US1325294A - By cecil - Google Patents

Description

R. HOPE10NES,DE'CD.

c. HOPE-JONES. TEMPORARY ADMlNlsTRATRlx.

MECHANISM FOR PRODUCING SFORZANDO EFFECTS IN ORGAN PLAYING.

' APNIC/111011 FILED Nov. 14, 1914.

1,325,294. Patemed De@.16,1919.

@yfcmeooeo @5m/Y M, 31513 0 me@ `-UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

ROBERT HOPE-J ONES, DECEASED, LATE OF NORTH TONAWANDA, NEW YORK, BY CECIL HOPE-JONES, TEMPORARY ADMINISTRATRIX, OF NORTH. TONAWAN'DA, NEW YORK,

ASSIGNOR T0 THE RUDOLPH WURLITZ'ER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF NORTH TONAWANDR, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

MECHANISM FOR PRODUCING SFORZ'ANOO EFFECTS IN ORGAN-PLAYING.

' To all @hom z'tmay concern.'

'Be it known that ROBERT HoPE-JoNEs, deceased, late of North Tonawanda, in the county of Niagara and State of New York, invented certain newA and useful Improvements in Mechanism for Producing Sfor- Zando Effects in Organ-Playing; and the following is hereby declared to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had. to the accompanying drawings forming-a part of this specification, and to the reference numerals marked thereon.

The present invention relates to organs or other musical instruments, and it has for its object to provide means for emphasizing a given note, chord or series of notes or chords to produce theeffect which istermed in musicalparlance, a sforzando, meaning a sudden and powerful attack immediately followed by a diminuendo or reduction in power of tone, whereby a single tone or chord is rendered prominent. The invention has for its further object to provide, in conjunction with the shutters or shades of an organ swell boX and the key board` of the organ, a system of electric circuits and magnets controlled thereby, which may be energized by the depression of a key to control said shutters together with a circuit-switching mechanism independently controlled by the operator, whereby one or more of the shutters may be opened upon the depression of a key according to the volume of the tone which it may be desired to produce. To

these and other ends the invention consists I1n certain improvements and combinations of parts, all aswill be hereinafter more fully described, lthe novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification. f A

In the drawings: V v

,Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating an arrangementvof parts in accordance with the presentl invention the organ keys b'eingshown as inverted;

Fig. 2 is a 'detail view illustrating the mechanism employed for rocking the sweli shade or shutter, and showing the position of the parts when the corresponding shutter is closed;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 16, 1919.

Application filed November 14, 1914. Serial No. 872,177.

B is a detail view illustrating the multiple switch, and F 1g. 4 is a detail fragmentary view showing one of the organ keys and its contacts in side elevation, the key .being shown in normal position.

Similar reference numerals throughout the several views indicate the sameparts.

Prefacing the description of the invention, it may be briefly stated that in the construction of organs, especially those of the larger size equipped with a greater number of stops, he has introduced the customv of mounting the different departments such as the wood, wind, brasses, and stringed instruments in different compartments or rooms closed by the folding doors or shutters which are generally known as swell shades. These might be connected' for simultaneous operation and attached to a .common motor device, but this arrangement shades or shutters for independent action and connected each of them to a separate motor mechanism and then arranged said mechanism so that one may be'operated alone, or a series of them actuated in unison.

In illustrating the invention he has shown,

in Fig. l, a sound room or compartmentl', closed at one side by a series of shute'ach of which is pivoted at its ends on snitable journals or bearings which are indi cated at c/f, etc.,.on which theyfmay be rocked from the closed position showntin full lines in Fig. l to vthe open position shown in. dotted lines. for opening the shutters or shades are indicated by a2, 52, etc., and comprise bellows or pneumatics, which are connected with the shutters y 'by suitable rods as, b3, ete, rllhe several pneumatics a2, b2 are preferably mounted on a common wind chest 2, containing air under pressure.l Separate passages, such as indicated by in Fig. 2,

ters or swell shades, a, I), o, d, e, and f,

The lmotor devices I are provided to afford communication fromthe valve head 3, constituting a secondary valve which is mounted on the stem 4, and reciprocated by the bellows 5, said stem. also carrying the valve head 6 adapted to close the outer end of the passage a* and to shut o' communication with the atmospliere when said passage is opened by the valve head 3 and connected to the wind chest 2. The primary valve which controls the action of the bellows 5 consists of a casing 7 having the interior passage 8 communicating with said bellows and provided with the ports 8a and 8b, the former being normally open and lea'ding into the wind chest 2, while the latter which open into the atmosphere are normally closed by the valve head 9 adapted to be.

