US1767156A

US1767156A - Resonant shadeless desk

Info

Publication number: US1767156A
Application number: US217048A
Authority: US
Inventors: Edward J Smith
Original assignee: MARY E SMITH
Current assignee: MARY E SMITH
Priority date: 1927-09-02
Filing date: 1927-09-02
Publication date: 1930-06-24
Anticipated expiration: 1947-06-24

Description

E. J. SMITH RES ONANT SHADELES S DESK June Z4, 1930.

Filed Sept. 2, 19727` w t. .n e 0 M Patented June 24, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EDWARD J'. SMITH, OF CLEVELAND, .01110, ASSIGNOR T0 MARY E. SMITH, OF

, CLEVELAND, OHIO y l v j nEsoNAN'r snnnELEss DESKy Application led'september 2, 1927. Serial No. 217,048.

This invention relates to resonant, shadeless desks, and more especially to shadeless desks` for the use of musicians who desire a clear, positive light directed uponV their music sheets, and yet would avoid'rays of light from thel desk/extending toward the audience, Without the objectionable `glare arising from unprotected light bulbs, and yet without an equally objectionable shade of portions of the desk upon the sheets, which latter shade tends to give portions of the sheets far more .light than others, such inequality of .intensity of light rays being annoying to the musician, if not deceptive in the character of symbols shown on the sheet. It is a particular object of myvinvention to provide such a desk that shall be complete in every detail, the lamps having no shades and yetv being concealed within the enclosed frame and retaining open lighting for the portions of pages or objects desired to beV illuminated. Such desirable result is attained with my structure together with positive control of the light Without individual shades.

It is a further object of my invention that I am able to exclude light from the floor upon which the desk rests and from the audience, though the illuminated surface within the upper portion of the, desk is so well lighted directly from these shadeless lamps.

A further object of my invention lies in the provision of ashell-like desk having a front plate substantially parallel With the rear plate, and spaced therefrom sufficiently to receive a music rack therebetween, though the frcnt plate has an opening cut out to enable the musician to see clearly the music Within, though the light bulbl lighting the rack is shaded to avoid throwing light outside the desk.

A still further advantage is the unitaryy a sort of shelf beneath the supportingmusic 4 rack within and providing an outside surface for small objects which `the musician or artist'may desire to have at his ready convenience.

The enclosed music rack above the said shelf device having all the advantages of the more simple and less convenient music stand, presents a lighted surface at the proper angle to vthe eye of the user and confines the light rays from such surface to the desired direction.

The inventiony further consists in the novel construction, adaptation and combination of parts, as will be vhereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved shadeless stand as viewed from the front;

Figure 2 is a Vertical section substantially kcentral of the stand;

Figure 3 is a perspective and detail View of the edge strip attached lto the protuberance adjacent the lamp bulb, and

Figure t is a perspective view of the stand shown from the rear, and parts of the upper left hand portion being broken away to show the interior more clearly. i

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that 4my shadeless, resonant desk or stand comprises a hollowl standof a shell-like wall 5 and including a supporting base 6 having a rectangularlow'er portion 7, an upper lighting portion V8, '1 and a connecting neck portion 9, all such portions being unitary. The rear plate 10 is continuous for the upper and lower portions, and the front plate 11 is substantially parallel with the rear plate, but has cut out therefrom the upper front portion to serve as the light opening 12 in the hollow stand.V

The upper portion 8, considered in a vertical plane, is oval in shape vhaving its major anis in a horizontal direction, and its minor axis in a vertical direction. The said front opening 12 of the plate 11 'is approximately oval in shape resembling generally the eX- t'ernal form of the upper portion 8, except that an elongated notch 13 is cut out of the upper edge of said opening 12, thereby forming at the notched points 14, rather conspicuous protuberances 15 whose purpose will be explained later. The plates and 11 are equidistant throughout their extent, as shown in Fig. 2.

Lamps 16 are mounted upon the front plate 11 though on the inner surface of the 'said protuberances 15, so that the latter avoid projection of light rays from the bulbs or lamps mounted upon them. These lamps are pivoted on such protuberances but on their inner surface, upon a suitable fixture to swing in a transverse plane oblique to the vertical, about midway between the vertical and horizontal, as shown in Figs. Sand 4. These lamps are of the rather usual for-1n comprising a socket into which electric bulbs of standard form and size are detachably secured by screw thread connection. The normal position of the bulb is that shown in Fig. 4 where the bulb is closely adjacent the surface of the protuberance 15. The hinged mounting permits swinging the lamps 16 on its hinge 17 into the hollow portion 8, and to the rear of the protuberance 15, in the position shown in Fig. 3, to permit'the ready removal of the bulb 16. Such removal evidently can not well be made while the bulb is in contact with the protuberance, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4.

The usual covered conductor 18 leads from the hinge 17 along the inner surface of the front plate 11 just inside the opening 12 and thence downwardly beneath the shelf 19, where the conductors from both lamps 16 meet at the pull chain switch 20, the common conductor leading from said switch down to the base 7 of the stand where it leads out through the aperture 21 to some suitable wall connection, not illustrated.

