EP0102379B1 - Ameliorations apportees a des pianos - Google Patents

Ameliorations apportees a des pianos Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0102379B1
EP0102379B1 EP19830900939 EP83900939A EP0102379B1 EP 0102379 B1 EP0102379 B1 EP 0102379B1 EP 19830900939 EP19830900939 EP 19830900939 EP 83900939 A EP83900939 A EP 83900939A EP 0102379 B1 EP0102379 B1 EP 0102379B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
piano
strings
soundboard
bridge
frame
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
EP19830900939
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0102379A1 (fr
Inventor
Colin Howard Stanwell-Smith
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Prutec Ltd
Original Assignee
Prutec Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Prutec Ltd filed Critical Prutec Ltd
Priority to AT83900939T priority Critical patent/ATE24980T1/de
Publication of EP0102379A1 publication Critical patent/EP0102379A1/fr
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0102379B1 publication Critical patent/EP0102379B1/fr
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
    • G10C—PIANOS, HARPSICHORDS, SPINETS OR SIMILAR STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS WITH ONE OR MORE KEYBOARDS
    • G10C3/00—Details or accessories
    • G10C3/06—Resonating means, e.g. soundboards or resonant strings; Fastenings thereof

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to upright pianos and the like stringed keyboard instruments.
  • the invention relates to a piano comprising a frame, a plurality of taut strings supported in the frame and extending over a bridge and a soundboard coupled to the bridge, wherein the soundboard comprises a rigid member freely suspended relative to the frame by mounting means which enable the rigid member to move towards and away from the frame at least in the region of the bridge.
  • the strings are mounted on a massive rigid frame and near their lower ends they extend over bridges which are attached to a soundboard rigidly secured to the piano casing and usually constituted by the back of the piano.
  • Traditional soundboards are made of planks about 10 mm thick laid edge to edge and braced at right angles by bars which run under the bridges. Great care is taken to select wood with high sound propagation rates and low internal damping. Overstringing is common because it allows a better bridge position on the sound board.
  • the conventional frame used in a piano is extremely heavy and is rigid to withstand the considerable force exerted by all the tensioned strings. This has naturally contributed to the cost of the instrument.
  • the present invention seeks to provide a piano wherein the frame on which the springs are mounted may be made lighter and therefore less expensive, while still being able to withstand the force of the strings.
  • the frame of the piano is of tubular construction and includes tubes arranged between the strings and lying in the same plane as the strings, the bridges being connected to the strings by way of distance pieces.
  • each small group of strings is effectively framed separately and there is no longer the need for a long unsupported agraffe to withstand the tension of all the strings. Consequently, the frame members need not be as heavy and as rigid as in the prior art constructions.
  • the distance pieces may conveniently be manufactured as an aluminium extrusion. Aluminium lends itself particularly well to such an application because of its acoustic properties and low density.
  • the rigid member may be flexibly mounted about its entire periphery in the same manner as a loudspeaker cone but for larger soundboards the rigid member is preferably pivotable about an edge remote from the attachment to the bridge.
  • a problem that arises with a conventional soundboard is that the base notes tend to lose volume because their bridges are too near the edge of the soundboard and the treble notes lose volume because of the weight of the soundboard.
  • a piano comprises three bridges each connected to a respective soundboard.
  • the soundboard for the base notes is pivotably mounted along a line remote from the bridge whereas the remaining two soundboards are flexibly supported in a rigid box by compliant mounting means extending about their peripheries.
  • the rigid box may be in the form of a closed box so as to use infinite baffle techniques and the box may be constituted by the casing of the instrument.
  • the box may have a front opening and a base baffle in the manner used in some conventional loudspeakers.
  • each member is similar to loudspeaker discs or cones, it is possible for each member to cooperate with an electrical coil which may act as a drive, a pick-up or both.
  • the coil when used as a pick-up can enables sound recordings to be made directly from the soundboard of the piano. When used as a drive, it can, for example, enable a recorded piece of music to be reproduced while superimposing on the sound played back the notes manually played on the instrument.
  • the sound produced by the strings may be modified by feedback whereupon special effects can be produced such as a swell effect.
  • a play- back device such as a tape recorder.
  • the dampers for the strings are arranged in the space between the strings and the soundboards at the same level as the line of the hammers.
  • the dampers may be actuated by means of extensi6ns either of the piano keys or of the wippens, the extensions being arranged to extend between the strings.
