US1813832A - Musical element - Google Patents

Description

y 7, 1931- H. E. WINTERHOFF 1,813,832

MUSICAL ELEMENT Filed Dec. 4, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l I N VEN TOR.

Her/mall Wm tar/2% BY MMQA A TTORNEYS July 7, 1931. 5 WNTERHOFF 1,813,832

MUSICAL ELEMENT Filed Dec. 4, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m l/IIIIIIIIII/I/IIII/l!(III/A HYVENTOR. fierman E. WmZer/w/fi.

BY wu a A TTORNE Y5 Patented July 7, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HERMAN E. WINTERHOFF, 0F INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO LEEDY MANU- FACTURING COMPANY, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA MUSICAL ELEMENT Application filed December 4, 1929. Serial No. 411,535.

The object of my invention is to produce a new musical instrument, or implement, of the percussion type and of such character that a musical sound of pleasing character and desired pitch and volume may be produced, the new implement or instrument comprising much less material than has heretofore been required to produce an element capable of producing a somewhat similar sound of the same pitch and volume. V A musical instrument, of any desired range, may be produced by placing in desired proximity a proper number of my new elements which have been properly pitched.

My new element is composed of a tubular section of resonant material to which is rigidly secured a laterally extending vibratory reed or bar of resonant material the reed or bar being so proportioned as to length and thickness (thereby determining its pitch responsive to percussion) that when firmly secured to the tube, the unit will, when struck, emit a sound the pitch of which is such that the air column defined by the tube will be set into resonant vibration, the percussion pitch of the unit being preferably the same as the resonating pitch of the tube.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention in various aspects.

Fig. 1 is a section of one form of my inven tion medially of both bar and tube, the end of the tube most remote from the bar being open; Fig. 2 a similar section of another form in which the bar end of the tube is open and the far end closed; Fig. 3 a similar view of another form where both ends of the tube are open; Fig. 4: a similar view of another form in which two tubes are attached to opposite faces of the bar; Fig. 5 a similar View of another form in which an open-ended tube is projected through the bar; Fig. 6 a similar View of another form in which the tube is attached to one face of a bar of twice the vibrating length of the bar shown in the other figures; Fig. 7 a medial section of a modification capable of producing a fuzzy, azzy tone, and Fig. 8 a perspective of a group of my new elements.

In the drawings 10 indicates a tube of resonant material the length of which will provide an air column of such length that, when set into vibration, a tone of the desired pitch will be produced. Such tubes have heretofore been commonly used as resonators and the method of determining the requisite length for a resonator tone of desired pitch is well known. For convenience I shall at times refer to the tone pitch of the air column of the tube as the resonator pitch of the tube. This tube must be of such material as to be capable of producing a clear tone under percussion and preferably may be of brass or hell metal such as is commonly used in tubular chimes although other resonant material, such as hard wood, say cocobolo, will in some combinations, give pleasing and satisfactory results.

Rigidly secured to tube 10 is a vibratory reed or bar 11 of resonant material capable of producing a clear tone under percussion. If the tube 10 is metal the bar 11 should preferably be metal and, like tube 10, the metal should be such as to emit a musical tone of reasonably resonant qualities. For instance, a soft metal like lead, would not be useful for either tube or bar. The attachment of bar 11 to tube 10 must be of such character that the two bodies will vibrate as a unit under percussion.

As is well known, the resonator pitch of a tube is dependent upon its length, and a tube closed at one end has a resonator value equal to that of a tube of twice the length but open at both ends.

It is, of course, well known that the pitch of the fundamental tone response of a percussed relatively short tube, of a given diameter and wall thickness is independent of the length of the tube because this tone pitch is due to diametrical oblations of the tube wall.

The fundamental characteristic of my new musical element is that the tube and bar, un-

der percussion vibrate as a whole to produce a tone the pitch of which is such as to develop the resonator tone of the tube.

While I am not able at this time to announce any mathematical formula by which the length, thickness and Width of bar required for proper coordination with the resonator and percussion values of the tube, I shall state a few comparative dimensions which will indicate the general principles which underlie production of my devices. The bar is preferably secured to the tube as shownin Fig. 1 where the major portion of the length of the bar is substantiaily to one side of the axis of the tube and the bar forms a closure for one end of the tube. The tube may, if desired, be secured at one end of the bar with no projection but a slight projection, as indicated in Fig. 1, is convenient to permit supporting the element with .the bar horizontal and the tube depending.

Using thin wall tubes, the lengths of which were proper to give resonator pitches of A, B, C and D above middle C, bars thick and having widths closely approximating the selected tube diameters, gave,- under percussion, the tones C, Cit. D and D+ respectively, in the octave above middle C, as indicated below:

Again, with thin wall tubes, as above, and

bars thick giving the same ultimate resonated percussion tones, the bars alone, under percussion, were pitched in the octave above middle C, respectively Ait C-,C+ and Cif, as follows:

With tubes having walls about double the thickness of the tubes mentioned above, and with 4; bars the bars alone, under'precussion, were pitched in the octave above middle C respectively Air, B- C and Cit, as follows upon a pair of parallel felt strips 15,Yor

stnngscspaced apart slightly more than the tube diameter, 'with'the tube depending between them. The lateral spacing need not be very accurate except that one support should .not be too near to the'free end of the the bar. The tubes may, if desired extend upwardly. The element may be also suspended by acord, bythreading through a hole, or otherwise, from most any point in the length of either tube or bar, except quite close: to the free end of the bar, so long as;

the unit as a whole is free to vibrate under percussion.

