US3561315A

US3561315A - Key member assembly of a musical instrument

Info

Publication number: US3561315A
Application number: US825484A
Authority: US
Inventors: Junji Ohno
Original assignee: Nippon Gakki Co Ltd
Current assignee: Nippon Gakki Co Ltd
Priority date: 1968-05-24
Filing date: 1969-05-19
Publication date: 1971-02-09
Anticipated expiration: 1988-02-09

Abstract

Each of the black and white key members used has a skirt downwardly extending from the bottom thereof, and a stopper piece forwardly extending from the lower end of said skirt. Both stopper pieces of the black and white key members are arranged in parallel under the white key member, so that the upper limit of movement of the key members is defined by contacting the stopper piece with a common stopper rail. The lower portion of the skirt of the white key member is partly cut off in such a manner that the stopper piece of the black key member is free from being hindered by the skirt of the white key member during the vertical movement of the latter member.

Description

United States Patent [72] lnventor Junji Ohno [56] References Cited llamamatsu-shi, J p UNITED STATES PATENTS [211 P 825,484 3,306,152 2/1967 Klann 84/433X ggf 2 5x 23? 3,330,176 7/1967 Schwartz et al 84/433 [73] Assignee Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha FOREIGN PATENTS hi, Japan 1,069,608 0/1967 Great Britain 84/434 a corporation of Japan [32] Priority May 24, 1968, Dec. 28, 1968 Japan (utility m0del)43/42,36l and (utility m0del)43/114,379

[54] KEY MEMBER ASSEMBLY OF A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT 4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

[50] Field of Search 84/433- Primary ExaminerRichard B. Wilkinson Assistant ExaminerJohn F. Gonzales Att0rneyFlynn & Frishauf ABSTRACT: Each of the black and white key members used has a skirt downwardly extending from the bottom thereof, and a stopper piece forwardly extending from the lower end of said skirt. Both stopper pieces of the black and white key members are arranged in parallel under the white key member, so that the upper limit of movement of the key members is defined by contacting the stopper piece with a common stopper rail. The lower portion of the skirt of the white key member is partly cut off in such a manner that the stopper piece of the black key member is free from being hindered by the skirt of the white key member during the vertical movement of the latter member.

PATENTED rm len 3.561315 FIG.2

I Tuna 0/14/0 INVENTOR.

mfg nw KEY MEMBER ASSEMBLY OF A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a key board assembly of an electric or electronic musical instrument and more particularly to an assembly involving mechanisms for uniformly arranging key members at a prescribed level.

In order to uniformly arrange black and white key members at a prescribed level, it has been desired that the key members be provided with stopper pieces cooperating with a common stopper rail in defining the upper limit of movement of said key members.

Since an electronic or electrical musical instrument requires a plurality of keying switch elements respectively corresponding to the key members to be arranged under the middle portions of said key members, the stopper rails should be positioned at the forward sides of the skirts of the white key members, said skirts being intended to conceal the interior mechanism from view thereby to improve the visual appeal. In this case, however, the stopper piece of the black key membets are unavoidably hindered from extending to the stopper rail by the skirt of the white key member.

I-Ieretofore, the upper limit of movement of the black key members was defined by a stopper rail and stopper pieces associated with said black key members, and the upper limit of movement of the white key members by a stopper rail and stopper pieces associated with said white key members. Further, the stopper rails had to be exactly arranged in parallel to each other, and the stopper pieces had to be fixed to the key members respectively so that the upper surfaces of the black and white key members may be arranged in respective common horizontal planes. Consequently, it was required that the level of the stopper pieces can be adjusted in respect of the attaching portions of the key members by of screws when said stopper pieces are assembled in the key members. Such an adjusting operation was very complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of this invention is to provide a key member assembly so designed that the black and white key members respectively involve stopper pieces cooperating with a common stopper rail positioned at the forward sides of the skirts of the white key members.

Namely, the key member assembly of the present invention wherein there are provided a plurality of black and white key members arranged in a prescribed order, is characterized in that each of said black key members is provided with a skirt downwardly extending from the forward end thereof and a stopper piece forwardly extending from the lower end of said skirt; each of said white key members is provided with a skirt downwardly extending with the same width as the key member, from the bottom thereof and positioned in front of the skirt of said black key member, a stopper piece forwardly extending from the lower end of said skirt of the white key member in a manner to allow a space for the stopper piece of the adjacent black key member be positioned at the side of the stopper piece of the white key member, and a cut oft portion formed at the lower portion of the skirt of the white key member in such a manner that the black key member is free from being hindered by the skirt of the white key member during the vertical movement of the latter member; and a common stopper rail for all the black and white key members is positioned at the forward side of said key members to define the upper limit of movement of each of said key members by contacting the stopper piece of said key member.

