US450270A - Half to william a - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

0. G. D. WATKINS.

VIOLIN TAIL PIECE AND CHIN REST.

No. 450,270. Patented Apr. 14, 1891.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES G. D. \VATKINS, OF STEELE, NORTH DAKOTA, ASSIG-NOR OF ONE- HALF TO XVILLIAM A. FRIDLEY, OF SAME PLACE.

VIOLIN TAlL-PIECE AND CHIN-REST.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 450,270, dated April 14, 1891.

Application filed July 29, 1390.

T at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES G. D. WATKINs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Steele, in the county of Kidder and State of North Dakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Violin Tail-Piece and Chin-Rest Combined; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art t 0 which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

1.5 My invention has relation generally to that class of musical instruments which are played by a bow, and particularly to the tail-piece and chin-rest thereof.

The objects of the invention are, first, to

increase the vibration of the strings upon actuation, and thereby correspondingly increase the resonance of the sound produced in playing the instrument; second, to prevent interruption of the sound vibrations as caused by the direct contact of the chin or chin-rest with the body of the instrument, and, third, to attain these objects with structural simplicity and economy.

To these ends the invention consists in certain novel features in the construction of the tail-piece and chin-rest and in the novel com bination thereof, substantially as hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the subjoined claims.

3 5 In'the accompanying drawings Illustrating the invention, Figure 1 is a plan view of part of a violin with my improved tail-piece and chin-rest applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a side View of the tail-piece detached, and Fig. 3 is 40 an elevation view of the chin-rest detached.

The same letters of reference designate the same parts in the several views.

A designates the violin-body, B the tailpiece, and O the violin-strings, which are secured at their rear ends to the forward end of the tail-piece in the ordinary and wellknown manner. This tail-piece is formed at its rear end with a depending projection Z), from the lower end of which projects inward Serial No. 360,301. No model.)

ens the tail-piece, which, as stated, being elas- 6o tic, causes the resulting sound to be louder, softer, and more resonant, and, in fact, nearly double the volume of sound produced by violins in which is employed the ordinary rigid tail-piece movably secured to the body of the violin by the usual peg and gut or wire attachment. The upper or main part B of the tailpiece is formed near its rear end with a dovetailed recess or groove 12 which is designed to receive a projection d", extending from the chin-rest D. The thickness of the chin-rest increases gradually from the wall (Z to the curved end (1, and decreases gradually, transversely, from its forward side (Z to its rear side at. It is preferably made of the same material as the tail-piece, and interposed between it and the belly of theinstrument is an elastic peg or cork (P, the upper end of which is received by a recess formed in the under side of said chin-rest, which peg prevents di- 8o rect contact of the rigid chin rest with the violin-body.

I have hereinabove described my invention in its application solely to the violin; but it is obvious that it is equally applicable to all 8 5 bow-instruments. The chin-rest, not being needed in connection with the larger bow instruments, can be readily removed, as it simply has a dovetailed connection with the tailpiece, as described. 0

Having now described my invention, what I believe to be new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. As an improved article of man ufacture, an elastic tail-piece for violins concaved through- 5 out its length, and having at its rear end a depending projection and a peg extending inward from the lower end of said projection,

all of said parts being integral, substantially elastic peg interposed between said chin-rest as described, and for the purposes specified. and the belly of the violin. 1o

2. The combination, with a tail-piece having In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in a dovetailed groove near its rear end, of a presence of two witnesses.

5 chin-rest having a dovetailed projection re- CHARLES G. D. WVATKINS. ceived by said groove in the tail-piece. Witnesses:

3. The combination, with a tail-piece for CHARLES H. STANLEY,

violins, of a ehin-rest secured thereto and an XV. A. FRIDLEY.

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