US1799425A - Manually-operated electric keyboard - Google Patents

Description

April 7, 1931. H. KINNEY MANUALLY OPERATED ELECTRIC KEYBOARD 2 Sheets-Sheet l lFiled Feb. 24, 1930 @@@HQQQ/@QGQ QQQWQ@ v April 7, 1931. H. KINNEY 1,799,425

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UNITED `STATES PATENT OFFICE HENRY KINNEY, F SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA MANUALLY-OPERATED ELECTRIC KEYBOARD Applicationfiled February 24, 1930. Serial No. 431,005.

My invention relates to improvements in Other objects and advantages will appear manually operated electric keyboards, and it as the specification proceeds, and the novel consists in the combinations, constructions features of the invention will be particularly and arrangements hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims hereto annexed.

claimed. My invention is illustrated in the accom- 55 Perfect intonation requires that each of the panying drawing, in which twelve tones in an octave shall have four Figure l is a plan view of the device, porslightly different pitches or rates of vibrations being broken away for clarity, tion depending upon the key in which it is Figure 2 is a transverse section through the used. In other words, forty-eight tones to device, 60

the octave must be provided if it is desired Figure 3 shows the arrangement of conto play in all twelve keys. While only twelve tacts for the major keys, and tones to the octaveare used at any one time, Figure 4 is a plan view of a portion of the when modulating upward or downward by device.

fifths it is necessary to discard three tones In carrying out my invention I provide a 65 in each octave for each modulation and conframe indicated generally at 1 (see Figure 2). nect three new tones having a different pitch. A keyboard 2 is slidably mounted in the To conveniently connect and disconnect the frame and is carried by angle irons 3, these various tones in order to produce the proper angle irons in turn being slidable over supassortment of tones to maintain perfect inporting rollers 4 (see Figures 1 and 2). The 70 tonation in any key in which it is desired to rollers are carried by the frame 1. The purplay is the principal function of the appapose of making the keyboard 2 slidablein ratus about to be described. the frame is to permit transposing from one Perfect intonation and the method of tunkey to another as set forth in my Patent ing is fully described in my United States No. 1,743,457, issued January 14, 1930. 75

Patent No. 1,743,458, issued January 14, 1930. The keyboard 2 carries a plurality of black For the present purpose a brief description and white push buttons. In Figure 1 I have will sulice, as follows: Y Establish the three shown one complete octave ofE white push tones A, C, and C sharp at 435, 522, and 543% buttons numbered 1 to 8 inclusive. Black vibrations per second respectively. Now push buttons or keysk 5 are associated with S0 from each of the three tones as aV starting the white ush buttons or keys 6 in the usual point, tune a separate series of absolutely permanner. It is obvious that standard piano fect fifths and octaves above and below as far keys may be substituted for the push buttons as desired or the full range of the instrument. if desired.

yThis method of tuning gives all the tones nec- Each of the push buttons 5 and 6 carries 85 essary for every degree of the major and a conductor point 7 (see Figure 2), and when minor scales in all keys. 4 the push button is depressed, this point con- The A series gives all the keynotes also tacts with a conductor strip 8 disposed dithe degrees 2, 4, 5, 61/2, of both the major rectly therebeneath. I provide a number of 40 and true minor scales. The C series gives these strips and arrange them in a predeter- 90 the degrees 11/2, 21/2, 41/2, 51/2, of the major mined manner on an insulating drum 9. scales and the degrees 3, 41/2, 6, 7, of the true The drum is hollow and the strips are prefminor scales. The C sharp series gives the erably embedded in thevdrum. degrees 3, 6, 7, of the major scales and the I have shown the drum or cylinder 9 in 45 degrees 11/2, 21/2, 51/2, of the true minor scales. two semi-cylindrical parts 9a and 9b. The 95 This is modulation by fifths. The true minor purpose of this is to permitwires 10 to be scale descends from the keynote by exactly connected to the various conductor blades 8 the same series of tones and semitones as is while the two parts are separated from each used by the major scale in ascending from other. After the wires have been connect- 5@ the keynote, ed, the, parts 9a and 9b may be secured to the ring 11 by screws 12 or other suitable fastening' means.

