US837517A - Perforated music-sheet for mechanical musical instruments. - Google Patents

Description

' PATENTED DEC. 4, 1906.

C. SWIFT. i ERFORATED MUSIC SHEET FOR MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED MAE.9,1900.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

\A/lpusssizs No. 837,517. PATENTED DEC. 4, 1906. G. SWIFT.

PERFORATED MUSIC SHEET FOR MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED MAE. 9, 1900.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Fig-4*.

PATENTBD 1330.4, 1906.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.9.1900.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 8.

* n'nrrnn srarrns rarnn'r crrron.

GEORGE swirr, or MERIDEN, connscriou'r, AssiGNoR TO THE AEOLIAN coMrANY, or MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT, AND NEW roan, N. r., ACOR- PORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

PERFORATED MUSIC-SHEET FOR MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented Dec. 4, 1906.

Application filed March 9, 1900. Serial No. 8,062.

chanical Musical Instruments, of which the following drawings.

The invention relates to perforated musicsheets for controlling pianolas" and other is a specification accompanied by I makes of mechanical apparatus for playing pianofortes, whether suc apparatus is built into the musical instrument or is portable and separate therefrom. These instruments, as well understood, have pneumatic trackerboards, and the music-sheets are pneumatic valve -sheets which control said trackerboards. The invention is applicable particularly to such mechanism. Its object is to render the operation of such ap aratus less mechanical in effect and more ike perfect manual playing.

'Mechanical musical apparatus controlled by perforated music-sheets were known and used for many decades prior to this invention, and there has been a continuing effort among the builders and designers of such apparatus to simulate more closely perfect manual playing and toremove or ameliorate the mechanical sound which this class of music has so far had despite all efforts of those engaged in improving such apparatus.

Prior to this inventlonf pneumatically-operated players had reached a certain stage of progress by which the noises of the mechanism were greatly reduced and the softness ofthe human -touch closely simulated. Furthermore, the introduction of the tempocontroller for varyingthe tempo at the will I of the player and of the expression-controller for varying the force of the blows at will to produce effects ran mg from pianissimo to fortissimo in accordance with the pleasure and musical feeling of the player, combined with the use of the loudrpedal for sostenuto and other appropriate effects, seemed to many in this art to have endowed the apparatus with about all the properties that human ingenuity could create, with the possible exception of same means for accentuating individual notes or parts. Even these'latfer, indeed, in several different forms had teenth-note as for a whole note.

been devised. It seemed, therefore, tothose most familiar with the art-that little moreremained to do, provided equal thoroughness and 'care were devoted to the preparation of the perforated music-rolls in a perfect and exact accordance with the musical score of the composition to be played. This was done in many instances with greatest care and expense, and a seemingly perfect perforated sheet was obtained when the lengths of the several note-perforations and their posi- 1 tions and sequence were in perfect proportion and correspondence with the dl'rectio us of the composer. Thus, for example, if an eighth-note was perforated one-quarter of an inch in length a quarter-note would be onehalf inch in length and a whole note two inches in length.

States patent granted to one Schmoele, and it was carefully followed for more than a decade thereafter, the mechanical-musica'l-instrument makers asserting that these instruments played more accurately than themajority of pianists, but the musicians, on the other hand, complaining that the very sound of the music indicated its mechanical origin.

The object of the present invention was to meet this criticism and to improve, if it were indeed possible, that which many in themechanic art insisted was already mathematic ally and scientifically perfect and which from their point of view was only criticised by the prejudice of the musicians.

My'discovery which, following on long experiment, produced my present invention was as follows: The prolongation of the several note-perforations of the legato melody in any particular part of the composition or in all legato parts of the composition roduces a smoothness of sound and melo iousness without any such dissonances as might be inferred from the resulting overla pingof" succeeding note perforations. T s rolongation orincrement in the perforation as, so far as l have been able to discover, no rational or proportional relation to the length of the corresponding note. The increment may be the same absolute amount for a six- By this simple difference the defect in the music otherwise produced is at once both eliminated and also demonstrated. The reality As early as the year 1881 this rule was clearly enunciated in a United of the problem, the very existence of which was so long disputed between the musicians and the musical-machine makers, thus was proved by its very solution.

