GB2184425A

GB2184425A - Manufacturing a case for a musical instrument

Info

Publication number: GB2184425A
Application number: GB08630010A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Keisuke Takabe
Original assignee: TAKABE Co Ltd
Current assignee: TAKABE Co Ltd
Priority date: 1984-12-04
Filing date: 1986-12-16
Publication date: 1987-06-24
Also published as: DE3542922A1; JPS61133990A; GB8630010D0; GB2169586A; GB8529417D0

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a case for receiving a musical instrument comprises shaping a core material (4) in conformity with the outer configuration of an instrument which is to be received, shaping a sheet-like exterior material (5) in conformity with the outer configuration of the core material, the exterior material (5) also including a hinged openable lid-member (3) at one side of its opening, inserting the core material (4) into the opening of the exterior material (5), and applying a sheet-like interior material (6) onto the inner surface of the core material, so that the core material (4) is sandwiched between the interior (6) and exterior (5) materials. <IMAGE>

Description

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GB 2 184 425A 1

SPECIFICATION

A method of manufacturing a case for receiving an instrument including a stringed 5 instrument

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a case for receiving an instrument including a stringed instrument. 10 What is called "hard case" has hitherto been mainly used as a case for receiving a stringed instrument such as, for example, guitar, violin or cello. In usual cases, the covering member and the receiving boxy member of 15 this hard case are respectively prepared by using a plywood board or cardboard as the core materials. That is, these core materials are patterned in the form of the stringed instrument and then are subjected to buff finish-20 ing. Thereafter, the core material is pasted, on its outer surface, with a soft material such as, for example, natural leather, vinyl leather, or nylon constituting an exterior material. It is also pasted, on its inner surface, with a multi-25 layer sheet material constituting an interior material, said multi-layer sheet material consisting of a received-instrument protecting material such as a foamed urethane and a melton material or the like which has been cohered 30 thereonto.

The covering member and the separate receiving boxy member having thus been prepared are joined together into a case as if the shells were done. On the other hand, what is 35 called "soft case" is also in current use as an instrument-receiving case capable of being substituted for the hard case, said soft case being prepared by using soft material such as, for. example, urethane as the base material 40 and mounting vinyl or nylon onto the front and back thereof and forming the entire soft case by using the resultant material.

In manufacturing the hard case, however, it is necessary to pattern the core material in 45 conformity with the outer configuration of a musical instrument having a number of curved portions and, thereafter, for facilitating the coherence thereto of the interior and exterior materials, subject the surfaces of the core ma-50 terial to buff finishing. Further, since the covering member and the receiving boxy member are separate from each other and are joined together into a case as if the shells were so done, the former member must be 55 capped onto the receiving boxy member with a specified high precision. This requires the use of a high level of skill and, at the same time, causes an increase in number of the manufacturing steps and as a result causes an 60 increase in sum of the manufacturing cost.

In addition, in case of the soft cases, it is indeed possible to easily and inexpensively manufacture the ones which are lighter in weight and more highly fasionable than the 65 hard cases. The soft cases, however, fail to have a solidity. Thus, the soft cases are inferior to the hard cases in respect of the performance of protecting the receivable article.

The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above-mentioned problems which have arisen in connection with the prior art and the object thereof is to provide a method of manufacturing a case for receiving an instrucment including a stringed instrument, which has the merits of the hard cases as well as those of the soft cases, i.e. which is solid or rigid, light in weight and high in fash-ionability and which is easy to manufacture and also is inexpensive.

According to the invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a case for receiving an instrument including a stringed instrument, comprising the steps of patterning a core material in conformity with the outer configuration of the instrument which is to be received, patterning a sheet-like exterior material in conformity with the outer configuration of said core material, said sheet-like exterior material having an opening with an opena-ble lid-member mounted thereon, inserting said core material into said opening of said exterior material, and applying a sheet-like interior material onto the inner surface of said core material to sandwich said core material between the interior and exterior materials respectively.

Methods according to the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:-

Figure 7 is a perspective view showing a receiving case, in which a guitar is received and the lid member of which is opened;

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing an exterior material of the case;

Figures 3(A) arid 3(B) are perspective views each showing a core material of the case;

and,

Figures 4(A) to 4(C) and Figures 5(A) to 5(D) are sectional views taken along the line IV(V)—IV(V) of Fig. 1 and showing a method in accordance with the invention of manufacturing the case.

Referring now to Fig. 1, the body 1 of an instrument-receiving case is constituted by a receiving boxy member 2 and a lid member 3, said receiving boxy member 2 being constituted by a core material 4 as later described and an exterior material 5 and an interior material 6, both of which cover the core material 4.

