US1320783A - Prank herbert mowbray - Google Patents

Description

F. H. MOWBRAY. MECHANICAL PIANO PLAYER AND THE LIKE. 4, APPLICATION FILED JULY 12. 1915. RENEWED JAN. 14, 1918.

1,320,783. I v Patented N VQ 4, 1919.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK HERBERT MOWBRAY, 0F MAIDENHEAD, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE ORCHES- TRELLE COMPANY, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

MECHANICAL PIANO-PLAYER AND THE LIKE.

Application filed July 12, 1915, Serial No. 39,390.

To all whom it may concern I Be it known that I, FRANK HERBERT MOWBRAY, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Norfolk Lodge, Oldfield Road, Maidenhead, in the county of Berks, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Mechanical PianoPlayers and the like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mechanical piano players or the like which are adapted to be operated pneumatically or electrically from a tracker bar, the chief object being to enable such instruments to be used with various kinds of perforated tune sheets.

It has hitherto been customary in the construction of pianoplayers and the like, to house the tune sheet, the tracker bar and the take up spool horizontally in the action box, the movement of the tune sheet being substantially vertical. The disposition of the tracker bar apertures and the tune sheet perforations adopted as a trade standard for instruments of this class hereinafter referred to as horizontal tracker bar instruments, has conformed with the instrument keyboard, z'. e. the treble perforations are located on the right hand side of the tune sheetas it travels toward the performer and is wound on the take up spool.

It has however also been proposed to employ instruments hereinafter referred to as vertical tracker bar instruments, having the tune sheet, tracker bar and take up spool housed vertically in the action box, and so arranged that the tune sheets for use on these instruments travel laterally from right to left in front of the performer the treble half of the perforations occupying the upper half of the tune sheet so that the staff notation, words of songs, annotations, or other indications on the tune sheet, may be marked in proper relation to the music perforations and may be read in normal sequence as the roll unwinds from right to left in playing.

Since tune sheets for horizontal, tracker bar instruments have the treble perforations on the right hand side of their medial line when viewed from the front of the instrument and tune sheets for vertical tracker bar instruments have their treble perforations on the upper portions thereof, it fol lows that tune sheets for horizontal tracker oar instruments cannot be used for vertical Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 4, 1919. Renewed January 14, 1918. Serial No. 211,898.

tracker bar instruments unless some arrangement be made for reversing either the tune sheet, the tracker bar or the character of the tracker bar apertures.

Reversible tune sheets have been proposed having the staff notation, words of songs and other indications marked on the one side for use on horizontal tracker bar instru ments, and on the other side for use on vertical tracker bar instruments. While such arrangements provide a means for playing both classes of instruments, such tune sheets cost more to manufacture than a tune sheet marked on one side only; moreover, this arrangement requires the manufacture of new tune sheets especially spooled so as to be capable of reversal. None of these prior proposals however enables existing tune sheets or rolls manufactured for use on horizontal tracker bar instruments to be used on vertical tracker bar instruments unless the tracker bars are capable of being set accordingly. This is a point of considerable importance as up to the present time, the whole mechanical player and tune sheet industry has been developed along the lines of the horizontal tracker-bar instruments, and that millions of tune sheets for instruments of this class are in circulation and in stock.

An attempt has been made to overcome the difliculty by providing instruments with a pivoted or hinged tracker bar which can be turned or hinged to lie horizontally or vertically, but this form of instrument necessitates adopting a form of construction which extends obj ectionably high above the keyboard, or necessitates the placing of the take up spool from the horizontal to the vertical position.

According to this invention the aforesaid objection is overcome by providing the tracker bar of the instrument with two sets of connections between the various note perforations of the said tracker bar and the primary valves and a controlling device which enables either of the said sets of connections to be rendered operative so that tune sheets perforated either for horizontal or vertical tracker bar instruments can be employed.

In this manner vertical tracker bar instru ments may be played by tune sheets for horiwithout having to alter the position of the take up spool.

The aforesaid controlling device may com prise a sliding valve disposed between the tracker bar and the primary valves, the sliding valve being so arranged that by a slight movement thereof the top treble aperture is placed in communication with the bottom bass primary valve and vice versa, the connections of the tracker bar apertures being thus completely reversed.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect I will proceed to describe the same more fully with. reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a vertical tracker bar having the present invention applied thereto, certain of the tubes being disconnected.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation thereof.

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the tracker bar showing an alternative method of effecting the tubular connections.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1

and 2, a is the tracker bar which is provided with a single row of apertures formed by the mouths of a series of tubular Y pieces at whose branches are connected with the controlling valve 5. The latter member comprises two planed metal bars Z), 5 firmly held together to prevent air leakage but capable of relative sliding movement. One bar 7) is provided with a number of apertures and nipples Z) corresponding to and connected with the primary valves 0, 0 of the instrument. The other bar I) is provided with two sets of apertures and nipples 5 b the set 5' thereof being connected by straight tubes (Z to the tracker bar a, to give a normal reading, and the other set 6 being cross connected by curved tubes cl to the tracker bar to give a reversed reading. The aforesaid connections with the apertures in the tracker bar are effected through the respective branches of the tubular Y pieces a pertaining thereto. The bar I) of the controlling valve is operated by a lever e, which is pivoted on a shaft a suitably disposed behind the tracker bar. One arm e of the lever e is connected to a depending lug e disposed at one extremity of the bar I). A similar lug c is provided at the other extremity of the said bar and is connected to the shaft 6 by means of a link or radius rod 6 The bar 5 may therefore be moved relatively to the bar 5 so as to bring one or other of the sets of apertures 23*, 5 into register with the single set of apertures 5 When the apertures b are in register with. apertures Z1 there will be normal connection through the valve 5 but when the apertures Z) register with the apertures b as shown in Fig. 1, the character of the tracker bar apertures is entirely reversed, the 88th vertical tracker bar instruments.

The same result may be obtained by connecting the tracker bar nipples to a single set of apertures in the bar Z) of the valve and by ei'nploying normal and cross connections between the two sets of apertures in the bar 5 of the valve and the primary valves 0 of the instrument. Such an arrangement is shown in Fig. 3 and it will be noted that each primary valve 0 is provided with two nipple ducts constituted by the branches of a tubular Y piece f. f and f are the two sets of nipples for the apertures in the stationary bar 6 of the controlling valve. The nipples are connected to one set of branches of the Y pieces f to obtain normal reading and the nipples f are cross connected to the other set of branches of the Y pieces to obtained a reversed ac tion. from the tracker bar. F, f are the nipples in the bar 7) of the controlling valve and they are directly connected to the corresponding nipples j of the tracker bar. The bar 5 is operated by the lever c in a similar manner to the arrangement last described so as to bring the nipples f into register with one or other of the sets of nipples f and f in the bar I).

The controlling valve 6 need not necessarily be formed of two flat bars, for obviously the construction may be altered and any other form of valve best suited to the I instrument with which it used may be employed.

That I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a mechanical piano player or the like, the combination with the valves of the instrument of a tracker bar having one set of note apertures, two sets of connections between the various note apertures and said valves, and a controlling device to enable either of the said sets of connections to be operated independently of the other set so that tune sheets perforated either for horizontal or vertical tracker bar instruments can be employed.

2. In a mechanical piano player or the like, the combination with the valves of the instrument of a tracker bar having one set of note apertures, two sets of connections between the various note apertures and said valves, and a sliding valve disposed between the tracker bar and said valves of the instrument which is so arranged that by a movement thereof the connections of the tracker bar apertures with said valves of the instrument are completely reversed and operated independently of one another. V

3. 111a mechanical piano player or the like, the combination with the valves of the instrument of two bars capable of relative movement, a single set of nipples on one of said bars, tubes for connecting said nipples to said valves, two superposed sets of nipples in the other bar, a tracker bar having one set of note apertures, a tubular Y piece connected to each of said note apertures and tubes for connecting the branches of the said tubular Y pieces with the superposed sets of nipples in one of said bars.

4:. In a mechanical piano player or the like, the combination with the valves of the instrument of two bars capable of relative movement, a single set of nipples on one of said bars, tubes for connecting said nipples to said valves, two superposed sets of nipples on the other bar, means for displacing the latter bar so that one or other of the sets of nipples thereon will register with the set of nipples on the other bar, a tracker bar having one set of note apertures, a tubular Y-piece connected to each of said note perforations, tubes for connecting one set of branches of the said. Y-pieces with one of the superposed sets of nipples on the displaceable bar, and tubes for connecting the other set of branches of the said Y-pieces with the other set of nipples on the displaceable bar, so that the direction of the scale of the tracker when one set of connections is made is reversed when the other set of connections is made.

5. In a mechanical piano player or the like, the combination with the valves of the instrument of two bars capable of relative movement, two superposed sets of nipples on one of said bars, a tubular Y piece connected to each of said valves, tubes for connecting the branches of the said Y pieces with the two superposed sets of nipples on one of said bars, a single set of nipples on the other of said bars, means for displacing the latter bar so that the set of nipples thereon will register with one or other of the superposed sets of nipples on the other bar, a tracker bar having a single set of note apertures, and tubes for connecting said apertures with the nipples on the aforesaid displaceable bar.

6. In a musical instrument, the combination with means for actuating the several note sounding mechanisms of the instrument, a tracker bar, one set of note-playing elements on said tracker bar for cooperation with the note sheet as it travels over the bar, two sets of connections between the various note-playing elements and the means for actuating the note sounding mechanisms, and a controlling device to enable either of said sets of connections to be operated inde pendently of the other so that note sheets constructed either for horizontal or vertical tracker bar instruments may be used.

7. In a musical instrument, the combination with the primary valves of the instrument, a tracker bar, one set of note playing elements on said tracker bar for cooperation with the note sheet as it passes thereover, two sets of connections between the various note playing elements and the primary valves, and a controlling device to enable either of said sets of connections to be operated independently of the other, so that note sheets constructed either for horizontal or vertical tracker bar instruments can be employed.

8. In a mechanical piano-player or the like, the combination with its valves, of a tracker-bar with its set of apertures; two sets of reversely arranged connections, each set of which is adapted to operatively connect the tracker-bar apertures with said valves but in relatively reversed relationship; and a control device operative to bring into action either set of said connections.

9. In a mechanical piano-player or the like, the combination with the several noteplaying actions, of a tracker-bar with a set of note-playing elements ffor cooperation with the note-sheet as it travels over the bar; two sets of reversely arranged connections, each set of which is adapted to operatively connect the trackerbar elements with the note-playing actions but in relatively reversed relationship from the other set; and a control device operative to bring into operation either set of said connections.

FRANK HERBERT MOWBRAY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G."

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