US1905141A - Wind musical instrument - Google Patents

Description

i 25, 1933- P. .1. BURKLE WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed Dec. 18, 1931 Patented Apr. 25, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PHILIP J. BURKLE, OF ELKHART, INDIANA, ASSIG-NOR TO G. G. CONN, LTD., OF ELKHABT, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Application filed December 18, 1931. Serial No. 581,795.

This invention relates to musical instruments pertaining to the general class of cornets, trumpets and the like.

It is an object of the invention to improve I the construction of this type of instruments by arranging certain parts thereof in relation to others in such manner as to facilitate the holding of the instrument while it is being played, and also as to facilitate the operation of the various valves while it is being held.

It is also an object of the invention to provide an instrument of this type in which some of the parts, as pipes, bends are arranged in a manner to lend themselves to various ways of holding the instrument and of operating the valves, as contrasted with known instruments of this type in which the player neces- I sarily had to hold the instrument in one way only owing to the formation and relation of the various parts.

It is also an object of the invention to provide an instrument of this type which combines with a reduction in length attained heretofore in improved cornets, trumpets, etc. a greatly desirable reduction in width, to facilitate the holding and playing of the instruments.

It is, furthermore, an object of the invention to provide in association with a portion of a tubing means for facilitating the adjustment of said portion to other portions of the tubing, whereby the pitch or quality of the tone may be altered, these adjusting means being arranged on said tubing in such man- 0 view,

Fig. 1.

The instrument illustrated belongs to that general type of brass instruments in which the rim of the bell is towards the front and in which the stem merging into the bell is parallel to the part of the tubing with which the mouthpiece is connected.

The instrument, therefore, may be said to comprise a mouthpiece 1 detachably mounted in a known way to a straight tubing 2 to which is movably connected a bend 3. This bend is continued in another straight tubing 4: leading through a knuckle or short bent tube 5, to the first valve 6.

As in other instruments of similar character, there are shown in the embodiment illustrated three of these valves 6, 7, 8, which are serially connected in a. known way by short tubings. These valves are located in a single plane, the mouthpiece and its tubing 2, 3, 1 being on one side of said plane, and the bell and its tubing on the opposite side. The valve 6'being the first one to be reached by the air forced into the mouthpiece is usually termed the first valve, and the others are numbered in sequence. These valves, when used singly, lower the notes obtained two half-steps, one halfstep and three half-steps, respectively.

The third valve 8 again has its casing connected by a short knuckle 9, Fig. 2, with a straight tubing 10 forming one leg of a bend 11, the other leg 12 of which is united with the large bend 13, and thislarge bend merges into the straight stem 14: that leads to the bell 15. The knuckles 5 and 9 are disposed on different sides of the instrument, and extend, as shown in opposite directions relatively to a line connecting the keys. the knuckle 5 being twisted towards said line, and the knuckle 9 away from it.

Each of the casings for the valves 6, 7 and 8 is provided with a bent bypass of known construction, as indicated at 16, 17 and 18 respectively, and these bent bypasses extend from the different valve casings in different directions in order to render the volume of the instrument compact and to facilitate the handling of the same. It will be seen that the U-shaped bypass 16 of the first valve 6 extends in direction of the mouth-piece, the

U-shaped pipe 17 of the second valve extends laterally therefrom, and the U-shaped pipe 18 of the third valve 8 again extends in a plane parallel to the plane of the pipe 16 in direction towards the bell 15.

The instrument described pertains to the so-called short models in which the mouthpiece is connected by one return bend to the first valve. This return bend, however, is not located closely to the valve itself. but spaced therefrom, as indicated at 3, and many prominent artists are of the belief that owing to this arrangement, the tone quality of the instrument as well as the characteristic appearance are enhanced.

prior short models, therefore, it had been a tendency to enlarge the width of the entire instrument transversely of the longitudinal axis thereof to permit this length of tubing to be properly placed. The present invention has the object of reducing this transverse width without sacrificing any of the other advantages of the short model. The width, furthermore, is reduced by the selection of the valves in the present application, the valves being of the short model type with the springs in the bottom of the same.

In holding the instrument while it is being played, it is customary to position the thumb against the first valve 6, for instance at approximately the point 20 between the stem 2 of the mouthpiece and the valve bend 16. The thumb, therefore, is at the side nearest the musician and the remaining four fingers are grouped about the tube connections adjacent the third valve in the portion 21, and in order to render this hold of the instrument comfortable, it is essential that ample room he provided adjacent the valve connections 18, and between the pipe 10 extending from the third. valve 8 and the tube 14 which leads to the bell 15.

