US2728257A

US2728257A - Interchangeable bristles for drummer's brushes

Info

Publication number: US2728257A
Application number: US464426A
Authority: US
Inventors: Frank A Pochobradsky
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1954-10-25
Filing date: 1954-10-25
Publication date: 1955-12-27
Anticipated expiration: 1972-12-27

Description

1955 F. A. POCHOBRADSKY 2,728,257

INTERCHANGEABLE BRISTLES FOR DRUMMER'S BRUSHES Filed Oct. 25, 1954 INVENTOR. iM/KA Pmwmmy United States Patent INTERCHANGEABLE BRISTLES FOR DRUMMERS BRUSHES Frank A. Pochobradsky, Sunnyside, N. Y.

Application October 25, 1954, Serial No. 464,426

2 Claims. (Cl. 84-422) This invention relates to musical instruments and, more particularly, to a drum brush. conventionally, a drum brush includes a tubular handle, a rod slidable therein between extended and retracted positions, a ball or wire loop on one end of said rod, and a plurality of piano steel wires on the other end of the rod, said wires being retractable into the handle on extension of the rod from the handle. In the most usual construction, the named components are permanently assembled with one another, in such a manner that one cannot substitute a new set of bristles when one set becomes worn, or substitute a rod having a ball end for a rod having a wire end, or vice versa. As a result, it is necessary, when the bristles become worn, to discard the entire drum brush for a new one. Further, if the drummer desires to use, on

different occasions, both the ball end or the loop end, it

is necessary to maintain one set of brushes having the first described type of end on the rod, and a second set having the other described type. Still further, in some instances it is desired that neither a ball nor a loop be provided on the drum brush, and under these circumstances still a third set of drum brushes may be required.

In view of the above, it is proposed, according to the present invention, to provide a drum brush in which one set of bristles can be readily interchanged for another, without the necessity of discarding either the handle or the rod. It is further proposed, in carrying out the invention, to permit the substitution of different rods in a single handle, as desired by the user. In this way, the cost of this type of equipment is reduced markedly, since the user need purchase, for use with a single handle, readily interchangeable sets of bristles sold separately from the handles and rods, and may further purchase different rods, at comparatively low unit cost, for use with the single handle.

Another object of importance is to provide a drum brush as stated wherein the construction, though having the characteristic of ready interchangeability of the several components, is still so designed as to be capable of manufacture at little or no increase in cost above that required in the making of drum brushes not having the desirable characteristics of the invention.

Another object of importance is to incorporate, in the means that permits removal and replacement or interchanging of the rods and bristles, a structure that permits the user to predetermine the extent to which the rod may be slidably adjusted inwardly of the handle. By reason of this arrangement, the rod, each time it is adjusted inwardly of the handle, will extend the bristles out of the handle the same distance on each occasion. This is of importance, since the extent to which the bristles project out of the handle determines the relative flexibility thereof, and further determines the width of the fan as well as the thickness of said fan, thus to produce a particular result during the playing of the drum, it being well understood among those skilled in the art that the length and spread of the fan is of considerable importance in producing diiferent kinds and styles of playing of the drum.

Yet another object is to permit the interchangeability of different rods and bristles to be accomplished with minimum difficulty and with maximum speed.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which the various novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

Fig. 1 is a view partly in elevation and partly in longitudinal section of a drum brush formed in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 in which the bristles have been retracted into the handle concurrently with extension of the rod from the handle.

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of a loop-end rod capable of being substituted for that shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, detail sectional view on line 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the drum brush, the rod being partially extended and the bushing being disengaged from the handle.

The drum brush formed in accordance with the present invention includes an elongated, tubular handle 10 which in the illustrated example, but not necessarily, is of circular cross section. The handle is constant in respect to its inner and outer diameters for the greatest part of its length, and at one end, is formed with internal threads 12, the other end 14 being flattened and flared. The handle is formed open at both ends, and due to the flattened, flared formation of the end 14, at this end has a slot-like end opening.

An elongated, straight rod 16, of a length closely approximating that of the handle, is slidable in an end-toend, axial bore 18 formed in a bushing 20 having a reduced, externally threaded inner end portion 22 threadably engageable with the threads 12 of the handle. Due to the reduced diameter of the end portion 22, there is defined upon the bushing 20, intermediate the opposite ends thereof, a circumferential shoulder 24 against which the adjacent end of the handle 10 abuts when the bushing is threaded into the handle to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Formed in the large diameter end portion of the bushing 20 is a radial, threaded opening, and engaged in said opening is a set screw 26, said set screw being threadable into binding engagement with the rod 16 in selected positions to which the rod is longitudinally adjusted within the bushing.

One end of the rod 16 projects at all times exteriorly of the handle, and is embedded in a ball 23 of soft rubber. The other end 3.) of the rod 16 is threaded, as shown to particular advantage in Fig. 4. A set of fine gauge, rustproof, piano steel wires 32 is secured fixedly at its inner end in the flattened, crimped end 34 of a short bristle support sleeve 36. Sleeve 35, at its other end, is cylindrically formed, and a cylindrical bushing 38 is seated in the cylindrical end of the sleeve 36. Bushing 38 has an outer end formed with an outwardly directed circumferential flange 4d abutting against the adjacent end of the sleeve 36, the flange ill being welded or otherwise fixedly secured at 42 to the sleeve.

