WO2004040549A1

WO2004040549A1 - Flat apparatus using the pedal of grandpiano

Info

Publication number: WO2004040549A1
Application number: PCT/KR2003/002300
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kyu Hyun Choi
Original assignee: Kyu Hyun Choi
Priority date: 2002-10-29
Filing date: 2003-10-29
Publication date: 2004-05-13
Also published as: KR20030004168A; AU2003274783A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a flat apparatus using a pedal in a grand piano. More particularly, the present invention relates to a flat apparatus using a pedal of a grand piano that makes a piano playing of various tone qualities possible by hitting strings with the strings pressed with the damper. In this piano, when the player steps on the pedal, an action consisting of a number of keyboards and hammers moves forward, and when the player presses the keyboard with the action ahead, a gap forms between the keyboard felt at the end of the keyboard and a damper lever, and the damper keeps pressing the stings. The flat apparatus using the pedal of the grand piano has a characteristic of including a monotone pedal 3 disposed at one side of a pedal installation stand 2; a link for moving a keyboard frame 9 in the front and rear directions with the monotone pedal 3; and latching slots 12 formed at lower portions of the keyboard frame 9.

Description

FLAT APPARATUS TJSTNG THE PEDAL OF GRANDPTANO

Technical Field

The present invention relates a flat apparatus using a pedal in a grand piano. More particularly, the present invention relates to a flat apparatus using a pedal of a grand piano that enables piano playing with various tone qualities by allowing sound with no echoes where vibration of a string is stopped, in such a manner that if the pedal is stepped on, an action having a plurality of keyboards and a plurality of hammers is moved forward and if the keyboard is pressed with the action moved forward, there occurs a gap between a keyboard felt at the end of the keyboard and a damper lever, whereby the hammer hits the string in a state where the damper makes a contact with the string not apart from the string.

Background Art

In general, a piano has three pedals including a shift pedal, a Sosteneto pedal and a damper pedal so that it makes various and beautiful musical performance sound.

If a keyboard is pressed while stepping on the shift pedal, a hit location of a string by a hammer is moved. Only two strings out of three strings every one keyboard are hit to change the amount of sound, thus making soft and smooth sound.

Furthermore, the Sosteneto pedal is a device for allowing a performer to ring desired sound. This device is for an extension of individual sound. The damper pedal is a pedal that makes a keyboard being pressed ring long.

As above, as the three pedals are installed in the piano, beautiful musical thus making soft and smooth sound.

As above, as the three pedals are installed in the piano, beautiful musical performance sound is produced by adjusting a tone color such as making sound generated in piano playing soft and smooth, making sound small and weak, making sound ring continuously, or the like. In such a conventional piano, however, as the three pedals are installed in the piano, they can make a flat of a prescribed function, but cannot make sound with no echoes by a pizzicato playing method, i.e., sound with no echoes that are generated by strumming on the string by hands without using a bow when playing a rubbed string instrument such as a violin or a viola.

In such a piano, as sound with no echoes by the pizzicato playing method cannot be made, it is difficult to implement a more wide tone color while making beautiful sound.

Disclosure of Invention

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to allow even a piano to make sound that is generated by a pizzicato playing method using a string instrument, in such a manner that a string is held by a damper when the hammer hits the string with a keyboard pressed, thus minimizing echoes of the string by the hit of the hammer and thus making seemingly broken sounds.

To achieve the above objects, according to the present invention, there is provided a flat apparatus using a pedal of a grand piano, including a monotone pedal disposed at one side of a pedal installation stand of the grand piano; a link for moving a keyboard frame in the front and rear directions in connection with the monotone pedal; and latching slots formed at lower portions of the keyboard frame so that the end of the link is connected, wherein if a keyboard is pressed with the monotone pedal stepped on, a gap is formed between the end felt of the keyboard and a damper lever, whereby a hammer hits a string in a state where the damper makes a contact with the string.

In the above, the monotone pedal is disposed at one side of the pedal installation stand of the grand piano in a hinge manner so that the monotone pedal penetrates the pedal installation stand backward.