First of all, the core material 4 will be described. As shown in Fig. 3, the core material 4 has a bottom section 7 and a surrounding wall 8. The core material is prepared using a light synthetic resin material such as, for example, foamed styrol, foamed polyethylene and the like, and is patterned in conformity with the outer configuration of a musical instrument to be received. Figs. 3(A) and 3(B) show an embodiment of the core material

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GB 2 184 425A 2

and, in the core material 4 shown in Fig. 3(A), the bottom section 7 and the surrounding wall 8 are made integral with each other. Further, in the core material 4a shown in Fig. 3(B), the 5 bottom section 7a and the surrounding wall 8a are made separate from each other. The surrounding wall 8a is halved in the widthwise direction, and the resultant pieces are paired with each other. The embodiments of the core 10 materials 4 and 4a are not limited to the types described hereinabove but various modifications thereof can of course be contemplated. Although the type of material constituting the core material, preferably, is the 15 above-mentioned light synthetic resin material including the foamed styrol, foamed polyethylene, and the like, it is also possible to use a plywood board, cardboard, etc. which are used as the material constituting a prior art 20 hard case.

Next, the exterior material 5 used to cover the core material 4 (4a) will be described. The exterior material 5 is patterned or molded in conformity with the contour of the core ma-25 terial 4 (4a) so as to be cohered onto the outer surface of the bottom section 7 (7a) and the surrounding wall 8 (8a). The exterior material 5 consists of a soft material such as, for example, vinyl leather, nylon, natural leather, 30 or the like and is mounted, in the neighbourhood of its upper opening end, with one side surface 10 of a fastener. Further, the exterior material 5 is mounted with the lid member 3, which is constituted by a fixed lid-member 35 piece 3a and an openable lid-member piece 3b. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the fixed lid-member piece 3a is mounted on the end of a part of other opening portion than that in which the neck portion of the stringed instru-40 ment is received, in such a manner as to cover the part of that opening portion. The fixed lid-member piece 3a is secured to the exterior material 5 by, for example, sewing. The openable lid-member piece 3b is mounted 45 on the side edge of the fixed lid-member piece 3a in such a manner that it may be bendable with respect, and may also be continuous, to the latter. The openable lid-mem-ber piece 3b has a slender tip end portion 3c 50 which is bendably mounted on the side edge 5a of the end of that slender opening portion of the exterior material 5 which is intended to receive therein the neck portion of the stringed instrument. The openable lid-member 55 piece 3b is mounted, on the outer periphery, with one side surface of another fastener 10a which is paired with the other side surface 10 of the fastener provided on the exterior material. The openable lid-member piece 3b can 60 thus open and close the exterior material 5, namely, the opening section of the receiving boxy member 2 shown in Fig. 1, by bringing the fastener surface 10a into engagement with the fastener surface 10. By the way, the posi-65 tion for mounting the fastener surface 10 is not limited to the outer surface of the opening end of the exterior material 5 but the fastener surface 10 may be mounted on an intermediate position of the outer side surface of the exterior material 5. In this case, the openable lid-member piece 3b may be provided, on the outer peripheral edge, with a bent portion so that this bent portion may embrace the end edge portion of the opening of the exterior material 5 (receiving boxy member 2). Note here that the reference numeral 12 which appears in the drawing denotes a handle for carrying the instrument-receiving case.

The openable lid-member piece 3b as well as the fixed lid-member piece 3a of the lid member 3 is prepared by pasting a soft material 11 a of the same type as that of the soft material constituting the exterior material 5, such as vinyl leather, nylon, natural leather, or the like, onto the upper surface of a core material 11 consisting of a foamed styrol or a foamed polyethylene, the underside of said core material 11 being pasted with a melton 11c via a urethane 11b. Thus, the openable lid-member piece 3b is prepared in the form of a laminated sheet (Fig. 4, Fig. 5). It is to be noted here that a cardboard or plywood board may be used for the core material 11 as in the case of the core material 4, 4a.

Next, the interior material 6 consists of a two-layered sheet-like material wherein a melton 6b is is pasted on an urethane material 6a serving as the received-instrument protecting material as shown in Figs. 4(B) and 4(C). The sheet-like material is not limited to the melton 6b and the urethane 6a. That is, any material may be used if it has the property capable of replacing that of the melton 6b and the urethane 6a.

A method of manufacturing the instrument-receiving case having the foregoing construction will now be described below. Figs. 4(A), 4(B) and 4(C) are views for explaining the method of manufacturing the receiving case in the case of using the core material 4.

