FR2955966A1 - IMPROVEMENT FOR HARMONICA EQUIPPED WITH AIR DISPENSER - Google Patents

Abstract

a hollow main body whose front face is open to serve as a roof while the opposite rear face is pierced with mouth-holes, (200) a plurality of walls delimiting air circulation channels (30, 31); - two blade holders (4,5) on which are mounted several sound vibrating blades positioned in correspondence with the above-mentioned air flow channels, said harmonica (1) being characterized in that it comprises an air distributor ( 6) for selectively feeding, from the same mouth hole (200), two air circulation channels (30,31) arranged side by side.

Description

Improvement for harmonica equipped with an air distributor

The present invention relates to an improvement aimed firstly at sealing against air leaks and at optimizing the flow of airflows with the aim of improving the performance of harmonicas of the type possessing a dispenser. slidably mounted air for selectively feeding to a first channel, feeding at least one blown blade and at least one aspirated blade, or to a second channel, also feeding at least one blown blade and at least one aspirated blade, air intake or air blown by the player in a mouth hole common to these two adjacent air channels A second objective of this invention is to provide a harmonica whose thickness is less than that of harmonicas of this type existing in the prior art and in order to ensure better ergonomics as much at the mouth as at the level of handling while also benefiting from a compactness of the instrument much appreciated able.

A third objective of this invention is to propose a disposition of the sound waves adapted to facilitate certain game techniques known under the French terms of alteration, over blowing and suraspirations more known under the English terms of bends, overblows and overdraws allowing obtain intermediate notes between the basic notes, natural, different blades that the instrument contain said "altered" notes being particularly difficult to obtain with the harmonicas of the prior art, which makes them virtually inaccessible to gamers not having a long practice of the instrument.

A fourth objective is to propose interior arrangements to the harmonica providing a solution to acoustically limited acoustic performance of the harmonicas of the prior art which, because of their very design, do not make it possible to offer air flow sucked and blown optimized flow and angle of attack relative to the blades necessary to ensure the vibration of the sound waves with force, without delay and the slightest breath of air. The aforementioned internal means integrated in the instrument and requiring no maintenance being intended to replace the elements generally referred to as valves that require the instruments of the prior art, these valves being difficult to implement and therefore costly while remaining fragile and thus requiring a constraining maintenance and a periodic replacement.

Indeed, if the harmonicas of the prior art suffer from a poor performance on the aeraulic plan, and therefore consequently on the sound level, this is due to both the very penalizing air leaks as well as the poor design of the air channels which force sudden changes of direction in the airflow making it difficult and laborious to simultaneously vibrate several sound waves necessary to produce chords as well as to vibrate sufficiently powerful sound waves to generate an acoustic sound strong enough to avoid having to resort to a sound amplification system.

With particular regard to the blade holders, if there are already some improvements to reduce unplanned air leakage between the edges of the window through which oscillates the free portion of a sound blade and the edges of said blade these Improvements are made using special molding blades which require sophisticated equipment and a high level of precision for their production which results in high production costs. Moreover, since these technologies systematically involve the use of a material, generally of the thermoplastic type, very different from the metals used for the production of the sound strips themselves, it results from this heterogeneity of large disparities in the behavior and in the coefficients of expansion between the sound blades and the blade holder which is obviously very detrimental to the final performance. It should also be known that most thermoplastics are moreover sensitive to the phenomena of moisture uptake, resulting in limited dimensional variations admittedly, but which are nevertheless disadvantageous when blades and blade holders have to be adjusted relative to one another with a very high accuracy much easier to achieve and maintain over time by using for the blades and the blade holders metals having very close expansion coefficients between them. Regarding the improvement of the performance of the harmonica according to the invention, as regards the blade holders themselves, one of the objectives is therefore to provide directly adaptable arrangements on blade holders of the prior art or on blade holders achievable with the same technologies and using the same materials and production machines as those of the prior art thus achieving high performance without investment for manufacturers and therefore the best price for users.

The arrangements of the instrument proposed in this invention thus constitute a relevant answer to the aforementioned problems encountered in the harmonicas of the prior art and they make it possible, on the one hand, to obtain a harmonica with a powerful sound thanks to the possibility of setting vibration sound slicers thicker than those of the prior art and they also allow to lower the threshold of vibration of the sound waves that becomes possible at the slightest breath of air which allows greater expressiveness of game ranging from pianissimo to fortissimo.

Beforehand, to facilitate the description and the understanding of this document, we first agree that the mouthpiece constituting the part of the instrument in contact with the musician's mouth constitutes the upper part of the instrument while the opposite part, the flag, through which emitted sounds is the lower part of the instrument.

We further agree that the harmonica according to the invention, which may be of symmetrical or non-symmetrical external shape, is here positioned in such a way that its mean longitudinal plane Px is arranged vertically, said plane Px being the vertical plane passing substantially to mid-thickness of the instrument and thus passing substantially through the middle of the mouth holes and passing near the middle of the flag of the instrument. Of course, in the case where the entire part of the instrument disposed on one side of said mean longitudinal plane Px is identical to the entire part of the instrument disposed on the other side of this mean longitudinal plane Px, this plane Px constitutes then also the longitudinal plane of general symmetry of the instrument Ps. Finally we agree to call blades bladed blades fixed on the face of the blade holder oriented on the inner side of the air channels while the blades said sucked will be the blades fixed against the face of the blade holder located outside the air channels. In the present description, therefore, we will not take into account the fact that the so-called blown blades, whose main purpose is to enter into vibration by producing a sound when the player blows into the instrument, may in certain game techniques, enter in action even during aspiration. The same applies to so-called aspirated blades that can come into action during blowing in certain game techniques that occasionally force the blades to vibrate under the action of a directional flow of air contrary to that for which they have originally designed, but which, of course, remains their main mode of vibration. In the same way when the text mentions the term of face of admission of the air it is always the face by which the air enters to pass through the window concerned by causing the passage in vibration the corresponding blade and conversely, when the text evokes the term "exhaust face" it is the face through which the air leaves after passing through said window and this always with reference to the type, respectively sucked or blown, of the lamella associated with the window concerned.

This agreed, the instrument according to the invention consists of the following elements: - a main body, the peripheral shell of which allows the gripping of the instrument, said main body being constituted by a hollow element shaped elongated bell whose underside is open to serve as a flag for the instrument. The upper face of the main body, opposite to the flag, constitutes the mouth of the instrument in which are arranged the mouth holes through which the musician insufflates or sucks the air which vibrates sound reeds, or blades sound, of the instrument. The outer shell of said main body may be symmetrical or not with respect to the mean longitudinal plane Px of the instrument and it may also be generally symmetrical or not with respect to the vertical plane passing through the mid-length of the instrument, an element referred to as bed base or comb arranged in part at least inside the cavity arranged in the main body. In this comb, which is or is not a monolithic assembly with the main body, are arranged a plurality of air channels whose respective lengths are related to the length of the blades they feed, - at least 1 blade holder maintained pressed against the corresponding bearing areas of the comb, which support zones being formed in particular by the edge of the side walls separating the air channels between them. - Several vibrating sound blades, free reed type, consisting of thin slats attached by one of their ends to the blade holder by any means of attachment such as rivet, staple, screw, glue, welding point or clipping. Under the combined action of the force of the air sucked or blown by the musician and the flexural elasticity of said slats, the free end of these slats can oscillate on either side of a position of equilibrium passing through a window slightly larger dimensions arranged through the plate-bearing concerned. Pressure means for applying the blade plate (s) against the comb and, if appropriate, additional sealing means for preventing air leakage between the different elements: the blade plate (s), the comb and the main body. According to a first characteristic, the two planes passing through the faces of the blade holders bearing against the corresponding faces of the bed base may be parallel to each other or, on the contrary, be concurrent, thereby constituting either a dihedron whose edge common to said two planes is positioned from side of the instrument, in the space beyond it and said dihedral is then open towards the mouth of the instrument is on the contrary the two planes are concurrent between them in such a way that they constitute a dihedron whose common edge is positioned on the side of the mouth of the instrument in the space beyond it and said dihedron is then open towards the flag of the instrument.

