Typotone

Extract

One-note pitch pipe patented 17 Jan 1829 by Pierre Pinsonnat, inspector of gold and silver hallmarks in Amiens, France. It is a small rectangular plate of mother-of-pearl or silver pierced with a bevelled-edged rectangular slot, over which is riveted a metal free reed. Grooves cut in the long edges of the plate enable it to be held vertically between the teeth, broadside to the wind flow, while the reed is blown by the player’s breath, freeing the hands for tuning an instrument. It was approved for use by the Paris Conservatoire. A mother-of-pearl example (29.7 by 16.6 mm; US.V.n), preserved with its original leather case, has a reed of hallmarked gold sounding a′ = 441 Hz. The Typotone was improved by Louis Julien Jaulin under the name Harmonica-Jaulin.