  • the action of the piano may conveniently be mounted on a reinforcement bar connected between the tubes. Because the strings are divided into groups by the tubes reinforcing the frame, a modular approach may be adopted for the design of the action since a group of hammers may be separately formed and assembled an these tubes to strike the strings of the notes in that group. In this manner, the construction, initial assembly and repair of the action may be considerably simplified, to reduce the cost of the instrument.
  • FIG 1 there is shown a frame which is made up of tubes.
  • the frame (11) comprises an agraffe 10 to which all the piano strings 12 are connected by the usual arrangement for permitting the strings to be tuned.
  • the agraffe 10 is supported along its length by means of tubes 14 which form a grid extending between the strings 12.
  • the frame is further strengthened by means of a bar 16 connected both to the outer members of the frame and to the tube 14.
  • the bar 16 may serve to mount the action including the hammers etc. for striking the strings but this is not shown.
  • Figure 1 also shows schematically the position of three bridges designated 20, 22 and 24 which are connected to the strings in a manner described below.
  • Each string 12 is connected at its two ends to the frame but is stretched over a respective bridge which is not mounted on the frame but on a movable soundboard.
  • the effective length of the string which determines the sound produced when the string is struck is the length between the bridge and the agraffe 10.
  • the soundboards are rigid boards which are designed not to flex but to vibrate as a rigid body when a string is struck, to amplify the sound produced by the strings 12.
  • the soundboard for the base notes, designated 30 in Figures 2 and 3 has the bridge 20 mounted at its lower end while at its upper end it is flexibly mounted on a hinge 31 which is secured to a rigid sound box 33.
  • the sound box 33 is constituted by the casing of the piano.
  • the soundboard 30 is connected by a flexible diaphram 35 to the soundbox 33 so that the box acts as an infinite baffle.
  • the soundboard 30 is connected by the bridge 20 to several strings and this helps to support it.
  • each of the bridges crosses one of the tubes 14 arranged between the strings 12. It is important from the point of view of ensuring the strength of the structure that the strings and the tubes be in the same plane.
  • distance pieces are provided between the bridges and the strings. This arrangement is shown in Figure 5 wherein the bridge 20 is seen to be constituted by an aluminium extrusion 60 having a foot 62 secured to the soundboard 30. A tube 64 acting as a distance piece is arranged between the aluminium extrusion 60 and the string 12.
  • a single string constituting a note (or two strings of the same note where applicable) are sandwiched between the distance piece 64 and a washer 66 which are in turn secured to the aluminium extrusion by means of a bolt 68 or the like. It is thus seen that the tubes 14 do not interfere with the extrusion 60 which constitutes the bridge and straddle the tubes 14.
  • each sound box 33 and 44 there is arranged a moving coil 70 secured to the respective soundboard and movable relative to a fixed magnet 72 to constitute an inductive transducer which can act either as a pick-up or as a drive.
  • an inductive transducer which can act either as a pick-up or as a drive.
  • the soundboard can be operated in the manner of a load speaker to reproduce background music while the sounds produced by striking the strings of the piano may be superimposed directly onto the same soundboard.
  • the inductive transducer may be used as a microphone for recording the music played on the piano or may act as both an inductive pick-up and drive simultaneously.
  • feed-back circuitry may be employed to modify the natural sound produced by striking the string to achieve swell effects and other special effects.
  • the sound produced may be detected and processed in any manner desired, as known per se, and fed back to the same drive to modify the tone of the piano.
  • this technique can be used to alter the tone of the piano.
  • the feedback signal is constituted by harmonics of the same note of which the relative amplitude may be electronically selected, the instrument can provide some of the versatility of an electronic organ while retaining the advantages of a mechanical action.
  • aluminium in the bridge is particularly preferred because of its acoustic properties as well as its rigidity and light weight.
  • this space is used to mount dampers which are arranged level with the strike line of the hammers.
  • the dampers may be pivoted towards and away from the strings by the action of extensions of the keys or the wippens, these extensions passing between the strings.
  • Such a construction can also permit a shorter piano to be made since the hammers and the dampers are at the same level as opposed to the usual upright piano construction which employs dampers arranged above or below the hammers.
  • the soundboards themselves may be made of any suitable light rigid material and as with loudspeaker cones they may be suitable shaped or strengthened to resist flexing.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Electrophonic Musical Instruments (AREA)

