Carl Herman Lang was born 30 Dec 1868, in Erlabrunn, Erzgebirgskreis, Sachsen, Germany.  Lang immigrated to Chicago, in the United States, around 1890.  Shortly after arriving, he founded the C. H. Lang Co., which was a small hand tool making facility for the piano industry.  Lang was a machinist and inventor, but he is mostly remembered as the first Harley Davidson motorcycle dealer, c. 1905, and he also held motorcycle patents, along with several piano tool patents. This company made a full line of piano tools.

Lang is posing with the work crew in in his shop. The poster in the foreground was drawn by Lang and shows many of his tools. This poster, reduced and included in the 1905 catalog, reveals that most all of Lang’s piano tools had reached their mature and final form by the end of the 1890s. Manually powered equipment predominates in this 1899 photo, although an electric motor is driving one machine, just to the left of the poster.

Thanks to David Abdalian, RPT, for generously lending me the 1905 Lang catalog, the 1917 and 1926 Lyon and Healy catalogs, and excerpts from the 1934 Tonk Bros. catalog. Now I can begin to fill in some missing information regarding Lang, and Lyon and Healy, who bought out Lang in 1914.

This 1899 photo of C. H. Lang’s shop showed six men, and a 1940s photo of  the Hale/Tuners Supply  toolshop also depicted six workers. It would be fair to assume that in both cases, the entire toolmaking staff was shown.  Both Julius Erlandsen and Joseph Popping had six men laboring in their shops during 1897, as recorded by the “Annual Report of the Factory Inspectors of the State of New York.”  Six seemed to be the magic number for these small piano tool makers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note how the 1/2″ steel shaft extends almost to the end of the handle.  It made for increased stability working with tight tuning pins, and for better durability in general.

USING LANG HAMMERS

Hammers made by Lang show attention to detail in both form and function. The few heads that I have used fit pins up to 2.0, although I’m fairly confident that there were larger special-ordered sockets made that would handle larger tuning pins. The hard rubber handles work well, if a bit clammy; they resist marring and do not require the care in handling necessary for a bored-out tropical hardwood handle. The Lang no. 2 hammer, with set screw, actually works better than the Lang no. 1 hammer shown above; the extension rod is held securely and does not rotate, like some extension hammers with only one set screw.

On Lang no. 1, the clutch works by drawing the internal tube towards the rear of the handle; the exposed rear portion of the brass internal tube is finely threaded, as is the internal part of the handle endpiece. When the handle endpiece is turned clockwise, it draws the the tube back, pulling the split collet along with it. This is the sharply beveled frontmost piece of the ferrule; it is actually a separate part placed right against the ferrule. On the rear, or hidden side, of this collet is a similarly shaped bevel which is mated to a sharply tapered hole in the front of the ferrule, compressing and closing the split collet, and securing the corrugated shaft from slipping. Placing fine threads inside the ‘hard’ rubber handle was the weak link to this design arrangement; pulling all this hardware aft was too much stress given the chosen material. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that replacement parts for this hammer were sold by Tonk Bros. (see bottom of this page) in 1934. But it also demonstrated that the Lang no. 1 was still sufficiently popular enough for further investment 20 years after Lang left pianos for motorcycles.

Despite the shortcomings of the Lang no. 1, on my example, the fluted extension rod is held fairly well, friction-fit within the split collet. It is still possible to tune a piano with the Lang no. 1 in its present condition, and I have done so, but I would not want to use it for an entire day. It is true that the tool is over 100 years old, but it’s also true that the hammer is not beat up or excessively worn out, as the pictures above show.

Lang tuning hammers were the most expensive product in the market, at $10.75 in 1905. Was it worth it? A rosewood Erlandsen or Mueller extension hammer including star tipped head cost no more than $7.00 at the time. Hale hammers were offered around $5.00 with a long head and star tip. $10.00 could buy a Hale tuning hammer set with three heads and six tips including the tip wrench. Perhaps the original price explains why the Lang nos. 1 and 2 hammers are not exactly rare, but uncommonly found in the wild. There are two reasons, I believe, why the Lang no 1 did not survive long-term, competing with the Hale hammer: in sum, the high price, and the inherent design issue described above.

“Ferrules of perfectly seamless steel.” This was a reference to Julius Erlandsen’s practice of rolling and seaming flat stock of German Silver to make his ferrules. His father, Napoleon, did not seam his; nevertheless, the seaming was of impeccable quality, and the German Silver, beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following offer was part of a ready-made toolkit. There is some general variation between the sizes of tuning pin sockets made during this period. It must have been standard practice in the trade to custom-machine tuning heads for the varying requirements of the tuners at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These tools have a proprietary socket, for the Lang combination handle, with the exception of the key spacer at the top, which has the traditional tang for fitting into a handle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C.H. Lang rarely used rosewood in his tools; it showed that he regarded his voicing tool as special.  Lang tuning tool handles were primarily ebonite (hard rubber); regulating tool handles were ebonite, stained hardwood, or mahogany.  The Lyon & Healy voicing tool shown here has a mahogany handle, which was less expensive than rosewood, even then.

Lang patent for a hammer extractor (by no means the genesis of this concept).

A selection of hammer extracting tools:

• Top left: unmarked, probably Erlandsen. For grands.
• Top right: Lang grand extractor
• Lang, for uprights
• Tuner’s Supply (Hale), upright
• Hammershank clamp, upright
• Hammacher Schlemmer, upright
• Boston Tuner’s Outfit Co., upright

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lang also held patents for a key ivory clamp and a screwdriver holder, but there were precedents for those ideas as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lang pliers.