As a further protection of the protuberances which are of rather thin material, the inner edge of such protuberances is provided with a metal plate 22 which is bent to conform to the edge, as shown in Fig. 3, such plate being appreciably wider than the thickness of the plate 11 so that its inner edge will project inwardly beyond the protuberance 15 sufficiently to prevent light rays from the lamps 16 extending out into the room. The tip 23 of the metal plate 22 is again bent in the direction of the lengt-h of the plate to ht the upper edge of the notch 13, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

The so-called shelf or table 19 is approximately rectangular in form, but has two narrow notches 24 in the ends of the plate 19, which receive the upper edge of the lower portion of the opening 12, in the manner illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, so that the rear edge of the shelf 19 contacts the rear plate 10 of the stand at 25V and is secured thereat. The forward portion of theshelf or table is H supported forward of the front plate 11 of the stand and serves as a most convenient table or rest for additional sheets, such as special themes or incidental music.

Pivoted above the shelf 19 within the light portion 8 of the stand is mounted the music N rack 26 having the lower flange 27 substantially in the plane of the opening 12, and having the width suitable to permit the raising of the flange 27 as the rack 26 swings on its pivot 28 on the back plate 10. The music rack has a low pitch of about by which the height of the complete desk is lowered about ten inches below the average height of music desks of the enclosed type. The relative arrangement of the shelf 19 and rack 26 provides a very convenient storage compart` ment 29 underneath the rack, such compartment being especially convenient for receiving therein extra scores or additional music, accessories etc.

The feature just explained providing for the hinging of the rack 26 and the consequent lowering of the entire standard makes it possible to see the whole orchestra over the top of the desk at all times; and the rack being hinged at the top provides a means of raising the rack at 27 while placing an extra score in the compartment 29 under the rack 26.

The provision of the horizontal shelf 19 above the hollow base of the structure furtherassists the resonant qualities of the base 6, the opening 30 in the front plate 11 further enhances the value of the resonant stand which resembles in generic form the viol. This is especially true since the stand is an integral structure. My structure embodies therefore a very desirable combination of resonance because of the character of the hollow wall forming the same, the lower half of the stand being closed except at the opening 80, the arrangement of the lampsy 16 behind the protuberances 15 so that the light is excluded from the floor and also from the audience; the provision of the rack hinged at the top resulting in the storage compartment 29, such combination resulting in a large desk enclosure having two shadeless lamps concealed in the forward part of the enclosure so that the lamps are effective in lighting the interior of the compartment 81 above the rack 26.

Evident advantages result, including the lamps without shades thereby providing more light with less electric current than the usual type of lighting where a shade is provided, and yet provides better light for the musicians, because the light is confined so completely to the music sheet; and yet when the stand is mounted in a darkened room, the floor around the stand will be darkened even closely adjacent thereto. The arrangement of parts is such therefor as to provide in reality one large shade enclosing two lampsand one music rack in the upper ioo part, and a resonant chamber in the base 6 which has acoustic properties which increase the volume and broaden the tone of orchestral instruments.

lVhile I have illustrated what I believe to be the best form of my invention, and have illustrated details of construction which are peculiarly adapted to needs of the case, I do not wish to be limited to these details, as some features thereof may be modied without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A hollow desk or stand having a front opening in its upper portion and an horizontal shelf in a plane with the lower part of said opening, and shadeless lamps in the upper portion of the stand adjacent the upper part of said opening, and projecting portions of the front edges of the opening extending outside the said lamps and thereby confining the light from the lamps to the interior of the stand.

2. A hollow stand comprising spaced and parallel front and rear plates, the upper portion of the front plate having an approximately oval opening therein, shadeless lamps on the inner surface of said front plate adjacent the upper part of said opening, the edges of the front plate about the said opening having projecting spaced protuberances for shielding the inner lamps, a rack pivoted to the back plate in the upper portion of the stand so that it rests in an oblique plane facing the said opening, so that the light from said lamp will be cast upon said rack but will not be thrown out through said opening.

3. A hollow desk or stand having in its upper portion, a closed back plate and a front plate having an opening therein, the front plate having inwardly projecting portions adjacent the upper edges of said opening, lamps mounted pivotally upon the rear surface of said projecting portions so that the light therefrom is prevented from being cast outwardly through said opening, the pivots of said lamps permitting swinging ot the latter in a plane at an angle to the said front plate, to permit changing bulbs in electric lamp sockets, means in the lower part oi the upper portion for supporting music or other sheets thereon, and conductor strands leading from said sockets along the inner surface of the stand walls, and including a suitable switch device just below the upper portion and a connector means for detachable connection with wall sockets.

4. A hollow stand having a base portion connected by a reduced neck portion, with an upper portion having a front opening approximately oval shaped and bordered by an irregular frame portion, the latter having a projecting portion extending into the said opening, and a lamp pivotally mounted on the rear surface of said projecting p0rtion, so thatthe latter will conline the light from the lamp to the interior of the stand F my hand and seal this twentieth day of July, l

1927. EDWARD J. SMITH.

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