US3465635A - Multiheaded mallets - Google Patents

Description

, sept. 9, 1969 A, A. MALDACKER 3,465,695`

MuLTIHEADEn MALLETS Filed April 22, 1964 INVENTOR. ANTA/ AMALDACKER United States Patent O 3,465,635 MULTIHEADED MALLETS Antal A. Maldacker, 102 Balmoral Ave., Toronto 7, Ontario, Canada Filed Apr. 22, 1964, ser. No. 361,664 Claims priority, application Canada, Apr. 25, 1963, 874,045 Int. Cl. Gd 13/00 U.S. Cl. 84-422 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A mallet arrangement for percussion instruments having a plurality of heads of which at least one is rigidly Xed, the remaining heads being movable by selective operation of members afxed to the handle portion of the mallet.

This invention relates to multiheaded mallets some heads of which are movable in relation to the others, and used with different types of musical instruments.

It is a well known fact that the sounding elements of the percussion instruments are arranged like the keys of the standard keyboard of the piano. The majority of such instruments are tted out with twelve sounding elements per octave, corresponding to the notes used in the music of the western civilization. These sounding elements, if arranged according to the pitch, have half musical intervals throughout the whole range of notes. But, unfortunately, the sounding elements are placed according to the C major scale, that is with unevenly distributed musical intervals. The most important consequence of said arrangement is that for every type of chord a different mallet with the proper spacing of the heads should be used, and since they should be many times and quickly changed during the performance of a musical selection the technique of playing would be impractical, in fact inconceivable.

The mallets used so far have thus in the majority of cases only single heads, and using two mallets of this kind merely a tune having no more than two notes in the same instant can be played. This is the reason that the Xylophone-like instruments are not very popular: the impossibility to play chords makes them inferior to most of other musical instruments.

I found that if the mallets are provided with more than one head, and some of them are movable in respect to the others, chords can be played, since only simple movements of the lingers are required to control the levers which position the heads of the mallet.

The mallet of the invention is of a T-form with the upper part serving as the base of the heads, and the stem as the handle of the mallet. The number of heads, according to this invention, can vary, the most practical being three heads. The positioning of the heads during the performance of a musical selection will be carried out by a combination of levers, springs, pulleys, shafts etc. In the following description I will set forth the construction and use of two embodiments of the invented mallet, one with three heads and one with iive heads. They are examples of typical solutions of moving the heads into the desired positions.

Other features and advantages of this invention will appear from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross section of the same along the line A--A;

FIG. 3 is a portion of the handle of the same showing the configuration of the operating levers;

3,465,635 Patented Sept. 9, 1969 FIG. 4 is a plan view of a second embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 5a and 5b are partial cross-sections of the second embodiment along the line B--B;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of one of the control sledges of the second embodiment along the line C-C.

The mallet of FIG. 1 has three heads, the two outer heads being -movable along a half circle into a position a half step to the right whereas the middle head is Xed in relation to the body of the mallet.

The mallet illustrated in FIGS. l, 2 and 3 comprises a handle 1, and crossbar 1 equipped with three heads 2, 3 and 4. The heads 3 and 4 are eccentrically mounted on shafts 7 and 8, respectively, by means of stems 5 and 6. In the normal position head 3 is two whole-steps, head 4 one and one half steps apart from the fixed head. When used in this position, called the normal position, the mallet will strike a major triad (2-11/2 intervals).

The heads 3 and 4 can be moved separately or simultaneously a half step to the right, forming a diminished, an augmented or minor triad respectively (11/z-11/2, 2 2, or 11/2-2 intervals). The moving of the heads from the normal position to a new one is accomplished by pulleys 13, 14, 17 and 18 which are turned by strings 15 and 16. Since the construction and function of both sides of the mallet is identical I will describe the operation of the left side. String 15 is wound over pulley 13 which is irmly attached to the hollow shaft 11. Shaft 11 is turnable on the handle portion 1 yand is actuated by the operating member 10 which is firmly attached to it. The operating member 9, which belongs to the system of the other movable head 4, protrudes over the operating member 10 and stays normally in the same plane as member 10. In order to operate the mallet the player holds the handle iirmly in the hand and does not touch the cranks when playing major chords. To play other chords (minor, diminished or augmented triads as well as double notes of different intervals) he pushes, with his thumb, the member 9 or 10 or both, as the case may be. The arrangement of the operating members 9 and 10 makes the operation somewhat easy to carry out since the thumb first touches the proper member or both of them together and then pushes it or them. When the members 9 and 10 are released the springs 19 and 20 will return the heads 3 and 4 to their normal position.

The mallet o-f FIG. 4 has five heads 22-26, the middle one 22 being fixed, the others 23-26 movable in planes perpendicular to the plane formed by the crossbar 21 and the handle 39.