In practice, such specified mechanisms are effectively utilized in the upper one of the two-tiered key board arrangements of an electronic or electric musical instrument, because the forward ends of the white key members extend outwardly 'of the key slip board,

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is a cross-sectional side view of a black and white key member assembly embodying this invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the key member assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a black and white key member assembly modified from that of FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view of the key member assembly of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 1 and 2 indicate a black and white key member assembly involving a plurality of so-called black and white key members made of synthetic resins such as acrylo-nitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymers, said white key members being used for generating natural tones and said black key members being employed for generating sharps and flats. Each of the white key members I is provided with a skirt 2 formed integrally with the key member and downwardly extending from that point of the bottom thereof corresponding to about onethird of its length as measured from its forward end, viz in front of the forward end of each of the black key members 3. A stopper piece 4, preferably of a flat plate type, is integrally formed with said skirt 2 in a manner to extend forwardly from the lower end of said skirt 2. Each of said black key members 3 is provided with a skirt 5 downwardly extending from the forward end thereof, and a stopper piece 6, preferably of a flat plate type, integrally formed with said skirt 5 in a manner to extend forwardly from the lower end of a said skirt 5. Said stopper piece 4 has a sufficiently narrow size to allow a space for the stopper piece 6 of the adjacent black key member to be positioned at the side of the stopper piece 4. Furthermore, said white key member 1 is provided with a cut off portion 7 fonned at the lower portion of the skirt 2 thereof in such a manner that the black key member 3 is free from being hindered by the skirt 2 of the white key member during the vertical movement of the white key member. The black and white key member assembly further involves a common stopper rail 8 for all the black and white key members which is positioned at the forward side of said key members and extends horizontally to define the upper limit of vertical movement of each of said key members by contacting the stopper pieces 4 and 6 of said key members. Said stopper rail 8 is used as a key slip board.

The said stopper rail 8 has an upper flange 8a integrally formed with the upper side thereof and protruding rearwardly so as to face the stopper pieces 4 and 6 in a vertical direction. A key bed 9 is horizontally laid at the underside of the arrangement of the key members 1 and 3, and has its front side attached to the back of said stopper rail 8 and its rear side attached to a back rail 10 extending parallel to said stopper rail 8. The upper side edge 10a of said back rail 10 fits in with a transverse groove 1 l of each of the key members. Between the rear end of each of said key members and the lower side edge 10b of said back rail 10 extending rearwardly is interposed a tension coil spring member 12 in a manner to bridge them, thereby to urge the key members upwardly at the forward side. To the middle portion of the bottom of each of said key members is attached an operating bar 13 downwardly extending from said middle portion. A switch 14 having an actuating member to be switched by said operating bar 13 is located on the underside of said key bed 9. On the under surface of said flange 8a is attached a cushion member made of a material free from impact noises such as felt, rubber or foamed synthetic resin indicated by the reference numeral 15 in FIG. 1. A cushion member 16 of the same material as said cushion member 15 is disposed on the key bed 9 in a manner to face the undersides of the skirts 2 and 5 at a prescribed space.

In operation, when the desired one of the white key members l is pushed down, the skirt 2 thereof is downwardly moved to the cushion member 16. In this case, the stopper piece 6 of the adjacent black key member 3is'prevented from being pushed down by the skirt 2. because it extends through the underside of the skirt defined by the cut off portion 7. When the force of the fingers is removed from the white key member 3, said key member 3 returns to the original position by the urging force of the tension spring member 12 with the stopper piece 6 contacting the cushion member 15. Of course, the movement of the black key member is not prevented by the white key member disposed in a prescribed place.

