GB2227352A - Musical instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

A musical instrument, e.g. an ocarina, made of moulded plastics comprises a hollow body having two parts (12, 14) each of part spherical internal shape, a mouthpiece (18) leading from the exterior to the interior of the hollow body, an aperture (22) in the body, a knife edge (24) extending across the aperture and an insert (26) in the mouthpiece which defines with the body a windway (30) leading from the mouthpiece towards the knife edge. The insert can be integral with the body part (14), or a separate piece. <IMAGE>

Description

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT This invention relates to a musical instrument and more particularly an ocarina.

The ocarina was invented in about 1877.

Originally it consisted of a generally egg shaped body having a mouth piece rather like that of a whistle.

Holes of different sizes are formed in the body. By blowing through the mouth piece and appropriately covering and uncovering the holes different notes can be produced.

Ocarinas were first made of terra cotta. More recently they have been made from ceramic material.

In the production of a ceramic instrument the mouth piece and the windway, leading from the mouth piece towards a knife edge which in rather the same way as a whistle diverts part of the air stream into the body, is formed prior to firing while the ceramic material is self sustaining, but still sufficiently deformable.

The correct shaping of the mouth piece and windway is essential if a good musical tone is to be obtained from the finished instrument.

Ceramic instruments are expensive to produce. In order to reduce the cost it has been proposed to produce ocarinas from plastics material for example by injection moulding. However, it is not possible to form the mouth piece and windway with a plastics instrument in the same way as in the production of a ceramic product because there is no stage in moulded plastics production which corresponds to the self sustaining "green body" of the pre-fired ceramic product. The present invention has been made from a consideration of this problem.

According to the invention there is provided a musical instrument comprising a hollow body, of moulded plastics, a mouth piece leading from outside the body to the interior of the body, an aperture in the body wall, a knife edge extending across said aperture and an insert located in the body adjacent the mouth piece and defining with the body a windway leading from the mouth piece and extending towards the knife edge.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the musical instrument is an ocarina of moulded plastic parts, preferably two, secured together to define a substantially elliptical space. Preferably the windway is straight and of uniform dimensions along its length.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Fig.l is a plan view of an ocarina; Fig.2 is a side elevation of the ocarina of Fig.l; Fig.3 is a section on the line III-III of Fig.l; and Fig.4 is a plan view of the mouth piece insert.

Referring to the drawing the ocarina comprises a hollow body 10 formed from two dished plastic mouldings 12, 14 of substantially the same shape and size. The mouldings are formed with a flat surface 16 around the periphery and are permanently joined together at said flat surfaces by suitable means such as adhesive, ultrasonic welding or the like. The internal shape of each moulding is substantially part spherical so that when the two parts 12 and 14 are joined together the internal hollow volume is almost that of an ellipse.

It is to be understood that the internal shape of the instrument is not critical to the invention. Other shapes can be adopted. However, the internal shape does have a profound effect on the quality of the sound produced by the instrument. It has been found that the substantially elliptical shape as illustrated produces a pleasing, full, rounded tone.

The upper part 12 is extended at one side to form a mouth piece 18. A slot 20 is formed inside the mouth piece extending from the exterior to the inside of the instrument. An aperture 22 of rectangular shape is formed in the part 12 adjacent the mouth piece. The edge 24 of the aperture 22 remote from the mouth piece is formed as a knife edge.

In order to ensure that an air stream flowing through the mouth piece will strike the knife edge 24, an insert 26 is provided in the slot 20. The insert has the form of a wedge complimentary to slot 20. A groove 28 extends along the length of the inclined surface of the wedge shaped insert. Thus when the insert is in position in the slot 20 it defines with the base of the slot a straight passage or windway 30 which, as can be seen in Fig.3, is inclined upwardly from the exterior of the mouth piece towards the knife edge 24 and is of uniform dimensions along its length.

The ocarina of the invention can thus be produced in a very economical manner. The two body parts can be moulded to normal manufacturing tolerances.

Tighter tolerances can be applied to the manufacture of the insert so that the angle and dimensions of the windway 30 formed by the insert when in position in slot 20, will produce high quality sound.

To complete the instrument appropriately sized holes 32 are formed in part 12 and if desired in part 14 also.

The invention is not limited to the above described embodiment and many variations and modifications can be made. For example the insert 26 need not be a separate piece but can be integral with a body part, preferably part 14.

Claims (8)

1. A musical instrument comprising a hollow body of moulded plastics, a mouthpiece leading from outside the body to the interior of the body, an aperture in the body wall, a knife edge extending across the aperture and an insert located in the body adjacent the mouthpiece and defining with the body a windway leading from the mouthpiece and extending towards the knife edge.

2. A musical instrument as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the windway is straight.

3. A musical instrument as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the windway is of uniform dimensions along its length.

4. A musical instrument as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein a slot is provided in the mouthpiece, said insert being received in the slot.

5. A musical instrument as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the internal hollow volume is of substantially elliptical section.

6. A musical instrument as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the body is formed from two parts.

7. A musical instrument as claimed in Claim 6, wherein each part is of part spherical internal shape.

8. A musical instrument substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawing.