US1536374A - Valve mechanism for expression-controlling devices of musical instruments - Google Patents

Description

May 5, 1925. 4 1,536,374

T. P. BROWN VALVE MECHANISM FOR EXPRESSION CONTROLLING DEVICES OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Filed NOV, 14, 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 flwiomfzrwwa May 5, 1925. 1 536 374 T. P. BROWN VALVE MECHANISM FOR EXPRESSION CONTROLLING DEVICES OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Filed NOV. 14. 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 amrajjrom'za May 5, 1925.

1,536,374 T. P. BROWN VALVE MECHANISM FOR EXPRESSION CONTROLLING DEVICES OF MUSICAL INSTRUMEKITS Filed NOV. 14, 1922 4 Sheets-Shut 3 ILIII T. P. BROWN VALVE MECHANISM FOR EXPRESSION CONTROLLING DEVICES OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 4 sheets-{Shaw 4 Patented May 5, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THEODORE P. BROWN, F WORCESTER,

PLAYER ACTION COMPANY, OF WORC OF MASSACHUSETTS.

MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO SIMPLEX ESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION Application filed November 14, 1922. Serial No. 600,858.

To all 20720222 it may concern.

Be it known that I, THEODORE P. BROWN, a citizen of the United States, residing at \Vorcester, in the county of lVorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Valve Mecha nism for Expression-Controlling Devices of Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

At the present time the leading makers of pneumatically operated, or self-playing pianos, aim to produce musical instruments which enable the possessor of one to hear, at any time, substantially the same performance as that of an eminent pianist. An artists carefully prepared record, produced on a recording piano, is duplicated in the form of a note sheet having side or marginal perforations, which note sheet, when passing over the tracker bar of a piano having valve-controlled mechanism to cooperate with said side perforations, re sults in repeating the performance of the artist who made the record, with approximate reproduction of his technique, tone,

tempo, and. pedaling.

To provide an automatic musical instrument capable of faithfully portraying the skill of the artist in the expression of human emotions, is the obj ect of the invention. To this end it is essential that the expression devices of the piano, especially the valves thereof, shall be extremely sensitive to the variations of atmospheric pressure, due to the passage of the side or expression perforations of the note sheet over the coacting openings in the tracker 'bar. This object is attained by providing for the greatest degree of speed in the operation of the valve, and the elimination of practically all lost motion in said operation.

Further improvements consist in a simplified construct-ion and arrangement of the valves and conduits; also an arrangement whereby the main valves which control the flow of-air to cause the proper dynamic effects only open pro rata to the amount of air flowing through tliem; and also an arrangement whereby the opening movement of the valve is in the direction of the vacuum-induced flow of air.

Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,-

Figure 1 represents, partly in elevation and partly in section, sufficient parts of the mechanism which include my invention, to enable the same to be understood.

Figure 2 represents a section on line 22 of Figure 1, and also illustrates a striking mechanism of the usual type such as em ployed in a grand piano.

Figure 3 is a view similar to a portion of Figure 1, on a larger scale.

Figure 4 is a view similar to a portion of Figure 2, on a larger scale.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

A frame 12 (Figure 1) supports the usual music-roll spool 13 from which the note sheet 14 passes, over the tracker-bar 15, to the take-up roll 16. The tracker-bar is provided, near each end, with a row of expression ducts 17, and between them is provided with the usual note ducts 18. The note sheet has the usual note openings 19, and is provided with side or marginal ex pression openings 20, corresponding in number (laterally considered) with the number of ports or ducts 17 in the tracker-bar. Each port or duct 17 communicates by a. tube 21 (Figures 2 and 1) with a primary pneumatic 22. In Figure 1, to avoid confusion of lines, each tube 21 is mainly indicated by a dot and dash line. And the usual tubes from the note ducts 18 are omitted. Their usual arrangement is well known.

Each pneumatic 22 controls one of the expression devices employed in the instrument, and it will be suflicient to describe one of them, for instance, the one whose tube 21 (indicated at A in Figure 1) is connected with the duct 17, at the extreme left of the tracker-bar. Said pneumatic is connected to and supported by the front cover 23 of the wind chest 24, presently described, two ports 25, 20 leading through said cover. A valve 27, having a short stem 28, is mounted to alternately open or close a port 29, open to the atmosphere, and a port which communicates with the air chamber 31, which latter has the port 26, providing an uncontrolled passageway to the wind chest. One

lit)

side of the air chamber 31 consists of a diaphragm 32, having a center piece to contact with the vvalvestem 28. Therspace at the other side oflthe diaphragm communicates by a port 33 with the tube 21. Ina

by-pass port 34: around the diaphragmis ,lo-

catedf'a restricted ventf35;

lVithin the wind chest 24: is a diaphragm valve 36, one for each expression pneumatic,

which cooperates witlr the nippleend of a ith-z conduit 37, the latter communicating the interior of the choker bellows 38. The

movable member of said bellows-carries a bellows 38, by .a-channel43, said wind .cliest being divided. in the .middle of the .instru ment by a division wall-44 (Figure .1