In the following description I employ the terms non-legato and mezzo staccato to mean the playing of notes in musical sequence in the same part or melody in a manner in which the sound of one note ceases somewhat before the sounding of the succeeding note commences. By staccato? I mean a manner in which the sound of one note not only ceases before the succeeding note, but is also made of extremely short duration absolutely as well as relatively. By legato I mean smooth playing in a manner in which in its most perfect form the sound of one note continues to and until the sounding of the succeeding note with no intermission, but does not overlap in duration, because such simultaneous sounding of two succeeding notes not in accord should produce an objectionable and painful blurring and dissonance. The most perfect example and at the same time demonstration of this fact is found in perfect legato singing, wherein the larynx is not closed at any time,-and the note changes without interruption, on the one hand, and without possible overlapping,

on the other hand, because there is mani-' festly only one note-sounding organ or larynx at work.

In carrying out the present invention, where the musical score indicates staccato, the shortest perforation of the entire perforated roll may be employed. For legato (indicated by the score where no markings or where slurs appear) the perforations are not to terminate one where the next commences, to correspond to the sounds as exemplified above by the human voice, but, on the contrary, are to be prolonged, and therefore overlapped considerably, by a small increment of length just as though a blurred or dissonant effect were to be expected. I know of no musical notation which would correspond with or indicate any such overlapping of the musical tones themselves, and as the effect produced by a sheet so perforated simulates the most perfect legatoplaying without any blurring or dissonance it is not conceivable that it really occurs to any appreciable extent in the music produced. The amount of such prolongation, overlap, or increment may be, as will be shown in the accompanying drawings, more than the entire length of a sixteenth-note without increment. The increment may be a fixed amount. Thus the perforation for such a short note may be doubled in length, so that, for example, the first one of three such notes shall not terminate till the third commences. Such increment or prolongation when ap plied to a whole. note is by itself hardly noticeable to the eye. l have not, therefore,

discovered that the increment or overlap is in any way affected by the length of the musical note, whether a sixteenth,quarter, or whole note, nor yet by the number of notes in a given measure, whether thirtytwo thirtysecond notes or but single whole note. The increment or prolongation may be represented by a constant length, such as one-eighth of an inch for all portions of the melody or harmony to which it is de sired to apply it at agiven tempo or speed of the mechanism, and since my said discovery it is at once demonstrable in the following manner that such increment or prolongation should to obtain the best results vary in respect to the tempo of the movement being rendered, though the reason why was not for a long time clear to me. If a sheet constructed in accordance with this invention is stopped, so that the overlapping end of one perforation leaves the tracker-duct open at the same time that a succeeding perforation differing by only a semitone leaves its duct open, then by opening and closing the two ducts with the finger-ti s it at once becomes a parent that the simu taneous sounding of tffe two notes produces dissonance, and therefore for music-sheets having very slow movement of the paper the overlap should be relatively shorter than for music-sheets in which the movement of the paper is rapid. In order to strikin ly distinguish the manner in which I vary the perforations under the present invention for different musical notes, let the letter L represent the fractionof a musical measure proportional to a normal or legato eighth-note. Then twice L will represent the fraction of the musical measure for a quarter-note, and four times L a halfnote, and eight times L a whole note. Now let the same signs designate the exactly proportionate lengths and fractions of lengths allotted to each measure on the perforated music-sheet, and let 2' be my increment for prolonging the perforations. Prior to my invention the proper perforation lengths were supposed to be perfectly attained by studied and careful representation of the exact lengths of the notes and measures to corresponde. g., Sehmoele patent, No. 237,208, of 1881that is to say, a normal or legato sixteenth-note, one-half L; a normal or legato eighth-note, length L; a normal or legato quarter-note, 2 L; a normal or legato halfnote, 4 L; a normal or legato whole note, 8 L; a dotted quarter-note, 3 L, &e. Now introducing my invention of the increment or prolongation for legato notes on the pianoforte, the following entirely new relations, which are no longer proptirtionate and which are at variation with the score, a re produced: A normal or legato sixteenthnote, one-half ll plus '1 a normal or legato eighth-note, ll plus '1': a normal or legato (punter-note, 2 1 plus i, :1 Hol'lllzll or legato ceed the length one-half L of an unprolonged sixteenth-note. This overlapping, prolongation, or'increment is applicable to all notes in a composition, except to staccato and mezzo-staccato notes and the ends of phrases.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a few measures of amusical score in D-flat, Chopins Berceuse, in which the tempo is one hundred eighth-notes to the minute. Fig. 2 shows a corresponding portion of a perforated musicsheet in which the erforations are of length to correspond care ully with the duration of the sound indicated by the score. Fig. 3 is a scale marked with the corresponding musical letters and placed in line with the perforated sheet shown in Fig. 2 to indicate, in connection with Fig. 2, the musical notes corresponding with the note-perforations. Fig. 41-represents a portion of a perforated music-sheet for the same musical composition as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, but embodying the present invention and showing the disproportionate lengths of the musical perforations as compared with the duration of the musical notes in legato playing. Fig. 5 is a scale like Fig. 3. Figs. '6 and 7 are views corresponding with Figs. 2 and 3, showingan arpeggio or broken chord with "perforations for playing it staccato at b and sostenuto at d.

