US1181735A - Soft-pressure and silencer box for musical instruments. - Google Patents

Description

0. H. CARLSON.

SOFT PRESSURE AND SILENCE BOX FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 18, IBM.

1 1 8 1 ,73 5 Patented May 2, 1916.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OSCAR HARALD CARLSON, OF RIDGEFIELD PARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T0 AUTO PNEUMATIC ACTION (30., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2, 1916.

Application filed November 18, 1914. Serial No. 872,699.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OSCAR H. CARLSON, a subject of the King of Sweden, residing at Ridgefield Park, in the county of Bergen and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Soft-Pressure and Silencer Box for Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

The principal objects of this invention are to provide means whereby the air tension on the treble or bass action can be reduced as the air passes through a soft pressure pneumatic, and means whereby the connection with both actions can be entirely out off the latter being operated at will or auto matically by the reroll lever, both means being controlled conveniently from a point in front of the key-bed or in any other position.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a plan of a pair of silencer boxes and their associated parts constructed in accordance with this invention and showing the connections to the front of the key bed; Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of one of the silencer boxes; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the same on the line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the reroll lever showing its control of the silencer box.

The invention is shown as applied to a simple and ordinary form of grand instrument having bellows 6, wind chests 7 and tubes 8 for connecting them with the bass and treble actions 9 and 9 respectively. Connected with the tubes 8 are pneumatics 10 each having a movable leaf 11 and a stationary plate 12 on the opposite side. On the outer side of this plate are two chambers 13 and 14 separated from each other. The air enters the chamber 14 from the action through a tube 15 and port 16. This port is adapted to be closed by a valve 17 operated by a pouch 18 in a manner that will be described.

The chamber 14 is connected with the interior of the pneumatic through a free port 19. The chamber 13 is connected with the interior of the pneumatic 10 through two ports 20 and 21. The port 21 is adapted to be closed by a valve 22 operated by a pouch 23. The port 20 is designed to be partially closed by a valve 24 connected with the movable leaf 11 of the pneumatic by a proection 44 and arranged to be brought nearer to a seat as the pneumatic collapses. This valve is. provided with a spring 25 and the movable leaf of the pneumatic is provided with a spring 26 for normally holding it open.

The method of operating the two pouches 18 and 23 will now be described. The space behind the pouch 18 is connected by a channel 27 and tubes 28 through junction boxes 29 with two ports 30 and 31. One of these ports is closed by a valve plate 32 which is designed to be opened upon the pressing of a silencer button 33 at the front of the instrument to admit atmospheric air. The other is closed by a valve plate 34 which is operated by a projection 35 on the usual reroll lever 36 so that when this lever is operated to reroll, the air will be admitted to the pouch so as to close the valve 17 and entirely out off the action from the sourceof air tension. The same effect is of course produced by depressing the button 33 at the will of the operator. So far only one of these sets of connections has been described but it will be understood, that the bass and treble are controlled in the same way. For this purpose one of the tubes 28 extends from one of the junction boxes 29 to the treble silencer box. Thus when the reroll lever is operated or the silencer button 33 depressed. both actions are cut off. The space behind the other pouch 23 in each box is connected through a channel 37 and tube 38 with a port 39 closed by a valve plate 40. These valves are designed to be operated respectively by a bass soft pressure button 41 and a treble pressure button 41. The channels 27 and 37 are provided with bleeders 42 and 43.

The air is normally drawn out from each action to the main wind chest through the tube 8, chamber 13, ports 20 and 21, pneumatic 10, port 19, chamber 14, port 16 and tube 15, and under ordinary practice when both the ports 20 and 21 are open the wind tension will be steady and will not depend upon the collapsing of the pneumatic 11. But when the button 41 or 41 is depressed and the air is admitted behind the pouch 23 so that the port 21 is closed, then all the air from that action must pass through the port 20 and as the amount of air passing through it is diminished by the approach toward it of the valve 24 it is obvious that the wind tension will be reduced in proportion to the amount of collapsing of the pneumatic 10.

It will be seen therefore, that the action on both sides is automatically cut off by the operation of the reroll lever, that it can be cut off independently thereof, and that the tension on the bass or treble side of the action can be reduced during any period of time at the will of the operator, and that these results are secured by simple and ineX- pensive mechanism that is not likely to get out of repair with ordinary usage.

Although I have illustrated and described only a single embodiment of the invention, I am aware of the fact that modifications can be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims, there fore I do not wish to be limited to the de tails of construction herein shown, but

What I do claim is 1. The combination with a pneumatic having a movable leaf, of a chamber adjacent to said pneumatic and connected with the interior of the pneumatic by two ports, one of said ports being unrestricted, a valve for closing the unrestricted port, pneumatic means for closing said valve, whereby all the air exhausted from said pneumatic will have to pass through the other port, a

graduating valve in the pneumatic connected with the movable leaf thereof so as to be moved toward said other port when the pneumatic collapses for the purpose of reducing the tension, a push button, and means operated by the push button for preventing the entrance of air into said pneu matic from an action chest.

2-. The combination with a pneumatic having a movable leaf, of a chamber through which the air can be exhausted from said pneumatic, said chamber being connected with said pneumatic by two ports, means for closing one of said ports, a graduating valve for reducing the flow of air through the other of said ports, said graduating valve being connected with the movable leaf of the pneumatic so as to be op erated in proportion to the motion of said movable leaf, means for conducting air from an action chest to said pneumatic, a reroll lever, and means whereby when said reroll lever is operated the connection from the action chest will be closed.