Satisfactory tone quality may be produced by applying percussion at any point in the lengthof the tube or bar, thoughthe best re sults appear to be obtained by striking the bar either in line with the tube or close to its free end. There appears-to be a node in the bar about midway between its free end and the tube axis and if the bar is struck at or near this node the resonance is dampened In the form shown in Fig. 2 the open end of the tube '10 issecured in a perforation in the bar 11, theot-her end of the tube being closed by a cap 12. In Fig. 3 the tube 10, being open at both ends with one end secured in a perforation in the bar, as in Fig. 2,

must be twice as long as the tubes in the,

forms shown in Figs. '1 and;2, thedesired resonated percussion pitch being the same.

In Fig. 4, two tubes '10 with their adjacent ends closed by the intervening'bar 1-1,'are shown, and-inFig. 5 a continuous tube, open atboth ends, is passed through a perforation in bar 11. Of these last two forms, the one shown in Fig. 4 appearsto be thebetter but neither. is better than the forms shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and, as more material is used, they appear to be less desirable commercially.

In the form shown in Fig. 6 tube 10 is applied to the middle of a bar 11 of twice the vibrating length of the bar 11 in the other figures. There are some difiiculties in tuning this structure and, as it too requires considerably more material than the forms shown in Figs. 1 and 2, it appears to be less desirable commercially.

Jazzy, or fuzzy eflects, may be obtained by closing one end of the tube with a loosely retained diaphragm 14, as indicated in Fig. 7, the other end being left open.

No effort has been made, in the drawings, to show accurate relative proportions of bars and tube, except only to indicate the fact that if a tube open at both ends is used such tube must be twice the length of a tube which is closed at one end.

The most sonorous results seem to be attained with relatively thin gauge tubing and thin bars, the thickness of the bars being sufilcient to provide reasonable length.

I claim as my invention:

1. A musical. instrument of the percussion type composed of a tube and a bar each of resonant material and rigidly directly connected so as to vibrate as a unit under percussion, said bar being so proportioned as to its percussion pitch, relative to the resonator pitch and percussion pitch of the tube, that the percussion pitch of the unit will be the same as the resonator pit-ch of the tube.

2. A musical instrument of the percussion type composed of a tube of resonant metal and a bar of resonant metal rigidly directly connected so as to vibrate as a unit under percussion, said bar being so proportioned as to its percussion pitch, relative to the resonator pitch and percussion pitch of the tube, that the percussion pitch of the unit will be the same as the resonator pitch of the tube.

3. A musical instrun'ient of the percussion type composed of a tube and a bar each of resonant material and rigidly directly con. nected so as to vibrate as a unit under percussion, said bar being so proportioned as to its percussion pitch, relative to the resonator pitch and percussion pitch of the tube, that the percussion pitch of the unit is such that the air column within the tube will be set into resonating vibration by percussion on the tube or bar.

4. A musical instrument of the percussion type composed of a tube of resonant metal and a bar of resonant metal ri idly directly connected so as to vibrate as a unit under percussion, said bar being so proportioned as to its percussion pitch, relative to the reson ator pitch and percussion pitch of the tube, that the percussion pitch of the unit is such that the air column within the tube will be set into resonating vibration by percussion on the tube or bar.

5. A musical instrument of the percussion type composed of a tube and a bar each of a resonant metal rigidly secured directly together by application of the bar as a closure for one end of the tube, so that the tube and bar will vibrate under percussion as a unit, said bar being so proportioned as to its percussion pitch, relative to the resonator pitch and percussion pitch of the tube, that the percussion pitch of the unit is such that the percussion pitch of the unit will be the same as the resonator pitch of the tube.

6. A musical instrument of the percussion type composed of a tube and a bar each of a resonant material rigidly secured directly together by application of the bar as a closure for one end of the tube, so that the tube and bar will vibrate under percussion as a unit, said bar being so proportioned as to its percussion pitch, relative to the resonator pitch and percussion pitch of the tube, that the percussion pitch of the unit is such that the percussion pitch of the unit will be the same as the resonator pitch of the tube.

7. A musical instrument of the percussion type composed of a tube and a bar each of a resonant metal ri idly secured directly to gether by application of the bar as a closure for one end of the tube, so that the tube and bar will vibrate under percussion as a unit, said bar being so proportioned as to its percussion pitch, relative to the resonator pitch and percussion pitch of the tube, that the percussion pitch of the unit is such that the air column within the tube will be set into resonating vibration by percussion of the tube or bar.

8. A musical instrument of the percussion type composed of a tube and a bar each of a resonant material rigidly secured directly together b application of the bar as a closure for one end of the tube, so that the tube and bar will vibrate under percussion as a unit, said bar being so proportioned as to its percussion pitch, relative to the resonator pitch and percussion pitch of the tube, that the percussion pitch of the unit is such that the air column within the tube will be set into resonating vibration by percussion of the tube or bar.

9. A musical instrument of the character specified in claim 1 wherein one end of the tube is closed by a loosely retained diaphragm.

10. A musical instrument of the character specified in claim 2 wherein one end of the tube is closed by a loosely retained diaphragm.

11. A musical instrument of the character specified in claim 3 wherein one end of the specified in claim 4 wherein one end of the tube is closed by a loosely retained diaphragm.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Indianapolis; Indiana, this 29th dayof November, A. D. one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine.

HERMAN E. WINTERHOFF.

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