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Scan 256
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
4 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 242. See the scan on archive.org.
1line above, and, taking this as a second radius, he cut off a further portion of the line which represents the length of the bow; and from this point of intersection he raised a third perpendicular, meeting the upper line as before, and so on, until the whole length of the line was exhausted. He found that between that portion of the stick where its constant dimension terminates, and the extreme end next the head, which shows its least diameter, there was a gradual decrease over the intermediate length of, in all, say 1/4 in. He divided this total decrease into ten equal parts, and, by the above ingenious method, fixed the ten positions on the stick where these regularly lessening dimensions should appear, viz., at the points where the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th perpendiculars intersect the line which represents the total length of the stick. A minute examination of numbers of Tourte's bows verified the above projection, and it is altogether surprising that such a purely scientific result should have been attained by Tourte through sheer dexterity of hand and eye. The backward curve of the bow was produced by the aid of heat alone.
3In the matter of bows, Vuillaume's attention was turned in other directions, and, as already stated, when referring to him as a violin maker, he was the author of some improvements and inventions of considerable importance. He began to make his steel bows in 1834, and continued to do so until he lost the workman who fabricated them. They were made of hollow steel tubes, and sold at 25 francs, like his wooden ones. De Beriot and Artot are named as
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