US2052405A

US2052405A - Stringed instrument pick

Info

Publication number: US2052405A
Application number: US62883A
Authority: US
Inventors: Lewis R Keller
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1936-02-08
Filing date: 1936-02-08
Publication date: 1936-08-25
Anticipated expiration: 1953-08-25

Description

Aug. 25, 1936. L R, K LL R 2,052,405

STRINGED INSTRUMENT PICK Filed Feb. 8, 1936 INVENTOR Lewis RK2ZZ7" BY 2|; 5 W ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 25, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to picks for stringed instruments and has for an object to provide a simplified construction of pick which may be used as a hand pick or a pick in a toy or other musical instrument without changing the construction of the parts.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pick wherein the pick body is held in place by suitable, automatically acting clutches.

A further object more specifically is to provide a pick having a supportirg rod or shaft with a pick body provided with automatically acting clutches for clamping said body with the parts arranged so that one clutch will function when the pick is moved in one direction and the other clutch will function when the pick is moved in the opposite direction.

In the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a pick disclosing an embodiment of the invention, the rod portion of the pick being broken away at its respective ends.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through Fig. 1 approximately on the line 2--2.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a musical instrument wherein the pick shown in Fig. 1 is utilized, certain parts being broken away for better illustrating the position of the pick.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the pick shown in Fig. 1, the same being on a reduced scale with the pick body moved near one end of the supporting rod.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the pick as shown in Fig. 4 but illustrated as being grasped by the hand ready for use.

Referring to the accompanying drawing by numeral, the pick comprises a supporting rod or bar I, a pick body 2 and

clutches

3 and 4. The rod I may be wood, metal, or other material, while the pick body 2 and the

clutches

3 and 4 are made from a desired metal wire. It will be observed that the body 2 is merely a loop of wire which merges at one end into coils forming the clutch 3, while the other end merges into a reversely arranged coil forming the clutch 4. The parts may be positioned and used as shown in Fig. l, or the clutches may be moved toward each other or away from each other. This action produces an effective lengthening or shortening of the pick body 2. When the parts are in position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and the body 2 is swung to the right by rod I, clutch 4 will function to grip tightly the rod I while clutch 3 will become somewhat loosened. When the body 2 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is swung to the left by rod I, a reverse action takes place, namely, clutch 3 will tightly grip rod I while clutch 4 will become loose. It will also be noted that both clutches may be simultaneously slid along the rod 2 so that the pick may be positioned at any desired point between the ends of rod I. When the device is to be used by the hand the pick body and clutches are preferably arranged near one end of rod I so that the parts may be readily grasped as shown in Fig. 5. When used in a toy or other musical instrument, the pick may be positioned at any desired place so as to engage the wires of the instrument or be engaged by the wires of the instrument. As shown in Fig. 3, the toy or musical instrument is provided with ends 5 and 6, each having a flange or abutment I against which the casing 8 presses so as to hold the sounding wires 9 taut. The rod I is rotatably mounted in ends 6 and I with the end I0 of the rod extending through the end 6. A crank I I is connected in any suitable way with the end ID of rod I so that rod I may be rotated and thereby snapped past the respective wires 9 to produce the desired sound. It is of course evident that the crank II could be held stationary and the ends 6 and 'I and associated parts rotated so that the wires 9 would move past the outer and of body 2, whereby the wires would be picked. It will be. evident that the musical instrument could be made as shown in Fig. 3 or in any other desired way as far as a pick is con- ,cerned, and therefore the musical instrument per se forms no part of the present invention except in combination.

I claim:

1. A pick for a musical instrument comprising a supporting member, a pick body and a pair of oppositely functioning clutches for connecting the pick body with the supporting member, said clutches functioning alternately as said supporting body is rocked back and forth in opposite directions.

2. A pick for a musical instrument comprising a rod, a pick body of wire, and a pair of oppositely functioning clutches for connecting the pick body to the rod, said clutches functioning alternately as the rod is rocked back and forth.

3. A pick for a musical instrument, toys and the like, comprising a supporting rod, a wire pick body formed at each end with a reversely positioned coil surrounding said rod and actuating as right and left clutches for connecting the pick body to the rod.

4. A pick comprising a single loop of resilient wire having a clutch at each end of the wire and a support extending through said clutches.

5. The combination with a musical instrument comprising a coii of resilient wire surrounding said rod and coiled in opposite directions so that when said pick body is swung in one direction, one of the clutches will grip the rod, and when the pick body is swung in the opposite direction, 5

the other clutchwill grip said rod.

LEWIS R. KELLER.