0_Wizard
Have you heard of Yamaha? They started as a piano manufacturer in 1887!
  Yamaha was established in 1887 as a piano and reed organ manufacturer by Torakusu Yamaha as in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture and was incorporated on October 12, 1897.
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Yamaha Corporation
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Timothy Gilbert
Timothy Gilbert (January 5, 1797 – July 19, 1865) was an American piano manufacturer, abolitionist and religious organizer in Boston, Massachusetts.. His brother Lemuel Gilbert (February 10, 1804 – February 27, 1864) was also a piano manufacturer. Gilbert was born in Enfield, Massachusetts, the second child of Timothy Gilbert and Fear Shaw and worked on his father's farm until the age of 21. He arrived in Boston December 1818, where he apprenticed with cabinet maker Levi Ruggles, and later worked for piano maker John Osborn before becoming a piano maker in his own right. He was an active member of the Baptist Church, to which he converted in 1817, and was an outspoken abolitionist.
Piano
The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700 (the exact year is uncertain), in which the strings are struck by hammers. It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys (small levers) that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings. The word "piano" is a shortened form of "pianoforte", the Italian term for the early 1700s versions of the instrument, which in turn derives from "gravicembalo col piano e forte" and "fortepiano". The Italian musical terms "piano" and "forte" indicate "soft" and "loud" respectively, in this context referring to the variations in volume (i.e., loudness) produced in response to a pianist's touch or pressure on the keys: the greater the velocity of a key press, the greater the force of the hammer hitting the strings, and the louder the sound of the note produced and the stronger the attack.
Disklavier
Disklavier is the brand name for a family of high-tech reproducing pianos made by Yamaha Corporation. The first Disklavier was introduced in the United States in 1987. The typical Disklavier is a real acoustic piano outfitted with electronic sensors for recording and electromechanical solenoids for player piano-style playback. Sensors record the movements of the keys, hammers, and pedals during a performance, and the system saves the performance data as a Standard MIDI File (SMF). On playback, the solenoids move the keys and pedals and thus reproduce the original performance. Modern Disklaviers typically include an array of electronic features, such as a built-in tone generator for playing back MIDI accompaniment tracks, speakers, MIDI connectivity that supports communication with computing devices and external MIDI instruments, additional ports for audio and SMPTE I/O, and Internet connectivity.
Yamaha Corporation
  Yamaha was established in 1887 as a piano and reed organ manufacturer by Torakusu Yamaha as in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture and was incorporated on October 12, 1897. The company's origins as a musical instrument manufacturer are still reflected today in the group's logo—a trio of interlocking tuning forks. After World War II, company president Genichi Kawakami repurposed the remains of the company's war-time production machinery and the company's expertise in metallurgical technologies to the manufacture of motorcycles. The YA-1 (AKA Akatombo, the "Red Dragonfly"), of which 125 were built in the first year of production (1954), was named in honour of the founder.
Yamaha Entertainment Group
Yamaha Entertainment Group - Nashville., a subsidiary of the Yamaha Corporation of America, is based in Franklin, Tennessee and was created and developed in 2001 by Vice President Chris Gero. Yamaha Entertainment Group is responsible for the development and advancement of the Yamaha brand name through numerous artist-related activities worldwide, which includes endorsements, artist imaging, artist marketing, concert production, media operations, piano logistics, tour support, product placement, artist related publications, artist website development and strategic alliances. A 25-year veteran in the music industry, Chris Gero has spent the last 15 years spearheading Yamaha’s artist branding.
Pearl River Piano Group
The Pearl River Piano Group (广州珠江钢琴集团有限公司) is China's largest piano manufacturer and claims to have the largest piano factory in the world. The company was established in 1956 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. Pearl River is capable of producing over 100,000 pianos a year, and exports them to more than 80 countries. Most Pearl River pianos are considered entry level instruments. However, they make some (Ritmuller, Kayserburg, and Hallet Davis) to higher specifications with better materials. Pearl River also releases special edition pianos, including the "Butterfly Grand", which is 198 centimeters long and available in silver, blue, or pink.
Chris Gero
Chris Gero is a three-time Emmy award-winning, GRAMMY nominated, American music industry executive, concert producer, record producer, artist relations executive, songwriter, award-winning film director and composer and the founder and vice president of Yamaha Entertainment Group of America. Gero is responsible for the management and branding of Yamaha's global roster, having signed more than 3,600 artists to contract to date. Gero oversees Yamaha's artist collaborations, including Elton John, Alicia Keys, Paul McCartney, Norah Jones, Josh Groban, Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, John Legend, and Ben Folds.