Fastenedto the backboard 45 of the wind chest (Figures 2 and li'are the pneumatics 46, which are or-niay be of the ordinary striker pneumatic; typeused in. player pianos. Associatedwith said neumatics I may employ anyordinary system of; wires and levers, for actuating. thev strikers of. the piano action, such system being partially indicated in Figure 2,;but unnecessary. to describe in detail;

In Figures 1 and 3, certain capital letters are applied, one adjacent each tube 21. A description of the operation. ofthe valve mechanism affected. by ,the reduction of airpressure when an expression opening20 in the note sheet passes over the duct 17, at the extreme left of the tracker-bar, will be sufficient forall. The one selected for this description is the mechanism connected with the tube 21 at the pointindicated by the letter A Thetube 21. shown in Figures 2 and a; is tobe understood as the one shown at A inFiguresl and 3.

As indicated in Figure 1, the expression-. control'valvemechanisms are arranged. in three g1'oup s,.the one at the left being for the ,bass accompaniment control, the one. at the right for the treble accompaniment control, and the intermediate one for the solo control. As the valve mechanisms of the three. groups. are substantially the same, the samereference numerals :are employed in all, with the exponent added for those of the middle group, and the expon'ent add ed for those of-theright hand group.

The threeprimary valve mechanisms connected with the tubes, indicated at,A,;F and G, at the left; ,inFigure 1, are connected by tubes, indicated by the dot and dash lines at, with corresponding primary valve mechai nisnis of the; group at the right in said. fig; lire.- for a purpose presently explained;

lhenormal condition oftheentire mecha:

nism is such that when all the expression ducts 17 are. closed by the note sheet, the pressure in the wind -chest-24 isslightly lower than the pressure in the interior of thechoker bellows 38', and said pressures are suchthat tl e instrument will play very soft, under the, control of, any note sheet perforations 19 that may beupassing over the note ducts 18 of the tracker-bar. in order to increase thepressure on. either the bass or, the treble of the instrument, it is necessary to open a passage through one or more of the conduits 37, to permit added pressure to pass through the choker bellows 38, independently of the. restricting valve.39.- Such added PI'GSSUI'GclS effected whenan expression perforation of the note sheet passes.

over a duct17 in thentrackerrbar, because atmospheric pressure thenacts on the.d1a-.

)hra m 32 'overcomin the functionof the.

restricted vent, 35,- said adiaphragmracting on the stem of the valve 27,; andmoving the latter from its positionshowninFigure a, so as to close the port 29, and open ,the passageway 30. Owing to theports 25,26, the pressure becomes equal on both sides-of the diaphragm valve 36,- and renders the latter neutral in its relation to the conduit 37, against which: it operates, and therefore permits additionalair topass through the conduit 37, andso affect the pressure within the choker bellows 38, independently of the action of the valve v39 (Figure3), and the spring-41,: that the increased pressure affects thevacuumin the main wind chest 42 (theflow of, air being asv indicated by arrows), and causes allthe, notes playingiin either the. bass ortreble sections of vthe,.in-. strument to be played with-a littlegreater force whenever an expression opening. 20 at the left, side of the notesheet is passing over a duct 1?, in the tracker-bar communicating with either one of the tubes 21, indi? cated atA, F andG. The reason why the treble. as. well as the bass sections ,will be so affected, is due to the tubes 4L7 which, as hereinafter explained, connectthe primary valve mechanisms of said two sections. ftis to beunderstood, of course, that. the primary valve mechanisms in both sections, and also in the vsolocontrol section, are, indetail, substantially the same as thehone which is fully shown in Figures 2 and 4.

A musical artist frequently accentuates the solo or melo,dy notes independently of the. accompaniment notes. ln order that such accentuation may be reproduced, it is customaryto so. arrange thecxp-ression,de vices and note sheet. perforations. that the pressure in,the solocontrol bellows isalways higher than in the, bass and treble accompaniment I control bellows. The improved structure and arrangement of the tie vices hereinbefore, explained enables the above-mentioned differences of pressure. to

loo

be effectively utilized in picking out the solo notes, by means of side perforations 20 in the note sheet, so as to momentarily increase the vacuum pressure on the particular pneumatic 46 that is to play a solo note. Said improved structure includes the diaphragm valves 36, and the conduits 37, and the primary valve system including the diaphragm 32 and the valve 27. The operation of these parts so as to effect instantaneous accentuation will now be described.

