US606220A - Picker device for-stringed musical instruments - Google Patents

Description

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C. B. KENDALL & J. P. TIRRELL. PIGKER DEVICE FOR STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

No. 606,220. Patented June 28,1898.

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No! 606,220. Patenjgd June 28,1898.

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CHARLES BIGELOW KENDALL AND JACOB PORTER TIRRELL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO THE AMERICAN AUTOMATIC BANJO COMPANY, OF NElV JERSEY.

PICKER DEVICE FORSTRINGED MUSICAL. E'NSTRUWEENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 606,220, dated June 28, 1898.

Application filed March 31, 1898.

T0 in whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES BIGELOW KENDALL and J ACOB PORTER TIRRELL, citi- Zens of the United States of America, and residents of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Picker Devices for Stringed Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improved devices forself-playing stringed musical instruments, the objects being, first, to provide a simplified and improved form of cam for guiding and controlling the lateral vibrations of the reciprocating pickers of such instruments, dispensin g with the objectionable central core or hub hitherto considered necessary in such cams for guiding the picker in its proper path relative to its string, thus avoiding the former danger of catching the pin on this hub at the ends of its stroke and enabling that stroke to be shortened and therefore quickened to a very considerable extent; second, to provide means for lessening the sharpness of the blow of the picker-point against its string; third, to resiliently support the guiding-cam, so as to cushion the picker at the ends of its stroke, thereby deadening the noise thereof and preventing undue wear on the engaging surfaces. These specific objects may be considered as auxiliary to the general object of rendering the operation of machines of this class more rapid and certain while reducing to a minimum the clicking and other discordant or distracting sounds arising from the mere mechanical engagement of the operating parts.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a plan View, and Fig. 2 is a front view, partly in section, taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, showing that portion of the stringed musical instrument with which the devices of the present invention are designed to cooperate. Figs. 3, 4E, and 5 are plan views, drawn to enlarged scale, of the picker mechanism of Figs. 1 and 2, showing three different phases of the movement thereof. Figs. 6 and 7 are plan views, in enlarged scale, of a modified arrangement of the picker mechanism, showing it in two phases of its movement. Fig. 8 is a plan view, in a scale Serial N0. 675,955. (No model.)

still further enlarged from that of Figs. 3, 4, and 5, showing more fully the details of the preferred form and arrangement of our guiding-cam. Fig. 9 is a plan view showing a modified arrangement of buffer for the cam of Figs. 3, at, and 5. Fig. 10 is a plan view showing a modified form of our improved flexible or resilient connection between the picker and its operating-bellows. Fig. 11 is a plan view,on a scale substantially like that of Fig. 8, showing a cam of the ordinary form, having a central hub, and illustrating in connection therewith some of the objections attributable thereto and which the devices of this invention are intended to obviate.

This invention, although applicable to all mechanically operated pickers for stringed musical instruments, is herein illustrated in connection with devices for mechanically picking strings of a banjo of ordinary construction. The banjo B is supported by means of the bracket 12 and the posts 13, extending from the base 14:. The pickers 17 are arranged to vibrate in a horizontal plane laterally toward and from their respective strings, being pivotally attached to the motor devices for imparting to them a lengthwise reciprocatory motion. The motor consists, preferably, of pneumatic bellows 18, attached to the harp 15, which is secured to the rim of the banjo by means of the brackets 16.

Our improved means for guiding and controlling the lateral movements of the pickers during their reciprocatingmovement consist of the guiding-cam 21, employed in connection with each picker and provided with an aperture 22, the walls of which encircle a pin or projection 23 of the picker. The side walls of the aperture are located at a suitable distance apart to allow of the desired amplitude of lateral vibration of the picker and are connected by inclined end walls, which serve to guide the pin 23 of the picker at the conclusion of its stroke in either direction into the plane of its return movement. The direction of the normal travel of the picker-pin is indicated by small arrows in Figs. 4 and 5. This contour of the guiding-cam is of great utility as compared with the usual oval con- 2 ceases tour of cams of this class (represented in Fig. 11) having a central hub, inasmuch as cams like that ol' thelatter figure require additional means for controlling the lateral movement of the picker, in order to make it operate with a reasonable degree of certainty. In the absence of such. additional controlling means for the picker its cam-pin would ordinarily remain in the positions 0 and (Z of Fig. 11 at the respective ends of its stroke, the hub 7L preventing the return movement of the motor. It may alsohappcn as the result of leakage of the pneumatic parts, for example, that the stroke of the motor-bellows may be insufficient to carry the cam-pin far enough to enable it to be moved laterally past the ends of the hub 72 If uponits forward stroke the movementot' the pin should be arrested at the position a, the presence of the hub It would cause the pin to return over its forward path, thereby bringing the point of the picker into contact with the string on the return stroke and therebynot only prematurely damping the vibrations thereof due to the previous pick, but insuring a failure of the succeeding pick, inasmuch as the picker rests on the wrong side of the string. Again, if the picker-pin on its return stroke, after a normal pick, be carried no farther than the position b it would, when drawn forward again at its next actuation, be on the wrong side of the hub 7L, thereby carrying the point of its picker clear of the string.

