US3105406A

US3105406A - Practice drum

Info

Publication number: US3105406A
Application number: US112661A
Authority: US
Inventors: Francis J Ippolito
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1961-05-25
Filing date: 1961-05-25
Publication date: 1963-10-01
Anticipated expiration: 1980-10-01

Description

Oct. 1, 1963 F. J. IPPOLITO PRACTICE DRUM Filed May 25, 1961 IN VEN TOR.

Fem 675 J. 0 04 I70 Avian 1 5 I United States Patent 3,105,406 PRACTEE DRUM Francis J. Ippolito, 98-33 64th Ave, Forest Hills, N.Y. Filed May 25, 1961, Ser. No. 112,661 Claims. (Cl. 84-411) The present invention relates generally to a practice drum, and more particularly to a practice drum of the snare or tom-tom variety.

As described in my issued United States Patent No. 2,893,283, one of the major problems confronting a drummer, whether amateur or professional, is that of being able to practice. In view of the nature of this particular percussion instrument, whatever time of the day or night is chosen to practice, one may expect complaints from persons in the immediate Vicinity, and accordingly the drummers practice time is seriously curtailed.

Particularly for the beginning or amateur drummer, there exists a need for a practice device which will enable him to practice the intricate drum arrangements and sequences.

Various types of practice drum sets have been developed which will allow a drummer to practice without disturbing others by the sounds of such practice. Unfortunately these practice sets are usually quite expensive and priced well out of the range of the beginner, amateur drummer, and often of the professional.

It is broadly an object of the present invention to provide a practice drum which will alleviate one or more of the above-mentioned dilficulties.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a muted practice drum which, when struck, gives off audible and discernible sounds of low amplitude, and which allows the drummer to obtain the feel for and rhythm of the selection which he is practicing.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a practice drum which may, when used in conjunction with a regular set of drums, convert them into a practice set.

In accordance with the objects of the present invention, there is provided a practice drum which can be placed upon a table or other support, and which will not rattle or move when being used. Further, if so desired, this practice drum may be placed directly on top of a standard snare drum or tom-tom drum, and will not scratch or otherwise mar the playing surface of the drum. When used in this manner, the drummer will be able to practice all of the required manipulations and still maintain the feel and visual effect of practicing on a complete set of drums.

The improved practice drum is of a generally circular configuration and is composed of a cylindrical rim which has an'outwardly extending annular ridge for-med therein.

The annular ridge has a greater periphery than the rest of the cylindrical rim. A rigid circular base section is sized to be secured within the annular ridge of the cylindrical rim. Practice pads of an elastorneric material are mounted upon the base section. The complete practice drum assembly is adapted to be placed on any flat surface or upon the skin head of an actual drum.

The above brief description, as well as further objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be best appreciated by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an improved practice drum embodying features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view showing the component pieces of the improved practice drum;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale, taken substantially along the line 33 of FIG. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows; and,

FIG. 4 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale taken substantially :along line 4-4 of FIG. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows, with the addition of a U-shaped channel member in accordance with the invention.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, there is seen in FIG. 1 an improved practice drum in accordance with the present invention which is generally designated by reference numeral ill. The practice drum 11'} includes a cylindrical rim 12 which is of a diameter corresponding to or slightly smaller than that of a standard size snare or tom-tom drum head. The cylindrical rim 12 is formed with an outwardly extending annular ridge 14 therein. The outwardly extending annular ridge 14 has a greater diameter than the rest of the cylindrical rim 12. The

ends

16 and 18 of the cylindrical rim 12 are joined together and maintained in the joined positions by rivets 20, or by other well known fastening means. The end 13 of the cylindrical rim 12 is oifset so as to overlie the other end 16 of the cylindrical rim 12 to permit the insertion of the rivet 20 through both ends of the cylindrical rim, as is best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4.

When in this assembled position, the outwardly extending annular ridge 14 forms a groove 22 into which the rigid circular base section 24 is inserted. The rigid circular base section 24 is of a greater diameter than that of the inner diameter 26 of the cylindrical rim 12.

The rigid circular base section 24 is fitted within the groove 22, which is formed by the outwardly extending annular ridge 14, and is secured therein when the overlapping ends 16, 13 of the cylindrical rim 12 are riveted together.

Referring now specifically to FIG. 2, there is seen a pad 3%) which is formed of an elastomeric material, preferably foam rubber or polyethylene, which is glued or otherwise affixed to the face 28 of the rigid base section 24. The pad 30 is of a slightly smaller diameter than that of the rigid base section 24 so as to not to interfere with the securernent of the rigid base section 24 within the groove 22 of the outwardly extending annular ridge 14 of the cylindrical rim 12, as shown in FIG. 3.

A similar pad 30a is afiixed to the opposite face 28a of the rigid base section 24 in the same manner as pad 3% A sheet 32 of calf skin or plastic such as Mylar is laminated or glued to the foam pad 30 to produce a firm surface which simulates the touch of a drum and which still gives as a soft muffled sound when struck by sticks or brushes. Such sound would be of a sufiicient audio level to be heard or recorded, but would not be loud enough to be disturbing. If it is desired to practice without any discernible sound being given off, the user merely has to turn over the assembled practice drum so as to have the remaining uncovered el-astomeric pad 39a facing up. Since there is no skin or cover on the pad 30a, virtually no sound at all is produced when this pad is struck, yet this uncovered pad still provides the practicing drummer with an adequate feel of the instrument.