F or purposes of illustration, assume that in order to play a piece mezzo forte, there are expression openings 20 in the note sheet in position to cause two of the valves 36 to open two of the conduits 37 in the solo control section, and one in the bass control section, and one in the treble accompaniment control section. If now a particular note is to be emphasized without affecting the other notes, the note-sheet opening 19, which is to effect playing of that note, is located either slightly beyond or behind the line of notesheet openings which effect playing of the rest of the notes in the chord. Assuming that the solo note to be emphasized is in the treble section of the instrument, one of a row of special small perforations 20", in the treble side of the note sheet (Figure 1) opens a duct in the tracker-bar which, by a tube 21", causes a pneumatic to effect opening of the large diaphragm valve 36", in the same manner as hereinbefore described, in connection with the diaphragm valves 36. Said valve 36 cooperates with a relatively large conduit 37", so that when open, a complete and free flow of air is permitted from the interior of the treble Wind chest 42, thereby causing any note-striking pneumatic connected with that chest to operate with increased. force.

It will be noticed that in each of the three expression-control sections, one of the conduits 37, 37, 37 is larger than the others, and that each diaphragm valve cooperating thereof is also larger than the others. The primary pneumatics which affect the large diaphragm valves 36, 36 of the bass and solo-control sections, are connected by tubes indicated in Figure 1 at E and N, respectively, with ducts in the tracker-bar which are controlled by special side openings in the note sheet. The varying sizes of the conduits and diaphragm valves just described, enable a greater variation in musical effects to be obtained than if all were of the same capacity.

By providing the nipples of the conduits 37, so that they extend into the wind chest 24:, their ends which form valve seats, are so near the opposite wall of the wind chest which supports the diaphragm valves 36, that the latter need to move no farther from their seats than is absolutely necessary to perform their functions. They only open pro rata to the flow of air passing through the conduits. Said valves 36 have no working parts associated with them, and they act directly against the ends of the conduits.

As has been explained, the front cover Q3 of the wind chest carries all of the diaphragm pneumatics 36 on its inner surface, and is removable from position opposite the conduits 37. All of the primary pneumatics 22 are also carried by the said cover 23, on the outer surface thereof. By removing said cover 23, all of the diaphragm pneumatics 36, and conduits 37, can be readily inspected, and this without disturbing the primary pneumatics 22 from their proper relative positions I claim:

1. A valve mechanism for expression-controlling devices for musical instruments having wind chests provided with conduits extending into them, said conduits being of difierent sizes and capacities and presenting Valve seats at their inner ends, and diaphragm pneumatics of correspondingly different sizes and capacities, positioned upon the opposite wall of said wind chests and constituting valves cooperating with said valve seats.

2. A valve mechanism for expression-controlling devices for musical instruments having wind chests provided with conduits ex tending into them, said conduits being of different sizes and capacities and presenting valve seats at their inner ends, diaphragm pneumatics of cone spondingly different sizes and capacities, positioned upon the opposite wall of said wind chests and constituting valves cooperating with said valve seats; primary valves for controlling said diaphragm valves, and connections for effecting actuation of the primary valves by expression perforations in a note sheet.

3. In a valve mechanism for expressioncontrolling devices for musical instruments, a wind chest having a plurality of compartments and provided with a removable front cover common to all said compartments, diaphragm pneumatic valves carried by said cover, and conduits of different sizes and capacities extending into the wind chest from the rear thereof, with their ends in position to constitute seats for said diaplrragm pneumatic valves.

4. In avalve mechanism for expressioncontrolling devices for musical instruments, :1. wind chest having a removable front cover, diaphragm pneumatic valve-s carried on the inner side of said cover, primary pneumatics for actuating said valves being supported on the outer side of said cover, and conduits of varying sizes extending into the wind chest from the rear thereof, with their ends in position to constitute seats for said diaphragm pneumatic valves.

. said compartments, conduits of,

5. r In; a ivalvewmechanism for, -eXpressi-on-,, controlling devices for; musical instrnments,- I a wind chesthaving a removable front cover, diaphragm pneumatics carried at the inner ,side thereof, 7 primary pneumaties supperted by the .outer. side thereof, said coverha ving ports to provide communication between the? primary pneumatics and the spacesboth sides of the diaphragm .pne matics,- andcon duits extending into the wind chest from, the .-rear thereof, with their ends imposition to present valveseats for the diaphragm., Pneumatics. V

6.,In a valve mechanism for expressiom controlling devices vf01:,1m1sical instruments, the combination with the wind chest thereof, having a plurality of chambers capable of retainingpressure ,ot' different intensities, of valvecontrolling means for, each expression 1 chamber,; the said chambers having a removable front cover. common to allotthem said removable cover having,a series of expresr sion-controlling primary pnenmaticsi supi ported by the,,.said removable cover, and means formaintaining the same pressure in the individual primary pneumatic chamber; as exists ,in its corresponding exp ression. chamber. 7 p

