US3619471A

US3619471A - Harmonicas

Info

Publication number: US3619471A
Application number: US31989A
Authority: US
Inventors: Shin-Hua Tsui
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1969-05-01
Filing date: 1970-04-27
Publication date: 1971-11-09
Anticipated expiration: 1988-11-09
Also published as: DE2021371A1; FR2047143A5; GB1241114A

Abstract

A round harmonica comprises a casing; a circular reed assembly mounted for rotation about its axis within the casing, the reed assembly having a number of circumferentially spaced reed chambers arranged so that any selected reed chamber, or group of reed chambers, is brought into alignment with at least one passage in the mouthpiece. The reed assembly is turned by hand by means of a driving gear coupled with a driven gear on the reed assembly, the gear ratio (preferably 2:1) being such that the reed assembly turns faster than the driving gear.

Description

United States Patent inventor Shin-hua Tsui 5, Ming-Weng, 2nd Lane Hsin-Hsing, Taiwan, China Appl. No. 31,989 Filed Apr. 27, 1970 Patented Nov. 9, 1971 Priority May 1, 1969 Great Britain 22,378/69 HARMONICAS 6 Claims, 16 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl 84/377 lnt.Cl 610d 7/12 Field of Search... 84/375, 377, 378, 379

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 329,420 10/1885 Wier 84/377 Fahrni 84/377 Goldstein et al.... 84/375 X Meyers 84/377 Tsui 84/377 Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson Assistant Examiner-Lawrence R. Franklin Attorney-Wenderoth, Lind & Ponack PATENTEDNmI swan 8.619.471

- sum 3 BF 7 whmzizv PATENTEDNIN 9 Ian 3.619.471

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7 or 7 HARMONICAS The invention relates to harmonicas and in particular to the round kind of harmonica described in the specification of my British Pat. No. 974,546. That specification shows a harmonica with a mouthpiece which is fixed and a circular reed assembly which is rotatable to bring different reed chambers therein into alignment with one or more air passages in the mouthpiece. The present invention seeks to provide improvements in such a harmonica.

According to the present invention there is provided a harmonica comprising a casing; a mouthpiece formed with one or more reed passages; a circular reed assembly mounted for rotation about its axis within the casing, the reed assembly having a number of circumferentially spaced reed chambers arranged so that any selected reed chamber, or group of reed chambers, is brought into alignment with said passage or passages by rotation of the reed assembly; a driving gear which is rotatable by hand; and a driven gear fixed to the reed assembly coaxially with the reed assembly, the driven gear being coupled with the driving gear so as to rotate faster than the driving gear. With this arrangement the rotation of the reed assembly is made more responsive to manual manipulation, so that rapid changes of notes may be made more easily. Furthermore, no knob need be provided on the reed assembly itself and this allows a complete revolution of the assembly to be made and reed chambers may be distributed all the way around the assembly. This allows the harmonica to be more compact for a given number of reed chambers.

Conveniently the velocity ratio of the driven gear to the driving gear is 2:1, so that a complete revolution of the reed assembly is achieved by rotating the driving gear through 180 only.

Preferably the driving gear has a knob fixed to it which projects outside the casing and whereby it is rotatable.

The driving and driven gears may both be gear wheels having gear teeth which project radially outwardly. In one embodiment of the invention with this arrangement the gears are mounted to rotate about different axes and are meshed directly together, the driving gear being larger in diameter than the driven gear. In another embodiment the two gears are mounted to rotate about the same axis, namely the axis of the reed assembly, and a pair of idler cogs fixed together and rotatable about another axis mesh respectively with the driving gear and the driven gear.

However, in preferred embodiments of the invention the driving gear is a spur gear coaxial with the reed assembly and the driven gear is coupled thereto through intermediate gearing comprising a pair of pinions fixed to rotate together on a pinion shaft the position of which is fixed with respect to the casing, one pinion meshing with the driving gear and the other pinion meshing with the driven gear.

