US2552921A - Musical instrument rack - Google Patents

Description

J. A. ANDERSON MUSICAL INSTRUMENT RACK May 15, 1951 Filed Jan. 5, 1947 INVENTOR. BY 4247M fl. flin /w ma @2. 6 M

Patented May 15, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT DFFI'CE 8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in a musical instrument rack.

The principal objects of this invention are:

First, to provide a novel form of musical instrument rack which is readily collapsible into acompact size for carrying-in the pocket or case of a musical instrument.

Second, to provide a collapsible instrument rack with novel interlocking members which when erected. will form a rigid, support for one or more musical instruments.

Third, to provide a collapsible rack for musical instruments which may be erected or collapsed with a minimum of eifortl Other objects pertaining tothe details and economies of the invention will be apparent from the following description and claims.

The drawings, of which there is one sheet; illustratea' preferred form of my instrument rack.

Fig. l is a perspective view of my rack in, erected position.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of my rack in collapsed position.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross: sectional view along the line 33 in Fig. 4.

Fig. 451's a fragmentary vertical cross sectional view through the interconnected parts of my rack. and. showing the parts in erected position.

Fig; is a fragmentary cross sectional" View along the line 5'-5 in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view alon the line 6-6 in Fig. 1.

My rack is designed primarily for the use ofreed instrument playersand is designed to support a musical instrument such as a saxophone and one or more clarinets within convenient reach of. the musician.

The rack consists of a pair of side leg members I? joined together by a. lapped knuckle hinge joint indicated at 2. so-that the legs are swingableabout a hinge bolt 3 between an aligned extended position as illustrated in- Figs. 1, 3 and 5- and a side by side collapsed position as illustrated in Fig. 2 and by the dotted lines in Fig. 5. The left side leg I1 is provided with a longitudinally extending tongue 4 which is arranged to fitwithin a mating groove formed on the top of' alower front leg 5 when the lower leg is rotated around the. hinge bolt to an erected position approximately perpendicular to the side legs; I. The rear sides of the connected ends of the side legs I are provided with vertically extending notches 6 (see Figs. 4 and 5)- which are aligned when the side legs. are in extended position and which are arranged to receive the forward; end of the vertical flange l formed on (Cl. 248-127l the underside of a rearle 8. The rear leg 8 has its forward end lapped over the right side leg I and is provided with a slot 9 on its forward end which. passes the hinge bolt 3, the hinge bolt being provided with a flattened portion H] on its shank so that the hinge bolt 'isheld against rotation. in the rear leg 8. All of the legs are provided with. downturned ends ll forming feet of suitable lengths so that the legs will stand in a level position on the floor.

Positioned above the legs. of the rack is a lower support member [2 of rearwardly opening channe1-shaped cross section having a straight upper portion merging at its lower end with a rearwardly extending return bend portion which terminates in an arm M extending at an obtuse angle with respect to the upper portion of. the arm. The web of the lower end 14 and the reversed curved portion I3 of the lower support member define a slot l5. through which the upper end of the hinge bolt 3 extends. surface 'of the. web of the lower support arm is cut. away or reduced in thickness as at it along the slot l 5 so that the head of the hinge bolt may slide easily along the slot when the hinge bolt is slightly loosened. A knurled thumb screw IT is provided on the lower end of the hinge belt for clamping the legs and lower support memher in either collapsed or. erected position.

The upper end of the lower support member defines a shallow groove it on the rearside thereof and an aperture for receiving the square shank of a short coupling bolt IS. The groove Hi is arranged to receive a mating tongue formed on the forward side of an upper support member 20 when the upper and lower members are in aligned relationship. A wing nut 2| is provided on the bolt 89 for clamping the upper and lower members together. The upper member 20 is turned slightly backwardly from the lowersupport and is provided at its upper end with a furtherrea-rwardly turned tip 22 defining'a slot- 23 openin to one side of the member and adapted to receive a stud bolt mounted in the center of a U-shaped support bracket 24. A thumb-screw 25 is provided on the stud for clamping the upper bracketto the upper support member. Due to the rearwardly turned tip and arm of the upper support member the upper bracket 24 substantially overhangs the rear leg 8.

Thestraight portion of thellc-wer support member til definesa slot 2E arranged to pass a stud secured to thecenter of a lower Us-haped supportbracliet 2?. clamping the lower bracket on the lower support arm. Theenclsol thesid'elegs- I definet'hre'aded The upper A wing nut is provided for 3 apertures 29 for removably supporting suitable pins indicated by dotted lines at St for supporting clarinet-s or other musical instruments having straight barrels and the U-shaped support brackets 24 and 2? are arranged to conveniently support a saxophone.