In the drawings, A, Fig. 2, designates a perforated music-sheet having the usual perforations B therein. These perforations are made and arranged in accordance with the musical composition represented in Fig. 1, being arranged in measures 0, formed by bars D, to correspond, respectively, with the measuresE and bars F of Fig. 1, the fine cross-lines G of the sheet A. representing the beats in each measure, corresponding in tempo to the beats shown in Fig. ,1, the music being in six-eighths time. The lengths of the perforations B in Fig. 2 correspond with the time of their respective notes in the music-sheet, Fig. 1. Thus, 6. g.', the note If in Fig. 1 is an eighth-note, and its corresponding perforation J, Fig. 2, is of the length corresponding to one beat of the measure i. 6., extending from a bar D to the next line G or from one line G to the next. In the same way in Fig. 1 M represents a quarter-note, and the corresponding perforation N in Fig. 2 extends from one line G to the second succeeding line, which may be a line G or bar D. The note R in the last measure, Fig. 1, is a dotted. quarter-note equal to three-eighths notes, and the corresponding perforation S in Fig. 2 covers three beats of the'measure, or three of the spaces between the line D and a-line G, or between two lines G. So, also, the sixteenth-note U, Fig 1, has a corresponding perforation V, Fig. 2, which is equal to half thedistancebetween two adjacent lines G. In the fifth and sixth measures are several series of triplet sixteenth-notes, and'as these are triplets the respective perforations in Fig. 2 'are each made to cover one-third of the distance between two adjacent lines G.

By comparison of Fig. 2 with Fig. 1 it will are proportioned to the duration of the musical sounds in perfect legato, and therefore Fig. 2 shows the carefully-constructedperpiano as well as organ to correspond with a music-score, as shown in Fig. 1, before my discovery and invention. Sometimes there was a slight incidental and negligible excess or overlap, as mentioned below, which is not shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4; shows the increment or prolongation of perforations beyond the musical score, and this is particularly noticeable in the treble. For example,in the first and second measures of the treble the successive notes are not in accord and would produce discord if sounded simultaneously. In some of the succeeding measures it will be seen that the notes in the treble correspond with notes of a chord in one or two instances, and here the prolongation may be made excessive without harm. As the music shown in Fig. 1 is six-eighths time and as the lines extending across the sheet in Fig. 4 leave intervals that correspond, therefore with one of each measure, it will be plainly seen that the treble-notes in the first measure, consisting of an eighth-note and several sixteenthnotes, appear in the perforated sheet in Fig. 4 as prolonged, as at a, by nearly equal amounts, and therefore by an amount which is not proportional to the different lengths of notes. Thus the eighth-note is prolonged by an increment equal to one-quarter of its length, while the sixteenthnotes are prolonged about one-half beyond their appropriate length. The somewhat similar melody in the treble of the second bar shows the sixteenth-notes prolonged to more than double their appropriate length. Indeed, two of them slightly exceed the length allotted to an eighth-note, and at least exceed the duration allowed to an eighth-note 'in perfect legato playing or singing. Nevertheless when these perforated note-sheets are u..ed no discordant overlapping appears in the music produced.

forated note-sheet as it was constructed for the appropriate length that corresponds with eighth note equaling one-sixth ofthe length be seen that the lengths of the perforations The prolongation of the triplet sixteenthnotes of the fifth and sixth measures is indicated at P in Fig. 4.

in order to prevent the possibility of confusion of my legato improvement with the effect of the loud pedal or the sostenuto prolongation of a note in accord with others, 1 call attention to the bass notes marked fed. in Fig. 1, and to the prolongation of these notes in Fig. 4, and particularly the notes K, to three times their appropriate length. This other matter forms the subject of a divisible application, and is now claimed herein.