According to another characteristic, to allow the realization of channels associated with internal arrangements such as deflectors which will be described later in this document, the bed base can be advantageously made in two parts assembled together, for example at the level of the longitudinal longitudinal plane Px of the instrument, by gluing, clipping welding or by any other means and in particular simply by screwing the fixing screws of the blade-holder plates which through said bed base sandwich sandwich them this mode of assembly offering the advantage to keep the possibility of separating at will the two half box springs for easy cleaning.

According to another characteristic, the bed base may advantageously be made of a slightly elastically deformable material in order to fit any deformation of the blade-holding plates, thus avoiding any air leakage between the faces of the blade carriers and the corresponding faces of said bed base.

According to another characteristic of a particular embodiment, the bed base is a monolithic assembly with the upper cover and / or the lower cover.

The different arrangements proposed for the air channels are primarily intended to facilitate the circulation of air flows by avoiding swirling movements that penalize the responsiveness of the sound waves by delaying their vibration and braking when the flow of air. air reverses in the same channel, passing from a blown stream to a sucked flow and vice versa, which is very frequently the case during the game. A second objective is to ensure that the flow of air blown as the air flow aspirated orientation of the air streams in such a way that their angle of attack relative to the sound waves they drive are optimal thus allowing air savings opening the possibility of animating blades more powerful and / or more serious and / or more numerous.

To do this, according to a first embodiment, at least some of the air channels are conical, their width at the mouth face being greater than their width at their end located on the side of the flag of the instrument and this so as to increase the pressure of the air blown at the free end of the blown blades. According to another embodiment, the width of at least some of the air channels, measured in the longitudinal direction of the instrument, is, at mid-length of said channels, a value greater than the width of said channels measured at level of the mouth of the instrument and also a value greater than the width measured at the bottom of the channel located on the side of the flag of the instrument.

According to another embodiment, the two lateral flanks of at least some of the air channels are helically shaped to create a double vortex in each of said channels, the two vortices being arranged symmetrically in each channel with respect to the plane passing through the axis. of the two blades concerned. In this embodiment for the first face of the bed base against which the first blade rests, the longitudinal edges of the channel considered generally go away from each other when one moves away from the mouth of the instrument to approach the flag in other words said edges of said channel are closer to each other at the mouth of the mouth of the instrument they are at the level of the zone d end of the channel and vice versa, for the same channel, on the other side of the bed against which rests the other blade holder, the longitudinal edges of said channel are generally approaching one another when the one moves away from the mouth of the instrument to get closer to the flag, in other words said edges of said channel are farther apart from each other at the mouth of the mouth of the instrument. are at the end zone of the channel.

Such an arrangement also makes it possible to give priority to the ability of the instrument to produce the natural basic notes of each of the blades under the aspirated or blown air streams which correspond to their specificity or, on the contrary, to favor the ability of the instrument to produce so-called "altered" notes that require the sound blades to be solicited under suction or blown air flows in the opposite direction to those corresponding to their specificity. Thus, so that the instrument is primarily specialized in the production of natural basic notes, the blade holder supporting the suctioned blades will then be mounted against the face of the bed base in which, for each channel considered the longitudinal edges of said channel are closer to each other at the mouth face than they are near the bottom of the channel and the blade holder supporting the blown blades will then be mounted against the face of the bed in which, for each of the channels considered the longitudinal edges of said channel are further apart from each other at the mouth face than they are near the bottom of the channel. Conversely if one wishes to find a compromise allowing to obtain of course the natural notes of the blades but however less stable than in the aforementioned assembly while facilitating the obtaining of the so-called notes "altered" it it will suffice to make a bed base inverted by symmetry with respect to the longitudinal longitudinal plane Px of said bed base so that for the blade holder supporting the blown blades for each of the channels considered the longitudinal edges of said channel are closer to each other at the level of the mouth face that they are in the vicinity of the opposite end of the channel and the blade holder supporting the suctioned blades will then be mounted against the face of the bed base in which, for each of the channels considered the Longitudinal edges of said channel are further apart from each other at the mouth face than they are in the vicinity of the opposite end of the channel.

Finally, according to another feature of a particular embodiment intended to facilitate and make more comfortable the game technique known to those skilled in the art under the English term of "Tongue blocking" the axis of the hole d ' mouthpiece feeding the sharpest blade of the instrument is advantageously located at a distance from the corresponding end of the lower mouth face to the distance at which is positioned the axis of the mouth hole feeding the most serious blade of the instrument relative to the corresponding end of said mouth face. According to another characteristic, for at least some of the sound waves that comprises the harmonica according to the invention, the window through which the oscillating blade concerned is partially covered by a deflector positioned beyond the area swept by the party oscillating sound blade. The end of the deflector located on the side of the free end of the sound blade concerned is located at a distance from the end of the window located on the side of the free end of the blade, between one quarter and three quarters the total length of the window through which oscillates said blade. The baffles associated with the extracted sound blades are positioned between the blade holder and the inner face of the corresponding cover while the deflectors associated with the blown blades are positioned inside the air channels arranged in the bed of the harmonica. Each of the deflectors in the form of a tunnel whose bottom is closed cul de sac, the opening of the tunnel being oriented on the side of the free end of the sound blade to which this deflector is associated while the vault of said tunnel progressively away from the blade holder, on which its base is plated, as one approaches the free end of the sound blade with which it is associated. Each of the deflectors associated with a soundblown blade, and therefore therefore positioned inside the bed base, is closed on three of its sides or by walls starting from its vault to join the face of the blade holder against which it is plated either directly by the side walls separating the air channels when it constitutes a monolithic assembly with the bed base. Likewise, each of the baffles associated with a blade that is sucked up, and therefore thus disposed outside the bed base, is closed on three of its sides either by walls directly belonging to said baffle and which join the blade holder to ensure that sealing to the air flows concerned either directly by the members of the counter-comb or cover concerned when said deflector constitutes with one or other of these a monolithic assembly.

According to a characteristic of a first embodiment, at least some of the deflectors associated with the blown blades are integral with the bed or comb of the harmonica with which they constitute a monolithic assembly. According to a variant of this embodiment the baffles corresponding to the blown blades are constituted by independent elements, reported therefore, which are either glued, or clipped to the bed base or simply sandwiched between said bed base and the corresponding face of the blade holder concerned .

According to another characteristic of an embodiment, at least some of the deflectors associated with the aspirated blades are integral with the corresponding cover of the harmonica with which they constitute a monolithic assembly. According to a variant of this embodiment, the baffles corresponding to the suction blades consist of independent elements, reported therefore, which are either glued or clipped to the corresponding cover or simply sandwiched between said cover and the corresponding face of the blade holder concerned.

According to another characteristic of another embodiment, at least some of the deflectors associated with the suction blades are integral with a counter-comb or counter-bedding inserted between the blade holder concerned and the inner face of the corresponding cover. These deflectors may either constitute with said counter-comb a monolithic assembly or be constituted by independent elements, reported therefore, which are either glued, or clipped on the counter-comb or simply sandwiched between the corresponding inner face of the comb-comb and the corresponding face of the blade holder concerned.

According to another embodiment, the baffles corresponding to the suction blades and / or the baffles corresponding to the blown blades together with the corresponding blade holder a monolithic assembly.