The bushing 33 has an end-to-end, threaded, axial bore 44, and the threaded end 3% of the rod 16 is removably threaded into said bore.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the rod 16 can be telescoped into the tubular handle it) to its full extent, and in this position of the rod 16, the set of bristles 32 projects out of the opposite end of the handle to its maximum extent. As a result, the bristles are spread out to their maximum extent in a fiat, wide fan, producing a particular sound when applied to a drum, not shown. If desired, the rod 16, instead of being telescoped into the handle for its full length, can be slidably extended into the handle for only a selected part of its length, thus to reduce the fan spread, to produce a diiferent sound.

Although the rod can be left free for telescopic adjustment within the handle to any extent desired, it may be preferred to cause the rod totelescope into the handle to the exact extent each time, to produce a fan spread of the same width and thickness each time the set of bristles is extended out of the rod. Under these circumstances, the set screw 26 is turned home within its provided opening, into engagement with the rod, so as to bind the rod against movement relative to its associated bushing 20. The parts are all now held against relative movement in the selected position to which the rod 16 has been telescoped within the handle so that there will be no possibility of the fan spread being increased or reduced accidentally, and so that, further, there will be no possibility of the fan spread adjustment being lost.

The purpose of the ball element 28 is to permit the drum brush to be used, at that end opposite from the bristles 32, for playing xylophones, glockenspiels, or similar instruments. With the set screw loosened, the ball end of the rod can be extended away from the handle as desired, to facilitate the playing of such instruments. Alternatively, the user may desire to leave the rod in its telescoped, retracted position with the set screw 26 tightened, so as to prepare the selected fan spread adjustment.

If it is desired to change bristles, the user need only unthread the bushing from the handle, after which the bushing, rod, and bristles can be pulled out of the handle. The rod is now unthreaded from the bushing 38, and a new set of bristles, having its own sleeve 36 and bushing 38, can now be attached to the rod 16, inserted in the handle 10, and made ready for use by threading of the bushing into the handle 10 once again.

If, further, it is desired at any time to change rods, this can be done merely by extending the bristles to the Fig. 1 position thereof, and loosening the set screw 26. The rod is now rotated to disengage the same from the bushing 38 and is removed for substitution of a diflerent rod as, for example, a rod 16 having threads 30* at one end and a wire loop end 28 at its opposite end.

It will be seen that the arrangement permits a considerable reduction in cost of the drum brushes, since the user can replace bristles at any time without at the same time having to purchase a new handle and rod, that is, a completely new brush. This is of considerable importance, in view of the fact that the life of the thin gauge wire bristles is extremely short, since the bristles bend and coil out of shape.

Further, the drummer need not have different sets of brushes having various types of ends on the rods, and can merely purchase diiferent rods, capable of being readily interchanged without the necessity of having a different handle and set of bristles for each rod used.

It is to be understood that although a threaded connection has been shown between the rod and the bristle support sleeve 36, any of various other types of separable connections can be employed. For example, a set screw might be used, extending through the sleeve 36 into engagement with the rod. Or, a latch or detent means can be employed. These modifications are considered to be readily understood by those skilled in the art, and hence it is not thought necessary to illustrate the same herein.

It is also important to note that under some circumstances, the player may not desire to use a rod having a ball or loop end, and it will be observed that the construction illustrated readily permits conversion of the drum brush into one of this type characterized by its absence of a ball or loop end rod.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise construction herein disclosed and the right is reserved to all changes and modifications coming within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

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

l. A drum brush comprising a tubular handle open at both ends, one end thereof being flattened and flared, a rod slidably and adjustably mounted in said handle with one end thereof protruding outwardly of the handle and with its other inner end being threaded, a spherical member on the outer end of said rod, a brush assembly connected to the inner end of said rod, said assembly in cluding a sleeve inside the handle, said sleeve having a flattened end clamping one end of a cluster of wires, the oher end of the wires protruding outwardly of the flared end of the handle in spread formation, an internally screw-threaded bushing secured in the other end of the sleeve in threaded engagement with the threaded end of said rod, and means for holding the rod against longitudinal displacement in the handle.

2. A drum brush comprising a tubular handle open at both ends, one end thereof being flattened and flared, the other end thereof being internally screw threaded, a bushing threaded into the threaded end of said handle and having an outwardly protruding portion with a threaded opening, a rod slidably and adjustably extending through said bushing into the interior of the handle, one end of said rod protruding outwardly of the handle, the inner end thereof being screw threaded, means for holding said rod against longitudinal displacement in the bandle, a spherical member on the outer end of said rod, a brush assembly connected to the inner end of said rod, said assembly including a sleeve inside the handle, said sleeve having a flattened end clamping one end of a cluster of wires, the other end of the wires protruding outwardly of the flared end of the handle in spread formation, and an internally screw threaded bushing secured in the other end of the sleeve in threaded engagement with the threaded end of said rod, said rod holding means including a set screw extending through the threaded opening in the bushing in the end of the handle and adapted to engage said rod.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS