US895107A - Attachment for keyed musical instruments. - Google Patents

Description

PATBNTBD AUG.. 4,1908.

J. PARDUBA. ATTACHMENT FOR KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

APYLIGATION FILED DEO. 4, 1907.

Q 7 co: I 4 I -7 PATBNTED AUG. 4,; 1903." J. PARDUBA. 1 ATTACHMENT FOR KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4, 1907.

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"mm sca -ms PATENT oFFicn JOHS PARDUBA, OF NEW YORK, Y.

ATTACIMENT FOR KEYED MUSICAL'INSTB-UIIENTS;

Application filed December 4,1907; Serial a. 405,058.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN PARDCBA, a citizen of the Empire of Austria, residing inNew York, in the borough of the Bronx, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Attachments for Keyed h usical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an attachment for keyed musical instruments, and more especially to an attachment for the keyed zither for which Letters Patent were granted to me on April 30, 1901, N 0. 673.027, the 9.1;-

tachment being designed for permitting any one, without knowledge of musical notation, to play the instrument and thereby enjoy the playing of musical pieces ither for amusement or as a preparation for the more serious study of playing a keyed instrument; and for zthis' purpose the invention consists of an attachment for keyed musical instruments, j-which com rises an endless note-sheet which is inounte on a driving-roll support-ed back of the key-board, means for rotating the drivingsroll by means of a key-bar below the keys 9f the instrument, and a key-plate arran ed in front of the driving-roll and iv-v oted with a transverse slot through wiich the notations on the endless note-sheet are visible.

The invention consists further of the special mechanism by which the driving-roll and the note-sheet are 0 erated by the depression of the keys, illlt lastly of certain additional details of construction which will be fully described hereinafter and finally pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan-view of my improved attachment for keyed musical instruments shown with the note-sheet placed in position, Fig. 2 is a front-elevation of the same, Fig. 3 a side-elevation, Fig. 4 a vertical longitudinal section on line 4, 4, Fig. 1- and Fig. 5 is a detail transverse section of the key-board and the note-sheet actuating mechanism, drawn on a larger scale.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre-. sponding parts throughout the several figures.

Referring to the drawings, A represents a keyed musical instrument, preferably the keyed zither for which the stem: hereinbefore referred to was granter to me- B is a bridge which extends transversely across the strings at the front-part of the instrument,

Specification of-Letters Patent. I

out back of the keyboard C. The leading keys D of the keyboard are preferabl arranged according to the chromatic sea e for anynumber of octaves, while a number of keys D at the lefthand side of the keyboard serve for playing the harmonic chords for accompanying the melody layed on the leading keys. Below all the 'eys D D and transversely thereto is arranged a feltcovered key-bar E which is sus ended by upright arms e from the horizonta arms f of a frame F which is ivoted to earsf attached to the rear-end of t 1e bridge B. The arms f of the frame F are actuated by suitable springs f 2 so as to hold the key-bar in contact with the underside of the keys.\

A driving-roll G is supported in perforated ears 9 on the bridge B, the shaft of the roll being provided at one end with aratchetwheel g which 1s engaged by a spring-actupatented Aug. 4, 1908.

ated pawl g that is pivoted to the up er end of an upright arm or )0st g which is ocated on the adjacent arm 1 of the frame F, so that on every depression of a key the pivoted and s ring-actuated awl engages one of the teeth oi the ratchet-w reel of the driving-roll and rotates thereby the driving-roll for the distance of one tooth. engages the lower part of the ratchet-wheel g secures the taking of one tooth after the other of the ratchet-wheel and controls the regular step by step motion of the same. At the rear of the driving-roll is supported on the cover of the instrument a guide-roll 1', over which and the driving-roll G an endless The ends of the vided with headed studs which are supported in the hook-shaped upper ends of sprin arms 1 1 which are attachedat their lower em 3 to a hinged plate r so that the arms can be folded down on a transverse strip whichis adjusted by means of clamping screws 1" in a longitudinal guide-slot a in the cover of the instrument, as shown in Fig. 4.

A check-pawl g which The endless note-sheet n is pro 'ded with ordinary musical notes, or with arbitrarilyselccted dots. or other notation which are arranged in arallel lines on the sheet and which are visible in the transverse longitudinal slot h of a key-plate H that is hinged by its rear-part to the bridgeBso' as to be folded back over the same. \Yhenit is required for use it is lifted up and placed against the notesheet after the same has been placed in position over the driving-roll G and guide-roll r,

i i x l so that the parallel nota OllS on the same can be read off through the slot in the keypla-te H. By the line. of-notation visible through the slot of the keyplate, the leading keys to'be played are indicated, while the aceo'm )anying chords are indicated by numbers which correspond'to the numbers of the harmonic chord-keys D on the left-hand side of the instrument. The key-barjEcan be lowered so as not-to engage the keys I) and D by means of a pivoted locking hook i, which is placed in engagement with a i in i on the arm f of the pivoted frame F as s io'wn in Figs. 1 to 3.

