November 29, 1859

Henry Steinway, Jr. receives the United States patent #26,300 to “the use of a projection on the underside of the cast iron plate, overlapping and abutting against the edge of the tuning block and into which the agraffes are screwed from the upper surface of the plate”. This is a radical improvement of Alpheus Babcock’s iron piano plate, eliminating the thin and tinny quality from its sound, and preventing the eventual development of the knocking noise.