell & Co, 50 New Bond Street, London, between 1860-1880. The Digitorium bears the inscription 'By Her Majesty's Royal Letters Patent'. However the book, Patents For Inventions. Abridgements of Specifications Relating to Music and Musical Instruments AD 1694-1866, lists a patent for a Digitorium fitting a similar description being taken out on 23 November 1866 No: 3076 by Myer Marks. There is no mention in this publication of the Chappell Company being associated with this application or any other patents for similar finger exercise machines. For further information see; Patents For Inventions. Abridgements of Specifications Relating to Music and Musical Instruments AD 1694-1866, second edition, Commissioner of Patents, London, 1871 (Facsimile edition published by Tony Bingham, London, 1984).
HISTORY
Notes
The Digitorium was previously part of the National Trust of Victoria's collection but no information relating to the object's provenance is known other than it was donated to the Trust by a Mrs R Little in 1963. It was officially deaccessioned from the National Trust in 2000. Myer Marks 1831-1892 was the inventor of the Digitorium finger exercise machine. He had it patented on Nov 23, 1866. (Patent found in "Chronological Index of Patents Applied For And Patents Granted, For the year 1866" by Bennet Woodcroft (Clerk of the commissioners of Patents). #3076. He was living at 53 Richmond Rd Bayswater, London. His first models of the Digitorium, had that address, on the label. Myer was born in Greenwich, Kent London. By 1856, Myer was living in Dublin and a piano forte Maker, at 18 Lower Gloucester st. From his obituary: "He had learned his trade as a piano maker in Brussels, Belgium, worked there and in Paris. He went to Ireland and started a factory in Dublin and took charge of the pianos of a large number of Irish country aristocracy. His old noted Irish testimonials are in possession of his family." Myer returned to England by 1857, and married Julia Jaffa Solomon on September 16, 1857, in the Great Synagogue. 1866, he recieved the patent for the "Digitorium", and produced it 53 Richmond Rd Bayswater, London. In his obituary it states, " It was the first practicing device ever made". Sometime, in the last part of 1870, Myer, his wife, and 7 children (some were born in London, some in Dublin, as he would have been going back and forth) moved to New York. (He had 14 children in all, the rest being born in New York). He would have made a contract, with "Chappell & Co.", 49 & 50 New Bond Street, to be the sole manufacturers of the Digitorium. An advertisement of the product can be found in The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science, Art, and ..., Volume 32 PAGE 200 (August 5 1871). Myer Marks, became a US citizen on Nov 21, 1887. He past away on July 18, 1892, in Manhattan, New York, USA.
SOURCE
Credit Line
Gift of National Trust of Australia (Victoria) and Mrs R Little, 2001
Acquisition Date
15 February 2001
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