US1141331A - Key-tester for player-pianos. - Google Patents

Description

,P. Gb'DDERTz.

KEY TESTER FOR PLAYER PIANOS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 28. I914.

Patented June 1, 1915.

W/YYVESSES: 19 5/ 1297a.

A TTOR/VE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER GGDDERTZ, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

KEY-TESTER FOR PLAYER-PIANOS.

Application filed May 28, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PETER Gonnnnrz, a citizen of the United States, and resident of No. 36 Dulfield street, Brooklyn, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Key-Testers for Player- Pianos, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a key tester for player pianos and has as its object to pr0- vide means whereby faults or irregularities in the mechanism of player pianos or other musical instruments operated on the same principles as player pianos, can be detected without loss of time and labor. At the present time, it often occurs that when the wood used in the construction of such musical instruments warps or otherwise changes its shape or volume on account of the influence of changes in temperature, moisture of the air, etc., or when dust or other foreign substances enters same, the mechanism does not work correctly and especially the short tones such as one-sixteenth tones are left out when playing a musical piece, which is not even always noticed at once but the music does not come out with the necessary precision and distinctness. In such cases it is at pres ent necessary to uncover the whole mechanism and to waste much time and labor in even finding out which of the keys or other corresponding parts of the mechanism are at fault.

To prevent this loss of time and labor is the object of my invention and I attain it by providing a music roll of the kind used in such musical instruments so designed that by inserting it and causing the instrument to play it, all the keys or notes of the instrument are played in succession and the key or not which is at fault will at once be detected.

The figure of drawing represents a plan view of a note sheet embodying my invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, 1 is a fragment of a music roll as in common use, ordinarily made of paper and holes punched in it of different sizes and at different places to bring out the corresponding sounds of music from the respective instruments. Now, in order to see which of the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 1, 1915.

Serial No. 841,495.

through the apertures in the music roll has not time enough to bring the mechanism in movement. Therefore I provide for each key five one-sixteenth tones, represented in the drawing by the apertures such as 2 and in addition one half tone such as 3 and this goes over the whole key board, the length of the roll being determined thereby, as is obvious from the drawing and therefore it was not deemed necessary to present the whole structure of the music roll in the same. The breadth of the music roll is of standard size as used for the different constructions of automatic musical instruments and affording place for each key of the key board, from the top to the bottom.

Having thus described the preferred form of my invention, it is understood that I do not wish to be limited to the details shown in the drawing and that I desire it to cover all sorts of automatic means of detecting defects such as I described above in musical instruments of the kind mentioned.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a device of the character described, a music roll for player pianos or other automatic musical instruments, said music roll having means for playing all the sounds expressible by said musical instrument, in the ordinary succession from the deepest to the highest tone or otherwise, said means providing for both long and short notes.

2. In a device of the character described, a music roll for player pianos, having apertures for playing each key in succession from the left to the right of the key board of said player piano, and performing each tone five times in succession as a one-sixteenth tone and once as a half tone.

In testimony of which, I have hereunto set my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

PETER GODDERTZ. Witnesses:

E. W. ALEXANDER, ALEXANDER DENES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 015 Patents,

Washington, D. 0.

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