GB592979A - Improvements in or relating to percussion musical instruments such as drums and tympani - Google Patents

Abstract

592,979. Musical drums &c. DALLAS & SONS, Ltd., J. E., and PERCY, C. W Dec. 21, 1944, No. 23152. [Class 88 (ii)] In a percussion instrument such as a drum or tympano, the vellum is tensioned by an annular bearing member pressed against its inner surface by a series of levers pivotally mounted within the shell of the instrument. In Fig. 2, both the batter and snare vellums 22, 23 of a drum are provided with hoops 58, 64 respectively of U-shaped section and the levers 50, 63 are all actuated by the same cable 52 running through pulleys 60, 61 and 53, 54. The cable is tensioned by a screw device with an actuating knob 55. The cable can be replaced by an annular rod connected to the actuating knob and screw device 'by a short length of cable. The two vellums may be actuated by separate mechanisms. Alernatively, each lever 50 may be separately actuated by a knob 73 (Fig. 6) and a bell-crank lever 77 or by an eccentric 79 (Fig. 7) ratchet and pawl. The levers 50 may be arranged to pivot about axis perpendicular to 'the axis shown in Figs. 6, 7, but still parallel to the vellum and may be operated by a screw device or by an eccentric. Specification 589,617 is referred to in the Provisional Specification.