AU714503B2 - A method of making a musical instrument - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE

SPECIFICATION

FOR A STANDARD

PATENT

a a a.

Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: Invention Title: WAYNE TURRONG

PECKHAM

WAYNE TURRONG

PECKHAM

CULLEN

CO.,

Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 240 Queen Street, Brisbane, Qld. 4000, Australia.

A METHOD OF MAKING

A

MUSICAL

INSTRUMENT

Details of Associated Provisional Application: No. PP2737 filed 2 April 1998 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to This invention relates to a method of making a musical instrument and to an instrument made by that method. In particular, the invention concerns a method of making a didgeridoo and to a didgeridoo when made by that method.

Didgeridoos are currently made in a variety of ways. The traditional manner in which didgeridoos are made involves locating a hollow piece of timber having desired features and characteristics. The hollow piece of timber is treated to ensure that the wall of the piece of timber does not have holes and if holes are present they are sealed, one end of the piece is provided with a mouth piece typically made from resin or wax and the external surface of the piece of timber is embellished with art work or the like to complete the instrument.

fuIf a hollow piece of timber having the desired characteristics and 0 features of shape cannot be found, then a solid piece of timber may be used and o 9o hollowed out in a number of ways. One traditional way in which the piece of timber was hollowed out involved placing an end of the piece of timber into a termite mound to encourage the termites to hollow out the piece of timber and once this is achieved the instrument may then be completed in the manner S•explained above.

*o0* 9 An alternative way of hollowing out the piece of solid timber 99:. involved drilling or otherwise producing a passage or bore through the piece of timber to make it hollow.

Australian Patent Specification 687337 described an alternative manner in which a piece of timber may be hollowed out to allow a didgeridoo to be produced. That patent specification discloses cutting a hollow piece of timber into two longitudinal halves, forming concave longitudinally extending channels or hollows in each of the halves and then joining the halves together to produce a tubular piece of timber. The didgeridoo was then completed in a similar manner to that described above.

In view of environmental and other considerations suitable pieces of timber for producing a didgeridoo may not be available at all or not is sufficient quantities. Using timber to hollow out a piece of timber is time consuming.

it is an object of the invention to provide a method of making a didgeridoo and to a didgeridoo made by that method which overcomes at least some of the disadvantages referred to above.

According to one aspect there is provided a method of making a didgeridoo including the steps of employing a tubular multi-part mould consisting of longitudinally extending mould parts connectable to each other along longitudinally extending joins, the mould forming a body portion of a didgeridoo, positioning a sleeve within the mould, placing fibre glass fabric within the sleeve, depositing a settable material into the sleeve to thereby saturate the fabric, rotating the mould about a generally longitudinal access to distribute the settable material within the sleeve and allowing the settable material to set to produce a blank, removing the sleeve and the mould from the blank by separating the mould parts from each other once the settable material has at least substantially cured or set and finishing the blank by forming a mouth piece at one end thereof and providing external surface embellishment g 'to the blank.

According to another aspect, the invention provides a didgeridoo mould including a multi-part mould body and a sleeve within the body, the body 2 parts forming longitudinally extending mould parts having longitudinally extending flanges for attaching the parts to one another to define an elongated mould cavity for receiving the sleeve.

The method includes the use of a flexible sleeve positioned within the tubular multi-part mould and the fabric is placed within the sleeve to allow the blank to be formed within the sleeve caried by the mould. The sleeve and the mould may be provided with predetermined contours so that the extemrnal surface of the blank may be formed with these contours to allow the surface of 4 the blank to resemble the external contours of a piece of timber.

The multi-part tubular mould may consist of an elongate tubular multi-part body portion and a multi-part tubular foot portion and a sleeve extending through the body and foot portion. The foot portion may be formed integral with or as a separate part releasbly attachable to one end of the body I Aq portion.

Preferably, the foot portion is formed as a separate part and is removably attachable to one end of the body portion. The end of the body portion and an adjacent end of the foot portion may be formed with connecting portions which allow the body portion and foot portion to be connected to each a a..

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a M other. in one embodiment, the connecting portions may consist of connection flanges.

The settable material may be any suitable synthetic material such as plastics material, fibreglass resin or any substitute or alternative.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the drawings in which Figure 1 is an exploded view of a mould, sleeve and fibreglass fabric useful in understanding the method of an embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a sectional view showing detail of a mould used in the method of an embodiment of the invention; Figure 3 is a perspective view of a blank for making a didgeridoo with the flexible sleeve partially removed; and Figure 4 is a perspective view of a didgeridoo blank made in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

15 Figures 1 and 2 shows an exploded view of a tubular multi-part .o°mould 10, a flexible sleeve 11 and fibreglass fabric 12. The mould 10 has an elongate multi-part body 13 and a multi-part foot 14 releasably attached to one end of the body 13. The body 13 is made of three parts which, when secured to one another form an elongate mould cavity 20 (see figure The parts which make up the body 13 of the mould each have an arcuate portion from edges of extend oppositely directed connecting flanges F. These flanges may be held together by fasteners so that the three arcuate portions together form the cavity The foot 14 in this instance has been configured to resemble the base of a tree from which the roots of the tree normally extend. The foot is made of three parts with each part having a concave portion from which opposed connecting flanges E extend. These flanges may be connected to one another as shown in figures 1 and 2. The foot portions and the sleeve extending through it allow the mould to be used to form a blank with an outwardly flared foot 30 (see figure 4) which resembles the base of a tree.

When making a didgeridoo in accordance with the invention the foot 14 may be omitted if desired. In addition, the body and foot of the mould may each be made from two mould parts or may be made from more than three longitudinally joined parts.