As will be most readily seen in Fig. 2 the rack may be collapsed into a very compact shape by loosening the thumb screw H and wing nuts 2!, 25 and 28. The upper support bracket 2 may be removed from the upper support member and the lower support bracket may be turned into the plane of the lower support member l2. The upper support arm 20 may then be rotated to lie alon the back of the lower support arm and may be clamped in this position by retightening the wing nut 21, the rearwardly turned upper portion of the upper arm providing clearance for the wing nut. The lower support member may be slid forwardly to move the hinge bolt it along the slot [5, the arm rotating backwardly toward the rear arm l2 as the head of the hinge bolt passes along the return bend of the lower support arm. It will be noted that the side flanges of the lower support member overlap and engage the sides of the rear leg 3 maintaining the rear leg and lower support member in aligned relationship. The rear leg 8 may then be pulled backwardly to move the square shank is of the hinge bolt to the forward end of the slot 9 which will move the flange '5 of the rear leg out of the notches in the side legs I. The side legs may then be rotated into side by side collapsed position underneath the rear leg 8 and the front leg may be dropped away from the left side leg to clear the groove 4 from its mating tongue so that the front leg may be rotated into an aligned position below the side legs L. If desired the thumb screws ii and wing nut 2! may then be tightened to clamp the parts of the racks in collapsed position. It should be noted that the cut away portion I3 of the web of the lower support member permits the rack to be collapsed or erected with a ver small motion of thethumb screw ll. As soon as the hinge bolt is loosened sufficiently toslide the lower support member under the head of the hinge bolt, the cut away portion l6 will automatically provide sufficient clearance to drop the front leg 5 below the tongue on the left side leg.

The rack is thus provided with rigid interlocking members in both erected and collapsed position so as to firmly support the instruments placed thereon and is still readily collapsed into a short compact bundle which is no longer than the rear legs. The rearwardly extending character of the support arm provides a support readily adapted to receive the curved form of a saxophone and the rack is easil and quickly adjusted to either erected or collapsed position.

Relative terms such as right and left, front and back, upper and lower have been used for convenience of description only since obviously the tongue and groove joints and relative lapping of the endsof the leg members could be reversed and still produce the same interlocking results. I have thus described a highly practical embodiment of my rack adapted for supporting saxophones and clarinets and have not attempted to show various modifications thereof for supporting other instruments as such modifications should be readily apparent without further disclosure.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A collapsible musical instrument rack comprising a pair of legs having a lapped knuckle hinged joint between the inner ends thereof and 'foldable into side by side relationship, the inner ends of said legs having vertical notches therein which are aligned when said legs are extended,

a third leg having a tongue and groov locking engagement with said pair of legs when in extended position, a fourth leg having a lapping engagement with said other legs and having a slot in the inner end thereof, a common hinge bolt connecting said legs and extending through said slot, said fourth leg having a tongue engageable in said notches in said pair of legs to form a tongue and groove locking engagement in erected position releasable by moving said fourth leg longitudinally of the leg relative to said hinge bolt, a lower support member having a return curved lower end and with flanges engageable with the sides of the uppermost of said legs, said lower member defining a slot along the return curve thereof through which said hinge bolt extends, said hinge bolt having a flattened shank engageable with said slot in said fourth leg to prevent relative rotation therebetween, a nut threaded on said hinge bolt for clamping said legs and member together, an upper member having a releasable lapped tongue and groove pivoted joint with the upper end of said lower support member, and instrument support brackets reieasably secured to said upper member and said lower member.

2. A collapsible musical instrument rack comprising a pair of legs having lapped knuckle hinged joint between the inner ends thereof and foldable into side by side relationship, the inner ends of said legs having vertical notches therein which are aligned when said legs are extended, a third leg having a tongue and groove locking engagement with said pair of legs when in extended position, a fourth leg having a lapping engagement with said other legs and having a slot in the inner end thereof, a common hinge bolt connecting said legs and extending through said slot, said fourth leg having a tongue engageable in said notches in said pair of legs to form a tongue and groove locking engagement in erected position releasable by moving said fourth leg longitudinally of the leg relative to said hinge bolt, a lower support member having a return curved lower end, said lower member defining a slot along the return curve thereof through which said hinge bolt extends, said hinge bolt having a flattened shank engageable with said slots in said fourth leg and lower support member to prevent relative rotation therebetween, a nut threaded on said hinge bolt for clamping said legs and member together, an upper member having a releasable lapped tongue and groove pivoted joint with the upper end of said lower support member, and

instrument support brackets releasably secured to said upper member and said lower member.

