US231786A - Pneumatic action for musical instruments - Google Patents

Description

(HOMO-(181.) I

A. FOWLER.

Pneumatic Action for Musical Instruments.

No. 231,786. Patented Aug. 31,1880.

a, Ill i w l lit t i mm-@454! \l in: 1 ml! i tit! UNTTED STATES PATENT @FFICE AZRO FOWLER, OF MOUNT VERNON, NEIV YORK.

PNEUMATIC ACTION FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 231,786, dated August 31, 1880. Application filed March 31, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, AZRO FOWLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mount Vernon, in the county of IVestchester and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Pneumatic Actions for Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a pneumatic action for musical instruments in which a pneumatic lever is employed in connection with two valves, one for controlling the air-supply and the other for coutrollin g the air-exhaust to and from said pneumatic lever.

It consists in thecombination, with the pneumatic lever having a rod or push-pin, of a reedchest open to external air, an air-chamber arranged below the reed-chest and communicatin with the bellows, a spring-valve arranged between said air-chamber and the reed-chest and actuated by the pin connected with the pneumatic lever to sound the reeds, a chamber communicating with the bellows and with the pneumatic lever, a spring-valve arranged within this chamber to open or close communication between the same and the pneumatic lever, a vertical pin arranged to actuate this spring-valve and provided with an upper valve for opening or closing communication between the external atmosphere and the passage intermediate of the pneumatic lever and said lastnamed chamber, and a key adapted to operate through the note-perforations in a music-sheet the pin carrying the two valves.

It also consists in the arrangement of parts as hereinafter particularly specified in the claims.

This invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which represents a longitudinal vertical section of my invention as applied to an automatic musical reed-instrument; but the principal feature of my invention is also applicable to automatic pianofortes and to organs or other musical wind-instruments.

In the example shown in the drawing, the letter A design-ates the pneumatic lever, which in this instance is intended to be opera-ted by exhaust. It is made, as usual, in the form of a bellows, and its interior connects by a channel, a, with an opening, b, which leads into the open atmosphere, and also with an opening, 0, which leads into a chamber, (7, that com municates, by an opening, 0, with the bellows B. In this example the bellows acts by exhaust, and it communicates by an opening,f, with a chamber, g, from which leads an opening, IL, into the reed-chest G. This chest communicates by a channel, 1', with the open air, and if the air from the chamberg is exhausted, and the valvej, which closes the opening it, is opened, the reed is, situated over this opening, sounds.

The valvej is retained in its closed position by a spring, 7r, and it is opened by a pin, l, which extends from the movable leaf of the pneumatic lever A.

The opening 0, which forms the communication between the exhaustchamber (1 and the pneumatic lever A, is closed by a valve, on, which is exposed to the action of spring a, and on the valve rest-s a pin, 0, which carries a valve, 1), and the upper end of which is in such a position that it can be acted on by the key D. In the example shown in the, drawing this key is subjected to the action of a spring, q, and it is provided with a nose, 1', which bears upon the surface of an automatic music-sheet, E, and which, whenever it comes opposite to an opening in the musicsheet, acts on the pin 0, so as to depress the valve 1; upon the opening 1), and to open the valve m, the spring g, which acts on the key D, being stronger than the spring a, which has a tendency to keep the valve m closed. As soon as the opening bis closed and the opening 0 opened the air in the interior of the pneumatic lever becomes rarefied, said lever collapses by the action of the external atmosphere, and the valve j is opened by the action of the pin 1,- but as the music-sheet advances the key D is raised, the pin 0 is relieved from the pressure of the spring q, the valve in is closed by the spring a, and as the valve closes the pin 0 is forced up and the valve 1) is opened, so as to allow the external air to pass into the pneumatic lever A, thereby equalizing the internal and external pressure of the pneumatic lever, so that the spring will close the reed-valve] and raise the movable leaf of the pneumatic lever ready for a subsequent action.

It will be seen from this description that the two valves 12 and m are connected in such a manner that one must open when the other is closed by the positive action of the pin 0, and consequently the change in the position of the pneumatic lever must take place instantaneously and without fail, and the tone produced by the'action of the key D stops as soon as the action of this key on the pin 0 ceases.

From the above description it will be readily understood that the key 1), instead of being controlled by the spring q and the musicsheet E, may rest upon the pin 0 by its own gravity, and may be actuated by the hand of the performer, or, in other words, that my invention is applicable not only to automatic musical instruments, but also to melodeons and organs played by hand.

I am aware of Patent No. 214,121, in which is described and shown a musical instrument having a pneumatic lever arranged to operate a reedvalve, said pneumatic lever being op erated by two valves upon a valve-stem-the one adapted to regulate the passage from the pneumatic lever to the external atmosphere, the other the passage from the pneumatic lever to the eXhaust-bcllows-said valves being controlled by a perforated music card or tablet,and sueh,therefore,l do not broadly claim.

1 am also aware that in mechanical musical instruments of this class musie-sheets having noteperforations have been employed in connection with spring-keys which actuate the valves when the note-perforations come under such keys.

Various arrangements of valves and airchambers in connection with a pneumatic key have also been employed-such, forinstance, as

' found in Patents No. 98,790 and No. 2l4,12l

none of the features of which are broadly claimed in this application.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a pneumatic action for musical instruments, the combination, with the pneumatic lever A, having a push-pin, l, of the reed-chest open to the external atmosphere, the air-chamber 9 below the reed-chest, and communicating with the bellows B through the portf, the sprin g-valvej, arranged between said air-chamber and the reed-chest and actuated by the pin connected with the pneumatic lever to sound the reeds, the chamber d, communicating with the bellows and with the pneumatic lever, a spring-valve, m, arranged within the chamber (1 to open or close communication between the same and the pneumatic lever, a vertical pin, 0, arranged to actuate the valve m and provided with a valve, 19, for opening or closing communication between the external atmosphere and the passage intermediate of the pneumatic lever and the chamber (1, and a key adapted to operate the vertical pin 0 through the note-perforations in a music-sheet, all constructed and arranged substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a pneumatic action for musical instruments, the combination of the reed-chest O and the independent air-chambers g and d, an ranged substantially in the same horizontal plane and communicating directly with a bellows, the automatically closing valves j and m, arranged, respectively, in said chambers, the pneumatic lever A, with a passage, a, leadin g to the chamber (1 and provided with a pin, 1, for opening the valve j, a vertical pin, 0, provided with the-valves p m, the former adapted to close the port leading from the passage to to the external atmosphere, and the latter arranged to close the port leading from the said passage a to the chamber (1, the key D, controlled by a spring and adapted to act upon the pin 0 through the noteperforations in a music-sheet, all substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

AZRO FOWLER. [L. 8.]

Witnesses W. HAUFF, WILLIAM MILLER.

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