The heads 23 and 24 form a set of heads at the left side, heads 25 and 26 a set at the right side of the mallet. One head of each of said sets is at any given moment in said plane formed by the crossbar 21 and the handle 39, the other head of each of said sets is above the same. The movable heads 23-26 are each attached, through stem 35, to a lever having two arms 27 and 30. The lever is pivotally mounted on a supporting shaft 28 attached t0 the crossbar 21. The stems 35 are mounted on one arm 27 of the two-armed lever, the other arm 30 being forced by springs 31 to be in steady contact with the contoured slides 29a and 29b (FIGS. 5a, 5b). The contoured slides are movable in grooves provided in the crossbar 21 (see FIG. 6) and are operated by actuating levers 34 and 35 pivotally mounted on the handle portion 39. The actuating levers 34 and 35 are connected to contoured slides 29a and 29h, respectively, and are operated by two operating members 32 and 33 mounted in a groove in the handle portion 39. When pressure is applied to the operating members the contoured slides 29a and 29h will correspondingly be moved in the groove of said crossbar thereby causing movement of the heads 23-26. When the pressure on the operating members 32 and 33 is released the lCC springs 36 and 37 pull back the actuating levers 34 and 35 thereby returning the heads 23-26 to their normal position.

In the normal position arms 30 of the movable heads 23 and 25 are resting on the ridges 38 and 38' of the contoured slides 29a and 2911 as shown in FIGS. 5a and 5 b; the respective heads as well as the fixed head are then in the plane formed by the crossbar 21 and the handle 39 and the distance between them is 2 and 11/2 steps, corresponding to the intervals of the major triad. In order to get other combinations the contoured slides 29a and 2919 have to be moved beneath the arms 30 lifting or lowering the respective heads by means of the operating members 32 and 33, as fully explained hereinabove.

Both embodiments of the invented mallet are supposed to be used by the left hand, which plays the accompaniment written mostly in double notes and chords. The right hand plays the melody composed normally of single or double notes. Playing the melody needs thus a mallet of only two heads to strike one bar or two bars of a minor or major triad and mallets of this type are known in the art.

Mallets with three heads may be used by the right hand but the levers of them must be rearranged in such a manner as to become the mirror image of the left hand mallets described herein.

It will be realized that whereas I have described and illustrated practical and operative devices, nevertheless many changes may be made in the size, shape, number and disposition of parts.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A mallet arrangement for percussion instruments comprising: a handle portion; a crossbar aixed to said handle portion; a plurality of heads mounted on said crossbar, at least one of said heads being fixed, the remaining heads of said plurality being movably mounted; and means for operating said movable heads whereby a player controls the relative distance between said heads and thereby the musical intervals.

2. The arrangement of claim 2 wherein said crossbar has three heads mounted thereon, each of said heads having stem means, said heads being arranged in a line parallel to said crossbar with the middle head of said three being fixedly mounted, the outer heads being movably mounted to a plurality of selected positions; and wherein said operating means comprises a shaft means eccentrically attached at one end to said stem means of each of said movable heads; pulley means attached to the outer end of said shaft means; biasing means operatively connected to said pulley means; and operating members engageable by the finger of a performer, mounted on said handle portion and operatively connected to said pulley means for controlling the position of said outer heads; said biasing means returning said outer heads to one of said selected positions when said operating members are released.

3. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein said crossbar has five heads mounted thereon, each of said heads having stem means, said heads being arranged in a line parallel to said crossbar with the middle head of said five being fixedly mounted, the remaining heads of said tive being movably mounted in a plane perpendicular to the plane of said mallet, there being a rst set of two heads mounted on the left side of said crossbar and a second set of two heads mounted on the right side of said crossbar; and wherein said operating means comprises: a pair of main levers; a pair of contoured slides; secondary lever means attached to each of said movable heads; a first biasing means cooperating with said main levers; a second biasing means cooperating with said secondary lever means; each of said main levers being in contact with a contoured slide which controls the movement of said secondary lever means and in turn said movable heads; whereby a performer may raise one head of each set of said movable heads above the plane of said crossbar by applying pressure to said main levers; said first and second biasing means acting to restore said main levers and secondary lever means to a position wherein all of said heads are in the same plane.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 474,242 5/ 1892 Hafner 84-478 706,002 8/1902 Allen 84-478 770,864 9/ 1904 Kolander 84-478 996,935 7/1911 MacMaster 84480 1,696,901 1/ 1929 Bostelman 84-478 2,020,150 11/1935 Ludwig 84-403 2,085,363 6/1937 Hultsch 84-403 2,117,345 5/1938 Miessner 84-403 2,133,712 10/1938 Musser 84-403 2,284,868 6/ 1942 Heaney 84-478 2,943,527 7/ 1960 Hanert 84-403 775,813 Forander 84-422 1,761,245 6/1930 Vitto 84-422 1,876,870 9/1932 Dollhoff 84-422 2,791,930 5/ 1957 Soderberg 84-422 2,905,043 9/ 1959 Soderberg 84-404 X RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner S. A. WAL, Assistant Examiner

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