According to another embodiment, the deflectors corresponding to the suction blades and / or the baffles corresponding to the blown blades consist of independent elements fixed to the corresponding blade holder by screwing, riveting, clipping, gluing or by any other removable fastening means or not.

According to a preferred embodiment, the blade holders are of conventional design known to those skilled in the art, they are made from a metal plate in which are cut the windows through which the sound waves oscillate and the baffles are secured to said blade holder with screws, associated where appropriate with nuts, so as to be removable, in particular to allow the change of defective vibrating blades. In this embodiment, the conventional fastening rivets sound blades are therefore advantageously replaced by screws taking the sound blade concerned sandwiched between the blade holder and the insert element constituting the deflector which thus ensures the attachment of the blade concerned sound against the corresponding face of the blade holder. This type of assembly thus makes it possible to consider the easy and rapid assembly of said deflectors on all types of conventional blade-holders simply by replacing the original fastening rivet of the sound blade with a screw associated with a corresponding threaded deflector or equipped with an attached nut that allow to remove said deflectors selectively for some blades or for all blades according to the preferences of the harmonica player.

According to another preferred embodiment, each of the air circulation channels feeds at least one blown blade and an aspirated blade. The two blades served by the same air channel are disposed in line on either side of the respective blade carrier and their respective longitudinal axes are coplanar with the longitudinal axis of said air channel while the oscillating free parts of said two sound waves stretch in diametrically opposite directions with respect to each other. The suction blade is fixed against the outer face of the blade holder and against the face of the blade holder oriented on the side of the corresponding cover of the harmonica while the blown blade is fixed against the face of said blade holder pressed against the bed base. The fixed end of each of the two blades can be fixed and held pressed against the blade holder either by welding, gluing, riveting or even better with the aid of one or more screws. According to a preferred embodiment of this embodiment, one or more screws pass through each of the two baffles associated with the two blades concerned as well as the blade holder and the bead of the two blades so that a single screw or possibly two screws are sufficient to ensure the assembly and the holding in position of said blades and said baffles relative to the blade holder. Such an arrangement proves very easy and very quick assembly and therefore very economical while offering the great advantage of being easily removable as well for the effective cleaning of the instrument for change easy of a failing sound blade.

The aforementioned deflectors may be made of metal as well as thermoplastic material or thermosetting material.

When the baffles are attached parts fixed to the blade holder with screws they can be advantageously tapped to allow direct screwing of the corresponding screw.

According to a preferred embodiment, said deflectors are advantageously made of a slightly elastically deformable material so that, under the clamping pressure exerted by the fixing screw, they can deform slightly to fit perfectly the face of the holder. blade against which they are pressed and so as to avoid any air passage between said parts. Furthermore, given this slight elastic deformation by creep of the deflector, it is possible to achieve through said deflector a hole of a diameter slightly smaller than that of the fixing screw so that the screw is thus braked. so that it will not be unintentionally unscrewed by the vibrations generated by the instrument. This represents a very big advantage in terms of safety because we must know that a sound blade attached to the blade holder with a simple screw as is the case in conventional harmonica repair in the Prior art can always be accidentally unscrewed and the player then has every chance to swallow or even inhale by playing said blade with all the dangers that can represent such a thin and sharp piece in the lungs of the harmonica player.

According to an alternative embodiment, if the material selected for the production of the deflectors is too flexible to provide sufficient strength by direct screwing of the fastening screw in the deflector said screw can then advantageously be associated with a conventional metal nut which may be partially at least drowned in a housing of appropriate shape arranged in said deflector.

According to a particular mounting mode the baffles are removable and fixed to the corresponding blade holder by fixing screws and several baffles equipping adjacent sound blades can be advantageously joined together so as to constitute a monolithic assembly avoiding them to move by rotation under the effect of the vibrations generated by the sound blades while also offering the advantage of a cost more interesting than when they are cahcun independent and thus produced each individually.

According to another preferred embodiment, the deflector, in collaboration with the corresponding assembly screw, advantageously constitute an effective means of fixing an inserts strip cut in a flexible and resistant material to form an opposing sealing valve. to the air inlets, through the window concerned, in the opposite direction to that corresponding to the specificity of the blade. The width and the length of this lamellaevalve are greater than the corresponding dimensions of the window concerned so that the periphery of said lamella can bear directly on the face of the blade holder to ensure a satisfactory seal. On the blades of the prior art these lamella-valves, well known to those skilled in the art, are glued which makes it difficult and difficult to install and replace them; Moreover, their behavior in time is often low because of the solvents contained in the fixing adhesive used which alter the properties of said valves made in plastics often sensitive to said solvents, which solvents also constitute a danger for the user. because of the vapors that it inhales during its play time.

Fixing said valves with the fixing screw associated with the deflector concerned is therefore a relevant answer to the problems discussed above and this method of mechanical attachment and not by gluing offers the very interesting possibility of allowing the use of materials. plastics such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) often referred to as "Teflon" or polyolefins which have extremely interesting characteristics in terms of resistance to alternating flexures and especially anti-adhesion but which therefore can not be glued and are not therefore not usable in the embodiment of the prior art. In this embodiment, the assembly screw and the baffle thus sandwich between them both the sound blade concerned, the blade holder and the valve leaflet described above.

According to another particular embodiment, the valve as described above constitutes a single monolithic assembly with the deflector of the opposite blade. This very advantageous embodiment is applicable when the blades sucked and blown are connected in pairs being arranged in line on either side of the blade holder concerned their respective longitudinal axes being coplanar with the longitudinal axis of the air channel unique that serves them. In this preferred embodiment, at least some of the pairs of sound blades may therefore be associated with a deflector covering a portion of the length of the window of the blade carrier through which the first sound blade oscillates, which is either of the suction blade type. either of the blown blade type. The deflector is extended by a thin flexible blade extending in the opposite direction to the free end of the sound blade which it constitutes the baffle and this flexible blade constitutes the sealing valve of the second sound blade fed by the channel. concerned. The length and the width of the flexible blade are greater than the dimensions of the window through which oscillates this second sound blade which is of the opposite type to the first blade, so respectively either a blown blade or an aspirated blade. When the flow of air is opposite to that which corresponds to the type of the second sound blade, it comes to press the flexible blade against the face of the blade holder thus completely closing the air passage window of the second blade sound and thus forcing the entire air flow to pass through the window of the first blade whose type sucked or blown corresponds to it in the direction of the current flow. The baffle and the thin blade constituting the valve may advantageously be produced, in particular by molding, at the same time and in the same material to then constitute a single-component monolithic assembly as well as being made in two-material injection from two different materials. but nevertheless compatible with each other. Of course, the material selected for producing the valve leaflet and, if appropriate, for producing the baffle may advantageously be of the thermoplastic type by selecting a material having the appropriate characteristics in terms of flexibility, resistance to tearing and tearing. alternating bending, anti-adhesion, and elastic memory.

According to another characteristic, when they are fixed to the blade holder by means of a screw, the baffles advantageously comprise a lug projecting from their bearing surface against the blade holder, said lug coming from housed in a correspondingly shaped hole made in the blade holder to oppose any inadvertent rotation of the deflector concerned. According to a particular embodiment in which the blown blade and the corresponding sucked blade are disposed diametrically opposite each other on either side of the blade holder, the deflector associated with the blown blade and / or the associated deflector the suction blade has a small anti-rotation pin protruding from its bearing surface against the blade holder, said pin being housed in the thickness of the blade holder in the window in which oscillates the blade opposite to that for which it plays the role of deflector. According to a characteristic of a preferred embodiment, in logical correlation with the respective amplitudes of the oscillations of the free end of each of the sound waves which are themselves directly related to the respective lengths of said sound waves at least at the level of the the free end of the sound blades, the thickness of at least one of the blade holder that includes the harmonica is advantageously degressive continuously or by palliating serious blades acute blades and consequently, the height of at least one of the lateral faces of the window through which oscillates the most serious blade of said blade holder is greater than the height of the corresponding lateral face of the window through which oscillates the sharpest blade of said door -blades.

