US2401571A - Harp - Google Patents

Description

June 4, `1946.

Filed sagt. 25, 1943 R. W. KONTER HARP 2 Sheets-Sheet l /CH/ID PV. KUNTER.

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Patented June 4, 1946 l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICIE.y

HARP

Richard W. Konter, New York, N. Y. Application september 23, 1043, Serin No. 503,473

1 Claim.

1 This invention relates to musical instruments, particularly to those of a plurally stringed type,

and more specifically to harps, zithers and the' like.

An object of the invention is to provide a device whereby the playing of such an instrument may be artistically and correctly accomplished by an amateur, or even a novice.

I am aware that attempts have been made to provide a harp with string dampers to automatically produce chords when a player glides with his thumb or a pick across the sounding or open strings but in all such attempts the instrument was limited to the use of a few chords only, and each chord required the use of a separate damper strip; such device was limited to but a single key.

There are forty-three standard or conventionally used chords any one of which may berequired to produce the desired harmonious accompaniment. All of these chords should be available and these cords should be available in each of the different keys.

Hence a further feature of this invention resides in the provision of a series of adjustable damper carrying bars, which, upon being properly adjusted, will cause the instrument to automatically respond to any selected chords or arpeggios without attention r effort on part of the player.

A further feature is to provide a simple instrument which may be used by even an unskilled player for accompaniment to the voice or other musical instrument, or may be used to play the melody together with the accompaniment, as on I any other harp or the like instrument.

Another purpose is to produce an instrumentality, attachable to the frame of such musical instrument, and provided with means selectively maneuvered into position to produce results ordinarily attained only by eXpert players.

These aims, in addition to simplicity, pleasing appearance and ease of operation, are accomplished by the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, constituting a graphical component of this disclosure, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan View of a conventional type of musical instrument having attached thereto an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view, looking on line 2-2 of Fig. l, drawn to an enlarged scale.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view, looking on line 3 3 of Fig. 1, also enlarged. i

Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7 and are detail views, in side elevation, of the five adjustable chord bars, characterized by the letters J, Q, M, R and U respectively.

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but showing a modification of the yielding support for the chord bars.

Referring in greater detail t0 the drawings,t

it will be seen that a sturdy frame, broadly designated by the numeral I5, is Acomposed of hollow members which include a straight side I6 and a shorter, ornamental side Il, connected at one end by an inclined base i8, and at their opposite ends by angularly disposed end members IS-IS; the entire structure constituting a sounding box. A bridge 20 is fixed longitudinally on the base member I8, and another bridge 2l-2I' extends along the inner margin of the end members lil-I9.

Outwardly beyond the bridge 2| are a plurality of tuning keys 22 for the strings or wires 23, which are trained about fixed pins 24, thence over the bridge 2I-2l, extended in parallel to the base bridge 4ill, and their ends secured in conventional manner (not shown) to the frame member I8.

Such musical instrument construction is well known and recited only that a clear, comprehensive knowled-ge of the invention may be had, description of which follows:

Secured in register on the upper surfaces of the hollow side frame members I6 and l1, are brackets 25, each having ve equally spaced rectangular recesses 26, open at their tops and having narrow notches v2l in their bottoms; caps 28 are provided for the brackets to loosely retain each of the five slidable bars 29 to 33 inclusive, within their appropriate recesses.

Each bar rests on pairs of resilient supports, such as the bent fiat springs 34, shown in Fig. 2,

or the helically coiled pairs of expansion springsA 3d indicated in Fig. 9, these springs being se-l cured at their lower ends in the brackets 25, and serving to yieldingly support the bars in elevatedl position above the strings 23.

Closely adjacent one of the sides of each bar are adjustably fixed key strips 35 to 39 bearing designations J, Q, M, R and U, respectively,

' and corresponding to the same designations on the elongated handle ridges 4B, fixed on the slidable bars; these strips all bear the legend key slat at one end, and at the other end, the characters F, Fit, G, Git, A, Ait, B, C, Ct?, D, Dif,"

and E.

Strips 35. 35 and 31, intermediate the foregoing,

Each of the slidable bars 29 to 33 may bear the notation chord strip on their Lipper surfaces and are provided on their undersides with a plurality of dampers 42, made of felt or other yielding material, in varying lengths, adapted to contact certain of the strings 23 rendering them mute, upon proper adjustment and depression oi the bars.

In the present development, the instrument has a range of the conventional forty-three chords, in any major or minor key; the strings 23 are tuned to the chromatic scale for over two octaves; numerals on the key strips 35 to Sil show the direction to slide the chord bars 28 to 33 to obtain the desired chord, the bars being manie ally shiftable. The bar 29 (J chord), can be adjusted to produce selec-tively, any of the twelve major chords; the bar 30 (Q chord) will produce any of the twelve seventh chords; the bar 3| (M chord) will produce any of the twelve minor chords; bar 32 (R chord) produces any of the three diminished chords, and bar 33 (U chord), any of the four augmented chords.