1_Apprentice
I have heard of it. The make a lot of different things now right?
0_Wizard
Yes, after WW2 the president repurposed their wartime production machine to make motorcycles
After World War II, company president Genichi Kawakami repurposed the remains of the company's war-time production machinery and the company's expertise in metallurgical technologies to the manufacture of motorcycles.
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Yamaha Corporation
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Motorcycle braking systems
Motorcycle braking systems have varied throughout time, as motorcycles evolved from bicycles with an engine attached, to the prototype motorcycles seen racing in MotoGP. Most systems work by converting kinetic energy into thermal energy (heat) by friction. On motorcycles, approximately 70% of the braking effort is performed by the front brake. This however can vary for individual motorcycles; longer-wheelbase types having more weight biased rearward, such as cruisers and tourers, can have a`greater effort applied by the rear brake. In contrast, sports bikes with a shorter wheelbase and more vertical fork geometry can tolerate higher front braking loads.
DKW RT 125
The RT 125 was a German two-stroke motorcycle made by DKW in Zschopau in the 1930s, IFA and MZ in the 1950s and early 1960s, and DKW in Ingolstadt in the 1950s and 1960s. "RT" stands for "Reichstyp" or "National Model". In the 1930s DKW pioneered the Schnürle two-stroke loop scavenging process to dispense with the use of a deflector piston and improve efficiency of the combustion chamber. DKW also developed a highly efficient arrangement of transfer ports. These two features were included in the RT 125 to great commercial advantage. Competitor companies such as Adler and TWN copied the adoption of flat-topped pistons and strove to develop equally transfer port arrangements without infringing DKW's patent.
Aircraft in fiction
Aircraft in fiction covers the various real-world aircraft that have made significant appearances in fiction over the decades, including in books, films, toys, TV programs, video games, and other media. These appearances spotlight the popularity of different models of aircraft, and showcase the different types for the general public. The first aviation film was the 1911 William J. Humphrey–directed two-reeler, "The Military Air-Scout", shot following an Aero Club of America flying meet at Long Island, New York, with Lt. Henry Arnold doing the stunt flying. "Arnold, who picked up 'a few extra bucks' for his services, became so excited about movies that he almost quit the Army to become an actor."
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D), or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer, founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1903. One of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression (along with Indian), the company has survived numerous ownership arrangements, subsidiary arrangements (e.g., Aermacchi 1974-1978 and Buell 1987-2009), periods of poor economic health and product quality, as well as intense global competition, to become one of the world's largest motorcycle manufacturers and an iconic brand widely known for its loyal following. There are owner clubs and events worldwide as well as a company-sponsored brand-focused museum.
Ducati singles
The Ducati singles were single cylinder motorcycles, made by Ducati from 1950 to 1974. Chief Engineer Fabio Taglioni developed a desmodromic valve system in these years, a system that opens "and" closes the valves using the camshaft, without the need for valve springs. This valve system has become a trademark feature of Ducati motorcycles. In 1926, the brothers Adriano and Marcello Ducati founded Societa Scientifica Radio Brevetti Ducati, a company in Bologna producing tubes, condensers and other radio components. On June 1, 1935, the cornerstone of a factory in Borgo Panigale was laid. By 1940, the company was engaged in the manufacture of electronic equipment for the military, making the factory a target for Allied bombing.
Matchless
Matchless is one of the oldest marques of British motorcycles, manufactured in Plumstead, London, between 1899 and 1966. A wide range of models were produced under the Matchless name, ranging from small two-strokes to 750 cc four-stroke twins. Matchless had a long history of racing success; a Matchless ridden by Charlie Collier won the first single-cylinder race in the first Isle of Man TT in 1907. In 1938, Matchless and AJS became part of Associated Motorcycles (AMC), both companies producing models under their own marques. During the amalgamations that occurred in the British motorcycle industry in the 1960s, the Matchless four-stroke twin was replaced with the Norton twin, ending a long history of independent production.
History of the Labour Party (UK)
The British Labour Party grew out of the trade union movement of the late 19th century, and surpassed the Liberal Party as the main opposition to the Conservatives in the early 1920s. In the 1930s and 1940s it stressed national planning, using nationalization of industry as a tool, in line with Clause IV of the original constitution of the Labour Party which called for the "...common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service" (this clause was eventually revised in 1994). Labour has had several spells in government, first as minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929–31.