According to a preferred embodiment, the harmonica according to the invention comprises a comb in which is arranged a plurality of walls delimiting air circulation channels feeding two blade holders arranged on either side of the mean longitudinal plane ( Px) of the harmonica each of said blade holder supporting a plurality of sound vibrating blades positioned in correspondence with the aforementioned air flow channels. Between the mouth face of the instrument and the vibrating sound blades that it comprises is implanted a sliding air distributor, intended to selectively direct the air blown or sucked by the player towards one or the other of two air circulation channels fed by a mouth hole common to said two air channels, each of which can in turn supply at least one blown blade and at least one aspirated blade. For each of the mouth holes, the two aforementioned air circulation channels fed by said common mouth hole are arranged side by side while being separated from each other by a separating wall arranged transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the instrument one of the ends of said partition wall coming to bear against the relevant face of the first blade holder while the other end of said partition wall comes to bear against the corresponding face the second blade holder. The sliding air distributor moves in axial translation in the longitudinal direction of the instrument to move from its first position, in which it conceals the entrance of the second air circulation channel and directs the air flows to the first channel feeding at least one blade of the first blade holder and at least one blade of the second blade holder, to its second position in which it conceals the inlet of the first air flow channel and directs the flow of air to the second channel feeding at least one blade of the first blade carrier and at least one blade of the second blade carrier.

According to a first embodiment, the air distributor is automatically returned to its maximum extended position of the body of the harmonica by the return means and the player must therefore exert a bearing on the corresponding control member to bring it from its first position out to its second retracted position. According to an inverted mounting mode, unlike the previous one, the air distributor is automatically returned to its maximum retracted position in the harmonica by the return means and the player must therefore exert a traction on the body of corresponding command to bring it from its first retracted position to its second output position

According to another characteristic of the preferred embodiment described above, the air distributor is in the general shape of a scale consisting of two longitudinal elements arranged substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the instrument interconnected by transverse elements. each associated with a mouth hole of its own. The face of each of the transverse elements disposed substantially parallel to the mouth face of the instrument comprises in the vicinity of its two lower free edges small returns arranged projecting from said face so that the extreme edge of said returns is farther from the mouth of the instrument than is the extreme edge of the wall separating two adjacent channels of air circulation fed by a common mouth hole. These small protruding returns are intended to provide a seal against side air leakage by forming a baffle when they bear against the corresponding face of the upper part of the partition wall separating two adjacent channels fed by the same mouth hole.

According to yet another characteristic of the preferred embodiment described above, over at least part of their length the above-mentioned transverse elements of the air distributor are generally profiled prismatic shape and the width, measured in the longitudinal direction of the instrument, said prismatic elements is generally degressive as one moves away from their face closest to the flag of the instrument to get closer to the mouth of the instrument and each of the two lateral walls of the mouth and / or comb against which the corresponding face of said transverse element bears is of substantially complementary shape and inclination to those of the corresponding faces of said transverse elements in such a way that said surfaces can marry them to ensure an optimal seal against air leaks.

According to another feature, to improve the seal between the faces of the baffle in contact with the corresponding faces of the mouthpiece element and / or the comb, at least some of said parts may advantageously be covered with a slightly flexible coating and elastically deformable even be constituted in part or in whole of a slightly elastically deformable material.

According to another characteristic, the upper end portion of the comb, or bed base, constituted by the upper edge of the walls separating between them two adjacent air circulation channels fed by two different mouth holes is located closer to the face of the mouth of the instrument that is the lower face of the mouthpiece element in the upper face of which are formed the mouth of the instrument holes and the upper part of the partition walls mentioned above has come s nesting in a housing of complementary shape arranged in the corresponding lower part of said mouthpiece member.

The above-described air distributor whose inclined faces act as deflectors allow optimal directivity and with the least possible pressure drop of the air flows thus also make it less difficult to vibrate the blades. than to expand the range of musical expressiveness compared to what allowed the air distributors of the prior art. The latter are in fact constituted by a simple sliding plate in which holes are arranged which are placed opposite the channels concerned, said plate being arranged perpendicular to the mean longitudinal plane Px of the instrument flow flows air both blown and sucked is very disturbed by the perpendicular faces it encounters and weakens it strongly and make it swirling, forcing the player to compensate by forcing its action which is uncomfortable and which especially excludes the possibility to achieve pianissimo requiring a very low airflow thus reducing the possibility of expressiveness of the player.

According to another feature, the mouthpiece element in the upper face of which are implanted the inlet faces of the mouth holes is secured to the comb by means arranged inside the harmonica and which are directly accessible when the covers of the instrument have been removed. The aforementioned fastening means may advantageously consist of nuts and / or knurled screws so that they can be removed by hand without tools.

According to a particular embodiment, the harmonica according to the invention comprises a counter-comb whose conicity of the faces is complementary to the conicity of the corresponding faces of the comb so that said corresponding faces are therefore parallel two by two, and each of two blade holders of the instrument is sandwiched between the face of the comb and the corresponding face of the counter-comb. Means generating a thrust tending to bring the comb against the mouth of the instrument ensure the veneer of the blade holder against the comb. According to a particular embodiment, the abovementioned thrust means consist of a flexible blade or a flexible rod of round section or any other shape extending in the longitudinal direction of the instrument which fits with the comb itself and / or the covers or the peripheral shell of the instrument .

According to another feature of another embodiment, each of the air circulation channels feeds at least two blown blades and two aspirated blades and the four blades served by the same air channel are arranged head to tail on both sides. the other of the respective blade holder and their respective longitudinal axes are arranged parallel to each other on either side of the plane passing through the longitudinal axis of the channel, the oscillating free parts of said two sound blades stretching in two opposite directions; one with respect to the other.

Other advantages and features will emerge more clearly from the following description of the various embodiments shown by way of nonlimiting examples and represented in the accompanying drawings, in which: FIGS. 1 to 23 correspond to a first embodiment of FIG. a harmonica according to the invention. Figures 24 and 25 are enlarged partial views showing a second embodiment of the air flow channels and the air distributor respectively in the two extreme positions, recessed and output that can occupy said sliding air distributor, FIGS. 26 and 27 are partial enlarged views showing a third embodiment of the air circulation channels and of the air distributor respectively in the two extreme positions, recessed and outlet that can occupy said sliding air distributor, FIGS. 28 and 29 are enlarged partial views showing a fourth embodiment of the air circulation channels and the air distributor respectively in the two extreme positions, recessed and outlet that can occupy said sliding air distributor, FIGS. 30 and 31 are enlarged partial views showing a fifth embodiment of the air circulation channels and the distributor of respectively in the two extreme positions, recessed and outlet that can occupy said sliding air distributor, ^ Figure 32 corresponds to perspective views of the preferred embodiment shown in Figures 28 and 29, ^ Figure 33 shows different views and various cuts of a harmonica according to the invention, the blade holders are equipped with attached deflectors each secured to said blade holder by a screw and a nut which further ensure the fixing and the plating of the corresponding sound blade against the FIG. 34 shows another embodiment of a harmonica according to the invention.

Before the explanations that follow it is important to specify that to make the drawings more readable and more explicit, in some of the figures included in this document, the thicknesses of the cutterheads as well as those of the soundblades and if the slats sealing have been voluntarily greatly increased compared to their actual thickness. Similarly, the lateral games between the lateral edges of the sound waves and the corresponding edges of the windows through which they oscillate as well as the gaps between the end of said lamellae and the corresponding slice of said windows which in reality are of the order of 5 to 10 / 100th of a millimeter have been greatly enlarged here to facilitate understanding of the drawing.