Figs. 4 to 8 inclusive show the series of five slidable chord bars, all adjusted relative to the musical note C, as is apparent in Fig. 1.

If it is desired to play the C major chord, which is composed of the 1st, 5th, and 8th notes of the chromatic scale, the dampers 42, on the underside of the major, or J chord bar, are so arranged that when depressed, over the chromatic C scale, all of the strings 23 are rendered mute. except the 1st, 5th and 8th strings, and these constitute the major C chord when picked or struck.

When the J chord bar is moved backwards or forwards, that is, to the right and left, as viewed in Fig. 1, its 1st, 5th, and 8th positions over the corresponding strings, forms another major chord; each chord is named the same as that of the string which is at the 1st position of the above formation.

Thus, by being able to slide the major or J chord bar into diierent positions, a player is enabled to sound any one of the twelve major chords with the same J chord bar.

'I'he dampers on the Q chord bar act to mute all strings except the 1st, 4th and 8th and 11th positions of the chromatic scale, and thus by sliding the Q or seventh chord bar to any position the player is enabled to get any of the twelve seventh chords. Similarly, the M or minor chord bar dampers act on all strings, except the lst. 4th and 8th, which form the minor chords, according to the position used, enabling a player to obtain any of the twelve minor chords.

Sliding the diminished or R chord bar, the player may dampen all the strings except the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th, and thus obtain any of the three diminished chords while the augmented or U chord bar acts to dampen all ybut the 4th, 8th and 12th strings to enable a player on sliding the U chord bar to obtain any of the four augmented chords.

The adjustable key strips 35 to 39 are guides for a player; thus, if playing in the key of C, the letter C of all the key strips must be aligned at the key arrows 4 I.

To transpose to any key, as F, the letters F on the key strips will be aligned at the arrow 4|, and this puts the instrument in the key of F.

On the elongated handle ridges 40 of each of the chord bars is an arrow to serve as a guide for adjustment of the chord bars to the chord indicated by the numerals on the key strips. For the beginner, an instruction book may be provided and in said book, the song or selection would be set up with letters and numbers so that by sliding the arrow on the handle ridges 40 of the indicated chord bar to a predetermined number on the key strip, the player will obtain the desired chord as indicated in the instruction book, in which the song is contained.

In any song in the book, if a lettered-number, say, J-l, is indicated, then the operator slides the chord bar J to numeral l of the key strip which then gives the desired chord. If the next lettered-number in the song reads Q-B, then the Q chord strip is slid so that its arrow points to number 8 on its adjacent key strip, and this would then be the proper chord. The operation of the instrument is very simple. The instruction book, through its lettered-numbered arrangement would indicate to the player the position to which any particular chord strip is to be slid for a desired chord, and would indicate thus where the strip is to be depressed for sounding the desired chords. The player may sing, hum or whistle the song concerned and read the music from the song sheet in the instruction book The letter will tell him which strip to apply and the numeral or number would show him where to slide the chord strip for the desired chord, as J-l and Q-8 in Long, Long Ago, for example. It will be undersood that this explanation merely indicates the use of the instrument for accompaniment and in which case an illustrative instruction might appear as follows:

J-l Tell me the tales that to me were so dear, Q- Long, long ago; long, long a- J1 go. Sing me the songs I delighted to hear, Q-S Long, long ago, long a- J-l go.

From the foregoing it is thought that the construction and operation of the device will be apparent; however, the disclosure is to be considered as suggestive, rather than limitative, as it is obvious that many changes and modifications may be made within the scope and tenor of the subjoined claim.

What is claimed as new and sought to secure by Letters Patent is:

A damping device for a plurally stringed instrument of the harp type, comprising a pair of aligned brackets ailixed to the opposite side members of the instrument frame, each said bracket haVIlg a plurality 0f Openings therethrough, bars individually slidable through said openings and transversely of said strings, said bars having a girth less than the width of said openings to be freely guided by the walls thereof, dampers affixed in spaced relation longitudinally along each said bar in confronting relation to the strings and spaced from at least one longitudinal edge of the bar, said dampers being adapted to mute certain of the strings when said bars are selectively depressed, resilient means secured to said brackets and bearing against said bars to urge them away from the strings whereby the bars may yieldingly glide above the free of the strings, a strip on said bracket adjacent and parallel to each said bar, said strips bearing musical scale notations and being longitudinally adjustable selectively to various positions on said brackets, and indicia on said bars relatable to the scale notations on the strips.

RICHARD W. KONTER.

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