US700726A - Piano attachment. - Google Patents

Description

No. 700,726. Patented May 27, |902. G. L. C. BURGl-L PIANO ATTACHMENT.

(Application med Ap!" 29, 1901.)

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(llo MndeL) No. 700,726. Patented May 27, |902. G. L. C. BORCH.

PIANO ATTACHMENT.

I (Application Bled Ayr. 22, 1901.) (N o Modul.)` 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

GASTON LOUIS CHRISTOPHER BORCH, OF DULUTI-I, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HUGH F. ALLAN, OF DULUTH, MINNESOTA.

PIANO ATTACHMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. l700,726, dated May 27, 1902.

Application filed April 22, 1901. Serial No. 57.008. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, GASTON LoUIs CHRIS- TOPHER BOROH, a citizen of the Kingdom of Norway, residing at Duluth, (whose postoflice address is No. 9245 East Second street,)

in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, 'have invented new and useful Improvements in Piano Attachments, of which the following is a specification.

ro This invention relates to improvements in piano attachments, and is more especially designed as an attachment for intensifying and sustaining the Vibrations of the piano.

The object of the invention is to provide an I5 attachment of the character stated by which the vibrations of a piano are sustained, thereby intensifying the quality of tone and rendering the same fuller and sweeter, but obviating any metallic tone which the piano 2o may have a tendency to produce.

A further object of the invention is to provide an attachment of the class described which is designed also for use in connection with old pianos for the purpose of restoring to the same a considerable percentage of their former resonant qualities.

With these and other objects in View, which will appear as the nature of the improvements is better understood, the invention con- 3o sists, substantially, in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of a piano, looking at the rear side thereof, provided with a series of the herein described attachments. Fig. 2 is an end elevation thereof, partly broken away to more clearly illustrate the manner of connecting the attachments with the piano. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View, on an enlarged scale, of the means for regulating the tone of the attachment. Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view of the attachment to illustrate its crosssectional contour.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral l designates a piano, and 2 the sounding-board thereof, which is of the usual construction.

5o As before premised, it is the object of the present invention to intensify and sustain the vibrations of the sounding-board, and to the accomplishment of this end the attachment which will now be described is employed. 5 5

The numeral 3 designates the body of the attachment, which body may be formed of manganesesteel, brass, copper, nickel, or any other desired material, and said body is substantially semicircular in cross-sectional 6o contour, as clearly shown in Fig. 4.. The upper and lower ends of the body 3 are pointed, as at et, and secured to the lower end is a connecting-strip 5, which strip is attached to the bottom of the piano-frame in order to sustain the attachment in proper relation to the sounding-board. Fixedly connected to the upper end of the body 3 is a screw-threaded shank 6, and said shank passes through and lies within an L.shaped fastening-bracket 7, 7o secured to the. back of the piano, as clearly shown. The shank 6 is providedwith an adjusting-nut S, said nut resting upon the upper side of the bracket 7, and'it is thus obvious that through the medium of the nut 8 75 the attachment Inay be tensioned to any desired extent in order to impart thereto the desired tone to correspond with the tones transmitted from the sounding-board at the particular point to which the attachment is applied.

In order to transmit the sound from the sounding-board to the attachment, a strip 9 is employed, and said stripis preferably formed of pine wood, although itis obvious that any S5 other suitable soundtransmitting material may be employed. With the strip 9 in oontact with the sounding board, as clearly shown, it is perfectly obvious that the vibrations of the sounding-board will be transmit- 9o ted to the attachment, and as the latter is formed of resonant material it is also apparent that the attachment will sustain and intensify the sound-waves issuing from the sounding-board.

In use a piano is provided with a set of the herein-described attachments, the set numbering five, and each ofthe attachments is of different size in order to produce the different vibrations corresponding to the vibrations of the sounding-board. By adjusting the nuts S upon the Shanks 6 the proper tone IOO may be imparted to the attachments, Which should be D, E-iiat, E-natural, G, and A, which fundamental notes also produce their corresponding harmonics. Each tone of the chromatic scale is represented in one or more of the five attachments, and every note struck on the piano to which the attachments are 'connected finds its correspondent in the vibrations of the attachments. It is therefore obvious that the sound issuing from the sounding-board is fully transmitted to the attachments, and the latter intensify and sus- `tain the sounds, but not with a tendency to produce a metallic ring. The quality of the tone is therefore more singing and necessarily becomes fuller and sweeter. The attachment is also advantageous in being employed in connection With old pianos, and by the use of the same a large percentage of the former singing qualities of old pianos are restored.

While the form of the invention herein shown and described is what is believed to be a preferable embodiment thereof, it is obvious that the same is susceptible of various changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction, and the rightis therefore reserved to modify or .vary the invention as falls Within the spirit and scope thereof.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination with a piano, of a series of independent sound sustainers and intensifiers arranged in juxtaposition to the sounding-board thereof, and having at their ends means for securing the same in position, sound-transmitting strips interposed between the said sounding-board and said sound-susrow/2e tainers, and means for adjusting each of said sound-sustainers independently of the others.

2. The combination with a piano, of a series of independent sound sustainers and intensiiiers arranged in juxtaposition to the sounding-board thereof, each of said sound sustainers and intensiers being of semicircular cross-sectional contour, and having at their ends means for securing the same in position, sound-transmitting strips interposed between the said sounding-board and said sound-sustainers so that their outer ends contact With the inner surface of the said soundsustainers, and means for adjusting each of said sound-sustainers independently of the others.

3. The combination with a piano having a series of brackets secured to the back thereof, of a series of independent sound sustainers and intensiiiers arranged in juxtaposition to the sounding-board thereof, each of said sound sustainers and intensifiers being of semicircularcross-sectional contour,and having at one end means for securing the same in position and having at their opposite ends screw-threaded shanks adapted to pass through the said brackets, sound-transmitting strips interposed between the said sounding-board and said sound-sustainers, and nuts on the ends of the said screw-threaded Shanks

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