Claims (14)

1. Piano comprenant un cadre (10), des cordes (12) portées par le cadre (10) et tendues au dessus d'une barrette (20) et d'une table d'harmonie (30) associée à la barrette (20), où la table d'harmonie (30) comprend une pièce rigide librement suspendue relativement au châssis par des moyens de montage (31, 33) qui lui permettent de se rapprocher et de s'éloigner du cadre (10) au moins dans la région de la barrette (20), caractérisé en ce que le cadre (11) du piano est de construction tubulaire et est fait de tubes (14) disposés entre les cordes (12) et placés dans le même plan que les cordes (12) et en ce que les barrettes sont reliées aux cordes à l'aide de pièces d'écartement (64).
2. Piano suivant la revendication 1, caractérisé en ce qu'il possède plusieurs barrettes (20, 22, 24) chacune reliée à une table d'harmonie correspondante (30, 32, 34).
3. Piano suivant la revendication 2, caractérisé en ce qu'au moins une (30) des tables d'harmonies est montée par rapport à une caisse de résonance (33) à l'aide d'une charnière souple disposée en un endroit éloigné de la barrette (20).
4. Piano suivant la revendication 2 ou 3, caractérisé en ce qu'au moins une des tables d'harmonie (32, 34) est montée par rapport à une caisse de résonance (44) à l'aide de moyens de support souples et appropriés (42) qui s'étendent autour de toute la périphérie de la table d'harmonie.
5. Piano suivant les revendications 2, 3 et 4, caractérisé en ce qu'il a une première table d'harmonie basculante (30) reliée aux cordes des notes graves et deux autres tables d'harmonie (32, 34) qui sont chacune montée de manière souple tout autour de leur périphérie.
6. Piano suivant l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, caractérisé en ce qu'un transducteur électroacoustique (70, 72) est relié à la ou à chacune des tables d'harmonie.
7. Piano suivant la revendication 6, caractérisé en ce que le transducteur est connecté pour agir comme un microphone.
8. Piano suivant la revendication 6 ou 7, caractérisé en ce que le transducteur (70, 72) est disposé pour agir comme un organe de commande afin de superposer à la vibration de la table d'harmonie causée par les cordes un son produit par une source électrique extérieure.
9. Piano suivant la revendication 8, caractérisé en ce qu'un dispositif de reproduction est incorporé dans le meuble du piano et relié au transducteur (70, 72), afin de permettre la reproduction d'une musique d'accompagnement pré-enregistrée en utilisant la table d'harmonie comme un haut-parleur.
10. Piano suivant la revendication 8, caractérisée en ce que le transducteur (70, 72) est relié à un circuit de traitement qui applique des signaux électriques de réaction en provenance de signaux de traitement produits par les cordes frappées.
11. Piano suivant l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, caractérisé en ce que chaque barrette (20, 22, 24) est formée comme une protubérance en aluminium.
12. Piano suivant l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, caractérisé en ce que les étouffoirs servant à étouffer les cordes sont montés dans l'espace situé entre les cordes et les tables d'harmonie au même niveau que la ligne de frappe des marteaux.
13. Piano suivant l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, caractérisé en ce que les tubes (14) sont interconnectés à l'aide d'une traverse (16) destinés aussi à recevoir le mécanisme du piano.
14. Piano suivant la revendication 13, caractérisé en ce que le mécanisme du piano est constitué de modules qui chacun a un nombre prédéterminé de marteaux associés aux cordes et qui sont disposés entre un couple de tubes contigus (14).
EP19830900939 1982-02-26 1983-02-28 Ameliorations apportees a des pianos Expired EP0102379B1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AT83900939T ATE24980T1 (de) 1982-02-26 1983-02-28 Verbesserungen an klavieren.