Each end of the cylinder 9 is mountedin abearin 13. In Figure 1 I have shown the left-han 'end of the instrument and have illustrated only yone bearing. A similar bearing 18 is disposed at the opposite end for rotatively supporting the cylinder 9. The wires from the plates 8 pass out'through a cable 14 and are connected to any sounding mechanism desired. v

The plates 8 are arranged so as to connect the proper note sounding devices with the push buttons 5 and 6 in order to provide perfect harmony. In my United States Patent No. 1,7 l3,4i58.issued January 14,1930, I set forth that four vtones are necessary for each key in order that the devicewill play perfect harmony for any key. The plates 8 are so arranged on the drum 9 as to automatically make the proper note producing devices for the particular key played, Y Y

In Figure 3 I have showny all of the contact plates 8 necessary for producing the proper electrical connections for the keys ranging from A flat major to G sharp major.A `These plates 8 are disposed on one-half ofthe cylinder `9, i. e. onl the half 9a. The groups of plates 8k indicating the minor keys are placed on the lower half 9b ofthe cylinder. Both groups of plates are identical in arrangement except that the minor plates are arranged in reverse order to that, of the major plates. To make this perfectly clear, it can be said that if Figure 8 `were drawn on a transparent sheet of paper and then this paper held to the light and'viewed from the reverse side, it would show an accurate representation of the minor plates 8. Y

At the left hand endof the drum 9 I mount an indicator 15 which bears the letters from A flat to GrV sharp. TheY lower half of the same indicator bears similar letters, but these indicate the minor key-s. The indicator rotates-with the drum 9, and a pointery '16 Vcarrled by the frame. 1 designates whaty group of. conductorblades 8 are disposed beneath the keys5 and 6. -In the position shown in Figure 1, the pointer 16 indicates that the C major groups of plates 8 are disposed beneath the keys 5 and 6. c

Thevdrum 9 and the indicator 15 are rotated by means of a worm gear 17 (see Figure 1) that is mounted on the drum 9, this a gear meshing with a worm 18 (see Figure 2). and the latter is supported by bearings 20. `The shaft projects through the front wall of the casing 1 and passes through a disc 21 that is secured to the frame 1'. A second disc 22 (see Figure 1) is rigidly secured to the shaft 19 so that a rotation of this disc Y will rotate the shaft. A spring arm 28 is The worm is mounted upon a shaft 19, vD

of the shaft 19 as a center will rotate the disc 22 and also the shaft. A handle 24C is secured to the spring arm 23 and carries a pin 25 that is adapted to enter a recess 26 in the disc 21. From this Construction it will be seen that the operator in rotating the drum 9 first manually pulls the handle 24 toward himself', flexing the 'spring 23 and removing the pin 25 from the recess 26. wWhile-still holding the spring `23 in flexed position, the operator rotates the handle 24 through one complete revolution and then allows the pin 25 to again enter the recess 26. This will rotate vthe drum 9 one-thirty-second of a revolution, which is sufficient to change the position of the contact plates 8 fromone key ,to another, for example, from the key of C to the key of G. c v

The drum 9 is provided with a stop 27 (see Figure 2). This stop contacts with a stop..v

28 carried by the frame 1 so as to allow Ythe drum to vmake one complete revolution, after which the drum must be rotated in the opposite direction. If the drum were permitted to rotate continuously in one direction, the wires 10 would be twisted and would in time break.

struck by the contact points 7 while the drum t0 yposition for the scale A flat. The plates 8 is in this position will connect wires 101to f such tones of the instrument as will produce perfect intonation in the key of A flat major. Now if it is desired to play in the keyof E flat or, in other words, to modulate to a fifth higher, the modulating shaft 19 is turned one complete revolutionV in a counterclockwise direction, thus rotating the drum- 9 one-thirty-second of a revolution so that. the contact points 7Y will strike the plates 8 associated with the key E flat major.-

A careful inspection of Figure 3 will show vthat nine of the contact points 7 in each octave still strike on the sameplates 8 as they did in the key of A fiat, while three ineach octave strike on new plates 8 connected to tones of the instrument or instruments having a different pitch.V The three new tones are F, F sharp, and D. The new tones F and F sharp are a Didymus comma sharper (ratio 81-80) than the old tones F and F sharp, and the new tone D is a diaschisma Hatter (ratio 81 to 81.92) than the old toney Now if it is desired to modulatcavfifth higher into the key of B flat, the Lmodulating shaft 19 is turned another complete revolution, thus connecting three new tones in` each octave, in this case C, C sharp, and A. The new tones C and @sharp are a Didymus comma sharper and the new tone A is adiaschisma flatter than the Adiscarded tones. Thus, when modulating upwardby fifths degrees 2 and 2% of the new major scale must be sharpened a Didymus comma and the seventh degree flattened a diaschisma toY maintain perfect intonation. y

When modulating downward by fifths the tones, of course, are connected and vdisconnected in the reverse order. The player can modulate by thirds or any other desired interval, the rule being to take the desired key wherever you find it on the modulating index. The key obtained will always be in perfect intonation, but the distance modulated may be a small fraction more or less than the perfect interval. (Generally a Didymus comma, never more than a Pythagorean comma.) When modulating by fifths, the distance modulated is an absolutely perfect fifth.