It is for this purpose that the tube 10 which extends from the stem 14 of the bell is continued in the form of the peculiar gers may then be above the connection to the third valve 8, or some of them may be below these connections and others above them, or again all of the fingers may be below this connection to the third valve. Owing to the stem 10 being continued into the third valve casing 8 by the peculiarly twisted knuckle 9, there is ample space left for positioning the fingers, regardless of the position of the thumb at 20 on the first valve casing or at 22 adjacent the opposite end of said first valve casing. lVhen the thumb is placed at 22 on the first valve casing and the other fingers are positioned above the connection 10. 9 to the third valve, it is convenient to 0 let the tip of the thumb slope upward. This position of the thumb relatively to the first valve casing also is desirable when some of the fingers are held below the connection to the third valve and some above the same.

It will also be seen that the knuckle 5 which leads from the straight pipe 4 in communication with the mouthpiece 1 to the first valve 6 is bent and twisted to permit the thumb to be leaned against the casing of this valve 6 with the tip of the thumb sloping upward on the casing. The grip which the thumb thereby contains on the instru ment is greatly improved.

The return bend 3 extending between the straight pipes 2 and 4 in communication with the mouthpiece contains the customary A- slide for changing the instrument to the tonality of A. While no stop is shown for limiting the amount of draw for this slide 3, it is obvious that any kind of stop may be used.

The invention also provides means for varying the pitch slightly by altering the pipe connection which extends from the third valve 8 to the bell 15. This alteration of the pitch is highly sensitive and accurate and permits actuation without necessitating removal of the instrument from playing position. As will be seen in Fig. 2, the straight pipes 10 and 12 which form a part of the connection leading to the bell 15 and which are connected by the bend 11 are also connected by a short rigid strut 24. A screw spindle is rotatably supported within the strut,

and a finger wheel 26 is mounted on the spindle so as to project from the transverse strut 2 1 into a position in which the knurled edge of this small wheel may be rotated. The

central bore of this wheel is in screw threaded connection with the spindle 25, and this spindle is fixedly attached at its end to the slidable bend 11 which connects the straight tubes 10 and 12. It is obvious, therefore,

that upon turning the wheel 26, the spindle 25 will be shifted longitudinally in either direction depending upon rotation of the wheel, and the bend 11 having legs slidably telescoped into the tubes 10 and 12 will thereby be extended or shortened.

This tuning slide 11 is so located that there is ample room for a tip of a finger to be inserted between the pipe 10 or 12, and the bend 18 pertaining to the third valve 8. The part 12 which is directly connected to the re duced part of the stem 14 through the fixed bend 13 is raised above the level of the bot tom of the valve casings, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, permitting thereby the fingers to engage the bottom ends of the valve casings. The space required for the tuning wheel 26 makes it necessary to raise the other connecting pipe 10 of the tuning slide 11 to a level which makes it necessary to bend the knuckle 9 in a predetermined direction for entry into the third valve casing. This knuckle will then establish the connection with the casing at the correct location to register with the port in the piston of the valve.

From the above it will be recognized that in spite of the compactness of the structure, the manipulation of the valves is greatly facilitated, and that the instrument can readily be handled without cramping or fatiguing the fingers of the player. It will also be recognized that any adjustment of the tuning slide can easily be accomplished within very short time and without any great effort on the part of the player without requiring removal of the instrument from playing position.

I claim:

1. An instrument of the class described, comprising in combination with a mouthpiece, valves and a bell, a pipe connecting said mouthpiece with one of said valves, and a pipe connecting another valve with the bell, a bent knuckle extending from a straight portion of said first pipe directly into the first valve, and twisted in direction towards the top of the valve.

2. An instrument of the class described, comprising in combination with a mouthpiece, valves and a bell, a pipe connecting said mouthpiece with one of said valves, and

a pipe connecting another valve with the bell, a bentknuckle extending from a straight portion of the second named pipe directly into the said other valve, and located on the same side of said valve on which said bell is located.

3. An instrument of the class described, comprising in combination with a mouth piece, valves and a bell, a pipe connecting said mouthpiece with one of said valves, and

a pipe connecting another valve with the bell, a bent knuckle extending from a straight portion of the second named pipe directly into the said other valve, and twisted in direction towards the bottom of said last named valve.

4. An instrument of the class described, comprising in combination with a mouthpiece, valves and a bell, a pipe connecting 7 said mouthpiece with one of said valves, and

valve.

PHILIP J. BURKLE.

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