The foot 14 forms a cavity 31 which is flared outwardly from where it meets with the cavity The flexible sleeve may be made from any suitable flexible material such as rubber for example. The sleeve 11 has a sleeve body 32 which corresponds in shape and length to the cavity 20 in the body 13 of the mould and terminates in a sleeve foot 33 which corresponds in size and shape to the cavity 31 in the foot 14 of the mould. The sleeve 11 is used to line the interior of the mould in the method of the invention.

~The cavities 20 and 31 as well as the sleeve 11 are contoured to o represent the external shape and contour of the portion of a tree representing the base and a short length of the trunk of a tree.

Preferably a sleeve 11 is used to assist in separating the blank from the mould. If the mould has a foot 14 then the sleeve 11 is provided with a sleeve foot 33. Both the inside of the mould and the sleeve have contours which result in the blank produced by the invention having an external surface appearance resembling a trunk and base of a tree.

Fibreglass fabric 12 is placed within the sleeve. Fabric is used to line the foot 33 of the sleeve. The fabric placed within the cavity 20 and within the sleeve body may be wrapped around a rod (not shown) and the rod inserted into the sleeve. The fabric may then be released from the rod and the rod withdrawn from the mould thus leaving the fabric in position within the sleeve.

The fabric placed within the sleeve foot 33 may be positioned by hand.

Resin may be poured into the sleeve to saturate the fabric and the mould may be rotated as the resin is poured into the sleeve and after it has been poured. Preferably the fabric is pressed against the interior of the sleeve and this may be carried out either before the resin is poured into the sleeve or alternatively it may be carried out after an initial quantity of resin has been poured and before the remainder of the resin is applied to the fabric.

In order to press the fabric into position a rod with a pressure applying member may be introduced into the sleeve and the member used to press the fabric into position. The member may consist of a roller mounted to the rod.

In order to distribute the resin into the sleeve, the resin may simply be poured into one end of the sleeve. Alternatively a resin distribution member may be inserted into the sleeve and the resin may then be poured into the member to distribute it throughout the interior of the sleeve. In one embodiment the distribution member is a tube with holes through it at spaced locations along the tube. The resin may be poured into the tube for distribution along the inside of the sleeve.

Once the resin has set the mould is disassembled. The sleeve 11 may easily be peeled from the blank 40 as shown in figure 3. The blank 40 may be coated either on the inside or the outside or both on the inside and *outside with a suitable coating material. Coating may be used to not only .increase the wall thickness and hence weight of the didgeridoo but also to lend 15 thickness to the wall and enhance the tonal qualities of the didgeridoo. It is preferred that the blank be coated both inside and outside. The coating material may be fibreglass resin although other synthetic resins or plastic material may also be used.

Preferably the coating resin includes a suitable filler. The filler may 20 for example be wood shavings.

The blank may be completed by forming a mouthpiece 41 at one end. The mouth piece may be formed with any suitable material. Wax or gum may be used.

The exterior of the blank may be painted and provided with artistic motifs or drawings to complete the instrument.

The method of the invention allows didgeridoos to be produced without depleting natural resources and an instrument having acceptable tonal qualities and physical characteristics such as weight and size may easily and quickly be made.

Claims (13)

1. A method of making a didgeridoo including the steps of employing a tubular multi-part mould consisting of longitudinally extending mould parts connectable to each other along longitudinally extending joins, the mould forming a body portion of a didgeridoo, positioning a sleeve within the mould, placing fibre glass fabric within the sleeve, depositing a settable material into the sleeve to thereby saturate the fabric, rotating the mould about a generally longitudinal access to distribute the settable material within the sleeve and allowing the settable material to set to produce a blank, removing the sleeve and the mould from the blank by separating the mould parts from each other once the settable material has at least substantially cured or set and finishing the blank by forming a mouth piece at one end thereof and providing external surface embellishment to the blank.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the provision of the surface embellishment includes painting the exterior of the blank.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2 including attaching a foot portion to the mould and extending the sleeve through the foot portion prior to the depositing of the settable material into the sleeve. al

4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the fabric is wrapped around a rod and the rod is positioned within the sleeve and the fabric is released from the rod to thereby position the fabric within the sleeve. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4 including the step of pressing the fabric against the sleeve after the fabric has been saturated with the settable material with an initial quantity of the settable material and before the 25 remainder of the settable material is deposited into the sleeve.

6. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5 including applying a coating on the inside of the blank, on the outside of the blank or on both the inside and outside of the blank.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the coating comprises a resin and a filler.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the filler consists of wood shavings.

9. A method of making a didgeridoo as claimed in claim 1 substantially as TZ herein described with reference to the drawings. A didgeridoo mould including a multi-part mould body and a sleeve within the body, the body parts forming longitudinally extending mould parts having longitudinally extending flanges for attaching the parts to one another to define an elongated mould cavity for receiving the sleeve. 0 *w o0 9. *04 9 S. 9 0 9* *0 oo 8 ii. The mould of claim i0 including a multi-part foot mould portion attached to the body, the foot mould parts having flanges for attaching the foot parts to one another and the sleeve having body portion extending through the mould body and a foot portion extending through the foot mould portion.

12. The mould of claim 11 wherein the foot mould portion is configured to resemble the base of a tree.

13. The mould of claim 11 or 12 wherein the mould body and the foot mould portion are both made of three parts.

14. The mould of any one of claims 10 to 13 wherein the sleeve is made from a flexible material. The mould of claim 14 wherein the sleeve is made of rubber.

16. A didgeridoo mould substantially as herein described with reference to the drawings.

17. A didgeridoo made by the method of any one of claims 1 to 9. DATED THIS 29 DAY OF MARCH 1999 WAYNE TURRONG PECKHAM BY HIS PATENT ATTORNEYS to CULLEN CO t 0 0 *coo