Music – Instruments – Stringed
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-09
2001-09-18
Hsieh, Shih-Yung (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Stringed
C084S279000, C084S280000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06291750
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the violin or viola shoulder rests and in particular to wooden base or bridge of a violin or viola shoulder rest.
Wooden bases of violin or viola shoulder rests are known in the art. They provide attractive appearance and relatively low weight.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,079,386 (Medakovic), 2,064,925 (Kolitsch) and 2,489,101 (Mills) disclose the possibility of making a shoulder rest bridge from, among other materials, wood, reference. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,591,164 (Klein) and 2,747,452 (Goldberger) disclose violin shoulder rests comprising velvet covered wooden elements.
The known wooden shoulder rests have an elongated wooden bridge or base with clamping members at each end of the base to secure the bridge to a violin. They are all made from a single piece of wood which is machined to the desired shape. Their disadvantage is that the bridge is quite stiff so that end members holding the clamps for securement to the violin are the only flexible parts that yield during the attaching of the shoulder rest to a violin. There is a tendency for such members to become loosened with the resulting disfunction of the shoulder rest. The appearance of single piece wood shoulder rest bridges is often unsatisfactory as the wood grain runs out of and into the top surface when the base is machined to become longitudinally arched as is usual with the bridge types of shoulder rests. Besides, the bases made from a single piece of wood may be unreliable as hidden structural defects may be present which go undetected until the shoulder rest is in use.
The users of violin shoulder rest usually require that the base which, in use, rests on the player's shoulder, have certain flexibility. The flexibility not only makes it more convenient to attach the shoulder rest to the violin but also provides a more comfortable support while playing of the violin. Too much flexibility, however, may cause the base member to brush against the bottom of the body of the violin during the playing, particularly if the player adjusts the height of the rest very low. Too much flexibility is also undesirable as the clamping force attaching the shoulder rest to the violin may be insufficient causing inadvertent detachment from the violin.
The object of the invention is to provide an improved shoulder rest which has a visually attractive wooden base or bridge but at the same time possesses an appropriate degree of flexibility and strength.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention the base or bridge of a violin or viola is produced as a wooden laminate. It is preferred but not absolutely essential that the uppermost veneer of the laminate have its grain oriented generally longitudinally of the bridge. Preferably, an uneven number of the layers of the wood are laminated such that the grain of the veneers alternates between a longitudinal and transverse orientation relative to the elongation of the bridge and the veneer on top of the bridge and that at the bottom of the bridge have both the grain oriented generally longitudinally from one end of the base to the other. The remaining veneer layers have their grain oriented alternately generally longitudinally and generally laterally. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that since most bridges of violin shoulder rests are shaped to a slightly arcuately curved plan contour, the grain of the veneers cannot be made exactly longitudinally even though a generally longitudinal orientation can be achieved.
In general terms and in one aspect thereof, the present invention provides, for use in making a bridge of a violin or viola shoulder rest, a wooden bridge support strip, comprising
(a) an upper face portion and an opposed lower face portion, a first end portion and an opposed second end portion, and two opposed side edge portions;
(b) said upper face portion including attachment means for securement of the wooden bridge to a violin or viola;
(c) said bridge support strip being a laminate of a plurality of wood veneers including a top veneer defining said upper face, a bottom veneer defining the lowermost layer of said laminate, and at least one intermediate veneer;
(d) adjacent veneers of said laminate having their wood grain oriented alternatively generally longitudinally and generally transversely of the elongation of the bridge;
(e) said bridge support strip being longitudinally arcuately curved such that the upper face portion is generally convexly curved and the lower face portion is generally concavely curved.
In another aspect, but still defining the invention in general terms, a shoulder rest is provided for use with a violin or viola, comprising:
(a) a bridge including an upper face portion and an opposed lower face portion, a first end portion and an opposed second end portion, and two opposed side edge portions;
(b) attachment means for securement of the shoulder rest to a violin or viola, to removably maintain said bridge spaced below a body of the violin or viola and disposed generally transversely of said body;
(c) said bridge being a laminate of a plurality of wood veneers including a top veneer defining said upper face, a bottom veneer defining the lowermost layer of said laminate, and at least one intermediate veneer;
(d) adjacent veneers of said laminate having their wood grain oriented alternatively generally longitudinally and generally transversely of the elongation of the bridge; and
(e) a soft padding layer fixedly secured to said bottom veneer.
REFERENCES:
patent: 168665 (1875-10-01), Oehrlein
patent: 1879386 (1932-09-01), Medakovic
patent: 2064925 (1936-12-01), Kolitsch
patent: 2489101 (1949-11-01), Mills
patent: 2591164 (1952-04-01), Klein
patent: 2747452 (1956-05-01), Goldberger
patent: 4333378 (1982-06-01), Hrdlicka
patent: 4646613 (1987-03-01), Banchetti
patent: 5333527 (1994-08-01), Janes et al.
patent: 5576082 (1996-11-01), Jarrett
patent: 5731531 (1998-03-01), Kun
patent: 6031163 (2000-02-01), Cullum et al.
Hsieh Shih-yung
Stevens Davis Miller & Mosher LLP
The Kun Shoulder Rest Inc.
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