US1171821A - Padded key for wind instruments. - Google Patents

Description

APPLICATION FILED 00113, 1914.

Patented Feb. 15,1916.

aM UMM @Xhtwwow J%@ I 0., WASHINGTON, n. c.

DAVID M. WEAKLEY, OF EAST LAKE, ALABAMA.

PADDED KEY FOB WIND INSTRUMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 15, 1916.

Application filed October 13, 1914. Serial N 0. 866,534.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID M. WEAKLEY, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at East Lake, in the county of J efferson and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Padded Keys for Wind Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the padded keys of wind instruments such as flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and like instruments which have keys or finger pieces provided with pads to engage and close the holes in the instrument.

The principal object of my invention is to attach the pads to the keys in such manner that the pads may be removed easily and quickly from all types of keys without moving the key or dismounting it from the 1nstrument.

A further object of my invention is to so attach the pad that it may be adjusted in the key thereby permitting pads of coupled or double keys to be simply and effectively adjusted into perfect alinement.

In the present practice, the changing of pads necessitates the removal of the keys from the instruments to give access to the pads attached to their underfaces so that they may be disconnected or removed from the key and a new pad properly and firmly seated in place. WVhere wind instruments are in constant use thisrepadding of the keys is required many times a year and as only an expert can do it properly, the instruments must generally be sent to the factory and repaired at a considerable cost, practically all of which is for the tedious labor required in handling and replacing the keys and adjusting their delicate springs.

The purpose of my invention is to mount the key pad in such a simple manner that a musician can quickly change and replace his pads at merely a fraction of the cost at which such pads are now replaced.

In my preferred arrangement the pad is mounted in a pad holder which is screwed or otherwise adjustably mounted at the end of the key, the arrangement permitting the vholder to be disconnected and lifted outwardly away from the key without disturbing or removing the key.

My invention also comprises the details of construction and arrangement of parts which in their preferred embodiment only are hereinafter more particularly described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a sectional view through a wind instrument showing one form of key with my improved key pad holder mounted therein. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse cross section through a like instrument showing a different form of key. Figs. 3 and 4 show my invention as applied to different forms of keys which are coupled or connected for joint operation. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the pad holder removed; and Fig. 6 shows the key in perspective with the set screw and pad holder detached. Fig. 7 illustrates the pad holder underlying the finger plate, the view being a section on line 7-7 of Fig. 4. Figs. 8 and 9 illustrate modifications of the pad holder.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

The instrument 1 illustrated is typical of the various types of wind instruments requiring padded keys. As shown in Fig. 1 a key 2 is mounted on the shaft 3 and provided with a rear spring 4 which holds its pad bearing end in position to close an opening 5 in the instrument. The forward end of the key, instead of forming a plate or pad holder to the underface of which a pad is attached, as is the common practice, is provided with a thin integral ring 6 which is internally threaded. The pad holder is separate from the key and comprises a top 7 and a light thin externally threaded body portion 8 adapted to be screwed into the ring 6 and having in its inner face a recess 9 to receive a pad 10 which may be made fast therein by cement, glue, or in any other suitable manner. In case of 'keys such as shown in Fig. 3 where the padded end of the key is depressed by the finger of the operator, the top 7 of the pad holder forms the finger plate for the key. The pad holder, after having the pad attached thereto, is

screwed inwardly into the ring 6 until the pad is brought to the desired position, after which a small set screw 11 is preferably used to set the pad holder in its adjusted posi tion. The set screw is screwed in through a small threaded opening in the ring 6 at a point most convenient of access and may be loosened to permit the pad holder to be removed or to be screwed further down into the ring when the wearing of the pad requires such adjustment. The most important advantage of the adjustability of the pad holder arises in connection with coupled keys, of which the key 13 in Fig. 2, is typical. Several of such keys are frequently mounted on the same shaft for joint movement and it is desirable that their pads should be maintained in alinement which is di'llicult by reason of the different wear of the pads. In the present practice thin pads are applied beneath the rear ends 12 of the keys 13until the pads 10 of coupled keys are brought into alinement. This rather clumsy and crude method of adjustment is entirely obviated by making the pad holder itself adjustable on the key toward andfrom the instrument. 7