N etc-sheets corresponding to any song or piece of music are furnished and sold either with the instrument, or independently therefrom to parties who have already an instrument. he endless note-sheet is mounted on the driving-roll and on the which latter is placed into the hoo -sha ed supporting ends of the spring-arms r so t at the required degree of tautness is imparted to the endless note-sheet. When a sheet of more than ordinary length is required, the transverse spring-supporting arms are moved backwardly in the guide-slot of the instrument until the required degree of tautness is obtained. The key-plate is then placed in position over the front-part of the note-sheet so that successively, as the piece is played, one notation after'the other appears in the slot of the key-plate by the action of the awl and ratchet mechanism operated by the eys and key-bar, and is thereby played mechanically by depressing the leading keys and chord keys corresponding to the difierent notation marks. In this manner, with little practice, any tune represented by the notereet can be played by the layer, who is not required to know anyt ing about music, as he simply follows mechanically the prescribed signs on the note-sheet, at the same time pl ing not only the leading notes, but also the chords accompanying the same.

hen the playing is to be discontinued, the note-sheet is removed from the drivingroll and the guide-roll, the driving-roll restrument.

maining in position in its supporting bearings, while the guide-roll is removed from the arms and placed in the case of the instrument, the spring-arms being folded down on the transverse strip on the cover of the in- The note-sheet is then rolled up and stored in the case of the instrument, together with the guide-roll, ready for the next use of the instrument. hen the instrument is to be used again, the springarms for the guide-roll are raised and the guide-roll placed in position thereon, after which the endless note-sheet is placed around the driving-roll and the guide-roll. The key-plate is then placed in position in front of the notesheet and the instrument is ready for playing. it permits the playing of music by any person without any knowledge of music, and

'forms not 0111 an amusement to music lovers generally, butl also an incitement to the learn mg of the playing of a keyed musical instrument. The key-plate is marked on the faceside with the notation of the chromatic scale,

likewise the keys, so that the ordinarykeys aswell as the chromatic scale can be learned by the player.

When the instrument is to be played from ordinary notes, or when a tune'is desired to be played from memorv, then the key-bar E is locked into the lowermost position and so as not to be depressed by the keys in whlch case the note-street s either not used at all, or held in position on its driving and guide-rolls without being set in motion bythe action of the keys.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters means for movmg said note-sheet oncvery depression of the keys, and a key-plate located in front of the note-sheet and provided with a longitudinal slot for reading off the notations on the sheet while playing the keys indicated thereon.

held therein bythe pivot-hook 1' and pin '1'), 4

2. The combination, with a keyed musical instrument, of a keyboard containing leading keys and accompanying chord-keys, a driving-roll located adjacent to the leading keys, a guide-roll for the rear part of the notesheet, means for imparting step-by-step motion to the driving-roll at each depression of guide roll, an endless note s ieet placed around the driving-roll and guide-roll, and a key-plate having a longitudinal slot located in front of the note-sheet.

3. The combination, with a keyed musical instrument, of a keyboard containing leading keys and accompanying chord-keys, a driving-roll located adjacent to the leading keys, means for imparting a step-by-step motion to the driving-roll at each depression of the keys, a guide-roll at the rear of the drivingroll, spring-arms for supporting said guideroll, an endless note-sheet placed around the driving-roll and guide-roll, a transverse bar supporting the spring-arms, means for adjustmg the spring-arms on the cover of the instrument for adjusting the tension of the note-sheet, and a key-plate having a longitudinal slot located in front of the note-sheet.

4. The combination, with a keyed musical instrument, of a key-board composed of leadingkeys and accompanying chord-keys, at

key-bar extending transversely below the keys, a pivoted and spring-actuated frame 105 the keys, spring-arms for sup ortmg said t a guide-roll supported back provided with downwardly-eXt-ending frontarms for suspending the key-bar, a drivingroll located adjacent to the leading keys, a pawl and ratchet-mechanism between the driving-roll and the key bar supporting frame for imparting a step-by-step motion to the driving-roll at each depression of the key,

of the drivingroll, an endless note-sheet extending around the driving and guide-rolls, means for adj usting the tension of the note-sheet, and a key-plate arranged in front of the note-sheet and above the keys and provided with a longitudinal slot for permitting the reading off of the notations on the note-sheet.

5. The combination, with a keyed musical instrument, of a key-board composed of leading keys and chord-keys, a key-bar extending transversely below the keys, a pivoted and spring-actuated frame provided with downwardly extending front arms c0nnected with the key-bar, and means between JOHN PARDUBL Witnesses v 7 PAUL GOEPEL,

Y HENRY J. SUHRBIER.

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