-The last notes in the bass of each of the measures shown are perforated exactly the same length both in Fig. 2 and Fig. because being in parts of the accompaniment that are to be sustained for a third of the measure the increment which forms my invention is comparatively unimportant or negligible. Fig. 6 at at shows a broken chord played sostenuto. This, as just explained, must not be confused with the legato playing of successive notes that do not accord. The prolongation of the perforations in Fig. 6 at d of course represents the intentional prolongation of the musical sounds forming a chord. So far as I have been able to discover the increment-or prolongation is of greater importance and advantage in the shorter legato notes. Measured in inches, and understanding that the drawings accompanying this application are somewhat less than one-half scale, the increment illustrated varies from about one-tenth of an inch in the first bar to a very much greater extent in the second bar, and l have so far preferred to use in practice an increment of about threetwentieths of an inch, or measured in terms of the width of the perforations shown, which I have usually made with a round punch. The preferred increment somewhat exceeds the width of the perforation, so that the full width of one perforation reaches in the legato notes to the full width of the succeeding perforation. Expressed in musical time, the preferred increment may with advantage in music of moderate tempo, like Uhopins Berceuse, illustrated in the drawings, exceed an unprolonged thirty-second note, and i have frequently, as shown in the second bar of Fig. eymade it equal to about one unprolonged sixteenth note without objectionable dissonance. It is better in the present invention to err on the side of prolonging the notes in harmony until musical sounds produced certainly overlap than to risk the production of a mechanical sound in the playing.

Comparing now the increment or prolonga tion of the note-perforations in Fig. 4 and Fig. 2 and selecting the treble as the better illustrationbecause the melodyis in the treble,

the characteristic increment of the present invention will be readily seen. it is a curious but easily-demonstrated fact that the notesheet of Fig. 2, which is carefully perforated legato in correspondence with the duration of each note in the music without interruption until the commencement of the succeeding note and without overlapping, does not in practice produce the desirable non-mechanical effect that my improvement produces, while, on the other hand, my improved sheet, (shown in Fig. 4,) with its overlapped or prolonged perforations corresponding with successive notes in themelody that are not in accord or in harmony produces a highlypleasing effect without any dissonance, jarring, or blurring.

1 am aware that patent to Schmoele, No. 237,208, explains that the proper length of note-perforations is perfectly obtained on the musical sheet by a studied and careful representation of the exact length of notes and measures to correspond. My invention is the reverse of this in that the length of the note-perforations is increased in a manner which does not correspond with the music that is to be produced or with the musical score, and I make no claim whatever to music-sheets wherein the note-perforations are of the exact length of the notes and measures to correspond with the indications of the musical score.

ll am also aware that long prior to my invention certain old automatic piano-playing machines controlled by perforated musicsheets were known and that the sheets necessarily had perforations prolonged and overlapped to permit cooperation with mechanical fingers, which had to pass into and out of such perforations, and which necessarily occupied'a certain area of the perforations in their motions and operation, without, however, producing the results of the present inventionto wit, legato music. I only claim as my inventions my novel means as operative to produce and capable of being used to produce legato.

ll am also at present well aware that in aeolian-grand music arranged by myself and others prior to my present discovery and invention there was an incidental or accidental overlap' of about live,one-hundrcdths of one inch, which resulted from the use of punch diameters which had to be greater than the feed or distance between centers of successive punch-perforations in order to make continuous note-perforations without ragged edges; but such overlap was negligible even in organ music and was neither an ellective cause nor an operative cause of legato playing on aeolian grand or on pianola or any other instrument with which these sheets could he used.

I desire to secure by l ietters Patent as novel and characteristic features of the invention the following:

1. A perforated music-sheet for controlling a mechanism for playing pinaofortes, in which substantially all the note-perforations are prolonged at their rear ends beyond standards of length proportionate to the time value of the musical notes and are so arranged on the sheet that perforations in musical succession are overlapped by the amount of such prolongation or increment, whereby the said prolongations produce legato effect, for substantially the purposes set forth. A

2. A perforated music-sheet for controlling a mechanism for playing pianofortes, having substantially all the legato-note perforations of the treble prolonged in the melody or air at their rear'ends beyond. the standards of length proportional to the ap ropriate time value of the musical notes and having noteperforations that are in immediate musical succession in parts or melodies that are not to be played non-legato overlapped lengthwise by the amount of such prolongation, whereby the sound of the music so mechanically produced is improved and thesaid prolongations produce legato effect, substantially as set forth.