1_Apprentice
I know they make four wheelers and jetskis too.
0_Wizard
Yes! Yamaha is the largest manufacturer of musical instruments but they also make audio/visual, home appliances, and sporting goods
In 1955, the success of the YA-1 resulted in the founding of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.  Yamaha has grown to become the world's largest manufacturer of musical instruments (including pianos, "silent" pianos, drums, guitars, brass instruments, woodwinds, violins, violas, celli, and vibraphones), as well as a leading manufacturer of semiconductors, audio/visual, computer related products, sporting goods, home appliances, specialty metals and industrial robots.
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Yamaha Corporation
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Yamaha Corporation
  Yamaha was established in 1887 as a piano and reed organ manufacturer by Torakusu Yamaha as in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture and was incorporated on October 12, 1897. The company's origins as a musical instrument manufacturer are still reflected today in the group's logo—a trio of interlocking tuning forks. After World War II, company president Genichi Kawakami repurposed the remains of the company's war-time production machinery and the company's expertise in metallurgical technologies to the manufacture of motorcycles. The YA-1 (AKA Akatombo, the "Red Dragonfly"), of which 125 were built in the first year of production (1954), was named in honour of the founder.
South East England
South East England is the most populous of the nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex. As with the other regions of England, apart from Greater London, the south east has no elected government. It is the third largest region of England, with an area of 19,096 km (7,373 sq mi), and is also the most populous with a total population of over eight and a half million (2011). The headquarters for the region's governmental bodies are in Guildford, and the region contains seven cities: Brighton and Hove, Canterbury, Chichester, Oxford, Portsmouth, Southampton and Winchester, though other major settlements include Reading and Milton Keynes.
Electronic waste in Japan
Electronic waste in Japan is a major environmental issue. Although Japan was one of the first countries to implement an electronic waste recycling program, it is still having serious issues. In this day and age, e-waste disposal has become of major importance due to the increasing demand for electronics on a worldwide scale. In 2013, the Japanese government reported that roughly 550,000 tons of e-waste was collected and treated in Japan, which only equates to about 24-30% of total e-waste. Not only does e-waste harm the environment if untreated, it also becomes a fiscal loss due to the material lost that could have been salvaged.
MIDI
MIDI (; short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors and allows a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers and other related music and audio devices to connect and communicate with one another. A single MIDI link can carry up to sixteen channels of information, each of which can be routed to a separate device. MIDI carries event messages that specify notation, pitch and velocity (loudness or softness), control signals for parameters such as volume, vibrato, audio panning from left to right, cues in theatre, and clock signals that set and synchronize tempo between multiple devices.
Electronic musical instrument
An electronic musical instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronic circuitry. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical, electronic or digital audio signal that ultimately is plugged into a power amplifier which drives a loudspeaker, creating the sound heard by the performer and listener. An electronic instrument might include a user interface for controlling its sound, often by adjusting the pitch, frequency, or duration of each note. A common user interface is the musical keyboard, which functions similarly to the keyboard on an acoustic piano, except that with an electronic keyboard, the keyboard itself does not make any sound.
Synthesizer
A synthesizer (often abbreviated as synth, also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates electric signals that are converted to sound through instrument amplifiers and loudspeakers or headphones. Synthesizers may either imitate traditional musical instruments like piano, Hammond organ, flute, vocals; natural sounds like ocean waves, etc. ; or generate novel electronic timbres. They are often played with a musical keyboard, but they can be controlled via a variety of other input devices, including music sequencers, instrument controllers, fingerboards, guitar synthesizers, wind controllers, and electronic drums.
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments and circuitry-based music technology. In general, a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means (electroacoustic music), and that produced using electronics only. Electromechanical instruments include mechanical elements, such as strings, hammers, and so on, and electric elements, such as magnetic pickups, power amplifiers and loudspeakers. Examples of electromechanical sound producing devices include the telharmonium, Hammond organ, and the electric guitar, which are typically made loud enough for performers and audiences to hear with an instrument amplifier and speaker cabinet.
1_Apprentice
I used to have a yamaha keyboard.
0_Wizard
They company's musical origins are so influential to the company that their logo is three interlocking tuning forks
The company's origins as a musical instrument manufacturer are still reflected today in the group's logo—a trio of interlocking tuning forks.