The device is shown with a transposing keyboard which has been described and claimed in United States Patent No. 1,743,457 issued January 14, 1930. The structure as shown in this application will be briefly described as follows: The left-hand angle iron 3 in Figure 2 carries a rack 29. This rack meshes with a large gear 30 rotatably carrie-d by the frame 1, and the gear 30 in turn meshes with a small gear 31. The small gear 31 is mounted on a shaftl 32 as shown in Figure 1, and this shaft is rotatable by a handle 33 similarto the handle 24. A disc 34 similar to the disc 2l is secured to the frame 1, and I have shown this disc in Figure 4 to illustrate the number of openings 35 provided in it. The pin 36 carried by the handle 33 is removably receivable in any one of the openings 35. f

The frame 1 carries a scale 37 for indicating different minor keys and a scale 38 indicating different major keys. The movable keyboard has a scale 39 associated with the Y scale 37 and a scale 40 associated with the scale 38. The movable keyboard is shown in position for playing C major.

To adjust the keyboard to play in the desired key, actuate the handle 33 for sliding the keyboard until the movable index letter on the scale 40 representing the key in which the music is written comes opposite the stationary index letter on the scale 38, this latter letter indicating the key into which it is desired to transpose the music. If a minor scale is desired, the scales 37 and 39 are used.

The music is now played in exactly the same way as it is written, and the instrument will automatically transpose the music into the desired key.

Another big advantage of the transposing keyboard is that all music may be written and played in the easiest natural key and the keyboard so adjusted that the music produced will be in its proper key as intended by the composer. Thus the player need learn the scale, chords, fingering, etc., of one key only instead of the twelve or twentyfourV different-scales of the present systems. It should be notedthat the modulator 15 must be kept adjusted' to the key in which f' thev musicis being produced whether transposing or \not. If the song is being played in the scale of D, the modulator is turned until the letter D is positioned opposite the pointer 16. i y

The transposing disc 34 has twelve openings 35 therein, these openings being uniformly spaced around a circle or thirty degrecs apart. If desired, the transposing index may b e placed on the disc 34.

Lines 8a represent the division point between the keys A flat to G sharp of Figure 3.

Although I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that the same is susceptible of various changes, and I reserve the right to employ such changes as may come within the scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

1. A manually operated electric keyboard comprising a plurality of manually movable electric contacts, a plurality of contacts electrically connected to sound producing members, means for moving different groups of the second-named contacts beneath the first named contacts where they will be engaged upon the manual movement of the first-named contacts.

2. In a manually operated electric keyboard, a plurality of manually movable electric contacts, push buttons for the contacts and arranged in the same manner as a piano keyboard, and a plurality of contacts movable into positions where they will be engaged by the first contacts when actuated, there being four of the second contacts for each one of the first.

3. A manually operated electric keyboard comprising a plurality of keys, four contacts for each key, means for moving any one of the contacts into a position to be struck by the depression of the associated key, and means for moving the keys into a position to be associated with a different set of contacts.

4. A manually operated electric keyboard comprising a frame, a key carrying member slidable on the frame, keys carried by the frame, a drum carrying a plurality of contacts, means for moving the member into the desired position, and. means for rotating the drum for bringing the desired contacts into a position to be engaged by said keys.

5. A manually operated electric keyboard comprising a frame, a key carrying member slidable on the frame, keys carried by the frame, a drum carrying a plurality of contacts, means for moving the member into thedesired position, and means for rotating the drum for bringing the desired contacts into a position to be engaged by said keys, said drum having four contacts for each key.

6. In an electric musical instrument, a

member carrying a plurality of Contacts, said member havingfour contacts for each key, and means for moving the member for bringing the desired contacts into -a position to be engaged by the keys. Y e

7. In an electric musical instrument, a member carrying a plurality of contacts, said member having four Contacts for each key, and means for moving the member for bring- 10 ing the desired contacts into a position to be engaged by :the keysfand an indicator associated With the member for showing the scale being played.

' HENRY KINNEY.

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