US482786A - Resonator - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY cRocKER, 0E FAIRFAX, VERMONT.

RESONATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 482,786, dated September 20, 1892.

Application lecl November 4, 1891. Serial No. 410,844. (No modelJ To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, HENRY CROCKER, of

' Fairfax, in the county of Franklin and Statel of Vermont, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Resonators; and I herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.I

In the vocal organ of man the vocal chords form a reed-like instrument, and associated with this reed is the resonant cavity of the mouth, which can so alter its shape as to resound at will either the fundamental tone of the vocal chords or any of their overtones. Through the agency of the mouth we can mix together the fundamental tone and the overtones ofthe voice in dilferent proportions, and the different vowel sounds are due to different admixtures of this kind.

The object of this invention is to construct a lexible resonant cavity provided with an opening the shape of which can be readily altered and connect the same with a reed or other sound producing device, so that the sound may be modulated and controlled similar to the human vocal organ.

The invention consists in connecting with a reed or other sound-producing device a flexible hollow chamber having an opening which can be so altered in shape as to resonnd at will the fundamental tone or mix together the fundamental tone and the overtones, as will be more fully set forth hereinafter.

The purpose of the invention is to mix and modulate the tones of awind instrument and use the same in connection with a reed or other sound-producing device, so that the sound may be modulated and controlled similar to the human vocal organ.

The simplest and cheapest form of the device for modulating and controlling sound is a hollow rubber ball slitted so as to form a mouth, and for the purpose of this specification I have called the same the resonator.

Figure l is a side view of a reed-tube connected with the resonator. Fig. 2 is a side View of a reed instrument connected with the resonator, the outlines of the mouth when the resonator is laterally compressed being shown in broken lines. Fig. 3 is an end view of the resonator compressed between two tingers, showing the mouth.

In the drawings, 4t indicates a tube having on one end the elastic strip 5, secured so as to extend across the hole in the tube and when blown through produce a sound. The opposite end 6 is inserted into the resonator 7. The reed-tube in Fig. 2 is provided with the mouthpiece S and has the usual metallic reed-plate inserted transversely to the axis of the tube. The resonator 7 is formed of a hollow sphere provided on one side with a hole, into which the end 6 of the reed or other sound-producing instrument is inserted. On the opposite end or side the slit 9 is made, which when the sphere is compressed opens and forms the mouth 10. The opening of the mouth can be varied by the exertion of more or less pressure and also by varying the direction of the pressure. Although the resonator '7 is shown in the form of a sphere, by exerting external pressure on the flexible sphere it may be formed so as to approximate in its interior the form of the human mouth. I do not therefore wish to be limited to the exact form or configuration of the resonator.

The drawings represent the device in its simplest form, and in this form the bulb may be held between the fingers, as is indicated in Fig. 3, and a reed placed on the mouth, so that air can be forced through the reed, and the sound produced may be modulated by the pressure of the nger on the bulb. It is evident that the air may be forced through the reed by mechanical means and the bulb operated by the hand, and it may be possible to devise mechanical means for operating the bulb. Such mechanism, however, forms no part of my present invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentd 1. The combination, with a reed or other device adapted to produce sound, of a hollow body made of flexible material having an opening the body and opening of which can be altered in shape at will, as described.

2. The combination, with a reed or other sound-producing device, of the resonator 7, consistingof a hollow body made of a iiexible material, provided with a slit or opening which IOO can be altered in shape at will by external pressure, adapted to modulate and control the sound, as described.

5 terial having an opening which can be so altered in shape las to resound at will the fundamental tone or mix together the fundamental tone and the overtones, an opening for the reception of the sound or the soundproducing device, and a tube or conduit conro meeting the flexible hollow chamber with a sound-producing device, as described.

3. A hollow chamber made of a flexible ma- HENRY CROCKER.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR` S. BUTLER, LUTHER B. HUNT.

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