US1358455A - Automatic piano-player action - Google Patents

Description

Patented Nov. 9. 1920.

J. S. MAXWELL. AUTOMATIC PIANO PLAYER ACIION. APPLICATION FILED aumzs. 19:9.

UNITED TATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN s. MAXWELL, or :aIcHMoND, INDIANA. ASSIGNOR ro STARR PrANo comPANY, or RICHMOND, INDIANA, A CORPORATION or INDIANA.

AUTOMATIC PIANO-PLAYER ACTION. I

Application filed August 26, 1919. Serial No. 319,940.

To allwhomit may concern: r

.Be it known that I, JOHN S. MAxweLL, a citizen oLthe United States of America, residin at Richmond, in the county of Wayne and. tate of Indiana, have invented certain and useful Improvements in Automatic Paine-Player Actions, of which the follow ingis a tull, clear, and intact description. In the past for a number of years, upright pianos have beenequipped with automatic player attachments comprising a, hank of small neumatics operated from v.a suitable windc est through the instrumentality of a perforated music sheet traveling over a tracker bar. It has been customary to associate the entire automatic layer action in a single unitary structure w iich is adapted to bejnserted into and withdrawn from the. piano case above the 'key board, without any change, adjustment or alteration of the piano action or any of its correlated parts.

, The pneumatics, usually when ,defiated,

, close, and to the movable. part or leaf is at- 'tached a rod or other suitable devicewhich,

'ing mainly to contract t in rising, strikes either the piano action wippens, or the abstracts connected therewith, and thereby lays the instrument automatically and in e ndently of the keys when played by hand? T Much ingenuity has been expended in efforts to improve the character and functions of such automatic players the problems hehe partsinto the smallest available compass, to improv the leverage between the neumatics an the wippens, to provide for a better tone apd to cheapen and simplify the construction, and I have worked along these lines to develop a bettier form of action than those heretofore use I have accordingly devised a player action which is distinguished by the, following novel features, The pneumaties are connected by suitable rods or wires'with levers pivoted to the frame oithe automatic action, and when deflated raise such levers into contact with stops set in shhrt levers pivoted to the piano abstracts. and having. their free ends resting on a stationary bar, so that when raised by the pneumaties they throw the wippens and strike the piano strings.

The levers connected with the pnemnatirs normally rest upon cushions on the stationary members of the said pneumutirs, and have limiting stops by which their range of Specification of Letters Patent.

movement is controlled. The connections lil' Patented Nov. 9, 1920 between said levers and the neumatics a e also adjustable as to length, and the sto s feet adj ustability provided for.

So much of this action as is necessary,"ini now existing as; to the prior art, to an un erstanding of my view of the wide knowled improvement is illustrated in the accordpanying drawing which shows one of the" pneumatics and illustrates its relation to" the piano action.

In this drawing A designates a stationary 'part of the player action to which is secured the upper or stationary leaf B of the pn'e1i---' matic. The movable leaf or element of the pneumatic is designated by the letter C, and for greater rigidity and .clonvenience an arm D is secured to the part and extends horizontal] and from this depends a brace E secured to the upper element B. A small block F with a cushioned top is secured to the said element and affords a seat for a lever G pivoted to the part A.

To the end of this lever is pivotally connected a rod or wire H which is adjustably connected to an arm or extension I from the movable element C, and on the up er side of the lever G is a projection J whic ,when the player action is inserted in place, lies immediately under aistop K ad'ustably secured to a lever L ivoted to the p ano abstract M. The rear en of this lever is rounded or rovided with a rounded projection N w ich normally rests upon acushioned seat on a stationary bar 0 secured in the piano case.

This is the construction of each pnevmatic and its correlated parts. The said pnen matics may be in banks, or otherwise disposed, in order to have the necessary room for performing their allotted ,functions. The levers L may be secured to the abstracts at any preferred point. That is to say, they may be above the pneumatics, or below them, and in case they a re below it is onl necessary to turn the pneumatics over sot at they yvill pull up instead of push up the abstract ever.

This device has been found to give the most satisfactory results, and to be greatly super or to others heretofore in use. One of its principal advantages follows from the marked mechanical advantage secured by prising'ms one of its parts therefoie claim is 1 i I. An automatic piano player action coma, controllable pneumatic having a movable element, a lever pivoted to ;the action frame and connected with the said movable element, in combination with a )iano abstract, a lever pivoted thereto with its one end resting on but novable away from a stationary stop, and a stop securedto said lever and lylng immediately over the lever actuated by the pneumatic. A a n V 2. An automaticpiano player action comprising as one of its parts a controllable pneumatic having,' a movable leaf or element,

alever-pivoted to the action frame, a stationary stdp'on which said lever normally rests,

invention resides, as will now' be ap-.

,a connecting rod between the end of the lever and the end of the movable element of the pneumatic, in combination with a piano abstract, a leverpivoted thereto, and havin one end resting on but unattached to a fixe stop, a stop secured to said lever and lying normallyover the pneumatically controlled lever at a point between its fulcrum and point OfCOIlIIBCtlOH with the pneumatic.

3. The combination with the su port or frame of an automatic, player action of a pneumatic secured thereto and having a movable part, a lever pivoted over the pneumatic, a rod connecting the end of the mov able part with the end of the lever, a piano abstract, a lever pivoted thereto but free at its ends and adapted when raised to raise the abstract, and a stop secured to said lever over a point in the pneumatically controlled lever between its fulcrum and its point of 45 connection with the pneumatic.

I In testimony whereof I hereunto ailix my signature J OHN S? MAX'WELL.

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