7. In avvalve mechanismhfor expressioncontnolling devices for. musicalinstruments, tl'iei con1bination with a wind:chest having several compartments therefor a series of eX-, pressionecontrolling primary pneumatics,. each series; of expression controlling primary. pneumatics being in communication with its particular compartment of the wind chest, andx ,each primary pneumatic having? an vair chamber. in free coinmunication with the wind chest, a diaphragm.torming onei side of; said chamber a passageway having, a .valve and leading tothe wind chest said; valve ,being in a position-robe, actuated by. said diaphragm, and a port communicating with the spaceat the other side o't' the; dia- 'm for said valve. 8.311 a valve mechanism for expression. controlling devices for; musical instnuments, a wind chest having a plur ality oft com part-ments, a cover boardcommonoto allot,- variable sizes and capacitiesin each .otsaid compart ments, said conduits extending through the front isideiof theback boand of -th'e wind' chest and presenting valve seats diaphragm.

; pneumatic valves carried on the xback side of said cover board and coacting 'itlrsaid valve, seats, said diaphragm; pneumatic: valvesbeingof difi'erent sizes and capacities to correspond withr saidconduits, a-ndrpi 'i mary valve mechanisms secured to the front; sideof saidcover board, and garranged to be controlled vby expression perforations ofha notegisheet. V I

9.,In avalve mechanism for expressioncontrolling devices for musical instruments,-.

ai wind chest provided with a plurality of compartments eacl compartment having in coinmunicatipn therewith a regulating t .beL

connecting the interior of the. -.respective thewbaclr side.,of a removable front, cover board to coact withssaldhseats, said vfront cover board, be1ng commoirto allthe compartments L and I .prim ary valves secured to thecfront side ,of the said, cover board 1 and arranged to beivcontrolled by. expression ,perforations of a note vsheet.

10. In a NillVfiIIlQCllfilllSlll for expression:v controlling f devices. for musical. instruments,

a windchest. having several di fl'erentv cham-. bers; ca1;)able. of retaining different given pressures,-said Wind chest havinga rem-ovable front; cover common to all the chaim hers, conduits extendedinto thedsaid chanr bers, and; ,diaphragm pneumatic valves lo cated on,said removablefrontcoven and po; sitioned to vengage the {ends of saidconduits.

11, Ina valve mechanism for expression-v controllingdevices. for musical. instruments, a wind, chest comprisingc several compartments, each compartment having conduits of diiferent-r sizes andvariable Y capacities ,exe

tendingdntothem, each of saidconduits be ing arrangedto present a valve seatflat, its inner end, a diaphragm pneinnatic Valve p sitioned on the ,op-posite .wall- :of the a wind; chest. and 5: constituting a .,valve cooperating with said :valve seat, I and a primary valve for controlling eacli ot the; said diaphragm- Pne m i lv eifihe ngement of t e said valves. and conduits, being such that, thevsaid diaphragm pneumatic valves inoper-v at omwill only leavetheirqvalve seats pro rata to.the. indi ced fiow 0t aircreated by v their release.

12. In an automatic, musical instrument,,

an} expression device characterized by have in g a commonnvind chest. divided into several compartments,-;each compartment, being capable of reta n nga g ven pressure by, ineans of a regulatingpneumatic: for each;

compartment,- said regnlating pneumatics be ng posit oned .on: the, back side of thesaid wind Ichest, the said wind xchest; having con duits -iu each of the vcom pa-itinems connects ing the inte ioroftlieisaid wind chestwith the interior of the regulating p11eumatics,1 a

front cover for the said gwind chest, said cover, being cominon-to v-all ,the compartments and-E having on: its inward, face diaphragm pneumatic Vii-13168.1pOS1tl0llQCl to engage the ends of ,said ,conduits, and primary pneu mateic, means onv the outside of said cover for controlling the action of said. diaphragm pneumatic valves.-

13., In a regulating devire folcontrolling the expression of automatic musical instruments, a main wind chest divided into several compartments, each compartment being capable of retaining a pressure of a given intensity, means located on the back side of said Wind chest for regulating a given How of air through the said Wind chest, conduits of various capacities located in the wind chest and communicating with the interior of said means for regulating the flow of air and diaphragm pneumatic valve means positioned on a removable front cover common to all the compartments of the said Wind chest, said pneumatic diaphragm valve means being controlled by primary valve means located 011 the outside of the said cover and connected to the interior of the said compartment of the Wind chest and to the interior of the said diaphragm pneumatic valve means the said primary valves 20 controlling the operation of the said diaphragm pneumatic valve as governed by the note sheet whereby the intensity of the pres sure in a given coi'i'ipartment oi the expression device is changed as controlled by the said note sheet.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature.

THEODORE P. BROWN.

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