Lang key easing pliers featured a swivel plate that moves in two axes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lang spring adjusters, with a tool to squeeze in between flanges and push centerpins that have walked out back in their respective flanges. No one ever does that, right?

 

 

 

This was one of the last Lang Advertisements before the Lyon & Healy buyout.  I am not sure what Lang’s calculus was regarding him calling his business the “Oldest exclusive PIANO TOOL establishment in the U.S.A.”  Hale’s Tuners’ Supply Co. was older, having been founded 1885.  Perhaps Lang was taking into account Hale’s side businesses in the oil and grocery businesses.  But Lang’s Harley Davidson Dealership was already larger than his piano business in 1913.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carl H. Lang declared his profession as a motorcycle dealer in the 1920 US census,   In 1926, C.H. Lang retired from selling Harley Davidson motorcycles.  During the Great Depression, Lang needed to return to work for a period of time, primarily as a mechanic.

 

 

 

 

The following quote described C.H. Lang’s transition from the piano business to the motorcycle business.  It was taken from HDforums.com

CH Lang is mentioned in articles in two recent issues of The Antique Motorcycle which is the AMCA magazine. Lang was the first H-D dealer and also an early H-D director and shareholder.

 

 

In Sept 1904 Lang was among members of the Chicago MC who went to see motorcycle racing at the Wisconsin State Fair Park. Two H-Ds competed along with several other makes. Later on Lang apparently bought one of the first three H-Ds produced and the bike he obtained may have been the next one made after the two that were raced at the State Fair Park. Lang proposed that he become a ‘general sales agent’ and the first H-D dealer, all as a sideline to his piano-tuning tool business in Chicago. H-D agreed and as a result Lang handled three 1905 H-Ds out of a production run that likely totaled five to eight machines.

In 1907 Lang developed a two-speed planetary-style trans and clutch (US Patent No. 908,583—‘Changeable Speed Gearing for Motorcycles’) that could be fitted to a Harley and it was unveiled at Curtis Hill near Milwaukee in May that year.

H-D incorporated in Sept 1907 but apparently Lang only took five shares. In 1912 he moved his dealership from 35 E Adams St to 1704 S Michigan Ave where he occupied a three-storey brick structure while using another building for storage of bikes and parts. By this time he was selling or distributing nearly 1,000 Harleys per year. In 1914 he disposed of his piano tool business and devoted all his energy to the motorcycle trade.

By the 1920s he increasingly turned over management of the dealership to his son Herman. Lang retired in 1926 but apparently Herman wasn’t interested in running the business so Lang transferred things to Frank Kemper who moved the operation to 1507 S Michigan Ave. Lang died in 1944.

Carl Herman passed away on 9 September, 1944.

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LYON & HEALY

Lyon and Healy’s motto was “everything in music.” They either sold or retailed just about any Western musical instrument in popular use during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They even made pipe organs. Lyon and Healy was also a major music publisher. As the years progressed, L&H began selling off its acquisitions and concentrated on what they did best, which was making one of the best harps in the world. Their style 23 harp introduced in 1890 is still being made today by a much smaller company.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Probably because Lyon and Healy had such a well recognized name, Lyon and Healy concealed the source of their piano tools; Lang’s name was removed from the tools as well as from their piano supply catalog.

The Lyon and Healy piano factory in pastoral setting (?). Artistic license, I presume. The piano factory was on Fullerton Ave in Chicago after 1908. Before that, they branded other maker’s pianos.

L&H made a few minor changes to their line of tools. Most notably, their combination handles changed twice.

 

“Tools fit snugly and firmly in clutch, and can be easily released by tapping plunger on a solid base.”  –As long as that solid base is not a piano cabinet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Otherwise, 97% of Lang’s designs remained unchanged save for the signature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tonk Brothers Company bought out Lyon and Healy’s piano supply division in 1928. Tonk Bros. Co., located at 623 South Wabash Ave. in Chicago, was a large musical instrument dealer and wholesaler, well established since the late 19th century. Tonk Bros. rehabilitated the Lang name, attributing credit to the original designer and maker. This was 20 years after Lang sold out to Lyon and Healy, and around 40 years after the tool was originally conceived. Here is the Lang No. 1 tuning hammer, as sold by Tonk Bros. in 1934.

 

The Handihold Tool was hollow in the center, which was intended to assist sight-impaired technicians install and remove difficult to reach screws, such as the upright hammer butt screw, or the grand damper underlever screw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tonk owned their piano supply business until 1947, when Continental Music took over. Schaff bought the business from Continental in 1955. A constant in all of this was Joe Kulicek (1892-1979), who was a manager at Lyon and Healy from the 1920s, through Tonk and Continental, and into the early days at Schaff with Bob Johnson, Jr.  Thanks to David Abdalian for this timeline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Kulicek also manufactured a few piano tools of his own, including tuning hammers and hammer extractors. But it was a mystery to me why his employers allowed him to do this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kulicek’s extension tuning handle, with a polymer handle and shiny plated metal hardware, reminds me of the Millers Falls “Buck Rogers” planes (and other tools), which were futuristic in design, and had red handles made of Tennessee Eastman Tenite #2, a cellulosic plastic, which was developed in 1929.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Kulicek started working at Lyon & Healy in 1907.  Many piano technicians would have known Joe Kulicek since the 1920s, when he was manager of the Piano Supplies Division.  His was a long career.

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