In the operation of instruments of this class, particularly those employing metallic strings, the force of impact of the pickers, which are also preferably of metal, against the tightly-straincd strings is liable to produce audible clicking sounds, which, coming upon the ear appreciably in advance of the musical sounds produced by the Vibrations of the released strings, seriously detracts from the perfection of its operation. The remedy for this defect has hitherto been sought in the direction of making the picker-point elastic, so as to cushion the force of the blow, and therebylessen the sound. thereof. This, however, was found to be objectionable, inasmuch as the deflections of the resilient pickerpoint constantly varied the angle of its contact with the string, thereby appreciably varying the period at which it would release the string and also varying the loudness or volume of its tone, the latter being dependent upon the amount of lateral movcmentimparted to the string before releasing it.

Our improved means for modifying the force of impact of the picker-point against the string consists of a resilient connection between the picker and its motor-bellows. This connection is prc'feraljily in the form of a llat spring 1!), fixed to the movable side of the bellows and pivotally attached to the picker 17, as shown in Figs. 3 to 7, inclusive, or it may be in the form of a coiled wire spring 19, as shown in Fig. 10. By this improvement we are enabled to employ a pickerlinger having a rigid or non-resilient point, thereby maintaining a uniform angle of em gagement with the string. The objections hitherto existing to the use of such a resilient connection when employed with. a cam haw ing a central hub have been based on the greater liability of the pin to catch against the central hub when thus connected. The vibrations of a resilientlyoperated picker, set up by the release of the string thercfrcnn, were liable to interfere with the lateral move ment of its pin around the end of the hub. These objections are herein removed by the omission of the obstructing central hub of the previous cams.

Inasmuch s the ends of the aperture 92 of the guiding-eam must ordinarily serve as stops for the reciprocating lllOVOlilOlll'S of the pickers an d their respective motors, it follous that the cam-pin 295 is liable to collide with the end walls of its cam-aperture with con siderable force, thereby making it noisy in operation to an objectionable extent. Such blows if imparted to a rigidlyfixed cam would. also tend to unduly wear or even to break the respective parts. To avoid these dangers and objections, we attach the guiding-cam ll. to its supporting-bracket by a resilient or yield ing connection, which thereby operates as a buffer for absorbing the blows referred to. Our preferred arrangement for the cam is best shown in Fig. 8, the cam being pivotally mounted at 29 to the bracket 27, attached to the harp 15. The cam also engages with the bracket by means of the buffer 26 upon the pin 25, the buffer being of rubber, leather, or other suitable elastic or yielding nutterial. The cam is thus enabled to yield to the impact of the cam-pin 23 at the ends oi its stroke, thereby serving to cushion those blows and prevent the noise and undue wear referred to.

A modified form of buffer is shown in Fig 9, in which the cam 21., pivotally mounted upon the pin 29, is provided with the coiled b u ltcr-springs LGflwhich are sui tably adapted in tension to serve the purpose described,

In the modified arrangement of our invention shown in Figs. 6 and 7 the cam-apertin'e 22 is located in the picker and engages with the pin 23, fixed in the side of a block 52f". This block, which corresponds in position to the cam of the previous figures, is pivotaily mounted at 29 upon the harp 15, and is pro vided with the buffers 26 which may be of any resilient material and which serve the purpose of the buffers of the previous figures.

It will be observed that the lateral movoments of the picker in the embodiment shownv and described herein are in al'ioriscontal. plane, the inertia of the picker or its frictional contact with the surface of the cam-platc upon which it rests, or both together, being sul'l'ecient to hold it durinthe first portion of each stroke in the plane to which it was moved by its cam at the conclusion. of its previous stroke. if these devices were to be turned so that the oscillations of the picker were .in a plane in- IIO clined to the horizon, it would be necessary to balance the oscillating picker with considerable care in order to insure its desired operation.

We claim as our invention 1. A guiding-cam for a picker having an aperture encirclingaprojection of the picker, the side Walls of which are located at a suitable distance apart to allow of the desired amplitude of lateral movement of the picker, the end walls being inclined for guiding the picker at the conclusion of its stroke into the desired plane of its return movement.

2. In a stringed musical instrument, a picker arranged to vibrate in a substantially horizontal plane, a guiding-cam for the lateral vibrations of the picker, having an aperture encircling a projection of the picker, the side walls of the aperture being located at a suitable distance apart to allow of the desired amplitude of lateral vibrations, and the end Walls bein g inclined to guide the picker at the conclusion of its longitudinal movement in each direction into the desired plane of its return movement.

3. In astringedmusicalinstrument,in combination With the picker thereof, a motor,and a resilient connection between the picker and the motor.

4:. In a stringed musical instrument, a resiliently-supported guiding-cam for thepickcr.

5. In a stringed musical instru1nent,in combination with the picker thereof, a pivotallymounted guiding-cam for the picker, and means for resiliently opposing the oscillations of the cam, thereby cushioning the reciprocating strokes of the picker.

Signed by us,at Boston, Massachusetts, this 7 28th day of March, 1898.

CHARLES BIGELOW KENDALL. JACOB PORTER TIRRELL. Witnesses:

AMBROSE EASTMAN, Orrs, A. RoWELL.

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