US1400153A - Violin and method of producing the same - Google Patents

Description

J. GORMANQ VIOLIN AND METHOD OF PRODUCING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 12. 1920. 1,400,153. Patented Dec. 13, 1921.

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VIOLIN AND METHOD or PRODUCING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED AUG- IL 1920- 1,400,153, Patented Dec.13,1921. I i iwflfi sflii'r 2- Jrlzea German- J. GORMAN. VIOLIN AND METHOD OF PRODUCING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-l2, 1920. 1,400,153, Patented Dec. 13, 1921.

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UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE.

J'AMES GORMAIN OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 13,1921.

Application file d August 12, 1920. Serial No. 403,015.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jaarns GORMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and'useful Improvements in Violins and Methods of Producing the Same, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in musical instruments of the viol class 3 and is directed more especially to a novel construction of a violin and the method by which the instrument is produced.

In the present methods of manufacturing musical instruments of the class above mentioned, the tables usually are produced from slabs of a suitable kind of wood which slabs are initially of thickness somewhatgreater than the final thickness of the'tables and which are gouged or otherwise worked by machine or the desired surface contour, after which the finished tables are united to the marginal ribs without being placed under any appreciable degree of tension. Thus an instrument manufactured by such a method must depend, for the quality of its tone, upon the inherent resonance of the wood employed in the manufacture of the tables, and upon the contour of the tables. However as previously stated, the tablesin an'instrument thus manufactured are originally carved to the required shape or contour and in no sense of the word under tension.

As concerns my invention'I have, as the result of a long series of experiments, ar-

rived at the conclusion and become convinced that if in the course of manufacture of the instrument the tables are tensioned by being subjected to a bending or bowing stress,,the sonority of the instrument and its tonal qualities will be greatly enhanced. I have observed for example that if a strip of some resonant wood is clamped at one end and pressure is applied upon-its other end to stress the strip in 'a manner to effect bowing thereof, and if, further, a rosin bow be drawn across the stressed'or tensioned strip, the resonance of the strip will be increased in ratio with increase of pressure upon this last mentioned end or in other words in ratio with the increasein tension of the strip. This principle I have applied in the production of musical instruments of the viol type, and particularly violins, and the manner in which the byv hand until the tables have principle is applied is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings and will be fully explained in the specific description which is to follow.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a violin construced in accordance with the principles of the invention, a portion of one of the tables being broken away and parts being shown in section;

Fig. 2 is an edge view of one of the fulcrum pieces employed,

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view on the line 33'of Fig. 2; v

Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse sectional view through the body of the instrument;

Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view, the tables being illustrated in full lines in positions about to be applied, and the view illustrating in dotted lines the shapes which will be assumed by the tables upon application to the skeleton body of the instrument by the method of the invention;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig.5 illustrating the completed body;

Fig. 7 is a side of the back or lower table of the in strument;

' Fig. 8 is a plan view illustrating the mannor in which the upper table or belly of the instrument is laid out.

In its general shape and appearance, a violin or other instrument of this class con structed in accordance with the method of the invention, does not noticeably differ from such an instrument produced bythe old methods of manufacture, the instrument comprising the usual body which is indicated by the numeral 1, and the usual neck which is indicated by the numeral 2, the

body comprising the ribs 3, the upper table or belly i, and the lower table or back 5. The neck 2 is provided wit-h the usual top end block 6, and there is also provided at the opposite end of the body of the instrument the usual bottom end block which indicated by the numeral 7, these blocks, and the neck 2 and ribs 3 being united together and being generally of the usual shape and size. In the present instance however the top and bottom end blocks 6 and 7 have flat or plane upper and under faces as will be observed particularly by reference to Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings.

In producing the upper table or belly t 4 of the body of the instrument, I select two slabs of wood indicated in Fig. 8 of the drawings by the numeral 8 and which slabs are of suliicient length and breadth to admit of one-half of the said upper table being laid out thereon. These slabs may be of any kind of resonant wood suitable for use in this connection and they'are initially of a thickness equal to the final'thickness which it is desired the tables shall have. A pattern or outline of the two lateral halves of the upper table is laidout upon the upper surface of the slabs as illustrated in said Fig. 8 and the slabs are then cut to produce these halves. Initially adjacent or opposing edges of the two slabs, when disposed in contact in the manner shown in said Fig. '8, will meet only at a point substantially at what is to constitute the middle of the table, these edges diverging slightly in opposite directions from this point as indicated by the numeral 9. The next step in the manufacture of this table comprises securing these edges together in contact throughout theirentirelengths and while in doing this the unfinished table will have imparted to it a slight degree of curvature, this degree is by no means equivalent to'or as pronounced as the degrees of curvature which the table will possess along longitudinal and transverse lines of cross section when completed, the said table constituting an integral part of the body of the instrument. In

order to prevent splitting of the table after its initially diverging edges have been united together, thin strips of veneer indicated by the numeral 10, are preferably glued to the inner face of the tablein position extending transversely of the ends thereof and spanning the united edges of I have found it the halves of the, table. advisable to use these veneer strips for the reason stated but only-as a precautionary measure and they are not therefore to be considered as constituting an essential part of the instrument or a salient feature of the invention. 7 I

In order to obtain the desired tensioning of the table just described, I employ two fulcrum pieces one of which is clearly illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings.