3. A perforated music-sheet for controlling a mechanism for playing pianofortes, in which substantially all the legato-note perforations are prolonged at their rear ends beyond standards of length proportionate to the time value of the musical notes and are so arranged on the sheet that perforations in musical succession are overlapped by the amount of such prolongation or increment, the length of said prolongation or increment for succeeding notes that do not harmonize being substantially identical for quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and thirty-second notes, whereby said prolongation produces legato effect, substantially as set forth.

4. A perforated music-sheet for controlling a mechanism for playing pianofortes, in which substantially all the legato-note perforations in the treble are prolonged at their rear ends beyond the lengths proportional to the appro riate time value of the musical notes, sai note-perforations that are in immediate musical succession in parts or melodies that are not non-legato, being overlapped lengthwise by the amount of such prolongation, said prolongation or overlap being substantially as great or greater than the shortest note-perforation, for substantially the purposes set forth.

, 5. A perforated music-sheet consisting of a sheet of material adapted for the pneumatic control of pianolas and other piano-playing mechanism, said sheet having substantially all the note-perforations excepting those designed for non-legato notes prolonged at their rear end beyond the standards of length adopted for the time value of notes or proportionate to the musical score, and having note-perforations that are in immediate musical succession overlapped by the amount of such prolongation to a substantial extent as described, whereby the legato effect is produced inthe pianoforte music.

6. As a new article ofmanufacture, a perforated music-sheet for producing legato .playingof pianolas and similar mechanisms for playln pianofortes, the perforations of which ave legato-producing prolongations which overlap the succeeding note-perforations throughout substantially all the legato passages of the composition, substantially as described.

7. A perforated pneumatic-valve sheet adaptedto pianolas and similar apparatus having pneumatic trackers and for playing pianoforte music, said sheet having the perforations of legato-melody notes extended at their rear ends beyond the proportionate length corresponding to the score by a substantial increment, and the succeeding perforations overla ped not less than onetenth of an inch, w fiereby a legato efiect is produced in the pianoforte music, substantially as set forth.

8. A perforated pneumatic-valve sheet adapted to pianolas and similar apparatus havin pneumatic trackers and for laying piano orte music, said sheet having t e perforations of legato-melody notes extended at theirrear ends beyond the proportionate length corresponding to the score by a substantial increment, and the succeeding erforation overlap ed .to an extent equ ing approximately tffe full width of the perforations, whereby a legato effect is produced in the pianoforte music, substantially as set forth.

9. A perforated pneumatic-valve sheet adapted to pianolas and similar apparatus havin pneumatic trackers and for playing piano orte music, said sheet having the perforations of legato-melody notes extended at their rear ends beyond the proportionate length corresponding to the score by a substantial increment, and the succeeding erforations overlapped not less than the ength of an unprolonged thirty-second note, whereby a legato effect is produced in the pianoforte music, substantially as set forth.

10. A perforated pneumatic-valve sheet adapted to cooperate with the pneumatic tracker of pianolas and similar mechanism for playing pianoforte's, said sheet having round-ended perforations and having the perforations of legato notes prolonged beyond the length proportionate to the score to an extent sufficient to brin the full width of such note-perforations at east beyond the round end portions at the commencement of the succeeding notes, whereby le ato pianoforte music may be produced, su stantially as set forth.

11. A perforated pneumatic-valve sheet aolaptedlto cooperate with the pneumatic trackers of pianolas and similar mechanism for playing pianofortes, said sheet having round-ended perforations and having the perforations of legato notes prolonged beyond the len th proportionate to the score to an extent sufficient to bring the full idth of such note-perforations beyond the commencement of the succeeding notes and to overlap the succeeding erforations by an amount exceeding the fu 1 Width of the per forations.

12. A perforated pneumatic-valve sheet adapted to -co6perate with the pneumatic as new trackers of pianolas and similar mechanism for playing pianofortes, the perforations of the legato notes of which have legato-producing extensions which overlap the succeeding note-perforations substantially throughout all the legato passages of the composition, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

GEORGE SWIFT. l/Vitnesses HENRY- C. HALL, WILBUR H. SQUIRE.

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