This specified, on the views 1 to 23, the harmonica 1 comprises:

a mouthpiece element 2 in the outer face of which open the mouth holes 200 by which the harmonicist sucks or breathes air which vibrates the sound waves of the instrument, each of the mouth holes 200 dessert two air circulation channels 30 and 31 each supplying at least one blown sound blade and at least one aspirated sound blade,

a comb 7 or bed base in the thickness of which are made a plurality of aforementioned air circulation channels 30 and 31 arranged side by side, being separated from each other by lateral walls arranged transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the one of the ends of each of said partition walls coming to bear against the relevant face of the first blade holder 4 while the other end of said partition wall bears against the corresponding face of the second holder; 5 blades, the blade holders 4 and 5 being arranged obliquely with respect to each other, the planes passing through their respective bearing faces against the corresponding bearing faces of the comb here constitute a dihedral open towards the mouth face of the instrument,

an air distributor 6 interposed between the mouthpiece member 2 and the comb 7, said air distributor 6 is intended to selectively direct the air blown or sucked by the player towards one or the other 31 of the two air circulation channels fed by a mouth hole 200 common to said two air channels 30 and 31,

- A counter-comb 8 open in the form of jaw or against corner whose conicity of the faces, open towards the mouth of the instrument, is identical to the conicity of the corresponding faces of the comb 7 so that said faces corresponding are therefore parallel in pairs and that each of the two blade holders 4 and 5 of the instrument is sandwiched between the face of the comb 7 and the corresponding face of the comb 8, - means, constituted here by a flexible blade 9 extending in the longitudinal direction of the comb, generating a thrust tending to bring the counter-comb 8 of the mouth face of the instrument and in doing so, thanks to the complementary conical shapes of the comb 7 and counter comb 8, this axial displacement of the counter-comb 8 along the mean longitudinal plane Px ensures perfect plating of the blade holders 4 and 5 against the corresponding faces of the comb 7 without the need to use any door fixing screws unlike the harmonicas of the prior art.

- Two covers 10 and 10 for holding in hand the harmonica and ensuring the amplification of sounds and their projection towards the flag of the instrument. To facilitate sound projection, openings 100 are arranged at least in the lateral face of the hoods 10.

For each of the two air circulation channels 30 and 31 fed by a common mouth hole 200, the air distributor 6 moves by axial translation in the longitudinal direction of the instrument to move from its first position, in which it conceals the entry of the second air circulation channel 31 and communicates the mouth hole 200 concerned with the first channel 30 feeding at least one blade of the first blade carrier 4 and at least one blade of the second 5, in its second position in which it conceals the entrance of the first air channel 30 and communicates said mouth hole 200 with the second channel 31 also supplying at least one blade of the first door -lames 4 and at least one blade of the second blade holder 5.

Return means here constituted by a torsion spring 11 ensure the automatic return of the air distributor 6 in the extended position as soon as the user stops exerting pressure on the control member of said distributor 6.

An elastically deformable damping element 12 constituting an abutment in the retracted position at the maximum of the air distributor 6 is interposed between said distributor and the relevant face of the comb 7 while a second elastically deformable damper 13 constituting an abutment in the extended position at the maximum of air distributor 6 is interposed between the distributor and the relevant face of the mouthpiece element 2.

The mouthpiece element 2 is secured to the comb 7 by two knurled nuts 14, operable by hand without requiring the use of a tool, said knurled nuts being positioned inside the body of the harmonica not to constitute roughness on the mouth face of the instrument as is the case with the assemblies of the prior art whose screw heads disposed in the mouth face are often aggressive to the lips. Note that to facilitate the understanding of Figures 5 and 6 the blade holders 4 and 5 and the counter-comb 8 and the flexible blade 9 are not shown while in Figure 7 the blade holder supporting the blades blown to has been added to Figures 5 and 6.

As shown in FIGS. 10, 14 and 15 as well as FIG. 8, which corresponds to an enlarged cross-section of the complete harmonica made according to the section mark HH of FIG. 7, the harmonica according to the invention comprises walls thin 700 and 800 partly covering the windows through which the air flows to animate the sound waves. Thus the window of the blade holder 4 through which oscillates the suction blade 400 is covered over more than half of its length by a thin wall 800 disposed between the inner face of the corresponding cap and the blade holder supporting said blade 400. The thin wall 800 which is positioned beyond the space swept by the aspirated blade 400 as it oscillates constitutes a deflector intended as much to direct the air flows towards the free end portion of the blade as to to oppose the leakage of air sucked or blown between the longitudinal edges of said sound blade and the corresponding edges of the concerned windows arranged in the blade holder thereby rendering superfluous the installation of complementary sealing devices, referred to as valves which equip the so-called chromatic harmonicas of the prior art. The interest of the deflectors described above is all the greater as it allows to achieve a harmonica particularly leakproof air without requiring the use of expensive valves and tedious maintenance, which valves also remove the possibility of use certain gaming techniques such as blast and suraspirations to obtain particular notes that are interesting in terms of approval and expressiveness while these particular techniques are used with a harmonica equipped with deflectors according to the invention 1.0 In the embodiment shown in Figures 1 to 23 The deflector blade 800 associated with the suction blades is here secured to the counter-comb 8 with which it forms a monolithic assembly. To achieve the same objectives as before exposed, a deflector blade 700 positioned beyond the space swept by the blown blade 500 and also extending over more than half the length of the window concerned has been disposed inside the air circulation channel concerned and here it constitutes a monolithic assembly with the comb 7 itself.

It is important to note that one of the particular objectives of the original design of the harmonica according to the invention is to obtain an instrument that can be rapidly removed without tools such as a key screwdriver or a clamp required with the harmonicas of the art. previous. For this reason, on the one hand, the blade holders are not secured to the comb by screwing according to the conventional method, but they are sandwiched between the inner faces of the counter-comb and the corresponding outer faces of the comb and on the other hand the fastening screws of the mouthpiece element 2 are knurled in order to be actuated by hand while in the heads of the fastening screws of the covers 10 are provided slots having a width greater than a millimeter and a half which allow either to train them by screwing or unscrewing with the thumbnail or to train them with a simple coin that everyone has at the bottom of his pocket. Such an arrangement has multiple advantages for the user who can thus easily access directly to the sound blades for cleaning as well as for maintenance or for adjustment.

Furthermore, as shown by the various views and sections illustrating this first embodiment of the harmonica according to the invention, the arrangement of the blade holders 4 and 5 has been reversed with respect to the conventional arrangement in which, when the The instrument is in play position, the blade holder supporting the suction blades is arranged in the lower part of the instrument while the blade holder supporting the blown blades is disposed in the upper part of the instrument. The inverted arrangement in which are implanted here the blade holders 4 and 5 makes it possible to greatly facilitate the evacuation directly to the outside of the instrument of saliva and microdetitus whereas with the conventional arrangement these are found trapped in the cul-de-sac formed by the bottom of the channel from which they can not escape because of the closed area at acute angle constituted by the fixed part of the suction blade arranged in the lower part of the channel concerned. Conversely, the proposed inverted arrangement allows said waste to be easily discharged to the outside through the window of the blade holder in which oscillates the free portion of the blown blade concerned which is located at the bottom of the instrument and this evacuation to the outside is all the more efficient that it is provided by the self-cleaning effect conjugate gravity and blown air flows.

