US1393123A - Player-piano action - Google Patents

Description

H. R. HELLER.

PLAYER PIANO Acnon;

APPLICATION FILED OCT- 23, 1919.

Patented Oct. 11,1921.

INVENTOR Hehry R. HeZZer, BY

ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRYR. HELLER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO AUTO PNEUMATIC ACTION 00., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

rLAYEn-rIANo ACTION.

Specification of Letters "Patent.

Patented Oct. 11, 1921.

Application filed October 23, 1919. Serial No. 332,637.

- erence to means in combination therewith for adapting the same for use in combination with a player action adapted to be installed within the case of a piano. Various other methods have been heretofore employed to this end. In the Danquard Patent 766,601, the player pneumatics are provided with a striker and plunger which lift the wippen. In the Brown Patent 581,390, a lug is glued to the abstract of the piano action and this lug is forked at the base so as to permit a plunger attached to the movable part of the player pneumatic to engage therewith to lift the abstract, but this is open to the objection that in placing the player action within the case it is necessary to use great care in order to see that each of the abstract lugs areproperly engaged by the connections with the movable parts of the player pneumatics and in the first mentioned patent it is necessary to provide plungers for the movable part of each of the player pneumatics and these must be properly guided in order to properly operate upon the wippen. These objections are entirely overcome in my present construction as well as numerous other objections to be pointed out in various other previous arrangements of the player pneumatics in reference to the piano action.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated in Figure 1 a vertical transverse section of the upper part of a player piano, showing an embodiment of my invention, parts being in dotted outline and parts being broken away. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail slot 5 drilled longitudinally to allow for the passage of the eye-screw 6 by which the lug l is attached to the abstract 3. 7 indicates another eye-screw adapted to penetrate the lug or bracket at right angles to the eyesc1'ew6 as shown, and may be provided at the lower end with the button 8 so that by rotating the lug or bracket 4: clockwise it is securely screwed into the abstract 3, and the eye-screw 7 may be rotated to adjust the projection of the button 8. This is the button that projects in the path of the movable portion 9 of the pneumatic so that when the pneumatic is collapsed, it lifts the abstract 3 through the medium of the lug or bracket as shown to better advantage in Fig. 1. Thus it will be seen that by this arrangement no plungers or strikers are required between the operating pneumatics and the piano acengaged by the upper pneumatics will all be in substantially the same positions upon the piano abstracts, and those engaged by the second row of pnuematics will be below the lugs engaged by the upper pneumatics, while those engaged by the bottom pneumatics will be secured to the piano abstract still lower than the lugs engaged by the two upper rows of pneumatics. The operation of the upper pneumatic is illustrated in dotted outline showing the position of the piano abstract with its lug and wippen when said pneumatic has been collapsed, and the same of course applies to all of the pneumatics of the player action.

From the foregoing it will be readily understood that by this simple form of bracket or lug, a secure, durable and convenient form of attachment may be applied to the abstracts of the ordinary piano action in such a manner as to facilitate the introduction or withdrawal of the player action without connecting or disconnecting any of the parts. Once the various parts have been assembled and adjusted, they remain securely in position so that the player action may be withdrawn or re-inserted quickly and with convenience, and it has been found that the tone qualities produced by striking with this arrangement of the action is superior to the results obtained by other arrangements.

Of course it Will be understood that various modifications may be made in the construction and arrangementof parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

In a player piano having a self-contained piano and player action, projections and stops upon the abstracts of said piano action and projections from the pneumatics of said player action adapted to travel in the path of said first mentioned projections for operating said piano action directly and pneumatically, each of said abstract projections having a longtiudinal passage for a screw adapted to secure the same to said abstract and a transverse passage for another screw adapted to penetrate said first mentioned screw and for regulating the position of the stop of said projection with reference to said pneumatic projection.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

HENRY R. HELLER. WVitnesses:

W. G. HELLER, VINCENT BISULK.

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