The harmonica may have only one reed assembly or it may have a second reed assembly mounted coaxially adjacent the first. Conveniently the first reed assembly is for solo notes and has a velocity ratio with respect to the driving gear of 2: I. The second reed assembly, if provided, is preferably for playing chords and the reed chambers are arranged in appropriate groups of three, the velocity ratio of the second reed assembly with respect to the driving gear being 6:1.

The invention will further be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are respectively a plan view and a front elevation of a first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a section taken at 111-111 ofFlG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a section taken at 1V--lV of FIG. 2;

FIG. Sis a section taken at V--V of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are respectively a plan view and a front elevation of a second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a section taken at VIII-V111 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a section taken at 1X-1X of FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a section taken at X-X ofFIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a section taken at XI-Xl ofFIG. 7;

FIG. 12 is a section taken at X1 1--X11 of FIG. 7;

FIGS. 13 and 14 are respectively cross-sectional plan and side elevations of a third embodiment of the invention; and

FIGS. 15 and 16 are respectively cross-sectional plan and side elevations of a fourth embodiment of the invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 5 there is shown a harmonica comprising a casing having two 7-1

casing members

1 and 2 fixed together with their rims abutting by means of a bolt 3 passing axially therethrough and a nut 4 thereon. A mouthpiece 5 is glued to member 1.

Mounted to rotate within the casing is a circular reed assembly 6 which comprises an upper plate 70 and a lower plate 7b defining a number of circumferentially spaced reed chambers 8 each of which is divided into a blowing subchamber 6-1 having a blowing reed such as 9 which sounds when air is blown from the subchamber past a flap valve 10, and a drawing subchamber 7-] having a drawing reed such as 11 which sounds when air is drawn into the subchamber past a flap valve 12. Mouthpiece 5 is divided by partitions such as 5-1 into three passages 5-2, 5-3 and 5-4 so arranged that three adjacent notes can be played at one time for chord playing. The inhale notes (I) and the exhale notes (E) are shown in the drawings for each reed chamber.

The reed assembly is rotated in the housing in order to play selected notes by means of a driven gear 13 fixed to the reed assembly and mounted to rotate freely on a bushing 2-1. Gear 13 meshes with pinion 16 which is fixed on a pinion shaft 17 which is fixed in position but allowed to turn in a plate 18 of the casing. A second pinion 19 is also fixed on the pinion shaft and meshes with the teeth of a driving spur gear 20. Gear 20 has a knob 15 fixed to it, whereby it is turned by hand to rotate the reed assembly. The velocity ratio of the driven gear 13 to the driving gear 20 is 2:1, the driven gear rotating twice as fast as the driving gear.

Referring now to FIGS. 6 to 12 there is shown an embodiment of the invention similar to that shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 but with the addition of a second rotatable reed assembly. The reed assemblies are shown at 21 and 22 mounted one above the other and the mouthpiece 5 has an additional passage 5-5 for playing solo notes on the upper reed assembly 22. The lower reed assembly 21 is for playing chords and has the reed chambers arranged musically in chords of three adjacent notes. The notes of the reeds are shown in the drawing.

Reed assembly 22 is mounted on a sleeve 23 which has a driven gear 13 thereon coupled to spur gear 20 which is turned by means of the knob 15. The coupling is effected by

gears

16 and 19 on pinion shaft 17 as in FIGS. 1 to 5, and the velocity ratio is again 2:1.

Reed assembly 21 rotates freely about sleeve 23 and is provided with a driven gear 24 which is also coupled to spur gear 20. The coupling is effected by means of a pair of pinions 25, 26 mounted on a pinion shaft 27. This coupling gives a velocity ratio of 6:1, so that the assembly 21 moves six times as fast as the driving gear 20. This arrangement gives the facility for rapid changes of solo note and accompanying chord.

Referring now to FIGS. 13 and 14 there is shown a further embodiment of the invention in which there is a single rotatable reed assembly 28 in the casing, the assembly being turned by cooperation of a driven gear 13 thereon with a driving gear 14. Gear 14 rotates about an axis 14a and is turned by the knob 15 fixed thereto. The full rotational range of the reed assembly of almost 360 is given by turning the driving gear 14 through an angle of rather less than 180.

