US1616748A - Metal reed for wind instruments - Google Patents

Description

Feb.v 8, 1927.

1,616,748 D. G. HORTON METAL REED FOR WIND INSTRUMENTS Filed May 4. 1925 rwen loz Q, 6: #0? 70/1.

Patented Feb. 8, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

v DOCK HORTON, F BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO SAMUEL P.

I ORR, 0F BESSEMER, ALABAMA.

METAL REED FOR WIND INSTRUIIEENTS.

Application filed May 4, 1925.

invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in metal reeds for saxophones, clarionets and other wind instrumentswhich utilize reeds.

The object of my invention is to provide a reed made of rust-proof, non-corrosive and non-staining metal which shall have superior durability to the reeds at present iii-general use and which is so designed and mounted as to be capable of ready adjustment to produce a high or low tone.

It is of special advantage that my reed will have a constant tone unaffected by moisture and, being of metal, can be thoroughly sterilized and will prove highly durable.

My invention further contemplates making the entire reed of a thin metal strip which, at the butt end, is shaped to con form to the clamp .and which has its tongue end flattened and ground or rolled very thin as compared with the butt end.

It is a further distinctive feature of my invention that the butt end shall be shaped with its side edges struck on a slight curve as viewed in side elevation so that by tightp emng up or loosenmg on 1ts two clamp screws, it may be rocked on the instrument to set its tongue end high or low and thus vary the tone.

My invention also comprises the novel details of construction which are hereinafter more particularly described and claimed in the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification, and in which 1- Figu re 1 is a side elevation of the mouthpiece of a typical wind instrument showing 5 mounted thereon and adapted to engage the butt end 6 of the reed which has a flattened tongue end 7 As shown, the reed is made of thin rust-proof sheet metal pref-.

Serial No. 28,069.

erably stainless and which is approximately .025 inches thick. The sheet metal of this thickness is cut into blank strips with the sides 8 of its butt end curved and then this butt end is curved in transverse cross section to correspond to the clamp curvature. The sides of the butt end provide a rocking bearing on the mouthpiece, so that by tightening one clamp screw and loosening the other. the butt end can be rocked on its bearing to vary the distance of the tongue 7 from the mouthpiece. The tongue 7 of the reed is flattened and is ground or rolled to a thickness of about .002 inches, and this thin portion extends back the required distance according to the instrument with which the reed is to be used and the size of the reed. This fiattened tongue end of the reed will for a substantial portion thereof rest fiat upon and be held tightly against the flattened top of the mouth piece of the instrument, as will appear more clearly in Fig. 3, so that a substantially air tight joint is thus provided which will prevent the air getting under the reed and at the same time, due to the flexible character of the reed, will permit of its adjustments as herein described. Due to the flexibility of the reed and the delicacy of its adjustments, it will rock about the flattened top of the mouthpiece as a fulcrum without breaking the air tight joint that should be preserved between the reed and this part of the mouth piece. The thickness of this tongue portion at its rear end is gradually increased until it reaches the full thickness of the sheet metal at the butt ends. It is preferable that the metal used shall be one that will not corrode or stain, and that will not react to the acids of the mouth.

Though I have described with great particularity the details of the embodiment of the invention herein shown, it is not to be construed that I am limited thereto, as changes in arrangement and substitution of equivalents may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the invention as defined in the appended claims.

hat I claim is 2- 1. A metal reed for wind instruments formed of a strip of thin sheet metal having a transversely arched concavo-convex butt end merging into a flattened and substantially thinner tongue end which is adapted to rest with a substantially air tight joint on the top of the instrument.

2. A metal reed for wind instruments ac cording to claim 1 in which the butt end of the reed has side bearing edges adapted to engage the mouthpiece of the instrument and which are longitudinally curved, in combination with clamp means to rock said reed and adjust the space of its tongue end relatively to the mouthpiece.

3. The combination with a mouthpiece of a wind instrument, of a reed clamp having a pair 01 set screws, and a metal reed having its butt end. arched to conform to the clamp and having its side bearing edges longitudinally convex, the tongue end of said clamp being flattened and substantially thinner than its butt end.

a. A metal reed for wind instruments formed of a thin strip of non-corrosive, acid-proof metal having its butt end arched transversely and provided with longitudinal convex side bearing edges, the tongue end of said reed being flattened and reduced materially in thickness from its free end to a point adjacent to its junction with the arched buttend.

In testimony whereof I a'llix my signature.

DOOK G. HORTON.

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