3. The combination with a pneumatic having a movable leaf, of a chamber con nected with said pneumatic by two ports, a graduating valve in the pneumatic connected with said movable leaf for reducing the effective area of one of said ports when the pneumatic is collapsed, thereby reducing the flow of air through that port, a valve for closing the other port, a pouch connected with said valve and adapted to move it to closed position when filled with atmospheric air, a push-button, and means connected with said pushbutton for admitting air to said pouch.

4. The combination with a pneumatic having a movable leaf, of a chamber connected with said pneumatic by two ports, a graduating valve in the pneumatic connected with said movable leaf for reducing the effective area of one of said ports when the pneumatic is collapsed, thereby reducing the flow of air through that port, the other of said ports being unrestricted, a valve for closing the other port, a pouch connected with said valve and adapted to move it to closed position when filled with atmospheric air, a push-button, means connected with said push-button for admitting air to said pouch, a passage from said pneumatic to the action chest, a second valve for closing said passage, a second pouch connected with said second valve for closing it when the second pouch is filled with air, a silencer button, and means whereby when the silencer button is operated air will be admitted to said second pouch.

The combination with a pneumatic having a movable leaf, of a chamber through which the air can be exhausted from said pneumatic, said chamber being connected with said pneumatic by two ports, means for closing one of said ports, a graduating valve for reducing the flow of air through the other of said ports, said reducing valve being connected with the movable leaf of the pneumatic so as to be operated in proportion to the motion of said movable leaf, a second chamber adjacent to the pneumatic and having free connection therewith, a port leading from said second chamber for conducting the air thereto from an action chest, a valve for closing said port, a pouch having an air space behind it for operating the last named valve, a channel connecting with the interior of the pouch, a silencer valve, means connected with the silencer valve for admitting air to the channel, a reroll lever, and means whereby when the reroll lever is operated for rerolling purposes air will also be admitted to the pouch.

6. The combination with a pneumatic having a movable leaf, of a chamber through which the air can be exhausted from said pneumatic, a second chamber adjacent to the pneumatic and having free connection therewith, a port leading from said second chamber for conducting the air thereto from an action chest, a valve for closing said port, a pouch having an air space hehind it for operating the last named valve, a channel connecting with the interior of the pouch, a silencer valve, means connected with the silencer valve for admitting air to the channel, a manually operated reroll lever, and means whereby when the reroll lever is operated for rerolling purposes air will also be admitted to the pouch.

7 The combination with an action chest and a wind chest, of a pneumatic having a movable leaf, a chamber connected with said wind chest and having two ports connecting it with said pneumatic, one of said ports being unrestricted, pneumatic means for closing said unrestricted port, whereby all the air exhausted from said pneumatic will have to pass through the other port, a graduating valve for said other port connected with the movable leaf of the pneumatic and movable toward its port with the movable leaf to restrict the passage of air therethrough and reduce the tension, a push button, and means operated by the push button for admitting air to said pneumatic port closing means and operating it.

8. The combination with a pneumatic having a movable leaf, a chamber connected with said pneumatic by two ports, a graduating valve connected with said movable leaf and movable therewith for reducing the effective area of one of said ports when the pneumatic moves in a direction to col lapse, thereby reducing the flow of air through that port, a valve for closing the other port, and a pouch connected with said valve and adapted to move it to closed posi tion, of manually controlled means for causing air to be admitted to said pouch whereby the valve will. be closed and the flow of air through the first named port will be graduated.

9. The combination with a pneumatic having a movable leaf, of a chamber through which the air can be exhausted from said pneumatic. said chamber being connected with the interior of the pneumatic by two ports, one of said ports being unrestricted, a valve for closing said unrestricted port, means for closing said valve whereby all the air from said pneumatic will have to pass through the other port, a graduating valve connected with the movable leaf of the pneumatic to be moved toward the other port as the pneumatic collapses for the purpose of reducing the tension, and manually controlled means whereby the entrance of air into said pneumatic from an action chest can be prevented.

10, In a musical instrument, the combination of a manually operated reroll lever for controlling the winding mechanism to operate in either direction, bass and treble actions. wind chests connected individually with said actions, a silencer box interposed between each action and its wind chest, means on said reroll lever for controlling the operation of both silencer boxes to cut off the actions from their wind chests when the reroll lever is operated for rerolling the music sheet, and a push button independent of said reroll lever having means for controlling the operation of both of said silencer boxes independently of said reroll lever to cut oil the actions entirely from their respective wind chests.

11. In a musical instrument, the combination of a manually operated reroll lever for controlling the winding mechanism to operate in either direction, an action, a wind chest connected with said action, a. silencer l)()X interposed between said action and its wind chest. means on said reroll lever for controlling the operation of the silencer box to cut off the action from the wind chest when the reroll lever is operated for rerolling the music sheet, and a push button for controlling the operation of the silencer box entirely independently of the reroll lever.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand. in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

OSCAR HARALD CA RLSON. lVitnesses VVILLIAM J. KEELEY, VILLIAM' J. BARTON.

copies or this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patent: Washington, D. O.

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