US2539662A - Megaphone for wind instruments - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 30, 1951 1.. L. GILCREASE MEGAPHONE FOR WIND INSTRUMENTS Filed Jan. 14, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. LEO/YARD L. 61L ORE/13E.

W, wagzaw ATTOR/VJEYS,

Jan. 30,1951 L. 1.. GILCREASE MEGAPHONE FOR WIND INSTRUMENTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 14, 1949 INVENTOR. Lia/MR0 L. 61L 025/155.

MI I

ATTOJPA/ZVS.

Patented Jan. 30, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MEGAPHGNE FOR WIND INSTRUMENTS Leonard L. Gilcrease, Haniord, .Calif.

Application January 14, 1949, Serial No. 70,925

4 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to improvements in a magaphone for a wind instrument, and it particularly relates to an apparatus which will increase the sound of wind instruments of narrow shape. Such instruments have little tone volume due to the lack of a large instrumental body. Typical of such instruments are the flute and clarinet.

Many instruments are provided with a body which will increase the sound volume. Such instruments are, among others, the trumpet, the trombone, and the saxophone.

The present invention deals with tubularshaped, narrow instruments. Their sound will be drowned out in an orchestra when competing with the type of instrument that contains volume building body unless reinforced by several artists playing the same passage. This invention puts the narrow, tubular-shaped instruments on a more equal basis, and improves their sound quality and resonance at the same time. It is well known to persons skilled in the art, that in some sound producing horns the pitch of the notes is determined by the vibration of the lips. In these instruments the horn merely prevents the sound Waves from dispersing, and rather sends them uniformly in the direction of its outlet opening. This creates in the distance the effect of an increase in sound volume. This is utilized in any magaphone, be it a radio speaker or an automobile horn.

This principle is used in my invention. I am using a wind instrument which produces the pitch of the notes by means of tone-holes and not by vibration of the lips. At the same time I provide a magaphone surrounding the instrument which will direct the tone volume-in a certain direction before the tones escape into the open. 7

It is an object of my invention to overcome the tonal defects originating in the ordinary wind instrument of the clarinet type.

It is another object to produce a medium which will increase the sound of instruments which have practically no volume building body of their own, by confining the sound waves produced by the instrument and sending them in one direction.

It is a further important object of my invention to combine an improvement which will produce the desired pitch by the advantageous use of tone holes; with an instrument body adapted to create the impression of a larger sound volume by directing all of the emanating sound waves in a certain direction.

It is another object of this invention to provide means for gaining access to the tone holes of a wind instrument surrounded by a casing, without appreciable loss of tone volume through the open ings of the casing permitting access to the instrument for playing it.

Finally, it is an important object to provide access to the encased instrument in such a manner that the musician playing it is assured the full freedom in the movement of his fingers and hands over the instrument.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification, and the novel features of the device will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application, in which:

Figure 1 shows a side view of the magaphone with an instrument mounted therein;

Figure 2 shows a front view of the magaphone;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in Figure 1 and shows the instrument holding means;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along the line LVIV in Figure l and shows the means for receiving the right hand of the player;

Figure 5 is another sectional view along line VV of Figure 1 and shows the means for receiving the left hand of the player;

Figure 6 is a sectional View taken along the line VIVI in Figure 5, and shows a further detail of the hand-receiving opening in the magaphone; and

Figure '7 is a longitudinal sectional view of the megaphone portion that houses the instrument and is taken along the line VII-VII in Figure 2.

While I have shown only the preferred form of my invention, it should be understood that various changes or modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The wind instrument indicated generally at A, rests in a horn-shaped casing B. To hold the instrument Afirmly in place, spring clips I and la clamp the body of the instrument to saddles 2 and 2a,. respectively. The clips 6 and la are preferably located, one at each end of theinstru ment, and are secured to the saddles 2 and 2a. The saddles are mounted within the casing B. Since the instrument A is located approximately in the center of the casing B, the saddles will preferably form a half disc, as shown in Figure 3. In the drawings, a clarinet is shown located in the casing B, but any other wind instrument of Somewhat similar shape may be used instead.

The instrument A is operated by means of opening or closing difierent combinations of tone holes 3, which can be closed by the fingers of the player, or else levers 4 may be employed for the same purpose. Air is blown into the instrument through the mouthpiece 5, which, as shown in Figure 1, protrudes from the entrance end of the casing B. Two clips 6 around the mouthpiece serve to hold the reed to the mouthpiece.

