US447948A - Geokge b - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

G. B. DURKEE.

ZITHER.

No. 447,948. Patented Mar. 10,1891.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GEORGE B. DURKEE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO LYON dz HEALY,

OF SAME PLACE.

ZITHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 447,948, dated March 10, 1891.

Application filed June 11, 1889. Serial No. 313,940. (No model.)

T 00% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. DURKEE, a citizen of the United States, residing at. Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Zithers, of which the following is a specification.

In a zither characterized by my invention the strings are stretched between tuning-pegs IO or othersuitable tuning devices at one end of the instrumentand a bridge which is seated directly upon and rigidly secured to the sounding-board at a point between the sound-hole and the tail end of the zither. The bridge is provided with pins or pegs, to which the strings can be attached, and the set of pins thus provided is covered and concealed by a combined guard and finger-rest, which is so attached to the bridge that it can be held in position to cover the pins and also readily lifted from such position in order to permit access to be had to the pins for the purpose of attaching and detaching the springs. As a preferred arrangement, the combined guard 2 5 and finger-rest is hinged to the bridge, so that it can be readily swung back to an extent to uncover the pins, although as a less desirable way it could be removably attached to the bridge by readily-devised fastening de- 0 vices. I find that by thus attaching the strings directly to a bridge whichis seated upon and secured directly to the sound-board at a point between the sound-hole and tail end of the zither the pull of the strings upon the flexible sound-board will augment the vibration of the same and serve to produce a better effect than where the strings pass over a bridge and connect with a plate that is attached to a block on the instrument near the 1,0 tail end thereof, as has heretofore been proposed, and, further, produce a better sound than where the strings are attached to fastening devices directly upon the tail end of the instrument or to an elevated bridge supported 4 5 from rigid side pieces of the body of the zither. To position and secure the bridge and attach thereto the strings as herein, while involving certain desirable ends hereinbefore set forth, permits me, while covering the strings with a guard attached to the bridge, to so locate the guard that it shall be in exact position to serve as a finger-rest along which a finger of the hand that is employed in picking the strings can be moved and guided.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a top plan view of a zither with my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 represents a section taken on line 9 2 in Fig. 1 through a portion of the sound-board. Fig. 3 represents the instrument in side elevation. Fig. 4 represents in perspective a portion of the instrument with the combined guard and finger-rest swung back, so as to expose the string-holding pins.

In said drawings, A indicates the body portion of a zither, provided, as usual, with a sound-board (6. Seated directly upon and extendingnearly across the sound-board at a point not far back of the sound-hole a and between said sound-hole and the tail end of the instrument is a bar or strip 13, which constitutes a bridge, and which, for example, can be held rigid with the sound-board by screws, as in Fig. 2,wherein one of the screws 0 is shown in full lines and another indicated in dotted lines, it being observed that the screws extend through the bridge and soundboard and engage a cleat or brace D, Fig. 2, that is applied against the inner side of the sound-board. The pins or pegs for holding the rear ends of the strings are secured in the bridge B, and to said block or stripis hinged a combined guard and finger-rest E, consisting of a piece which is sorecessed, as at e, in order that when it is in position to cover the pins it ma y, while being supported by the bridge, receive the upper ends of the pins, which rise to a suitable extent from the top surface of the bridge. By said arrangement the combined guard and finger-rest conceals the points whereat the strings areattached, and also affords a rest for the finger of the player. This combined guard and linger-rest can be closed over the pins, as in the first three figures, or swung back, as in Fig. 4, to permit access to be had to the pins. The said guard and finger-rest can be locked in posi tion over the pins by any suitable catch, a hook 6 being herein shown for such purpose. The bridge is provided along its top side with a metal bearing F, which is arranged in front of the setof string-holding pins, so that the a Ma ic strings which extend forwardly fro n the pins can rest upon a metal surface in place of resting directly upon the bridge, and by such arrangement the bridge can be made of wood or other material than metal.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the mode herein involved of securing the strings and covering the points whereat they are se-- cured affords an exceedingly simple and compact arrangement, since the bridge itself can be provided both with string-holders, such as knobs or pins or other known equivalent string-holding devices, (as, for instance, a line of notches,) and with a bearing for the strings, which said string-holding devices and bearing canbe covered by the combined guard l i'llhe combination, substantially as here: inbefoie set forth, in a zither, of a stringholding bridge secured upon the flexible 3o sound-board and a movable combined guard and "finger-rest extending transversely over the sound-board and arranged for covering and uncovering the points whereat the strings are held upon the bridge.

2. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, in a zither, of a stringholding bridge arranged across the soundboard, and a combined guard and finger-rest arranged transversely over the sound-board 0 and hinged to said bridge, for the purpose described. 1

3. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, in a zither, of the stringholding bridge provided with pins which rise 45 from'its top side for the purpose described, and the guard E, recessed longitudinally along its underside and arranged for covering the pins.

GEORGE E. DURKEE.

Witnesses:

CHAS. G. PAGE, A. CoA'rEs.

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