Valves and Values: Another Story of Technological Transition | Spooky & the Metronome: The history of technological transitions has other lessons to offer, however. Let’s consider a musical case: the adoption of the valved horn.
The valved horn, familiar as the French horn, is now a standard member of the orchestra. But the valve mechanism employed in horns and other brass instruments was invented only in the 1810s (i.e. twenty years after Mozart’s death, and after Beethoven had composed most of his symphonies). Until then, all horns were made of coiled metal tubing without keys, and the length of this tubing determined the frequencies at which the the instrument would resonate.