Music – Instruments – Stringed
Patent
1997-09-30
1999-06-29
Shoop, Jr., William M.
Music
Instruments
Stringed
84 80, 84177, 84178, G10C 300, G10C 302
Patent
active
059182962
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a closing control device for controlling the opening and closing of a fallboard of a hinged type which is employed particularly in upright pianos and upright electric pianos.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventionally, a fallboard of the above-mentioned type has a rear end thereof hinged to a fallboard support. The fallboard is rotated about a hinge for opening and closing of the same. Particularly, to close the fallboard, it is pulled forward and rotated until the bottom of a front end thereof contacts or rests on the top of a keyslip. This manner of closing/opening the fallboard has an inconvenience that if the closing operation is not properly carried out, the fallboard rotates with force by gravity to bump against the keyslip, so that a damage can be caused to the keyslip or fallboard, or user's finger(s) can be caught between the fallboard and the keyslip.
To eliminate the inconvenience, a closing control device is provided for the fallboard, one conventional type of which is comprised of a slow closing device which is formed by a one-way torque hydraulic damper and fixed to an arm or keybed of the piano, and a linkage connecting between the slow closing device and the fallboard. According to the construction of the conventional closing control device, when the fallboard is rotated in a closing direction, the braking force of the slow closing device acts on the fallboard via the linkage to cause the fallboard to close slowly.
However, the conventional closing control device suffers from a problem of difficulty in fulfilling the requirement of JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards) S 8507-1975 prescribing a manner of mounting and removing of the fallboard. That is, the JIS defines that the fallboard of the upright piano should permit mounting and detachment thereof without using any tool or the like. In the conventional closing control device, however, the slow closing device is fixed to the arm or keybed forming part of the body of the piano, and linked to the fallboard via the linkage, so that in detaching the fallboard from the body of the piano, it is required to separate at least component parts connected to each other at one point of a chain of connected component parts arranged between the fallboard and the slow closing device. Therefore, to fulfill the requirement of the JIS, the closing control device should be constructed such that the component parts to be separated are separable from each other without using any tool or the like. The closing control device thus constructed, however, suffers from the inconvenience that these separable component parts tend to be disconnected when the fallboard is opened and closed, so that it is difficult to open and close the fallboard in a stable manner.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
It is the object of the invention to provide a closing control device for a fallboard of a piano, which enables the fallboard to be opened closed in a stable manner, and easily be detached from the piano without using any tool or the like.
To attain the above object, the invention provides a closing control device for a fallboard of a piano having a body, comprising a fallboard support which is detachably mounted on the body of the piano, and to which the fallboard is rotably attached, a linkage having one end and another end, the one end of the linkage being connected to the fallboard, and a slow closing device which is fixed to the fallboard support and has the another end of the linkage connected thereto, for braking the fallboard by way of the linkage when the fallboard rotates in a closing direction.
According to the closing control device of the invention, when the fallboard is closed, the slow closing device brakes the fallboard by way of the linkage during rotation of the fallboard in a closing direction. As a result, the fallboard is decelerated and closed properly and slowly. Further, since the slow closing device is fixed to the fallboard support which is detachably mounted on the body of the piano, the fallboard can be mounted on and detac
REFERENCES:
patent: 5056396 (1991-10-01), Furukawa
patent: 5175386 (1992-12-01), Kuwahara
Furukawa Tatsuo
Ishida Muneo
Fletcher Marlon T.
Kabushiki Kaisha Kawai Gakki Seisakusho
Shoop Jr. William M.
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