"So a slot was cut into the jack face and a small tail was shaped on the hammer butt to fit through the slot allowing for free movement at full extension of the butt.
Without the slot and tail the hammer will not play the wire. Originally, I thought that this action might have been a prototype for Herrburger-Schwander until last year when a fellow in Italy sent me photos of an early Bechstein (1880’s) with the same Brevet action."

"While the hook at the top of the jack fitting into the butt will accomplish a certain amount of this, it is my thinking that in order to be properly weighted in the action the butt had this long extension on the bottom creating a certain amount of weight. Now when used in this manner, the bottom extension would have collided with the front of the jack preventing full use of hammer butt movement."

"Hi Mark,
This type of hammer butt without the bridle strap would require a certain ballast or weight in order to return without the bridle strap."

"Sorry, bad grammar. Meant to say:
If the tail ON the butt extension and the slot IN the jack never actually touch..."

"Hi Dan,
I just stumbled across this. Can you explain what purpose the little tail on the butt extension and the slot in the jack serve? They don't actually ever seem to engage, because if they did, surely they would be lined with leather or felt? So, if the tail to the butt extension and the slot into the jack never actually touch, why bother to make them at all? (Sorry if it's a stupid question... perhaps I'm missing something...)
Regards,
Mark R."