US1358177A - Musical instrument - Google Patents

Description

C. B. ROLAND.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 30. 1919.

1,358, 1 77. Patented Nov. 9, 1920.

INVENTOR CZ'aT/es bJiola'zzd' ATTORNEY CHARLES B. ROLAND, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1920.

Application filed October 30, 1919. Serial No. 884,428.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, CHARLES B. ROLAND, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the city of Seattle, county of King, and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to stringed musical instruments such for instance, as the guitar, mandolin, violin and the like, which employ sound boxes having resonant diaphragms which form walls thereof.

The object of my invention is to provide a construction for instruments of thls character which will increase the volume of sound given out thereby. In the accompanying drawings I have shown instruments of this kind constructed with my invention embodied therein, which drawings will serve to illustrate the principles of my invention and the manner of appl ing the same.

The features which believe to be new and upon which I desire to secure a patent, will be hereinafter set forth and then particularly defined in the claims.

Figure 1 is a face view of a violin constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is an end view of such an instrument showing the sound discharge opening in the end of the body.

Figs. 3 and 4 are face views of modified forms with portions of the face diaphragm, or wall, removed in order to show the interior construction.

In making the sound box of an instrument in accordance with my invention, I prefer to maintain the major faces, which faces may be called the front and rear faces, integral, that is, without the perforations which are ordinarily placed in instruments of this character, to provide sound discharge openings. These faces are usually connected by comparatively narrow strips extending about the outer margins thereof, and providing connecting walls in the ordinary instrument. These edge walls are integral or without any sound openings. In my invention I omit a section of this wall, or provide a section of this wall with sound discharge openings.

In Fig. 1 which shows a violin constructed in accordance with my invention, the body thereof is, in the main, of a construction similar to that of the ordinary violin. It

differs from it in having the major faces integral or without sound dischar e openings. In the pattern as shown in ig. 1, it also differs slightly in design in having the end 10 flared outwardly and extending somewhat farther than in the usual design. The side walls 11 flare outwardly from a neck 12 and the connecting wall at the end 10 is either omitted or provided with liberal sound discharge openings. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, this end wall is shown as consisting of a grille 2.

In the instrument shown in Fig. 3, the sound discharge opening is shown in one edge wall at'the point 30. Within the sound box and extending across. from one face to the other is a partition 3 which is preferably placed in such relation to the edge wall 13 which is opposite thereto, as to provide a horn, the inner end of which is the narrower. This horn effect produces an increase in the volume of sound discharged. In the construction shown in Fig. l the two opposite edge walls 11, being diverging outwardl form in effect a horn.

In ig. 4 is shown an instrument which, in its shape more nearly resembles a guitar. This is shown as lacking an end wall at the point 14 from which the string bar extends.

It is also shown as provided with two partitions 31, extending inwardly and converging adjacent to the point where the strings are engaged for playing. This forms an effective horn which utilizes a portion of the outer edge wall of the sound box as a portion of the wall of the horn. It is evident that the principles herein employed of making the major diaphragm integral, and providing sound discharge openings in the edge, or non-resonant portions of the box and the employment of partitions which constitute horns, may be applied in a great variety of ways. I do not therefore wish to be limited to the exact construction herein shown.

I have found that musical instruments constructed in accordance with this invention are the equal of other musical instruments of ordinary construction in their tonal qualities and are superior thereto in the volume of sound given out. They are therefore much to be preferred for orchestral purposes, or for any purpose where a volume of sound given out is desirable. At the same time it is possible to play them in 7 such mannerthat the volume of sound is no prising a body formed as a sound box and greater than would be given out by a like provided With a sound discharge opening in instrument of ordinary construction. a1 1-edge,-. and a partition within the body What I claim as my invention is: forming a horn flaring outward to said 5 1. A stringed musical instrument oomopeningand contained entirely Within the 15 prising a body forming a sound box probody of the instrument. vided with a sound discharge openingin an Signed at Seattle, Washington, this 24th 7 edge and a partition Within the body formday of October 1919. ing a horn leading to said opening; a

10 2. A stringed musical instrument oom- CHARLES B. ROLAND.

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