attracted by the electromagnet 10 to reverse the normal conditionof said ports. Thus, when the magnet is energized, the port 8a is closed, the bellows 5 collapses, and the position of the secondary valve heads 3 and 6 reversed, which causes the simultaneous expansion of the bellows a2 to cause the opening of its respective swell .shade a.. When the valve head 9 is raised,

the valve/ heads 3 and 6 are returned to the position shown in the drawings and the bellows a? is collapsed, closing the swell-shade i in a well-known manner. This closing action of the shades may be effected by springs of any suitable construction which may be applied directly to the shades or to their actuating bellows. In the lconstruction shown in the` drawings, by way of example, each shade is provided with such a spring a5 secured at one end to the shade below its pivot and at its other end to the wind chest l2, or other fixed part. It will be understood that the mechanism just described, or an equivalent arrangement of parts, is provided for actuating each of the 4swell shades and that the magnet'controlside of the battery through the agency of a'suitable switching mechanism. f

y The switching mechanism interposed between the battery and one side of the circuit of each of the primary magnets is adapted for both manual and automatic op eration, the latter being accomplished through the action of the organ keys when a given stop key, which in this instance 'switch arms or wipers (1., 7), ctc., which normally engage corresponding contacts connected to wipers w12, L, the free ends of which rest upon the periphery of a drum or commutator 12. The latter is provided with a metallic section 13, having an edge 1l disposed diagonally and so positioned that upon rotation of the drum in one direc tion it will successively engage the wipers a, Z112, etc. The portion 13 of the drum is connected with the other side of the battery a: by a suitable means, such as a wiper 13 and wire 13b.

In order to produce a satisfactory sforzando effect it is unnecessary to provide for the momentary opening of more than two of the swell shades and as this is an effect which it is desirable to produce automatically, he provided, in addition to the wipers before described, two other brushes a, b, which are normally in contact with the conducting portion 13 oi the commutator, as shown in Fig. 1 and into engage-v ment with which the two switch arms a, b, are moved when the sforzando stop key Sf is thrown into operative position, as shown in the same figure.

The switch arms a, b are shifted from the normal position to that indicated by dotted lines by means of a rod 15 connected to a bellows g, associated with the wind trunk 20, and expanded in precisely the same manner as the bellowsa2 and contracted by a suitable spring 15. Its action is controlled by a prin'iary valve governed by the magnet g arranged in a circuit comprising wires g2 and ,'73, the former leading to one side 0f a sour: oit arri-ent, such as a generator g, wht??`r me latter, after passing through a of key contacts and a master switch nues to the other side of the generator. 'Vl e wire g3 is connected to the last contact ,.f/f of a series of contacts g5, ending in the one indicated by g from which leads the la. '.P, y, and lc, these being some of the notef ontrolling keys of the ordinary manual. The circuit through these pairs of contacts is completed when the keys are in their normal position by the contact or switch plates It', i', j', la. Fig. 4 shows the normal posithe breaking of the circuit of the magnet g.

'l am tion of these keys. They control the soundproducing parts, like ordinary organ keys, causing a pipe to speak whenever the corresponding key is depressed. From this arrangement of the-parts it will be seen that when the key stop. S7' is depressed the organ keys being in normal position vthe primary magnet g will be energized and the bellows g distended to shirt the several switch arms a, b, etc., to the dotted line position. The circuits of two of the primary magnets 10, controlling the bellows a2, b2, will be completed through the wipers am, bla, with the result that saidbellows will be inflated and the swell shades or shutters n, and b will be held in the open position unt-il one of the keys lne', j,c,is depressed. Move ment of one of these keys to the intermediate position shown by dotted lines in' Fig, will destroy the circuit of the primary magnet g and permit the bellows g to collapse and restore the switch arms a, Z211, etc., to their normal position where they will 'remain so long as the performer retains one or another of the keys depressed. llhen, how-v ever, in rendering a given selection of music., the keys are all released. at the same time and the circuit of vmagnet g completed, the switch arms are oscillated again into the dotted line position and the shutters a: and 7) again opened so that the attack or emphasis is given automatically to the next notewhiclL is sounded by the depression of a key. All keys representing tones which it may be desired to emphasize, as above described, are provided with such switch or make-and break contacts h1, 1, etc.

The drum or commutator 12 will, in practice, be preferably located beneath the console in position to be controlled by a pedal P, Fig. 3, shown connected by a link p with a crank arm p2 attached to one end of the drum. The rotation of this drum by means of the pedal P enables the player to control the volume or surging efl'ect ol' the sound emitted, by causing the section 13 to corn- 'plete the circuits of one or more ci the .primary Va, b, c, d, efand f.

magnets controlling the shutters It willbe understood that vby rocking the pedal these circuits may be opened and closed'successively, the position of the commutator determining the number of the. shutters which are held open at any given time.