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Yamaha Corporation
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Tuning fork
A tuning fork is an acoustic resonator in the form of a two-pronged fork with the prongs (tines) formed from a U-shaped bar of elastic metal (usually steel). It resonates at a specific constant pitch when set vibrating by striking it against a surface or with an object, and emits a pure musical tone once the high overtones die out. The pitch that a particular tuning fork generates depends on the length and mass of the two prongs. It is frequently used as a standard of pitch to tune musical instruments. The tuning fork was invented in 1711 by British musician John Shore, Sergeant Trumpeter and Lutenist to the court.
Guitar tunings
Guitar tunings assign pitches to the open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars and classical guitars, among others. Tunings can be described by the particular pitches that are denoted by notes in Western music. By convention, the notes are ordered from lowest-pitched string (i.e., the deepest bass note) to the highest-pitched (thickest string to the thinnest). The phrase “guitar tuning” also refers to the adjusting of the string-pitches to their desired tuning to a reference pitch–often a note from a piano or Hammond organ and/or tuning the guitar strings so that the strings are in tune relative to each other.
Yamaha Corporation
  Yamaha was established in 1887 as a piano and reed organ manufacturer by Torakusu Yamaha as in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture and was incorporated on October 12, 1897. The company's origins as a musical instrument manufacturer are still reflected today in the group's logo—a trio of interlocking tuning forks. After World War II, company president Genichi Kawakami repurposed the remains of the company's war-time production machinery and the company's expertise in metallurgical technologies to the manufacture of motorcycles. The YA-1 (AKA Akatombo, the "Red Dragonfly"), of which 125 were built in the first year of production (1954), was named in honour of the founder.
Concert pitch
Concert pitch refers to the pitch reference to which a group of musical instruments are tuned for a performance. Concert pitch may vary from ensemble to ensemble, and has varied widely over musical history. In the literature this is also called international standard pitch. The most common modern tuning standard uses 440 Hz for A above middle C as a reference note, with other notes being set relative to it. The term "concert pitch" is also used to distinguish between the "written" (or "nominal"), and "sounding" (or "real") notes of a transposing instrument - "concert pitch" here refers to the pitch on a non-transposing instrument.
Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell telephone controversy
The Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell controversy concerns the question of whether Gray and Bell invented the telephone independently. This issue is narrower than the question of who deserves credit for inventing the telephone, for which there are several claimants. At issue are roles of each inventor's lawyers, the filing of patent documents, and allegations of theft. Alexander Graham Bell was a professor of elocution at Boston University and tutor of deaf children. He had begun electrical experiments in Scotland in 1867 and, after emigrating to Boston, pursued research into a method of telegraphy that could transmit multiple messages over a single wire simultaneously, a so-called "harmonic telegraph".
John Ernst Worrell Keely
John Ernst Worrell Keely (September 3, 1837 – November 18, 1898) was an American inventor from Philadelphia who claimed to have discovered a new motive power which was originally described as "vaporic" or "etheric" force, and later as an unnamed force based on "vibratory sympathy", by which he produced "interatomic ether" from water and air. Despite numerous requests from the stockholders of the Keely Motor Company, which had been established to produce a practicable motor based on his work, he consistently refused to reveal to them the principles on which his motor operated, and also repeatedly refused demands to produce a marketable product by claiming that he needed to perform more experiments.
Poul la Cour
Poul la Cour (13 April 1846 – 24 April 1908) was a Danish scientist, inventor and educationalist. Today la Cour is especially recognized for his early work on wind power, both experimental work on aerodynamics and practical implementation of wind power plants. He worked most of his life at Askov Folk High School where he developed the historic genetic method of teaching the sciences. Early in his life he was a telegraphic inventor working with multiplex telegraphy. Poul la Cour was born on 13 April 1846 on a farm near Ebeltoft in Denmark. His father was a modern farmer introducing new technology at his farm as the first among neighbours.
1_Apprentice
I will have to pay attention to that next time I see it. I don't think I've noticed that.
0_Wizard
The first bike they made was patterned after the German DKW RT125
It was a 125cc, single cylinder, two-stroke, street bike patterned after the German DKW RT125 (which the British munitions firm, BSA, had also copied in the post-war era and manufactured as the "Bantam" and Harley-Davidson as the "Hummer").