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB8205768 1982-02-26
GB8205768 1982-02-26

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0102379A1 EP0102379A1 (fr) 1984-03-14
EP0102379B1 true EP0102379B1 (fr) 1987-01-14

Family

ID=10528654

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP19830900939 Expired EP0102379B1 (fr) 1982-02-26 1983-02-28 Ameliorations apportees a des pianos

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0102379B1 (fr)
JP (1) JPS59500531A (fr)
DE (1) DE3369217D1 (fr)
WO (1) WO1983003022A1 (fr)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2004094948A1 (fr) 2003-04-21 2004-11-04 Wilhelm Schimmel Pianofortefabrik Gmbh Piano-forte comportant un dispositif d'augmentation de l'energie appliquee a la caisse de resonance et procede destine a influencer le son d'un piano-forte

Families Citing this family (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP2169659A1 (fr) * 2008-09-26 2010-03-31 Goodbuy Corporation S.A. Piano
JP5842834B2 (ja) 2013-01-22 2016-01-13 ヤマハ株式会社 響板加振装置
JP5846134B2 (ja) * 2013-01-22 2016-01-20 ヤマハ株式会社 加振器の取付構造
JP6146289B2 (ja) 2013-12-11 2017-06-14 ヤマハ株式会社 加振器の取付構造
JP6079600B2 (ja) 2013-12-11 2017-02-15 ヤマハ株式会社 加振器の取付構造
JP2015138142A (ja) 2014-01-22 2015-07-30 ヤマハ株式会社 加振器の取付構造
JP2015200828A (ja) 2014-04-09 2015-11-12 ヤマハ株式会社 加振器の取付構造、楽器、及び、加振器の取付方法
JP6442854B2 (ja) 2014-04-09 2018-12-26 ヤマハ株式会社 加振器の取付構造、及び、楽器
JP6446896B2 (ja) 2014-08-01 2019-01-09 ヤマハ株式会社 加振器の取付構造、及び、楽器
GB202102188D0 (en) 2021-02-16 2021-03-31 Hurstwood Farm Piano Studios Ltd Piano

Family Cites Families (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE151316C (fr) *
GB320766A (en) * 1928-10-16 1929-10-24 William Edwin Davis Improvements in or connected with sound reproducers, musical instruments or the like
DE572489C (de) * 1931-05-06 1933-03-18 August Foerster Fa Klavier mit mehreren voneinander unabhaengigen Resonanzboeden
US1929030A (en) * 1932-04-18 1933-10-03 Miessner Inventions Inc Apparatus for the production of music
FR754379A (fr) * 1932-05-21 1933-11-06 Piano ou instrument analogue à transmission électrique et amplification de la musique
US3312136A (en) * 1965-10-22 1967-04-04 Howard K Graves Piano sound board
US3477330A (en) * 1967-09-29 1969-11-11 Conn Ltd C G Laminated soundboard for a string instrument

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2004094948A1 (fr) 2003-04-21 2004-11-04 Wilhelm Schimmel Pianofortefabrik Gmbh Piano-forte comportant un dispositif d'augmentation de l'energie appliquee a la caisse de resonance et procede destine a influencer le son d'un piano-forte

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE3369217D1 (en) 1987-02-19
JPS59500531A (ja) 1984-03-29
EP0102379A1 (fr) 1984-03-14
WO1983003022A1 (fr) 1983-09-01

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