US831471A - Musical instrument. - Google Patents

Description

PATEN'TED SEPT. 18, 1906.

F. RBINHARD & P. GENCHI. MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLIOATIOI FILED SEPT. 7. 1905'.

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FREDERICK REINHARD, OF JERSEY CITY, NEIV JERSEY. AND PIETRO GENGHI, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 18, 1906.

Application filed September 7,1905. Serial No. 277,306.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FREDERICK REIN- HARD, a resident of Jersey City, in the State of New Jersey, and PIETRo GENoHI, a resident of New York, in the State of New York, citizens of the United States, have jointly invented a certain new and useful Musical Instrument, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to musical instruments in appearance resemblin g a harp, but constructed in such a manner as to produce harmonious tone effects, facilitating the grouping of accompaniment with melody strings and restricting the size of the instrument so that a large range of effects may be obtained. without making the same burdensome or complicated.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of the new instrument, partially broken away to show the construction of the two soundingboards. F ig. 2 is a side view of the instrument, and Fig. 3 a front view thereof as it appears when Fig. 1-is reversed.

he body A of our instrument is constructed of wood and is given the ornamental appearance shown in Fig. 1. This body is composed of a hollow base, solid side arms rising therefrom, and a solid cross member connecting the up er ends of said arms, all of said parts of the body inclosing an opening between them. At the bottom of this instrument is arranged a sounding-box having two faces B and (J for the melody-strings and accompaniment strings, respectively, the sounding-board C vibrating under the influence of the accompaniment-strings D fairly independent of, yet also slightly effected by, the action of the melody-strings E. The reverse is true on the opposite side B of the sounding-box. The space between the two face-plates B and C of the sounding-box is unobstructed, so that the vibrations may travel freely through the air from one faceplate to the other. The melody-strings E and accompaniment-strings D are preferably arranged at an angle to each other, as shown in Fig. 1, forming a skew arrangementthat is, they are neither parallel nor convergent and this is of material advantage in playing the instrument, as each melodystring will be distinctly visible from the side on which the accompaniment-strings are arranged through the opening G referred to hereinafter. Lo-

' cated centrally with reference to the sounding-box B G is the opening F, which is shown in the drawings as on that face of the instrument below the accompaniment-strings. We prefer, however, to place this opening on the opposite face of the box, so that the accompaniment-chords will act through it toward the melody-strings. The drawing has in this regard been made for the purpose of convenience in visualizing the various strings of the instrument. As will be seen from Fig. 1, the accompaniment-strings are arranged in groups of four, with a heavy or deepbasestring marking the beginning of each accompaniment-chord. This arrangement makes playing easier, inasmuch as the fingers of the performer will not have to select each element of the desired chord, but finds them right at hand as soon as the basic accompaniment bass note has been struck. For the purpose of further facilitating the playing of this instrument a large open space G is provided between the two series of strings, so that when the melody-strings are uppermostthat is, facing the eyewhatever the position of the instrument the performer can see through the strings and watch the hand which I lays the accompaniment select the correct cliord. The melody-strings are arranged over bridges HI. (Shown in Fig. 3.) These bridges are disposed at an angle toward each other, so as to permit a greater range of scale. The size of this instrument may vary; but we have found that an instrument from two to two and one-half feet in height can be readily and conveniently transported, particularly when partially supported by means of a ribbon about the neck of the performer, and that it will produce a tuneful and harmonious effect not heretofore achieved by any wire-stringed instrument known to us.

Instead of a sounding-box it is possible to have one or two single sounding-boards, and in the claims we refer to such a structure as the equivalent of a sounding-box. By dividing the strain due to the tension of the strings we prevent the instrument'from warping and keep it in tune more readily than if all the istry with or adLacent to the sounding-box or sounding-cham er.

What we claim, and desire to secure by Let-' ters Patent, is, a

1. A musical instrument corn rising a body having an opening extending om one side thereof to the other andtwo sets of strings,

one on each side of the body and across said opening, the strings of each set being parallel to each other, but askew with reference to the'strings of the other set.

2. A musical instrument com rising a body having an opening extending fiom one side thereof to the other and two sets of strings,

one on each side of the body andacross said side thereof to t e other, and two sets of strings arranged in arallel planes on opposite sides of said bo y'and across said 0 enspect to those of the other set.

In witness whereof'we have hereunto subscribed our names, in the presence of witnesses, on this 6th day of September, 1905.

FREDERICK REINHARD. PIETRO GENCHI. Witnesses:

HANS v. BRIESEN, JOHN A. KEHLENBEOK,

ring, the strings of one set being askew wit re-

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