US1306663A - Attachment for violin-bridges - Google Patents

Description

F. A HART.

ATTACHMENT FOR VIOLIN BRIDGES. APPLICATION FILED NOV, 3. I917.

1,306,663. Patented June 10, 1919.

INVE/VTUR UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRED A. HART, OF NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY.

ATTACHMENT FOR vionm-en oons.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 10, 1919.

Application filed November 3, 1917 Serial). 200,183.

0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED A. HART, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Brunswick, in the county of Middlesex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Attachments for Violin-Bridges, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The scarcity of gut strings, particularly those for the higher notes in such instruments as violins, and the liability of those obtainable to break even under normal hygrometric conditions of the atmosphere, have led to the use of metal strings, especially E strings, in their stead. These substitutes, however, are not entirely free from objection on several grounds. Being relatively fine or small in diameter, and caused, in tuning, to be drawn back and forth over the bridge, such strings have a tendency to settle into or saw the bridge and to thereby sink to a lower level than the best results demand. In their use, moreover, under the bow they are apt to produce at times a twanging effect which is noticeable to a trained car.

With a view to rendering more practicable and general the use of wire strings for instruments of this class I have devised small metal clips which are detachably attached to the top of the bridge to form a substantially indestructible seat for the strings, or if the twanging effect is to be avoided I cut away the top of such clips instead of merely indenting them to receive and hold the string against lateral movement and lay under the clips along the top edge of the bridge a small piece of leather or other yielding material to afford a soft bearing for the string.

This improvement is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a view in elevation of a violin bridge with one of my improved clips attached thereto.

Fig. 2 is a similar enlarged view of a portion of a bridge showing in section a clip with a strip of yielding material under the same.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view in perspective of one of the clips.

A is any form of bridge for supporting stretched strings of which the violin bridge is the type. This bridge usually has notches or indentations B along its top edge to retain the stretched strings, and to protect the wooden bearings which are thus provided, I form clips G of brass, steel or other metal, which may he slipped down over the top of the bridge and astride of the same as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

For purposes of this case these clips may be formed by simply doubling over on itself a flat strip of more or less resilient metal, and it is preferable to indent them so that the depressed metal will fit in a notch B and also serve to retain the string resting in it.

In some cases, instead of an indentation in the clips I file or cut away a short section of this metal clip and under it I lay upon the top of the bridge a small strip of leather or other yielding material D which is exposed through the cut away portion and affords a soft or yielding seat for the string. If by use these strips are cut through they may be easily and readily replaced.

The clips may be made in any other desired manner and may depend solely upon their natural resiliency to hold them in place, or they may be constructed more elaborately and provided with special means for attaching them to the bridge. These are matters purely within the province of the skilled artisan, and are all included in my invention, which in essence involves detachably attached clips which afiord or which provide seats for the metal strings.

Bridges have been or may be made with special seats of various kinds, for example, insets of metal or ivory, but these all form permanent parts of the bridge and involve a much greater expense than the results following their use would justify.

What I claim is 1. The combination with a bridge for instruments of the violin type, which is adapted to be located on the sounding board or belly of the same, of a metallic clip detachably attached to the top of the bridge at a point where a stretched wire string may cross to afford a bearing for such string.

2. The combination with the bridge of a stringed musical instrument of the violin type, which is adapted to be located on the sounding board or belly of the same, of a notched metal clip detachably attached to the bridge at a point where a wire string used in the instrument crosses said bridge to afford a bearing for such string anda strip of yielding material laid under the clip With Which the said string lies in contact. r

3. The combination with at Wooden violin bridge having notches in its top for the strings, of a metal clip having an indentation therein adapted to be slipped down over the top" of the bridge'over such'notch therein 10 as m be designed to receive a Wire string, to constitute a detachable bearing for such string. 7 v V In testimony whereof I aifix my signature.

FRED A. HART.

Copies of this patent may be obtained fOI fiVB cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

'Washington, D G.

Images