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Yamaha Corporation
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DKW
DKW (Dampf-Kraft-Wagen, ) is a German car and motorcycle marque. The company and brand is one of the ancestor companies of the modern day Audi company as one of the four companies that formed Auto-Union. In 1916, Danish engineer Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen founded a factory in Zschopau, Saxony, Germany, to produce steam fittings. That year he attempted to produce a steam-driven car, called the DKW. Although unsuccessful, he made a two-stroke toy engine in 1919, called "Des Knaben Wunsch" – "the boy's wish". He put a slightly modified version of this engine into a motorcycle and called it "Das Kleine Wunder" – "the little wonder" the initials from this becoming the DKW brand: by the late 1920s, DKW was the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer.
Ernst Degner
Ernst Degner (born Ernst Eugen Wotzlawek on 22 September 1931 in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, Germany - died 10 September 1983 in Arona, Tenerife, Spain) was a German professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. Degner was noted for defecting to the West in 1961, taking MZ's tuning techniques to Suzuki, and winning Suzuki's first Grand Prix championship in 1962. Degner's father died just before the end of World War II. Degner, his older sister and their mother fled from their home in Gleiwitz (now Gliwice, Poland) to avoid the advancing Russian army and wound up in Luckau German Democratic Republic (East Germany) at the end of the war.
Yamaha Corporation
  Yamaha was established in 1887 as a piano and reed organ manufacturer by Torakusu Yamaha as in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture and was incorporated on October 12, 1897. The company's origins as a musical instrument manufacturer are still reflected today in the group's logo—a trio of interlocking tuning forks. After World War II, company president Genichi Kawakami repurposed the remains of the company's war-time production machinery and the company's expertise in metallurgical technologies to the manufacture of motorcycles. The YA-1 (AKA Akatombo, the "Red Dragonfly"), of which 125 were built in the first year of production (1954), was named in honour of the founder.
Auto Union
Auto Union AG, Chemnitz, was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony, during the Great Depression. It is the immediate predecessor of Audi as it is known today. As well as acting as an umbrella firm for its four constituent brands (Audi, Horch, DKW, Wanderer), Auto Union is widely known for its racing team ("Auto Union Rennabteilung", based at Horch works in Zwickau/Saxony). The Silver Arrows of these two German teams (Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union) dominated not only GP car racing from 1934 onwards but set records that would take decades to beat, such as the fastest speed ever attained on a public road (at 432.7 km/h (268.9 mph), unbroken as of 2013).
Walter Kaaden
Walter Kaaden (1 September 1919 – 3 March 1996) was a German engineer who improved the performance of two-stroke engines by understanding the role of resonance waves in the exhaust system. Working for the MZ Motorrad- und Zweiradwerk part of the Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau (IFA), he laid the foundations of the modern two-stroke engine. His understanding of gas flow and resonance enabled him to make the first engine to achieve 200BHP/litre with his 1961 125cc racer. His motorcycle engines were ridden to 13 Grand Prix victories and a further 105 podium finishes between 1955 and 1976. Walter Kaaden was born in Pobershau, Saxony, Germany.
Harley-Davidson Hummer
The Hummer was a motorcycle model manufactured by Harley-Davidson from 1955 to 1959. However, the name "Hummer" is now incorrectly used generically to refer to all American-made single-cylinder two-stroke Harley-Davidson motorcycles manufactured from 1948 to 1966. These motorcycles were based on the DKW RT125, the drawings for which were taken from Germany as war reparations after World War II. The RT125 drawings were also given to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union as war reparations, resulting in the BSA Bantam and the MMZ M-1A Moskva, later known as the Minsk. The Model 125 or S-125 was introduced by Harley-Davidson in 1947 as a 1948 model.
SHL (motorcycle)
SHL is a brand of Polish motorcycles, produced from 1938 until 1970 by Huta Ludwików, later KZWM Polmo-SHL in Kielce (small parties were made in the WFM in Warsaw). The Huta Ludwików ("Ludwików Ironworks"), founded in 1919 in Kielce, produced first hardware and agricultural machines. Since  1938 it started production of a motorcycle of own design, using British Villiers 98 cm³ engines (parts of engines were locally manufactured). The motorcycle was named SHL 98 - SHL being a short of "Suchedniowska Huta Ludwików" ("Ludwików Ironworks of Suchedniów", for the works were initially owned by a foundry in Suchedniów).
1_Apprentice
I am not sure what that is.