Furthermore, in the above, a connection link is vertically disposed at the rear end of the monotone pedal in a hinge manner, two hinge supports are disposed below keyboard stands, through-holes are formed upward in the keyboard stands within the two hinge supports, latching slots are formed lengthily at lower portions of the keyboard frame of an action corresponding to the two through-holes, a movable space is formed in the front and rear directions at a keyboard stand frame disposed at the bottom of the keyboard stands on the top of the pedal installation stand, vertical insertion units, which penetrate the through-holes and are then inserted into the latching slots at both curved ends of a body whose both ends are curved, are formed within the two hinge supports, a horizontal lever stand, which penetrates the movable space and is then placed over the front end of the connection link, is connected horizontally to the center of the body, an action movable stand, which has hinge holes formed at both ends of the two vertical insertion units through which the hinge pins are connected to the hinge supports in a hinge manner, is disposed in a hinge manner, and a spring is resiliently disposed between the bottom of the keyboard stands and the top of the action movable stand.

According to the present invention, in a flat apparatus using a pedal in a grand piano, an action having a plurality of keyboards and a plurality of hammers is moved in the front and rear directions. In a state where the action is moved forward, if a string is hit by a damper, the damper makes sound with no echoes of the string since it contacts the string. Therefore, there is an effect that piano playing of various tone qualities is possible. Brief Description of Drawings

Further objects and advantages of the invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a lateral cross-sectional view of a grand piano according to the present invention^',

Fig. 2 is a partial front cross-sectional view of a grand piano according to the present invention; Fig. 3 is a bottom perspective view illustrating that an action movable stand is coupled to the bottom of an action according to the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a bottom perspective view illustrating an action movable stand according to the present invention! Fig. 5a and Fig. 5b are cross-sectional views how the piano is operated according to the present invention;

Fig. 6 is detailed views of an action, a hammer and a damper of the grand piano according to the present invention;

Fig. 7 is a detailed view showing that a keyboard is pressed in a state where a monotone pedal is not pressed according to the present invention; and

Fig. 8 is a detailed view showing that a keyboard is pressed in a state where a monotone pedal is pressed according to the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention A flat apparatus using a pedal in a grand piano according to the present invention will now be described in detail in connection with preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a lateral cross-sectional view of a grand piano according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partial front cross-sectional view of a grand piano according to the present invention, Fig. 3 is a bottom perspective view illustrating that an action movable stand is coupled to the bottom of an action according to the present invention, Fig. 4 is a bottom perspective view illustrating an action movable stand according to the present invention, Fig. 5a and Fig. 5b are cross-sectional views how the piano is operated according to the present invention, Fig. 6 is detailed views of an action, a hammer and a damper of the grand piano according to the present invention, Fig. 7 is a detailed view showing that a keyboard is pressed in a state where a monotone pedal is not pressed according to the present invention, and Fig. 8 is a detailed view showing that a keyboard is pressed in a state where a monotone pedal is pressed according to the present invention.

A flat apparatus using a pedal in a grand piano according to the present invention is disposed in a well-known grand piano 1. The flat apparatus functions to minimize ringing sound by holding a string using a damper when a hammer hits the string. Thus, description on the general construction of the typical grand piano will be omitted for simplicity. A pedal installation stand 2 disposed at a central lower portion of the grand piano 1 includes a damper pedal 3a for consistently extending echoes of sound, a Sosteneto pedal 3b for making only sound desired by a performer, and a shift pedal 3c for making sound soft and smooth. A monotone pedal 3 that is stepped on in order to remove echoes of sound is provided in a hinge manner so that it penetrates the pedal installation stand 2 backward. It is to be noted that the damper pedal 3a, the Sosteneto pedal 3b and the shift pedal 3c are well known in the piano.

Furthermore, a connection link 4, which rises and falls in a vertical direction as the monotone pedal 3 is stepped on or off, is disposed at the rear end of the monotone pedal 3. The connection link 4 is guided/supported by a guide 4b of a support 4a that is vertically disposed between the pedal installation stand 2 and a keyboard stand frame 13.

Also hinge supports 6 in which an action movable stand 19 shown in Fig. 4 will be disposed in a hinge manner are disposed below keyboard stands 5. Through-holes 7 through which two vertical insertion units 16 of the action movable stand 19 will penetrate are formed at the keyboard stands 5 of the hinge supports 6.