The simplest and most convenient manner for removingthe pad holder is to make its connection to the key such that it may be detached and lifted up or outwardly without disturbing the key. This arrangement offers no difficulty except in the case of keys such as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. In Fig. 3 the key 14 is intended to be depressed with key 15and also to be capable of operation inclependent of the key 15 which carries the linger plate 17 for both keys. The key 15 is provided at the side of its ring 6 adjacent to the key 14 with a stud 16, and the finger plate 17 for the two keys is provided with a central shank which is screwed into a threaded opening in the stud 16. To permit the pad holders to be disconnected and detached outwardly from these keys, the linger plate 17 is first removed and then the pad holders can be unscrewed o1 reinserted in the same manner as in the case of the key 2, Fig. 1. In Fig. 4 the two keys 18 and 18 are rigidly connected together by a web 19 and the common finger plate 17 is screwed into this web until it engages the tops 7 of the pad holders.

The edge of the plate 7 on the pad holder is milled and spanner wrench holes 20 are provided in its top face, so that it can be screwed by hand or by a wrench if necessary. The set screw 11 is preferably provided with a tapered point 21 which is arranged to engage between the threads on the pad holder 8 so as to avoid defacing the same.

In Fig. 8 Ihave shown the marginal edge of the top plate 7 of the pad holder flanged at 22 so as to overlap the outer edge of the ring 6 and this covers up any unsightly gap which might be left between the top of the ring 6 and plate 7 before the latter has been screwed inwardly to its lowest position. This flange also is roughened to give an effective ringer grip. Tn some instances, particularly where the pad holder is not intended to serve as the finger plate, and alarger range of adjustment is desired, the holder mav be made in the form shown in Fig. 9 where the top plate 7 is eliminated and the entire side walls of the holder are threaded so that it may be screwed below the top level of the ring 6 if desired.

he construction shown constitutes what T regard as the preferred embodiment of my invention, but it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the particular means shown for detachably mounting the pad holder on the key may be widely varied without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A key for wind instruments having a pad holder detachably mounted on an end thereof, substantially as described.

2. A key for wind instruments having a pad-holder detachably mounted on an end thereof and forming the finger plate for the key, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a key, a pad holder detachably connected to an end of said key, a pad, and means to attach said pad to said holder, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a key for wind instruments, of a pad holder, and a pad at tached to the underface of said holder, said pad holder and pad being outwardly detachable from the key while attached to the instrument, substantially as described.

5. A padded key for wind instruments, having at one end an internally threaded ring, and a pad holder screwed inwardly into said ring and having in its inner-face a key pad, substantially as described.

6. Tn a device of the character described, in combination, a key, a pad holder detachably and adjustably connected to one end of said key, and a pad attached to the inneriace 01 said holder, substantially as described.

7. In a device of the character described, in combination, a key having a light internally threaded ring at one end, a threaded pad holder having a flanged top, said holder being adapted to screw into said ring, and

a pad attached to the inner-face of said holder, substantially as described.

8. In a device of the character described, in combination, a key having a light internally threaded ring at one end, a screw threaded pad holder, said holder being adapted to screwinwardly into said ring, a

pad attached to the inner face of said holder, and a set screw to fasten the holder in adjusted positions in the ring, substantially as described.

9. In a Wind instrument, padded keys therefor, said keys comprising frames, pad holders detachably mounted on and outwardly removable from the ends of said frames, and a finger plate detachably connected to the frame of one key and overla 10 ping the pad holders of adjacent keys, so stantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DAVID M. WEAKLEY. Witnesses:

R. D. JOHNSTON, Jr., NoMm WELSH.

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

Washington, D. 0."

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