The shifting of the contact armsra, o, etc., from the position shown in dotted lines to that indicated by full lines occurs upon by the rocking of one of thekeys to the dotted line position, shown in Fig. Il. To enable the volume of tone produced in the attack upona note, or set of notes, te besas- Vtained, it desired, additional contacts are ranged on the keys at the opposite sides of their pivots so that the circuit of the magnet mediately completed through another set cll contacts. The last mentioned effect is produced by inserting between the wires ,(/3 and gl a bridge, comprising the wires 5730 and (/70, each of which has a plurality ot blanchesy terminating in a multiple. group ci contati,L`l g5, arranged in pairs beneath the respectiviA keys h, i, and k. Cooperating with said last mentioned pairs of contracts are contact plates It, 11, jm and t'll, by means ot which the player may, by depressing a key sutilciently, close the circuit of the magnet ,f/ through the bridge g3", glo, innnediately 'cllowing the opening ot' the main circuit 93, .Q7-

lhe mechanism illustrated and described comprises a plurality of shutters, some which are normally open when the sforzano., key is closed, to give the eii'ect known as an attack, and which are adapted to be closed upon touching or partly depressing one or more of the organ keys. The arrangement of the parts is such that il" the musician makes a long or marked break. :tor his phrase he will obtain a marked sfor- Zando following the break. @n the other hand, if he makes his phrase break very short the following silorzando will he small or not so loud, the shortening of the phrasev break not allowing time for the normally open shutters to return to their Jfull open positionaiter having been closed.

l claim as the invention 1. 'The combination with an organ k an organ swell chamber having an open ng, and a shutter normally closing said openn ing, lof qneans for opening the shutter, and means under the control of said organ-l f for controlling the closing movement of shutter.

2. The combination with an organ swell box containing sound producing devices r2 l having an opening, a shutter controlliV the opening and an organ key for effect the actuation of a sound-producing device, mechanism for operating the shutter, controlled by the key to close the shutter, and

the i' CII means for operating the shutter indepenently et the key to open it.

3. The 'combination with a swell chamber having an opening therein, and a shutter normallyvclosi'ng the opening of a serzand key, an organ key ior controlling a souA producing device, and means controlled the sforzando key and the organ key opening the shutter.

Il. The combination with a swell-chamber having an 'opening therein, and a shutf" normally closing the opening of a ster' key, anA organ key for controlling a soundproducing device, mechanism ller openi' ff the shutter, and a circuit including mechanism andL controlled by the silorzaliao key and the organ key.

5. The combination with a swell chamber and a shutter normally closing an opening therein, mechanism for opening the shutter, and a circuit for operating said mechanism, of a sforzando key for closing said circuit, an. organ key for controlling a soundproducing device, and a contact in said circuit opened by actuation of the organ key..

6. The combination with a swell chamber anda shutter normally closing an o ening therein, mechanism for opening the s utter, a circuit controllingl said mechanism and a switch in the circuit, of closing mechanism for the switch, a second circuit including the switch-closing mechanism, a sforzando key for closing the last named circuit, an organ key controlling a sound producing device, and a contact in'said second circuit opened by actuation of the organ key.

7 The combination with a swell chamber and a plurality of shutters normally closing openings therein, a mechanism for opening each shutter, a separate controlling circuit for each mechanism and a switch whereby a predetermined number of the circuits niay be closed, of a switch-closing mechanism, a circuit therefor, a sforzando key in the lastnamed circuit, an organ key, and a contact in said last-named circuit opened by actuation of the organ key.

8. The combination with a swell chamber,

I a plurality of shutters normally closing openings therein, mechanism for opening each shutter, a branch circuit for controlling each l a plurality of shutters normallyhclosing openings therein, a mechanism for opening each shutter, a main circuit, a plurality of branch acation of saidv circuits, one for each mechanism, switches in the branch circuits connected for simultaneous operation, a `series of contacts in excess of the number of said switches with which the latter coperate, the excess contacts being normally idle and permanently connected to the main circuit, and a switch under the operators control adapted to be progressively connected to the normally active contact members, of shifting mechanism for moving said switches to engage the normally lidle contacts, a second circuit for o erating said shiftin mechanism, a sforzan o key for closing sai second circuit, an organ key, and a contact in said second circuit opened by actuation of -the organ key.

'10. The combination with a swell-chamber, a shutter normally closing an opening therein, mechanism for opening the shutter, a circuit controllin said mechanism, and a switch in the circuit, of closing mechanism for the switch, a second circuit including the switch-closing mechanism, a sforzando key for closing said second circuit, a series of organ, keys, and contacts arranged in series in said second circuit, each contact being opened by actuation of one of said organ .keys

11. The combination with a swell-cham `in said circuit, each of which is closed by depression of an orga-nl key to another position.

CECIL HOPE-JONES, Temporary Administrando: of the Estate of Robert Hope-Jones, deceased. Witnesses:

l JOHN LARKiN,

RICHARD- J LYNCH.

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