CA1246359A

CA1246359A - Bag-pipes spittle trap

Info

Publication number: CA1246359A
Application number: CA000535354A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Lawrence Campbell
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1987-04-23
Filing date: 1987-04-23
Publication date: 1988-12-13

Abstract

A B S T R A C T
The device being submitted is a trap inserted in bag-pipes to collect spittle blown by a piper into his bag-pipes. This spittle trap prevents the damage that spittle does to the pipes' reeds.

Description

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~;~463~3 535,354 This invention relatës to bagpipes and problems that spittle causes to the bagpipe reeds and the pipe bag.
Moist air and spittle blown into the pipe bag by the piper causes a great deal of trouble. There are four reeds in a bagpipe;
three drone reeds and one chanter reed. Spittle wetting the chanter reed will distort the sound of the musical notes and cause mold to grow on the reed. When the drone reeds get wet, the tongue of the reed becomes heavy with moisture and will not vibrate; mold will also grow on these reeds. The pipe bag as a whole becomes very unsanitary.
I have found that the problems caused by spittle in the pipe bag and on the reeds are over come with my spittle trap. By replacing the blow pipe stock with a similar but longer stock, I am able to incorporate a female thread in the end of the stock that is in the pipe bag. I am also able to incorporate a suitable number of air ports in the pipe bag end of the said stock. One threaded bushing and one self threading bushing made of brass are soldered onto a copper elbow and called an adapting 90 degree elbow. The threaded end of the said elbow threads into the female thread in the end of the stock and is locked and secured there. A suitable piece of nylon or plastic tubing is self threaded onto the other end of the said 90 de-gree elbow and secured. A nylon bushing called a vent bushing is pressed onto the open end of the said plastic tubing and secured. A second piece of plastic tubing of suitable size and length is pressed onto the open end of the said vent bushing and secured. With this device in place in the pipe bag, a piper can play the pipes for long periods of time or set his/her pipes down without emptying the spittle trap, as the spittle cannot leak or be blown out when the pipes are once again played.
This spittle is emptied at the piper's discretion by removing the blow pipe and lowering the front of the pipe bag as the inlet and discharge orifices are one and the same; the spittle must come out the way it went in. Spittle cannot enter the pipe bag during this operation as the air inlet/discharge and vent hole are above the spittle.

.;~, ~LZ46359 535,354 Figure one shows an assembly view of all the parts in detail also an end view showing air discharge ports.

Figure two shows bagpipes and where each part is assemhled into the pipe bag. In perticular the parts relating to this invention.

' ' ' L2gL~359 535,354 This device is assembled in a pre-determined way, allowing the air discharge ports 2 fig. 1 to discharge air towards the top of the pipe bag. The vent hole 17 fig. 1 discharging air towards the top of the pipe bag, and the plugged plastic tube 18 fig. 1 facing towards the back and bottom of the pipe bag. Any part of this device except where it is tied into the pipe bag will not touch the interior of the pipe bag when the bag is inflated.
With no leather cut off, a s-tar fish shaped hole of suitable size is cut in the pipe bag in a pre-determined place C fig. 2.
The device is inserted into this hole with the air discharge ports 2 fig. 1 facing the top of the pipe bag. The leather is then gathered round and bound to, in an airtight condition, to the device at the tie in groove 3 fig. 1.
The vent hole 17 fig. 1 in the vent bushing 15 fig. 1 relieves the air back pressure,as air is being blown into the pipe bag is escaping through the reeds. WITHOUT the said vent hole, air going beyond the point 5 fig. 1 in the chamber 7 fig. 1 would be under more pressure as it would be in an air-tight condition.
This air-tight condition would allow some spittle to be blown out the discharge ports 2 fig. 1 and into the pipe bag. The vent bushing with the vent hole solves this would be problem.
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Claims

CLAIM 1:
A single-chamber spittle trap, adapted to be located inside a bag pipe,comprising a blow pipe having input and output ends, and adapted to fit through a hole in the bag of the bag pipe, in an air-tight manner by means of a tie-in groove, the blow pipe having a plurality of air ports leading from the interior of the blow pipe, at an angle, to the exterior of the blow pipe at a point downstream from the tie-in groove, the spittle trap further comprising a copper elbow attached co the output end of hte blow pipe, and comprising also a plugged plastic tube attached in air-tight fashion to the downstream end of the copper elbow, such that spittle which is blown into the plastic tube via the blow pipe and the copper elbow, becomes trapped in the plastic tube, and may be poured out via the input end of the blow pipe at a bag pipe player's convenience.

CLAIM 2:
The spittle trap of claim 1, wherein the plastic tube comprises a vent hole for the purpose of equalizing air pressure in the plastic tube and air pressure in the inflated bag.