Music – Instruments – Stringed
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-01
2002-09-10
Hsieh, Shih-Yung (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Stringed
C084S229000, C084S353000, C084S426000, C084S438000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06448481
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a keyboard musical instrument and, more particularly, to a keyboard musical instrument equipped with pedal mechanisms for artistic expression.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
A grand piano, an upright piano and an automatic player piano are categorized in the keyboard musical instrument. These keyboard musical instruments have strings, and piano tones are generated through the vibrations of the strings. Pianists wish to bring on changes of the piano tones for artistic expression. A pianist brings on the change by prolonging the piano tone, and another pianist lessens the loudness by causing fewer than the normal number of strings to be struck or bringing the hammers nearer the strings. The tools for the artistic expression are pedal mechanisms incorporated in the grand/upright pianos. These pedal mechanisms are called as “soft pedal mechanism”, “muffler pedal mechanism”, “damper pedal mechanism” and “sostenuto pedal mechanism”. The pianists selectively actuate the pedal mechanisms during the performance as described in Japanese Patent Publication of Unexamined Application (laid-open) No. 2-48695 and Japanese Utility Model Publication of Examined Application No. 58-25426. A standard upright piano is equipped with the soft pedal mechanism, the muffler pedal mechanism and the damper pedal mechanism. On the other hand, the soft pedal mechanism, the sostenuto pedal mechanism and the damper pedal mechanism are incorporated in a standard grand piano. Those pedal mechanisms are briefly described hereinbelow.
The soft pedal mechanism of the upright piano is connected to a hammer rail. Plural hammer rail felts are attached to the rear surface of the hammer rail, and hammers are resting on the hammer rail felts before the actuation of associated action mechanisms. The pianist is assumed to step on the soft pedal. The soft pedal mechanism advances the hammer rail toward the strings. The hammer rail rearward urges the hammers, and, accordingly, the gap between the hammers and the strings is decreased. When the pianist depresses the black/white key, the depressed key actuates the action mechanism. The jack escapes from the hammer, and the hammer starts free rotation toward the set of strings. Although the hammer strikes the strings, the intensity of impact is weaker than the normal intensity, because the strike takes place immediately after the escape. This results in that the strings vibrate softly, and the volume is lessened.
The muffler pedal mechanism is linked with a muffler rail. Muffler felts are attached to the muffler rail. When the pianist steps on the muffler pedal, the muffler felts are moved into the space between the strings and the action mechanisms. The depressed key gives rise to escape of the jack from the hammer, and the hammer starts the free rotation toward the strings. The strings are struck with the hammer. However, there is the muffler felt between the hammer and the strings. For this reason, the piano tone is softened.
The damper pedal mechanism of the upright piano is connected to a damper rod. The damper rod laterally extends in the vicinity of the array of damper levers. While the pianist does not exerts any force on the damper pedal, the damper rod is spaced from the damper levers, and the damper levers are selectively rotated by the depressed keys so as to space the damper head assemblies from the associated sets of strings. The pianist is assumed to step on the damper pedal. The damper rod urges all the damper levers so as to keep the damper head assemblies spaced from the sets of strings. The depressed key gives rise to the escape of the jack from the hammer, and the hammer strikes the associated set of strings at the end of the free rotation. The strings vibrate for generating the piano tone. When the pianist releases the depressed key, the black/white key starts to return to the rest position. Although the released key is spaced from the damper lever, the damper rod keeps the damper head assembly spaced from the set of strings. For this reason, the vibrations are continued, and the piano tone is prolonged.
The soft pedal mechanism of the grand piano is linked with action mechanisms/hammers. While the soft pedal is resting, the hammers are directly opposed to the sets of strings. All the strings of each set are struck by the associated hammer for generating the piano tone. However, when the pianist steps on the soft pedal, the action mechanisms laterally slide, and each of the hammers is opposed to the strings fewer than the normal number of strings. When the pianist depresses the associated black/white key, the depressed key actuates the action mechanism, and, thereafter, causes the jack to escape from the hammer. The escape gives rise to free rotation of the hammer toward the strings. The fewer strings are struck with the hammer, and vibrate for generating the piano tone at loudness smaller than the usual loudness.
The sostenuto pedal mechanism of the grand piano is linked with a sostenuto rod. The sostenuto rod laterally extends in the vicinity of the dampers. While the sostenuto pedal is resting, the dampers are free from the sostenuto rod, and the dampers are spaced from and brought into contact with the associated strings depending upon the key positions. The pianist is assumed to step on the sostenuto pedal after depressing the black/white key. The sostenuto rod keeps the damper head assembly spaced from the strings, and does not permit the damper head assembly to be brought into contact with the strings. Even though the pianist releases the depressed key, the damper head assembly remains spaced, and the piano tone is prolonged. Thus, the pianist individually prolongs the piano tone by means of the sostenuto pedal mechanism.
The damper pedal mechanism of the grand piano also keeps the damper head assemblies spaced from the sets of strings for prolonging the piano tones. The damper pedal mechanism is connected to a lifting rail laterally extending under damper levers. While the damper pedal is resting, the lifting rail remains spaced from the damper levers, and the damper head assemblies are spaced from and brought into contact with the sets of strings depending upon the key positions. The pianist is assumed to step on the damper pedal. The lifting rail pushes up all the damper levers, and causes the damper wires to space all the damper head assemblies from the sets of strings. A depressed key actuates the action mechanism, and gives rise to the free rotation of the hammer through the escape of the jack. The strings are struck with the hammer, and the strings vibrate for generating the piano tone. When the pianist releases the depressed key, the black/white key starts to return toward the rest position. Although the released key does not urge the damper lever, the lifting rail keeps the damper head assemblies spaced from the sets of strings, and the piano tone is prolonged. While the pianist is keeping the damper pedal depressed, all the piano tones are prolonged.
As will be understood, the pedal mechanisms independently bring on the changes for the artistic expression. Accordingly, each of the pedal mechanisms is independent of the other pedal mechanisms. In order to make the independent pedal mechanisms clear, description is made on the arrangement of the prior art pedal mechanisms.
FIGS. 1
to
6
show the prior art pedal mechanisms incorporated in the standard grand piano. The standard grand piano comprises a piano housing
1
and a pedal box
2
. The pedal box
2
is hung from the piano housing
1
by means of a lyre block and a lyre post, and a soft pedal
3
, a sostenuto pedal
4
and a damper pedal
5
are swingably supported by the pedal box
2
. The soft pedal
3
and the damper pedal
5
project from the left side and the right side of the pedal box
2
, and the sostenuto pedal
4
is located between the soft pedal
3
and the damper pedal
5
. Three pedal rods
10
,
11
and
12
are linked with the soft pedal
3
, the sostenuto pedal
4
and the damper pedal
5
, respectively, and extend fro
Maehara Kazuo
Tateishi Yoshikatsu
Hsieh Shih-Yung
Morrison & Foerster / LLP
Yamaha Corporation
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