As shown in Fig. 4(A), first of all, the open-able lid-member piece 3a is opened and the core material 4 is inserted into the boxy, or bag-shaped, exterior material 5. Then, as shown in Fig. 4(B), the interior material 6 is set, or superposed, on the inner wall surface of the core material 4. Thereafter, the respective end edges of the exterior and interior material 5, 6 are overlapped upon each other and then are bonded (14) together by, for example, sewing or bonding agent (Fig. 4(C)). In this case, as shown in Fig. 4(C), the bonding position is preferably below the fastener 10 because the bonding becomes easy. Thus, the receiving case 2 is formed by having the core material 4 sandwiched between the exterior material 5 and the interior material 6.

Fig. 5 is illustrative of the method of manufacturing the receiving case in the case of using the core material 4a.

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In the case of manufacturing method of Fig. 5, as shown in Fig. 5(A), first of all, the open-able lid-member piece 3b is opened and the bottom surface section 7a of the core material 5 4a is inserted into the exterior material 5 and thus superposed on the inner bottom surface thereof. Thereafter, as shown in Fig. 5(B), the interior material 6 is loaded onto the core material 4a and the outer peripheral edge thereof 10 is bonded (15) to the exterior material 5 by, for example, sewing or using an adhesive agent, whereby the bottom surface section 7a is fixed onto the inner bottom surface of the exterior material 5. Subsequently, the sur-15 rounding wall 8a is inserted into the exterior material 5 and then is attached to the inner side surface of the exterior material 5 (Fig. 5(C)). Subsequently, in the same manner as mentioned above, the interior material 6 is 20 loaded onto the inner surface of the surrounding wall 8a and the outer peripheral edges thereof are bonded (16) to the exterior material, whereby the surrounding wall 8a is fixed onto the inner side surface of the exte-25 rior material 5. It should be noted here that, in the receiving-case manufacturing method described hereinabove, the interior material 6 as well as the exterior material 5 may be bonded, at suitable portions, to the core ma-30 terial 4, 4a by, for example, sewing or using an adhesive agent so as to prevent the former from being peeled off from the latter.

Accordingly, as explained above, when the lid of the instrument-receiving case is opened, 35 the fasteners are disengaged from each other and the openable lid-member piece is opened. As a result, the opening of the receiving case is opened with the fixed lid-member piece left as it stands to enable the guitar to be taken 40 out.

As have been described above, the receiving case in accordance with the invention is prepared by inserting the core material into the exterior material previously patterned in 45 conformity therewith and applying the interior material onto the inner wall surface of the core material to cover the core material both from inside and from outside. For this reason, it is not necessary to paste the exterior and 50 interior materials onto the surfaces of the core material as in the case of the prior art hard case, nor is it necessary, on that account, to subject the surfaces of the core material to buff finishing. This makes the manufacture 55 easy and therefore enables a reduction in the manufacturing cost. Furthermore, it is not necessary to form the receiving case from the members constituting the same as if it were formed from the shells as in the prior art. This 60 enables the manufacture to be easily made without using a high level of skill. Besides, according to the invention, the exterior material patterned beforehand can be prepared in the same manner as in the case of the prior 65 art soft case. Therefore, it is possible to apply a wide variety of designs onto the present receiving case which therefore is high in fash-ionability. In addition, when a light synthetic resin material such as a foamed styrol, a 70 foamed polyethylene, or the like is used as the material constituting the core material, it is possible to obtain a receiving case which is light in weight. The receiving case thus has the merits of the soft case as well as those 75 of the hard case.

Reference is directed to our Application No. 8529417 from which this application was divided.

Claims

80 CLAIMS

1. A method of manufacturing a case for receiving an instrument including a stringed instrument, comprising the steps of patterning a core material in conformity with the outer con-

85 figuration of the instrument which is to be received, patterning a sheet-like exterior material in conformity with the outer configuration of said core material, said sheet-like exterior material havig an opening with an opena-90 ble lid-member mounted thereon, inserting said core material into said opening of said exterior material, and applying a sheet-like interior material onto the inner surface of said core material to sandwich said core material 95 between the interior and exterior materials respectively.

2. A method is claimed in Claim 1 wherein the core material is inserted in as one piece member having a base and peripheral sides

100 and the interior member is applied over the internal surface of the core material.

3. A method is claimed in Claim 2 wherein the core material is inserted as a base member, the interior material is applied to the base

105 member, and then at least one peripheral wall member is inserted such that the wall member is fitted over the interior material on the base member.

4. A method of making an instrument case

110 for a muscial instrument and which is substantially described herein.

Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office by Burgess 8t Son (Abingdon) Ltd, Dd 8991685, 1987.

Published at The Patent Office, 25 Southampton Buildings,

London, WC2A 1AY, from which copies may be obtained.