A modification of the black and white key member assembly is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. A slightly cutoff portion 107 of each of the white key members 101 is partly formed with the lower portion of a skirt 102 thereof. A skirt 105 of each of the black key members 103 downwardly extends to a lower level than that at which a stopper piece 106 is positioned, and the rear portion of a stopper piece 106 downwardly projects and contacts the lower end of said skirt 105 so as to form a concave portion l20 between the skirt 105 and stopper piece 106, saidconcave portion 120 facing in a vertical direction the lower edge of the cut off skirt. Accordingly, the black key members and the interior mechanism are completely concealed from the front view by said skirt 102, The separate parts of said black and white key member assembly are of the same form as in the first embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2. Therefore, the separate parts are shown merely by reference numerals in FIGS. 3 and 4, each having the same digits of the first and second places as those of the first embodiment, and eliminated from the description for avoiding a complicated explanation. O

In the embodiments described above, the skirt and stopper piece are integrally formed with each key member, and the stopper rail is commonly used to all the black and white key members, so that the upper surfaces of the black and white key members can be exactly arranged in respective common horizontal planes without adjusting the positions of the stopper pieces to the key members.

I claim:

1. In a keyboard assembly having a plurality of natural and sharp and flat key members arranged in a prescribed order and a common stopper rail, the improvement comprising: a

plurality of natural key members each having a forward end of a predetermined width, a skirt formed integrally on the underside of each natural key member and extending downwardly therefrom, said skirt having an upper skirt portion having substantially the same width as that of the forward end of each natural key member and a lower skirt portion extending downwardly from said upper skirt portion and having a narrower width than that of said upper skirt portion, both of said upper and lower skirt portions defining a cut out portion providing a space therebetween, and a stopper piece extending forwardly from the lower end of said lower skirt portion; a plurality of sharp and flat key members each having a forward end of a predetermined width, a skirt formed integrally on the underside of each sharp and flat key member and extending downwardly therefrom, and a stopper piece extending forwardly from the lower end of said skirt of each sharp and flat key member, the stopper piece of each sharp and flat key member being positioned in the space provided by said cut out portions so as to be movable vertically in said space without being obstructed by the skirt of the natural key member; and

said common stopper rail being positioned at the forward side of said key members to define the upper limit of movement of each of said key members by contacting the stopper piece of each of said key members.

2. In the keyboard assembly of claim 1, the further improvement in which a concave portion is formed between the skirt and stopper piece of each sharp and flat key member, said concave portion facing the lower edge of the skirt of the natural key member in a vertical direction, said skirt of said natural key member completely .concealing the interior of said keyboard assembly from view.

3. In the keyboard assembly of claim 1, the further improvement wherein two adjacent natural key members have adjacent cut out rtions forming a given 5 ace therebetween.

4. In the key ard assembly of claim the further improvement wherein the stopper piece of a sharp and flat key is positioned in the given space defined by the cut out portions of said two adjacent natural key members.

Claims

1. In a keyboard assembly having a plurality of natural and sharp and flat key members arranged in a prescribed order and a common stopper rail, the improvement comprising: a plurality of natural key members each having a forward end of a predetermined width, a skirt formed integrally on the underside of each natural key member and extending downwardly therefrom, said skirt having an upper skirt portion having substantially the same width as that of the forward end of each natural key member and a lower skirt portion extending downwardly from said upper skirt portion and having a narrower width than that of said upper skirt portion, both of said upper and lower skirt portions defining a cut out portion providing a space therebetween, and a stopper piece extending forwardly from the lower end of said lower skirt portion; a plurality of sharp and flat key members eacH having a forward end of a predetermined width, a skirt formed integrally on the underside of each sharp and flat key member and extending downwardly therefrom, and a stopper piece extending forwardly from the lower end of said skirt of each sharp and flat key member, the stopper piece of each sharp and flat key member being positioned in the space provided by said cut out portions so as to be movable vertically in said space without being obstructed by the skirt of the natural key member; and said common stopper rail being positioned at the forward side of said key members to define the upper limit of movement of each of said key members by contacting the stopper piece of each of said key members.

2. In the keyboard assembly of claim 1, the further improvement in which a concave portion is formed between the skirt and stopper piece of each sharp and flat key member, said concave portion facing the lower edge of the skirt of the natural key member in a vertical direction, said skirt of said natural key member completely concealing the interior of said keyboard assembly from view.

3. In the keyboard assembly of claim 1, the further improvement wherein two adjacent natural key members have adjacent cut out portions forming a given space therebetween.

4. In the keyboard assembly of claim 3, the further improvement wherein the stopper piece of a sharp and flat key is positioned in the given space defined by the cut out portions of said two adjacent natural key members.