3. A collapsible musical instrument rack comprising a pair of side leg members having a knuckle hinge joint between the inner ends there.- of and foldable between an extended and'a side by side relationship, the inner ends of said legs having vertical notches therein which are brought into aligned cooperating relationship when said legs are extended, a rear leg having a flat inner end lapped upon the joint of said side legs and provided with a vertically projecting flange the forward end of which is arranged to engage said notches when said legs are erected, a front leg having a lapped interlocking engagement with the inner ends of said side legs when said legs are erected, a common hinge bolt extending through the inner ends of said legs, said rear leg defining a slot through which said bolt extends whereb said rear leg is movable longitudinally of itself to disengage the flange thereon from said notches, a support member having an extending bend on the lower end thereof, said bend defining a slot through which said hinge bolt extends whereby said member may be slid along said hinge bolt to tilt the upper end of the member between a generally horizontal position overlying the upper of said legs and a rearwardly sloping erected position, and a clamping member on said hinge bolt for clamping said legs and support member together, the thickness of said support member being reduced toward the top thereof and along said slot whereby a small movement of said clamping member will permit a greater loosening of said legs by moving said support member to position said bolt in the thinned portion of said support to permit disengagement of the lapped interlocking engagement of said front leg.

4. A collapsible musical instrument rack comprising a plurality of leg members having an interlocking and hinge joint between the inner ends thereof and foldable into side by side relationship, a common hinge bolt extending through the inner ends of said legs, said bolt having a flattened surface non-rotatably engaging one of said legs, said one leg defining a slot through which said flattened surface extends whereby said one leg is movable longitudinally of itself to disengage part of the interlocking portion of said joint, a support member having a bend on the lower end thereof, said bend defining a slot through which said hinge bolt extends whereby said member may be slid along said hinge bolt to tilt the upper end of said support member between a generally horizontal position overlying said legs and a rearwardly sloping position, and a clamping member on said hinge bolt for clamping said legs and member together.

5. A collapsible musical instrument rack comprisin a plurality of leg members having an interlocking and hinge joint between the inner ends thereof and foldable into side by side relationship, a common hinge bolt for said joint extending through the inner ends of said legs, a support member having a return bend on the lower end thereof, said return bend defining a I slot through which said hinge bolt extends whereby said member may be slid along said hinge bolt to tilt the upper end thereof between a generally horizontal position overlying said legs and a rearwardly sloping position, the walls along the sides of said slot decreasing in thickness along said slot toward the rear thereof, and a clamping member on said hinge bolt for clamping said legs and member together.

6. A collapsible musical instrument rack comprising a plurality of leg members having an interlocking and hinge joint between the inner ends thereof and foldable into side by side relationship, a common hinge bolt for said joint extending through the inner ends of said legs, said bolt having a flattened surface non-rotatably engaging one of said legs, said one leg defining a slot through which said flattened surface extends whereby said one leg is movable longitudinally of itself to disengage part of the interlocking portion of said joint, a support member having a bend on the lower end thereof, said bend defining a slot through which the flattened portion of said hinge bolt extends whereby said member may be slid along said hinge bolt to tilt the upper end thereof between a generally horizontal position overlying said legs and an erected position, and a clamping member on said hinge bolt for clamping said legs and member together, said member being tapered in thickness along said slot.

7. A collapsible musical instrument rack comprisin a plurality of 1eg members having an interlocking and hinge joint between the inner ends thereof and foldable into side by side relationship, a common hinge bolt for said joint extending through the inner ends of said legs, said bolt having a flattened surface non-rotatably engaging one of said legs, said one leg defining a slot through which said flattened surface extends whereby said one leg is movable longitudinally of itself to disengage part of the interlocking portion of said joint, 2. support member having a bend on the lower end thereof, said bend defining a slot through which the flattened portion of said hinge bolt extends whereby said member may he slid along said hinge bolt to tilt the upper end of said support member between a generally horizontal position overlying said legs and an erected posi-- tion, and a clamping member on said hinge bolt for clamping said legs and member together.

8. A collapsible musical instrument rack comprising a plurality of leg members having an interlocking and hinge joint between the inner ends thereof and foldable into side by side relationship, a common hinge bolt for said joint extendin through the inner ends of said legs, a support member having a bend on the lower end thereof, said bend defining a slot through which said hinge bolt extends whereby said member may be slid along said hinge bolt to tilt the upper end thereof between a generally horizontal position overlying said legs and an erected position, and a clamping member on said hinge bolt for clamping said legs and member together in erected position.

JOSEPH A. ANDERSON.

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

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,278,318 Edsall Sept. 10', 1918 1,464,279 Hindley Aug. 7, 1923 2,007,574 Lang July 9, 1935

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