In response to several messages about the patents held by Josef Hofmann,
I dug out some correspondence I had in 1984.  At that time I was very
active with the Chicago AMICA Chapter.  One of our members, Steve
Husarik, a music teacher at a community college, had won a research
grant to investigate the inventions of Hofmann.

Steve traveled to Maryland to study at the International Piano Archive.
There he examined the model of the Hofmann roll punching device,
Hofmann's wiring diagrams for hooking up the patented dynamic recorder,
and the patents for the recorder.  After Steve returned to Chicago, we
studied together the information he had gathered.  We both concluded the
recorder would never work.

Those wishing to study the patent can look it up and draw your own
conclusions.  United States Patent number 1,614,984,  Jan. 18, 1927,
application filed May 5, 1925, Serial No. 28,158, and in Great Britain
May 26, 1924.

I have lost track of Steve and he is longer a member of AMICA.

Bob Taylor