FIG. 17 groups together different views and sections illustrating a particular embodiment of the blade holders whose areas in which the windows are made through which the sound waves oscillate are of decreasing thickness in steps when going from the serious blades to sharp blades. Thus, in the area concerned by the first six blades of each of the two blade holders, the thickness e1 is greater than the thickness e4 of said blade carriers measured at the level of the acute blades. However, to ensure a better rigidity of said blade-holders thus guaranteeing the flatness of their bearing surface coming to rest against the comb, it will be noted that the thinning above-mentioned does not concern the part of the blade holder located on the side of the face mouthpiece of the instrument, which retains here all its original thickness and to form a straight beam.

Figures 18 and 19 show in exploded perspective the harmonica shown in Figures 1 to 23.

Figures 20 to 23 show in more detail the particular design of the mouthpiece element 2 and the distributor 6 corresponding to the embodiment illustrated in the preceding figures. As shown in FIG. 20 and in the enlarged view 21, the air distributor 6 occupies its first position, said outlet at the maximum, and for each of the mouth holes that the harmonica comprises the element 60 of said distributor both mouth the inlet of the channel 31 and directs the air flow towards the channel 30 by gradually diverting them to said channel 30 with the least loss of strength and speed of said flows through the inclined shape of its flanks being placed in the extension of the inclined flanks of the corresponding mouth hole arranged through the mouthpiece element 2. FIG. 22 and the corresponding enlarged view 23 show the path of the air flows when the harmonicist presses on the control button of the air distributor 6 bringing it into its second, so-called retracted position, in which the transverse element 60 is positioned in such a way that it blocks the inlet of the channel 30 and directs the flow of air towards the channel 31. Due to the symmetrical shape of its inclined lateral faces in the general shape of the dihedral open towards the mouth of the instrument, the transverse element 60 of cross section is generally triangular and its shape is therefore generally prismatic three-sided on all its length. and furthermore each of said transverse members 60 is associated with a single mouth hole of its own. As shown in these four figures 20 to 23, each of the two faces of each of the transverse elements 60 is inclined at the angle a, relative to the plane which passes through the longitudinal axis of the channel concerned said plane being otherwise perpendicularly disposed in the longitudinal plane Px of general symmetry of the instrument. The two inclined lateral faces are of complementary convex curvilinear shape with the corresponding concave curvilinear bearing faces of the mouthpiece element so that when these faces are in contact with each other, they marry to the maximum to guarantee a perfect seal at the air thus avoiding parasitic air leaks and thus allowing to play pianissimo as well as fortissimo. According to a preferred embodiment, the angle X, open towards the mouth of the instrument, is greater than 10 ° (ten degrees) preferably greater than 15 ° (fifteen degrees) and in particular greater than 20 ° (twenty degrees) To further perfect the seal against parasitic air leakage the lower face of each of the transverse elements 60, disposed substantially parallel to the mouth face, has at its two lower edges small returns 600 600 protruding from said lower face such that the extreme edge of said returns is further away from the mouth face of the instrument than is the extreme edge of the wall separating them from two adjacent channels of air circulation supplied by a common mouth hole 200. Each of said return 600 is extended over the entire length of the two lower side edges of said element 60 to form a sealing lip which is wedged against the corresponding face of the upper part of the wall separating two air circulation channels fed by the same mouth hole. When the transverse element 60 occupies one of its two extreme positions, the relevant sealing spoiler 600 is housed in a rabbet of complementary shape to said spoiler arranged in the upper part of said partition wall so as to provide a seal maximum effect by baffles against parasitic air leaks.

Also to prevent air leakage between two adjacent channels, as shown in Figure 21, the ends of the walls separating two neighboring channels fed by two different mouth holes are nested in slots of complementary shape fitted in the face rear of the mouthpiece element and, for this purpose, the ends of said walls are situated at a distance d from the mouth face which is smaller than the distance D separating said mouth face from the upper end of the walls separating they two air channels 30 and 31 fed by the same mouth hole.

It is also noted in these Figures 20 to 23 that the wall separating between them two channels 30 and 31 fed by a common mouth hole is thicker than the wall separating between two channels fed by two different mouth holes and this in the to have a sufficient width to be able to develop in the upper part of the thick wall the aforementioned sealing rabbet. This difference in thickness of said walls is also reflected in the fact that the distance separating the adjacent longitudinal edges of two adjacent blades fed by the same mouth hole is greater than the distance separating the two contiguous longitudinal edges of two adjacent blades fed by two different mouths.

Figures 24 to 29 are partial cross-sections showing further embodiments of the mouthpiece member 2 and cross members 60 of the air dispenser. Each embodiment is illustrated by a figure showing the position occupied by said elements 2 and 60 when said distributor is in its extended position and by another figure in which said air distributor occupies its retracted position. These embodiments differ from the embodiment shown in the preceding figures in that the contact faces between the mouthpiece element 2 and the transverse elements 60 are flat, but they all have in common the interest of having transverse elements. 6 whose planes passing through the lateral faces constitute a dihedral open towards the mouth of the instrument which is to say that the planes passing through the inclined side faces located vis-à-vis one of the another of two adjacent transverse elements constitute a dihedral open towards the mouth of the instrument so that said inclined side faces of two neighboring transverse elements therefore constitute a hopper effectively directing the air flow to the circulation channel air concerned and this as well when the air distributor occupies its "out" position that its position "back". This configuration in fo The hopper of the relevant faces of the transverse members 60 of the air distributor 6 is furthermore enhanced in its efficiency by the inverted hopper-shaped configuration of the inclined flanks of the corresponding hole passing through the mouthpiece member 2, the inclination of said flanks being substantially identical to that of the inclined sides of the transverse element which allows on the one hand to optimally expand the passage taken by the suction or blown air flow arranged between the mouth face and the lower face of the air distributor 6 and on the other hand to optimize the flow of said flows by creating the least possible turbulence and the least cavitation phenomena contrary to what is undergone by the air flows in the harmonicas of the art the corresponding arrangements include changes in direction at right angles which result in significant losses of speed and force of the air flows e t therefore in the end by a longer response time or responsiveness in the vibration of the blades.

Figures 30 and 31 show another embodiment in which the dispenser is made by cutting a thin plate while the sides of the holes formed through the mouth member 2 are convex curvilinear shape to improve the flow of air flows. FIG. 32 shows two perspective views of the mouthpiece element 2 and of the air distributor 6 corresponding to the preferred embodiment also illustrated by FIGS. 28 and 29 of the preferred embodiment shown in FIGS.

It should be noted that all the configurations described above in correspondence of the appended figures on the one hand offer the advantage of a very reduced translation travel of the air distributor 6 to move from its extended position to its retracted position and conversely and on the other hand the advantage of guaranteeing in all points of the race of said distributor a permanent seal between two neighboring air channels fed by two different mouth holes 30. Indeed throughout the sliding path of the air distributor 6 the upper face of each of the transverse elements 60 is constantly in contact with the corresponding lower face of the mouthpiece member 2 thus avoiding any air passage very detrimental between two neighboring channels powered by two different air holes as is the case with the harmonicas of the prior art whose windows 35 arranged through the blade constituting the air distributor moves a channel of air to the neighboring channel fed by another mouth hole thereby inadvertently communicating said channels when the air distributor is halfway.

FIG. 33 shows a particular embodiment in which each of the sound strips is secured to the corresponding blade holder by being sandwiched between the face of said blade holder and an insert constituting a deflector 15, 16 secured to this blade holder. by a screw and a nut. To avoid the total unscrewing of the screw and the nut securing the baffle 16 and the blown blade corresponding to the bladed blade holder 5, the comb comprises a spoiler 701 partially covering at least the head of said screw while the corresponding cap 10 cover him the nut which, thus, can not escape him either. In the same way to prevent the total unscrewing of the screw and the nut securing the deflector 15 and the sucked blade corresponding to the sucked blade holder 5, the comb comprises a second spoiler 702 partially covering at least the head of the screw concerned while the counter-comb 8 includes a spoiler 82 partially covering at least the nut.

