Hello dear MMD friends !

1/ Important: my new e-mail address: fdussour@waika9.com

2/ Thema Fourneaux: another news from this very interesting
French builder of harmoniums and pianos.

Thema: Pianos Fourneaux

Jean Louis Nestor Fourneaux was at first a maker of harmoniums
in Paris.  On the 4th of November, 1863, he took out a patent for
a pneumatic system destined to play a piano, said commonly in France
"Pianista Automatique" (like a push-up player).

In 1869 Mr. Fourneaux started production of 12 automatic pianos in the
workroom of Mr. Therese, a well-known harmonium maker in Paris.  The
instruments of Mr. Fourneaux, contrary to the predecessors, were made
in large quantity and turned out to be a success.  The "Pianista
pneumatic" was displayed at the world exhibition of Philadelphia in
1876 and the news was announced at this date.

Fourneaux sold his patent to the firm Jerome Thibouville-Lamy (J.T.L.
is the contraction of the firm Thibouville in La Couture in Normandie
and the firm Lamy from Mirecourt in Lorraine), who built in particular
an instrument for South America at the price of 800 gold French francs.
That was at this date an expensive price.

The Fourneaux firm built organs, harmoniums and orchestrions with
different systems.  Why is the name of Fourneaux today still famous in
the specialized circles of mechanical music instruments ?

It is not famous for the production of harmoniums with keyboard and/or
barrel (other firms like Gavioli built instruments like that at the
same time) -- it was for the production of pneumatic instruments: the
push-up player for pianos or pneumatic pianos.

Greetings from Mirecourt
Francoise Dussour