In addition, latching slots 12 into which the front ends of two vertical insertion units 16 of the action movable stand 19 will be inserted, are formed in its length direction below the keyboard frame 9 in the action 8 corresponding to both the through-holes 7. A movable space 14, which will communicate with a horizontal lever stand 17 of the action movable stand 19, is formed in the front and rear directions at the keyboard stand frame 13 disposed at the bottom of the keyboard stands

5 on the top of the pedal installation stand 2. Furthermore, the action movable stand 19 that moves the action 8 in the front and rear direction is disposed in a hinge manner within the hinge supports 6 by means of hinge pins 20. The two vertical insertion untii^"ts 16 penetrate the through-holes 7 of the keyboard stands 5 and are then inserted into the latching slots 12 of the keyboard frame 9. At this time, the horizontal lever stand 17 penetrates the movable space 14 of the keyboard stand frame 13 and is then seated on the top of the connection link 4.

Further, in the action movable stand 19, the vertical insertion units 16 are each formed at both curved ends of a body 15 whose both ends are curved in a vertical direction, as shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. The horizontal lever stand 17 is horizontally connected to the center of the body 15. Hinge holes 18 through which the hinge pins 20 are connected to the hinge supports 6 in a hinge manner are formed at low portions of the two vertical insertion units 16.

A spring 23 for restoring the action movable stand 19 to its original position and thus restoring the action 8 that is pushed forward to its original position is resiliently disposed between the bottom of the keyboard stands 5 and the top of the body 15 of the action movable stand 19.

The operation of the flat apparatus constructed above will now be described with reference to Fig. 1 to Fig. 8. In the case where sound with no echoes of a string is to be made while playing the piano, if the keyboard 10 is pressed in a state where the monotone pedal 3 disposed in the pedal installation stand 2 is stepped on, the rear end of the monotone pedal 3 is lifted up since the central portion of the stepped monotone pedal 3 is hinged. If the rear end of the monotone pedal 3 is lifted up as above, the connection link 4 that is hinged in a vertical direction to the rear end of the monotone pedal 3 is lifted up. As the front end of the connection link 4 thus lifted up is brought into contact with the end of the horizontal lever stand 17 of the action movable stand 19. Due to this, as the connection link 4 rises, the horizontal lever stand 17 of the action movable stand 19 is lifted up.

In the action movable stand 19, the bottoms of the vertical insertion units 16 are hinged to the hinge supports 6 at the bottom of the keyboard stands 5 by means of the hinge pins 20. Therefore, if the horizontal lever stand 17 of the action movable stand 19 is lifted up, the vertical insertion units 16 disposed perpendicular to the body 15 at the end of the body 15 connected to the same horizontal direction as the horizontal lever stand 17 does an angular movement in the right direction by an angle that the horizontal lever stand 17 is lifted up.

As such, the vertical insertion units 16 angularly moved by a given angle around the hinge pins 20 penetrate the through-holes 7 that penetrate the keyboard stands 5 upward, and the front ends of the vertical insertion units 16 are inserted into the latching slots 12 formed at the keyboard frame 9 below the action 8. Thus, the keyboard frame 9 is moved toward a performer by an angle that the vertical insertion unit 16 rotates. As above, as the keyboard frame 9 moves toward the performer, the action 8 having the plurality of the keyboards 10 and the plurality of the hammers 11 disposed on the top of the keyboard frame 9 moves toward the performer. As such, if the action 8 moves toward the performer, the gap between the front end of the damper lever 22 for lifting the damper 21 up and down and the rear end of the keyboard 10 of the action 8 becomes wide. For this reason, even if the rear end of the keyboard 10 is lifted up, the rear end of the keyboard 10 is brought into contact with the damper lever 22 disposed in a hinge manner due to the distance between the front end of the damper lever 22 and the rear end of the keyboard 10. As a result, as the damper 21 having a felt attached at its bottom is being placed over the string 24, the damper 21 generates hit sound occurring upon a hit with no echo sound even if the keyboard 10 is pressed to make the hammer 11 hit the string 24.