Referring now to FIGS. 15 and 16 there is shown an embodiment of the invention similar in many respects to that shown in FIGS. 13 and 14. The principal differences are that firstly the harmonica is for playing solo notes, the mouthpiece 5 having only one passage communicating with one reed chamber. Secondly, the arrangement of the gearing between knob 15 and the reed assembly is different. The reed assembly has fixed to it a driven gear 13 which is mounted freely on bushing 2-1. This gear meshes with a larger gear 13a mounted on an idler shaft 29. Fixed to gear is another gear 13b which meshes with the driving gear 14 to which knob 15 is attached. The ratios of the idler gear diameter with respect to those of the driven gear 13 and the driving gear 14 are such that the overall gear ratio between the latter two gears is 2:1. Knob 15 is rotatable by hand through an angle of substantially 180 so that the reed assembly is rotatable through substantially 360.

lclaim:

l. A harmonica comprising a casing; a mouthpiece formed with passage means having at least one reed passage; a circular reed assembly mounted for rotation about its axis within the casing, the reed assembly having a number of circumferentially spaced reed chambers arranged so that any selected reed chamber can be brought into alignment with said passage means, by rotation of the reed assembly; a driving gear which is rotatable by hand; and a driven gear fixed to the reed assembly coaxially with the reed assembly, the driven gear being coupled with the driving gear so as to rotate faster than the driving gear.

2. A harmonica as claimed in claim 1 wherein the velocity ratio of the driven gear to the driving gear is 2: l.

3. A harmonica as claimed in claim 2 wherein the reed chambers are distributed all the way around the reed assembly, a complete revolution of the reed assembly being achieved by rotating the driving gear through 180 only.

4. A harmonica as claimed in claim 1 wherein the driving gear is a spur gear coaxial with the reed assembly and the driven gear is coupled thereto through intermediate gearing comprising a pair of pinions fixed to rotate together on a pinion shaft the position of which is fixed with respect to the casing, one pinion meshing with the driving gear and the other pinion meshing with the driven gear.

5. A harmonica as claimed in claim 4 wherein there is provided a second reed assembly mounted adjacent the first and coaxial therewith; the mouthpiece has at least one separate passage for each reed assembly; and the second reed assembly has a driven gear thereon which is coupled to the driving spur gear by means of a second pair of pinions fixed to rotate together on a second pinion shaft the position of which is fixed with respect to the casing, one pinion of the second pair meshing with the driving gear and the other meshing with the driven gear.

6. A harmonica as claimed in claim 5 wherein there is a single passage in the mouthpiece for the first reed assembly, which is for playing solo notes, and a triple passage in the mouthpiece for the second assembly, which is for playing chords, the reeds of the reed chambers of the second assembly being appropriately arranged in groups of three, and the velocity ratio of the first driven gear with respect to the driving gear is 2:1 whereas the velocity ratio of the second driven gear with respect to the driving gear is 6: l.

i i i i

Claims

1. A harmonica comprising a casing; a mouthpiece formed with passage means having at least one reed passage; a circular reed assembly mounted for rotation about its axis within the casing, the reed assembly having a number of circumferentially spaced reed chambers arranged so that any selected reed chamber can be brought into alignment with said passage means, by rotation of the reed assembly; a driving gear which is rotatable by hand; and a driven gear fixed to the reed assembly coaxially with the reed assembly, the driven gear being coupled with the driving gear so as to rotate faster than the driving gear. means

2. A harmonica as claimed in claim 1 wherein the velocity ratio of the driven gear to the driving gear is 2:1.

3. A harmonica as claimed in claim 2 wherein the reed chambers are distributed all the way around the reed assembly, a complete revolution of the reed assembly being achieved by rotating the driving gear through 180* only.

6. A harmonica as claimed in claim 5 wherein there is a single passage in the mouthpiece for the first reed Assembly, which is for playing solo notes, and a triple passage in the mouthpiece for the second assembly, which is for playing chords, the reeds of the reed chambers of the second assembly being appropriately arranged in groups of three, and the velocity ratio of the first driven gear with respect to the driving gear is 2:1 whereas the velocity ratio of the second driven gear with respect to the driving gear is 6:1.