To facilitate the practicing of him shots with a minimum of noise, there is employed a rim muffling device, shown in FIG. 4, which consists of a U-shaped channel member 34 which overlies the cylindrical rim 12 of the practice drurn 10. This U-shaped member is formed of rubber or plastic, and cushions the cylindrical rim 12 to absorb sound when the rim is struck during practice. This U-shaped channel member 34 further serves to prevent the practice drum' from rattling or sliding about on the surf-ace upon which the practice drum is placed. This channel member also serves to prevent any marring of the surface upon which the practice drum is located.

In actual use, if so desired, the drummer may place the practice drum directly on top of the regular snare or tom-tom drum, and by so doing the drummer will be able to practice each of the drumming sequences without 3 losing the feel of and the positioning of the actual set of drums.

A latitude of modification, substitution and change is intended in the foregoing disclosure, and in some instances some features of the present invention will be used without a corresponding use of others.

What I claim is:

1. A practice drum comprising a continuous cylindrical rim including a central annular ridge and upper and lower rim portions on either side of said annular ridge and extending therefrom, said annular ridge having a diameter greater than the diameter of said upper and lower rim portions forming a seat within said annular ridge, a rigid circular base within said rim' and secured within said seat, said base having a diameter greater than the diameter of said upper and lower rim portions, at least one practice pad of disc-like configuration positioned on one side of said base and formed of an elastomeric material and having a diameter less than the diameter of said base and equal to the diameter of the inner surface of said upper and lower rim portions, and adhesive means securing said practice pad to said base and forming an almost noiseless surface in simulation of the surface of a drum.

2. A practice drum comprising a continuous cylindrical rim including a central annular ridge and upper and lower rim portions on either side of said annular ridge and extending therefrom, said annular ridge having a diameter greater than the diameter of said upper and lower rim portions forming a seat within said annular ridge, a rigid circular base within said rim and secured Within said seat, said base having a diameter greater than the diameter of said upper and lower rim portions, at least one practice pad of disc-like configuration secured on one side of said base and formed of an elastomeric material and having a diameter less than the diameter of said base and equal to the diameter of the inner surface of said upper and lower rim portions, and. at least one layer of sheet material secured to the outer surface of said practice pad forming a low amplitude sound-producing surface in simulation of the surface of a drum.

3. A practice drum comprising a continuous cylindrical rim including a central annular ridge and upper and lower rim portions on either side of said annular ridge and extending therefrom, said annular ridge having a diameter greater than the diameter of said upper and lower rim portions forming a seat within said annular ridge,

a rigid circular base within said rim and secured 'within said seat, said base having a diameter greater than the diameter of said upper and lower rim portions, at least one practice pad of disc-like configuration positioned on one side of said base and formed of a foam e-lastomcric material and having a diameter less than the diameter of said base and equal to the diameter of the inner surface of said upper and lower rim portions, adhesive means securing said practice pad to said base, and at least one cylindrical channel member, U-shaped in cross sect-ion, overlying said cylindrical rim and mounted thereupon, said channel member being formed of a sound-absorbint non-abrasive material.

4. A practice drum comprising a continuous cylindrical rim including a central annular ridge and upper and lower rim portions on either side of said annular ridge and extending therefrom, said annular ridge having a diameter greater than the diameter of said upper and lower rim portions forming a seat within said annular ridge, a rigid circular base within said rim and secured within said seat, said base having a diameter greater than the diameter of said upper and lower rim portions, a practice pad of disc-like configuration positioned on each side of said base and formed of a foam el-astomeric material and having a diameter less than the di-ameterof said base, adhesive means securing said practice pad to said base, and at least one layer of sheet material secured to the outer surface of one of said practice pads forming a sound-producing surface in simulation of the surface of a drum. I

5. A practice drum comprising a continuous cylindrical r-im including a central annular ridge and upper and lower rim portions on either side of said annular ridge and extending therefrom, said annular ridge having a diameter greater than the diameter of said upper and lower rim portions forming a seat within said annular ridge,

a rigid circular base within said rim and secured within said seat, said base having a diameter greater than the diameter of said upper and lower rim portions, a practice pad of disc-like configuration positioned on each side of said base and iormed of a foam elastomeric material and having a diameter less than the diameter of said base,

' adhesive means securing said practice pad to said base,

at least one layer of sheet material secured to the outer surface of one of said practice pads forming a soundproducing surface in simulation of the surface of a drum, and at least one cylindrical channel member, U-sh-aped in cross section, overlying said cylindrical rim and mount ed thereupon, said channel member being formed of a sound absorbing, non-abrasive material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

Claims

1. A PRACTICE DRUM COMPRISING A CONTINUOUS CYLINDRICAL RIM INCLUDING A CENTRAL ANNULAR RIDGE AND UPPER AND LOWER RIM PORTIONS ON EITHER SIDE OF SAID ANNULAR RIDGE AND EXTENDING THEREFROM, SAID ANNULAR RIDGE HAVING A DIAMETER GREATER THAN THE DIAMETER OF SAID UPPER AND LOWER RIM PORTIONS FORMING A SEAT WITHIN SAID ANNULAR RIDGE, A RIGID CIRCULAR BASE WITHIN SAID RIM AND SECURED WITHIN SAID SEAT, SAID BASE HAVING A DIAMETER GREATER THAN THE DIAMETER OF SAID UPPER AND LOWER RIM PORTIONS, AT LEAST ONE PRACTICE PAD OF DISC-LIKE CONFIGURATION POSITIONED ON