John Broadwood

John Broadwood (* October 6, 1732 in Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, † July 17, 1812 in London) was the namesake of 1728 by his father- Burkhardt Tschudi in London was founded and today in the Kentish manor Finchcocks resident in the municipality of Goudhurst English piano construction company John Broadwood & Sons.

Life

John Broadwood was born on 6 October 1732 in the Scottish community Cockburnspath, Berwickshire county, in the local village church of St. Helen's baptized on October 15, 1732 and grew up in Oldhamstocks, County of East Lothian, on. He learned, like his father, James Broadwood (* 1697 in Oldhamstocks ), the profession of furniture and cabinetmaker.

In 1761 Broadwood immigrated to the nearly 600 km away from London to there for the harpsichord maker Burkhardt Tschudi ( born March 13, 1702 Schwanden; † August 19, 1773 in London, Anglified: Burkat Shudi ) to work. This made ​​him in 1770 to his business partner and gave him in 1771 along with his son of the same name ( 1738-1803 ) and his daughter Barbara ( 1749-1776 ) the management. From 1772 Broadwood was the sole director of the company. After the death of Tschudi 1773 the company went over to his son, daughter and son John. In 1783 he also took over the shares in the company of his brother.

Together with Robert Stodart, a former apprentice and later piano tuner Tschudi and Broadwood, the founder of the renowned English piano construction company Stodart, Broadwood is credited to have perfected the "English mechanics" of Dutch- English piano maker Americus Backers, which in some piano makers virtually unchanged about 70 years in Broadwood case, with some minor improvements to the early 20th century was even more than 100 years to share more in use, even if it after the patent of Sébastien Erard since 1821 already gave better from France. 1793, in a time when the sales of pianos those of the harpsichord of Broadwood and Sons topped, John stopped the harpsichord manufacturing.

On July 17, 1812 John Broadwood died in London, at a time when his company prospered. The company Broadwood and Sons went into the hands of his sons, James and Thomas Shudi Broadwood Broadwood, which eventually transformed into the world's first piano construction company with mass production according to the principles of the later formulated by Frederick Winslow Taylor division of labor.

Broadwood further technical innovations in piano include the following:

• Installation of a separate bass web for the low tones
• Invention of the pedal to damper suspension, patent of 1783
• Expansion of the tonal range of five octaves for a half octave upward to comply with a request for the Czechs Dussek, and another half octave down
• Departure from the workshop principle, the world's first factory-like manufacturers of pianos in large numbers.

Family

The pedigree of the Broadwood family can be traced back to about 1580. John Broadwood married in 1769 Burkhardt Tschudi's daughter, Barbara, in her first marriage and had four children with her. After her early death (1776 ) he married his second wife in 1781 Mary Kitson and had with her six children. Many of the children Broadwood worked in the time of his coming into England piano industry. Some of them took part in the era of Queen Victoria to the British colonization of India. Others emigrated to Australia, where today still descendants of John Broadwood life. The British General Robert George Broadwood (1862-1917), son of Thomas Broadwood and his wife Mary Athlea Matthews, was a grandson of John Broadwood and his second wife Mary Kitson.