As described above, if sound with normal echoes needs to be made while hit sound with no echo sound is made, a step-on operation for stepping on the monotone pedal 3 is released. If the operation for stepping on the monotone pedal 3 is released, the horizontal lever stand 17 as well as the body 15 of the action movable stand 19 is pushed down by elastic force of the spring 23 resiliently disposed between the bottom of the keyboard stands 5 and the top of the body 15 at a horizontal location of the action movable stand 19. As in the above, as the body 15 and the horizontal lever stand 17 of the action movable stand 19 fall down around the hinge pins 20 in a hinge manner, the vertical insertion units 16 that are integrated vertically at both ends of the body 15 restore to the left side of the drawing. The vertical insertion units 16 thus push the keyboard frame 9 inserted into its front end to the damper lever 22, so that the action 8 as well as the keyboard frame 9 is moved toward the damper lever 22.

As above, as the action 8 moves toward the damper lever 22 and returns to its original position, the rear end of the keyboard 10 is located close to the front end of the damper lever 22. If the keyboard 10 is pressed and the rear end of the keyboard 10 is lifted up, the rear end of the keyboard 10 lifted up thus is lifts up the front end of the damper lever 22 disposed in a hinge manner.

As in the above, when the damper lever 22 is lifted up in a hinge manner, the damper 21 connected to the damper lever 22 by means of a wire is also lifted up. Thus, the felt at the bottom of the damper 21 hits the string 24 by means of the hammer 11 in a state where it is spaced from the string 24, thereby making echo sound of the string.

Furthermore, the front ends of the vertical insertion units 16 in the action movable stand 19 are formed wide in the right and left directions, and the latching slots 12 into which the front ends of the vertical insertion units 16 whose right and left sides are wide are formed lengthily in the right and left directions. The reason why the latching slots 12 are formed lengthily in the right and left directions is for guiding the action 8 that moves in the right and left directions when soft and smooth sound is generated by hitting two strings out of three strings provided every keyboard by making the action 8 move in the right and left directions as the shift pedal 3c is stepped on.

The construction and operation in which the action 8 is moved in the right and left directions as the shift pedal 3c is stepped on are known in the art. Therefore, detailed description on them will be omitted for simplicity. An unexplained reference numeral "a" in Fig. 3 indicates latching slots unit to which a protrusion for making the action 8 right and left is latched.

While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by the embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

Claims

What Is Claimed Is*.

1. A flat apparatus using a pedal of a grand piano, comprising: a monotone pedal 3 disposed at one side of a pedal installation stand 2 of the grand piano l; a link for moving a keyboard frame 9 in the front and rear directions in connection with the monotone pedal 3; and latching slots 12 formed at lower portions of the keyboard frame 9 so that the end of the link is connected, wherein if a keyboard is pressed with the monotone pedal 3 stepped on, a gap is formed between the end felt of the keyboard and a damper lever, whereby a hammer hits a string in a state where the damper makes a contact with the string.

2. The flat apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the monotone pedal 3 is disposed at one side of the pedal installation stand 2 of the grand piano 1 in a hinge manner so that the monotone pedal 3 penetrates the pedal installation stand 2 backward.

3. The flat apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the link, a connection link 4 is vertically disposed at the rear end of the monotone pedal 3 in a hinge manner, two hinge supports 6 are disposed below keyboard stands 5, through-holes 7 are formed upward in the keyboard stands 5 within the two hinge supports 6, latching slots 12 are formed lengthily at lower portions of the keyboard frame 9 of an action 8 corresponding to the two through-holes 7, a movable space 14 is formed in the front and rear directions at a keyboard stand frame 13 disposed at the bottom of the keyboard stands 5 on the top of the pedal installation stand 2, vertical insertion units 16, which penetrate the through-holes 7 and are then inserted into the latching slots 12 at both curved ends of a body 15 whose both ends are curved, are formed within the two hinge supports 6, a horizontal lever stand 17, which penetrates the movable space 14 and is then placed over the front end of the connection link 4, is connected horizontally to the center of the body 15, an action movable stand 19, which has hinge holes 18 formed at both ends of the two vertical insertion units 16 through which the hinge pins 20 are connected to the hinge supports 6 in a hinge manner, is disposed in a hinge manner, and a spring 23 is resiliently disposed between the bottom of the keyboard stands 5 and the top of the action movable stand 19.