Olds cornet valve stem
the hot water was leaking so I decided to fix it.
Conn, so it seems that he already had another business plan incubating by that time.I recently bought a home and believe the bathtub faucets are original. This was only one month before the business was purchased by C.G. Another possibility is that Courtois was contracting for the supply of these assemblies from another maker, who was also supplying other makers including Fiske and Hutchins.Īnother interesting fact gleaned from a letter, dated November 5th, 1886, in the Pinardi collection is that Fiske offered to sell his business to John Heald and indicated that Heald had previously expressed interest in this. Courtois instruments were always much more expensive than the competition and it seems unlikely that they would have had the excess production to manufacture valve sections for other makers. This is the same situation as in the piston valve Fiske cornet featured on this site and several other makes that I have examined. I've never measured the bell of the Emerson's Model, but this bell is very close in dimensions to the Arbuckle's and Koenig's Models.Ĭomparing this valve section to Courtois cornets of the time, the stems, buttons and top and bottom caps are interchangeable and piston diameters are also the same. Perhaps this was made after the introduction of the Courtois Emerson's Model. Notice that the ad in the first image states that this cornet was "used and recommended by Walter Emerson". 462", which is about the same as the Emerson's Model Courtois. The length with mouthpiece removed is 12 1/2", the bell diameter is 5" and the bore measurement is. This cornet is a very close copy of the famous Courtois cornets that were favoured by the top soloists at the time. The advertisement shown here is from the Pinardi collection. This was the height of the bicycle craze and bicycle clubs were even more common than brass bands. Hutchins also offered bicycle bugles in finishes ranging from plain brass to burnished gold plating, fully engraved and set with precious stones. His father was listed as a farmer and laborer at different times. She was from a prominent Springfield family and may have aided Charles in this new business venture. Mary Jerusha Darling Hutchins was Charles' mother and listed as a music teacher in the 1870 census. It is interesting to note that in a February, 1882 ad for Hutchins bands, tickets were being sold at M.J.D. Prior to his retail and manufacturing activities, Hutchins led a brass band and drum band. There is at least one Hutchins cornet known (in the Pinardi collection) without this patented waterkey or the royal looking embossed shield and likely predates these. Prior to hiring Heald, Hutchins may have been selling imported brass instruments.
Heald later wrote that this model cornet was produced from 1882 until 1888. This was two months before applying for the patent, but the confidence of the two men proved fruitful.
Hutchins in May of 1882 to manufacture band instruments and assigned the rights to the patent for his waterkey to that business. Heald contracted with the 22 year old C.W. Regardless, he must have learned something of the business of brass instrument making while with Fiske and eventually established his own manufactory in 1889. However, in the 1880 federal census, he is listed as a music teacher in that city. According to late jazz cornetist David Pinardi, who played and had made a study of Heald cornets and had some of his original papers and drawings, reported that Heald went to work for Fiske in 1867. What is known is that John Heald went to work for Hutchins after working for Isaac Fiske. Little is known of Hutchins' instrument making activities and this is the first such instrument that I have had the chance to examine.