The baffles 15 associated with the suction blades are here identical in all respects to the baffles 16 associated with the bladed blades, the baffles 15 associated with the suction blades being positioned outside the comb and therefore arranged between the outer face of the blade carrier and the inner face. of the concerned bonnet while the deflectors 16 of the blown blades are disposed therein, within the air circulation channel concerned. Each of these deflectors reported is configured as a closed element on at least a portion of the length of its sides by lateral sealing walls which join the corresponding face of the blade holder being located outside the space swept by the sound blade concerned while the face of said deflector disposed vis-a-vis the corresponding face of the sound blade concerned is located beyond the space swept by said sound blade during its maximum oscillations of such that said sound blade can not at any time come into contact with one or the other of the inner walls of the baffle. For the same reasons, said upper face of the deflector is advantageously of convex shape in the longitudinal direction of the channel concerned so that it can at the same time marry at best the arched shape of the moving sound blade and occupy as little space as possible in order not to reduce in a penalizing way the section of the concerned channel. The baffles 15 and 16 cover the blade attachment area as well as the fixed part of the blades with which they are associated and they extend towards the free end of said blades sucked and blown in such a way that their end is located respectively at a distance Da from the end of the window adjoining the free end of the aspired sound blade concerned and at a distance Ds from the end of the window adjoining the free end of the respective blown sound blade. The distance Da being less than the total length La of the window in which the aspired sound blade oscillates concerned as well as the distance Ds is smaller than the total length LS of the window in which the blown sound wave concerned oscillates. According to a first embodiment, the value of the distance Da is advantageously between one-third and two-thirds of the value of La and the value of the distance Ds is advantageously between one-third and two-thirds of the value of Ls.

According to a preferred embodiment, the value of the distance Da is advantageously between one-quarter and three-quarters of the value of La and the value of the distance Ds is advantageously between one-quarter and three-quarters of the value of Ls.

FIGS. 34 to 37 show another embodiment of a harmonica according to the invention, of which the two figures 34 and 35 are respectively front and side views of the mounted harmonica whereas FIG. showing the assembly of the different pieces constituting this harmonica. In this embodiment, the covers and the mouth face constitute a monolithic assembly configured as a bell-shaped peripheral shell 18 open on the instrument's side and having on the opposite face constituting the mouth face of the mouthpiece. the instrument the mouth holes 200 by which the harmonicist sucks or blows air which vibrates the sound strips sucked 4 or blown 5 through the channels of circulation of air flows. An opening arranged in the upper part of one of the faces of the shell 18 allows the introduction of the air distributor 6 inside the shell 18. After the blade holders 4 and 5 have been mounted on the comb and held in place either by the counter comb 8 or by means such as clipping for mounting and dismounting without tools, the comb thus already supporting the blade holder is introduced inside the hull 18 and then slidably placed in the direction of the mouth, its good positioning being guaranteed by positioning and guiding means, not shown here, made inside the hull 18 collaborating with additional arrangements made on the comb and / or against the comb 8. It is then sufficient to set up the flexible blade 9 whose thrust towards the mouthpiece face of the instrument ensures the maintenance of the various elements between them ensuring on the one hand the minimum clearance between the upper face the comb and the underside of the sliding distributor 6 and secondly a sufficient thrust against the comb against 8 so that it can ensure optimal plating of the blade holder 4 and 5 against the corresponding faces of the comb 7. In order to provide the counter-comb 8 with sufficient rigidity so that it can effectively press the blade-holders against the comb, said counter-comb comprises ribs 80 arranged in the field with respect to the faces of the laminae 4 and 5 of which ribs 80 come into contact with each other. position at the right of the walls of separation of the channels while sliding between the sound waves concerned.

As shown in the various previous figures, each of the two blade holders 4 and 5 only supports blades of the same type which are aspirated blades 400 for the first blade holder 4 and blades 500 blasted for the second blade carrier In other words, all the blades of the same type as comprise the harmonica according to the invention are mounted on the same blade holder and this arrangement of the blades advantageously reduces the overall thickness of the instrument since the comb 7 and therefore, the blade holders and the counter-comb 8 which it supports can advantageously be mounted in an off-center position with respect to the plane PX of symmetry of the shell. Indeed, if it is necessary to provide a large space between the blade holder 5 and the corresponding face of the interior of the shell 18 to allow the free end of the blades of the aspirated disposed outside of the carrier blades and turnings in addition to the mouth of the instrument, contrario the door 4lames supporting the blown blades can be positioned very close to the corresponding inner face of the shell 18 since on the one hand these blown blades are positioned on the inside of the comb and on the other hand their oscillating free end is turned on the side of the flag of the instrument. This amounts to saying that the comb 7 as well as the blade holders 4,5 and the counter-comb 8 that it supports are off-center in the lateral direction with respect to the mean longitudinal plane Px passing through the mid-thickness of the instrument. at the mouth and the mid-thickness of the instrument at the flag, the face of the comb 7 against which rests the blade holder 4 supporting the aspirated blades 400 being positioned closer to said plane Px that does not is the face of the comb 7 against which rests the blade holder 5 supporting the blown blades 500 which is also to say that the face of the paint supporting the blade holder 4 of the suction blades 400 is positioned at a distance of the inner face of the corresponding cap greater than the distance at which the face of the comb 7 supporting the blade holder 5 of the blown blades 500 is located relative to the inner face of the corresponding cap.

From the off-center mounting position inside the shell 18 as described above, it follows that the ribs 80 of the counter-comb 8 located on the side of the blades sucked are less than the corresponding ribs next to the blades sucked and to ensure greater rigidity in particular in longitudinal bending, side blown blades the ends of said ribs are advantageously interconnected by a transverse bar 81 located beyond the space swept by said blades blown.

Finally, it is necessary to underline the very particular interest that the arrangement of the channels as described in the various embodiments presented in this document have with respect to the configuration of the harmonicas of the prior art for this type of harmonica with which the harmonicist can access a double register of notes generally shifted relative to each other by a semitone hence the term chromatic harmonica generally used to designate this type of instrument. In fact, in the chromatic harmonicas of the prior art, the two sound blades, one of sucked type and the other of blown type, supplied when the air distributor occupies its first position, said outlet, are both positioned. side by side and both located on the same side of the harmonica with respect to the longitudinal plane PX of general symmetry while the other two sound blades fed by the same mouth hole when the distributor occupies its second position, said return, are positioned side by side and both located on the other side of the PX plane. This amounts to saying that in the prior arrangement each of the two channels that can be selectively supplied by the air distributor and each containing a suction blade and a blown blade are arranged symmetrically relative to each other with respect to the plane Px mentioned above and that consequently these two channels are separated from each other by a wall extending in the longitudinal direction of the harmonica, the median plane of said wall being parallel and generally even coplanar with the plane Px. each of the channels is closed on three of its four sides since side walls arranged perpendicularly to the plane Px ensure the separation between a pair of channels fed by the same mouth hole and the pair of neighboring channels fed by the hole mouthpiece next. This earlier concept consisting in juxtaposing two channels in the direction of the thickness of the instrument results in an addition of the travel dimensions of the ends of the sound waves to which is added in addition the thickness of the medial partition wall and this accumulation dimensions results in a substantial thickness of the instrument which is penalizing for the grip.