It may become necessary to remove the instrument A from the casing B. For this purpose a cover C is made a part of the casing. Hinges I permit the opening and closing of the cover C. The latter and the hinges l are shown in Figure 2. A fastener 8 will hold the cover 5, while closed, safely to the casing. Reference is made to Figure 4. The casing B has a curved and conical body widening toward a bell end D.

While the instrument is being played, the casing B is supported by a strap E which is placed over the shoulder of the musician. Two eyelets 9 are used to secure the strap E to the megaphone.

In order to afford access to the sets of tone holes 3 and levers 4 which are operated by the musicians hands, large apertures F and G are provided in the casing opposite the respective sets of tone holes 3 and levers 4.

Usually, in a clarinet, the left hand operates the set of tone holes and levers disposed closer to the mouthpiece. Thus, the aperture F, nearer to the mouthpiece 5, is located on the left hand side of the casing B; the aperture G is located on the right hand side and opposite the lower sets of tone holes 3 and levers 4. This arrange ment is shown in Figures 1 and 2.

The apertures F and G are closed by shields H and J, respectively. It is sufiicient to describe the function of the shield H covering the aperture F, and it should be remembered that a similar arrangement applies to the aperture G.

The shield H is arcuate in shape and has two arcuate members H and 12. The numeral it represents the inner member and the numeral l2 the outer member. As shown in Figure 5, a hand-receiving sleeve 13 is secured to the members H and I2. The sleeve carries a flange it, which is secured'to the members H and 52 by rivets or other suitable fastening means. As indicated before, a similar arrangement applies to the lower aperture G, shown in Figure 4. There the respective parts carry the same numerals and letters, but have in addition the suifix a.

Thus the shields H and J are free to move peripherally and longitudinally along the casing B, and the sleeves l3 and [3a are free to be moved any place within the confines of the apertures F and G as indicated by the arrows X in Figures 4, 5 and 6. The purpose of the shield and sleeve arrangement is to furnish an entry just large enough to receive the musicians hand. If the sleeves were not movable, the musician would not be able to move hi hands and fingers to diiferent keys of the instrument. But the arrangement described forms hand-receiving passages freely movable which will cause the shields to slide and rotate freely according to the movements of the musicians hands. Full mobility of his fingers is preserved by the tapered appear- 4 ance of the sleeves l3 and 13a, and for all practical purposes no sound waves will escape from the casing B through the apertures F and G after the musicians hands have entered the sleeves.

I claim:

1. A megaphone for an instrument, comprising a horn-shaped casing adapted to surround the instrument; the instrument having its mouthpiece protruding from one end of the casing and having tone holes; and the casing having handreceiving apertures affording access for the musicians fingers to the tone holes, and a hinged cover forming a part of the casing, said cover when opened permitting the insertion of or the removal of the instrument from the casing.

2. A megaphone for a wind instrument having sets of tone holes with levers for closing certain of the holes, comprising a casing adapted to surround the wind instrument; the casing having large apertures; an arcuate shield covering each aperture; each shield being slidably supported by the casing and having hand-receiving openings moveable within the confines of each aperture affording access of the musicians hands to operate manually the tone holes and levers, without any appreciable escape of sound waves through the hand-receiving opening.

In a megaphone for an instrument, a casing adapted to surround the instrument; the casing having hand-receiving apertures permitting the playing of the instrument; an arcuate shield covering each aperture; each shield being movably supported by the casing and having two circumferentially movable members, one on the inside and the other on the outside of the casing; both members being connected together; each shield having a hand-receiving opening movable within the confines of each aperture and affording access for the hands of the player of the instrument.

4. In a megaphone for a wind instrument having sets of tone holes, a casing adapted to surround the wind instrument; the instrument having its mouthpiece protruding from one end of the casing; the casing having an aperture disposed opposite each set of tone holes; an arcuate shield covering each aperture; each shield being supported by the casing and being slidable circumferentially and longitudinally of the casing, and each shield having a hand-receiving sleeve movable within the confines of the casing and afiording access of the musicians hands to each set of tone holes.

LEONARD L. GILCREASE.

REFERENCES CITED Thefollowing references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 644,669 Froelich Mar. 6, 1900 681,753 Strieifier Sept. 3, 1901 723,701 Messner Mar. 24, 19%

1,698,958 Miessner Jan. 15, 1929 1,951,928 Elkington Mar. 20, 1934 2,160,229 Rupert May 30, 1939

Images