As mentioned above, in the spring and summer of 1896, Detroit's Edwin Scott Votey invented the PIANOLA in his home workshop at 312 Forest Avenue, Detroit. Votey's first 1896 machine was in a piano sized cabinet that was pushed up to the piano keyboard so that a row of wood fingers aligned with the keys.
http://www.amica.org/Live/Instruments/Player_Pianos/Player_Piano_History.htm
A player piano can be played by hand in the usual way. The pedals and keyboard are identical to an ordinary piano. It just has the additional capacity to play by itself. Player pianos originated with a progression of vacuum operated systems.
http://www.amica.org/Live/Instruments/Player_Pianos/Player_Piano_History.htm
Some music historians believe the upright piano was developed in the year 1739 by P. Domenico Del Mela, one of Cristofori’s assistants. These were the earliest upright pianos. The upright piano that would be recognizable today was invented not until the 1780s by Johann Schmidt, in Austria.
http://www.piano-keyboard-guide.com/who-invented-the-piano.html
The piano became 300 years old in 2000 A.D. Its evolution began in the 13th Century, when someone put a harp inside a box and added keys that struck rather than plucked the strings. The first automatic piano was unveiled in New York City by Needham and Sons in 1880.
http://www.amica.org/Live/Instruments/Player_Pianos/Player_Piano_History.htm
In this article we will give credit where credit is due. We shall talk about the inventor of the piano, why it was invented, as well as those who invented variations of the piano and piano parts and features that make the instrument what it is today.
http://www.piano-keyboard-guide.com/who-invented-the-piano.html
The player piano's heyday lasted from 1900 to the Depression in the1930's. Affordable radios started becoming commonplace in 1927. In 1932, not a single player piano was shipped from the factories. Player pianos sounded much better than radio or the Edison mechanical phonographs of that era.
http://www.amica.org/Live/Instruments/Player_Pianos/Player_Piano_History.htm
The Welte Company of Germany's keyless Red Welte introduced the first such instrument in 1904. In 1904, Freiberg, Germany's Welte developed its own reproducing player piano action using an electric suction pump and sophisticated expression control mechanism.
http://www.amica.org/Live/Instruments/Player_Pianos/Player_Piano_History.htm
The first piano was invented in Florence, Italy in 1700 by Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655 1732), a craftsman who repaired harpsichords for Italy s royal court.
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Fall05/pfaff/history.html
According to his employers, the Medici family, one of his pianos was already in existence by the year 1700. Another document of doubtful authenticity indicates that the piano was invented in the year 1698. Three pianos made by Bartolomeo Cristofori survive today.
http://www.piano-keyboard-guide.com/who-invented-the-piano.html
While Bartolomeo Cristofori is credited as the one who invented the piano, mention must be made of Gottfried Silbermann, better known as an organ builder. Silbermann’s pianos were exact copies of Cristofori’s except for one important addition. Silbermann invented the forerunner of the modern damper pedal.
http://www.piano-keyboard-guide.com/who-invented-the-piano.html
who created the piano
P. Domenico Del Mela created the piano.