Conversely, in the harmonica 1 according to the invention the two blades, one sucked and the other blown, contained in a channel 30 fed when the air distributor 6 occupies its first position are arranged vis-à- screw one of the other on both sides of the plane Px of general symmetry of the instrument, in the same way as the two other blades, one sucked and the other blown, contained in the contiguous channel 31 supplied when the air distributor 6 occupies its second position are also arranged vis-à-vis one another. The air circulation channels are thus closed both on their two lateral faces by partition walls arranged parallel to each other and positioned perpendicularly to the plane Px of general symmetry of the instrument. the absence of partition walls disposed in the longitudinal direction of the instrument thus allows the blade holders to be brought much closer compared to the previous arrangement, and this in view of the fact that the blades that are sucked and blown are arranged head to tail, which makes it possible to avoid a collision between their respective free ends when they oscillate and it follows a significant and very appreciable thinning of the thickness of the comb of the instrument and therefore a significant reduction in the overall thickness of the harmonica which makes handling easy even by holding a microphone in the palm of your hand.

It is also important to note that if all the figures presented show a comb whose two planes passing through the support faces of the blade-holders form an open dihedral towards the mouth, one would not go outside the frame of the invention if the harmonica had the features of this invention by associating them with a comb whose support faces of the blade holders would be arranged parallel to each other or if said bearing faces were arranged in such a way that the planes that contain a dihedral open towards the flag of the instrument.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiments shown or described in this document but it also includes all the technical equivalents as well as their combinations. 35

Claims (1)

Claims 1 - The harmonica (1) according to the invention comprises: a mouthpiece element (2) in the outer face of which open the mouth holes (200) by which the harmonicist sucks or insufflates air which puts in vibration the sound waves of the instrument, each of the mouth holes (200) serving two air circulation channels (30, 31) each feeding at least one blown sound blade (500) and at least one sound blade aspirated (400), a comb (7) or bed base in the thickness of which are formed a plurality of air circulation channels (30,31) said comb supporting at least one blade holder (4,5) on which are mounted sound waves (400,500) oscillated by the air flows generated by the player, - an air distributor (6), interposed between the mouthpiece element (2) and the comb (7) said dispenser air (6) being intended to selectively direct the air blown or sucked by the player to one (30) or the other ( 31) of the two air circulation channels fed by a mouth hole (200) common to said two air channels (30,31), a peripheral shell (17) or two covers (10,10) for holding in hand of the harmonica and ensuring the amplification of sounds and their projection towards the flag of the instrument said harmonica (1) being characterized in that: - each mouth hole (200) feeds two channels of circulation (30,31) each feeding at least one blown blade (500) and at least one aspirated blade (400), - for each of the mouth holes (200), the two air circulation channels (30, 31) fed by said common mouth hole (200) are arranged side by side separated from each other by a partition wall disposed transversely to the longitudinal axis of the instrument one of the ends of said partition wall coming to bear against the relevant face of the first blade holder (4) while the other end of said partition wall abuts against the corresponding face of the second blade holder (5), - for each of the two air circulation channels (30,31) fed by a common mouth hole (200) , the air distributor (6) is displaced by axial translation in the longitudinal direction of the instrument to move from its first position, in which it conceals the entry of the second air circulation channel (31) and directs the air flows to the first channel (30) supplying at least one blade of the first blade carrier (4) and at least one blade of the second blade carrier (5) to its second position in which it conceals the inlet of the first air circulation channel (30) and directs the air flows to the second channel (31) supplying at least one blade of the first blade carrier (4) and at least one blade of the second blade carrier ( 5). 2 - Harmonica (1) according to the preceding claim 1 characterized in that: - the air distributor (6) is generally ladder-shaped consisting of two longitudinal elements arranged substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the connected instrument between them by transverse elements (60) each associated with a mouth hole (200) which is its own, - the underside of each of said transverse elements (60) disposed substantially parallel to the mouth face of the instrument has in the vicinity of its two lower edges small returns (600) arranged projecting from said face so that the extreme edge of said returns is further away from the mouth face of the instrument than it is the extreme edge of the wall separating between them two adjacent channels (30,31) of air circulation fed by a common mouth hole (200). 3 - Harmonica (1) according to one of the preceding claims 1 or 2 characterized in that: - the air distributor (6) is generally ladder-shaped consisting of two longitudinal elements arranged substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the instrument interconnected by transverse elements (60) each associated with a mouth hole of its own, - the transverse elements (60) mentioned above are generally profiled prismatic shape and the width, measured in the longitudinal direction of the instrument, said transverse elements (60) are generally degressive as one moves away from their face located closest to the flag of the instrument to get closer to the mouth face of the instrument. instrument; 4 - Harmonica (1) according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 3 characterized in that: - for some at least sound blades (400,500) it comprises, the window through which oscillates the blade concerned is in part covered by a deflector (16,17,800,700) positioned beyond the zone swept by the oscillating part of the sound blade concerned (400,500), - the end of the deflector (16,17,800,700) located on the side of the free end of the sound blade concerned (400,500) is located at a distance (Da, Ds) from the end of the window situated on the side of the free end of said blade, between one quarter and three quarters of the total length ( La, Ls) of the window through which said blade oscillates, - the deflectors (15,800) associated with the suction blades (400) are positioned between the blade carrier (4) and the corresponding inner face of the cover (10,17) - the deflectors (16,700) associated with the Blown baffles (500) are positioned inside the air channels arranged in the bed base (7) of the harmonica 5-harmonica (1) according to the preceding claim 4 characterized in that at least some of the baffles (700) associated with the blown sound blades (500) are integral with the bed (7), or comb of the harmonica. 6 - Harmonica (1) according to one of the preceding claims 4 or 5 characterized in that at least some of the suction blades (400) are associated with baffles (800) integral with the corresponding cover of the harmonica or against -peire (8) or counter-sommier inserted between the blade holder (4) concerned and the inner face of the cover (10) corresponding. 7 - Harmonica (1) according to the preceding claim 4 characterized in that at least some of the deflectors (15,16) consist of an insert secured to the blade holder by a screw which also ensures the attachment of the sound blade concerned (400,500) or sound strips concerned against the corresponding face of the blade holder (4,5). 8 - Harmonica (1) according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 7 characterized in that the planes passing through the faces of the blade holders (4,5) bearing against the corresponding faces of the bed (7) are concurrent and constitute a dihedral open towards the mouth of the instrument. 35 9 - Harmonica (1) according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 8 characterized in that: - it comprises a counter-comb (8) whose conicity of the faces is complementary to the conicity of the corresponding faces of the comb (7) so that said corresponding faces are therefore parallel two by two, - each of the two blade holders (4,5) of the instrument is sandwiched between the face of the comb (7) and the corresponding face of the comb (8), - means (9) generating a thrust tending to bring the comb against the mouth face of the instrument ensure the plating of the blade holder (4,5) against the comb (7). 10 - Harmonica (1) according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 9 characterized in that the thickness (e4) of at least one of the blade holders (4,5) at the level of the short and sharp sound blades is less than the thickness (el) of said blade holder at the long and low blades. 11 - Harmonica (1) according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 10 characterized in that the mouthpiece element (2) in the upper face of which are implanted the inlet faces of the mouth holes (200) is secured to the comb (7) by means (14) arranged inside the harmonica and which are directly accessible when the covers (10) of the instrument have been deposited. 12 - Harmonica (1) according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 11, characterized in that: - the comb (7) as well as the blade holders (4,5) which it supports are off-center in the lateral direction by relative to the mean longitudinal plane (Px) passing through the mid-thickness of the instrument at the mouth and by the mid-thickness of the instrument at the flag level, - the face of the comb (7) against which the blade holder (4) supporting the suction blades (400) is positioned closer to said mean longitudinal plane (Px) than the face of the comb (7) against which the blade holder (5) is supported. ) supporting the blown blades (500)