Similar fulcrum pieces are employed, as

will be presently explained, in connection with the lower table or back 5, and inasmuch as all of the pieces are of substantially the same shape, a description of one will sufficefor all. The fulcrum piece illustrated in Figs; 2 and8 is indicated in general by the nnmeralll and the same comprises a wooden body of predetermined dimensions having upper and under faces 12 and 18 respectively which are curved or convexed continuously in the direction of the length I of the body and which occupy planes converging toward and meeting at one edge of the body which edge is'indicated by the shaping the edge 14 so that the same will conform substantially-to the marginal curvature of the end of the respective table to the face of which the strip or body is to be applied. Having produced the fulcrum pieces 11, two of these pieces areassembled with the unfinished upper table'above described with their minor edges 14 approximately registering with the adjacent end edges of the table, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings, and with their major edges 15 presented toward each other, and the strips are securely and permanently glued or otherwise secured in this position to the inner face of the table, and, if the veneer strips are employed, preferably tothese strips. Grluev is then applied to the exposed face of'one of the fulcrumpieces 11 and the piece is clamped-upon the respective side of the face of the respective end block 6 or 7 as the case may be, after which the table is placed under stress by bringing pressure to bear against its opposite end portion and against its sides, glue having been previously applied to the erposed face of the other fulcrum piece and the inner face of the table at the margin thereof,

until the last mentioned fulcrum piece and the margins of the table have been brought to bear firmly against and have become united to the other end block and the body rib respectively. By this method, the table, which was in its original blank form, substantially flat, becomes both longitudinally and transversely bulged and is thus automatically caused to assume the required bulging contour. This effect is brought about by the stress imposed upon the table, and thus the table which was initially free from stress, has now imposed upon it a permanent tension or stress which renders it more resonant andmore capable of respond ing to the vibrations of the strings of the instrument.

The method of producing and securing in place the lower table or back of the body of the instrument is substantially identical with that above described with regard to the upper table except that the back may be formed from a single piece of wood instead of in halves and is initially flat and is provided upon its inner face with a centerpiece which erably only marginally glued as at 17 t0 the inner face of the said lower table or back although glue may be applied over its entirearea if found desirable. However by uniting the centerpiece only at its margin to the said lower table or back, I provide for slight relative movement of the two pieces or slabs when the table is subjected to the bending stresses incident to its tensioning and the securing of it in place within the instrument. Preferably the exposed side of the centerpiece 16 is beveled at its margin as indicated by the numeral 18.

The manner in which the tables are marginally secured to the ribs 3 and the bouts 19 of these ribs, is in a sense immaterial, it being sufiicient, for example, to employ corner strips 20 at the lines of union of the table with the edges of the ribs as clearly shown in Fig. 4t of the drawings.

By tensioning the tables in the manner recited and thus permanently placing them under tension or stress, the tables are rendered more sensitive and responsive to the vibrations of the strings of the instrument, and have an enhanced degree of resonance, and impart to the instrument, when played, that sonority of tone which is so desirable in an instrument of this class.

The fact will be appreciated that by the carrying out of my invention not only do I avoid the time, labor, and expense incident to the gouging or carving, to the proper contour, of tables from initially relative thick slabs, but also I produce tables which are so tensioned as to be capable of better resisting pressure tending to collapse them than are tables which are not tensioned and are carved to the required contour. Also it will be evident that inasmuch as the degree of resonance of the tables will be increased proportionately with the degree of tension to which the tables are subjected, substantially any desired degree of resonance and responsiveness to tone vibrations may be predicted in advance and obtained by varying the contour and dimensions of the fulcrum pieces and thus vary the degree of pressure required to spring the tables into place at the time of uniting them with the skeleton body of the instrument.

lVhile the principles of the invention are illustrated and described in connection with the manufacture of a violin or other instrument of the viol class, it will be understood that the principles may find embodiment in the manufacture of a guitar and similarly shaped instruments of the lute class.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

l. The method of producing a musical instrument of the viol and allied classes which comprises constructing the body frame of the instrument, forming one of the tables initially substantially flat and of a final thickness, providing a fulcrum upon one ends with substantially wedge-shaped fulcrums, stressing the table by binding, and securing the fulcrums to the said end blocks whereby to permanently maintain the stressed condition.

3. The method of producing a musical instrument of the viol and allied classes which comprises forming one of the tables from relatively flat slabs of the final thickness, and comprising sections of the table, uniting the slabs edge to edge, applying bonding strips to the inner face of the table, spanning the united edges, providing the table upon its said face at opposite marginal portions with substantially wedge-shaped fulcrums, stressing the table by bending and securing the fulcrums to the end blocks of the body frame of the instrument whereby to maintain the stressed condition.

4. A musical instrument of the viol class comprising a body frame including end block portions, substantially wedge-shaped fulcrum pieces secured to the faces of the said portions, and a table secured at its opposite marginal portions to the said fulcrum pieces and permanently stressed by reason of the presence of said fulcrum pieces.

5. A musical instrument of the viol class comprising a body frame including the usual ribs and end block portions, fulcriun pieces secured to the faces of the end block portions and substantially wedgeshaped and having their relatively adjacent edges -of maximum thickness and their relatively remote edges of minimum thickness, the said fulcrum pieces being diminished in thickness from their intermediate portions in the direction of their ends, and a table marginally united to the said fulcrum pieces and to the said ribs and permanently stressed by reason of the presence of the said fulcrum pieces.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JAMES GORMAN. [n s]

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