Music – Instruments – Electrical musical tone generation
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-26
2004-01-27
Donels, Jeffrey (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Electrical musical tone generation
Reexamination Certificate
active
06683242
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a keyboard musical instrument and, more particularly, to a piano-based musical instrument, a silent system to be incorporated therein and a regulating button mechanism forming a part of the piano-based musical instrument for changing the escape timing depending upon the mode of operation.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
A piano-based musical instrument is operative in two modes of operation. One of the modes is selected for playing a piece of music on the keyboard by piano tones, and is hereinbelow referred to as “acoustic sound mode”. When a pianist wishes to practice fingering on the keyboard without any piano tone, he or she will select the other mode. While the pianist is fingering a piece of music on the keyboard, the hammers rebound before striking the strings, and, accordingly, the strings do not generate the piano tones. If the pianist wants to confirm his or her fingering by electronic tones, the electronic sound generating system specifies the keys depressed and released by the pianist, and generates electronic tones corresponding to the piano tones through a headphone. The other mode is called as “silent mode”, and the piano-based musical instrument is named “silent piano”.
FIG. 1
shows a typical example of the silent piano. The silent piano is fabricated on the basis of an acoustic piano, and, accordingly, includes a keyboard
1
, an action mechanism
2
, hammers
3
, a damper mechanism (not shown) and strings
4
. The action mechanism includes plural action units, which are respectively linked with the black/white keys of the keyboard
1
. When a black/white key is depressed, the depressed key actuates the associated action unit, which in turn drives the associated hammer
3
for rotation. The hammer
3
strikes the string
4
so as to give rise to vibrations, and the piano tone is generated through the vibrations of the string
4
.
The action unit
2
includes a whippen assembly
2
a
, a jack
2
b
and a regulating button
2
c
. The whippen assembly
2
a
is connected at one end thereof to a whippen rail
2
d
by means of a whippen flange
2
e
, and is rotatable about the whippen flange
2
e
. The jack
2
b
is rotatably connected to the other end of the whippen assembly
2
a
, and has a leg and foot. The foot has a toe
2
f
and bump
2
g
, and the toe
2
f
is opposed to the regulating button
2
c
. On the other hand, the bump
2
g
is opposed to an auxiliary regulating button
2
h
. The regulating button
2
c
is hung from a regulating rail
2
i
, which is bolted to a shank flange rail. The shank flange rail is supported by action brackets
2
j
in such a manner than the regulating button
2
c
is on the trajectory of the toe
2
f
. As described hereinbefore, the depressed key actuates the action unit so that the whippen assembly
2
a
is driven for rotation about the whippen flange
2
e
. Accordingly, the jack
2
b
is rotated about the whippen flange
2
e
together with the whippen assembly
2
a
, and the toe
2
f
is getting close to the regulating button. When the toe
2
f
is brought into contact with the regulating button
2
c
, the reaction gives rise to rotation of the jack
2
b
about the whippen assembly
2
a
. Then, the jack
2
b
escapes from the hammer
3
, and kicks it. This results in the free rotation of the hammer
3
. The pianist depresses the black/white key against the total self-weight of the whippen assembly
2
a
, jack
2
b
and hammer
3
, and feels the black/white key heavy. However, when the jack
2
b
escapes from the hammer
3
, the hammer
3
does not exert any load against the key motion. For this reason, the pianist feels the black/white key light. Thus, the resistance against the key motion is changed at the escape. The change in resistance against the key potion is unique, and is called as “piano key touch”.
The auxiliary regulating button
2
h
is hung from a shaft
2
k
, which is rotatably supported by the action brackets
2
j
by means of bearings
2
m
. Thus, the auxiliary regulating button
2
h
is swingable about the centerline of the shaft
2
k
, and, accordingly, is movable into and out of the trajectory of the bump
2
g
. The auxiliary regulating button
2
h
is assumed to be out of the trajectory of the bump
2
g
. The toe
2
g
is brought into contact with the regulating button
2
c
without any interference with the auxiliary regulating button
2
h
, and the jack
2
b
turns about the end portion of the whippen assembly
2
a
due to the reaction from the regulating button
2
c
. On the other hand, the auxiliary regulating button
2
h
is assumed to be moved into the trajectory of the bump
2
g
. The bump
2
g
is brought into contact with the auxiliary regulating button
2
h
concurrently with the contact between the toe
2
f
and the regulating button
2
c
, and the jack
2
b
turns about the end portion of the whippen due to the reaction from the auxiliary regulating button
2
h
. The jack
2
b
escapes from the hammer
3
, and the hammer
3
starts the free rotation. Thus, the bump
2
g
and the auxiliary regulating button
2
h
cause the jack
2
b
to escape from the hammer
3
earlier than that escape therefrom due to the reaction from the regulating button
2
c
. The regulating buttons
2
c
, toes
2
f
, auxiliary regulating button
2
h
and bump
2
g
as a whole constitute the prior art regulating button mechanism.
The prior art regulating button mechanism offers two different escape timings to the jack
2
b
. This is because of the fact that the silent mode requires the early escape timing. In detail, a hammer stopper
5
is provided between the array of hammers
3
and the strings
4
. The hammer stopper
5
is changed between a blocking position and a free position. When the hammer stopper
5
is in the free position, the hammer stopper
5
is out of the trajectories of the hammers
3
, and strike the strings
4
without any interruption. On the other hand, when the hammer stopper
5
is in the blocking position, the hammer stopper
5
is on the trajectories of the hammers
3
, and causes the hammers
3
to rebound thereon before the hammers
3
reach the strings
4
. Thus, the hammer stopper
5
permits a pianist to play a piece of music without the piano tones.
When the hammer stopper
5
rests in the free position, the hammer
3
surely starts the free rotation after the escape. However, when the hammer stopper
5
is in the blocking position, the distance between the hammer
3
at the escape point and the hammer stopper
5
is very short. In fact, the distance is of the order of
2
millimeter in a standard grand piano. If action unit
2
causes the jack
2
b
to escape from the hammer later than usual, the hammer
3
reaches the hammer stopper
5
before completion of the escape, and is pinched between the jack
2
b
and the hammer stopper
5
. The bump
2
g
and the auxiliary regulating button
2
h
cause the jack to escape from the hammer
3
earlier. The early escape is equivalent to a wide distance between the hammer
3
at the escape point and the hammer stopper
5
. Thus, the bump
2
g
and the auxiliary regulating button
2
h
prevent the hammer from the undesirable stick.
Even if the auxiliary regulating button
2
h
and the bump
2
g
are removed from the prior art regulating button mechanism, the hammer
3
is prevented from the undesirable stick on the condition that the gap between the toe
2
f
and the regulating button
2
c
is decreased. However, the jack
2
b
escapes from the hammer
3
earlier regardless of the mode of operation. This results in that the pianist feels the key touch unusual.
As will be understood, the silent piano requires the change of escaping timing between the acoustic sound mode and the silent mode, and the bump
2
g
and the auxiliary regulating button
2
h
make the silent performance possible. However, a problem is encountered in the prior art silent piano in that prior art regulating button mechanism makes the retrofitting work from an acoustic piano to the silent piano difficult. In detail, users, who have al
Inoue Satoshi
Kawamura Kiyoshi
Donels Jeffrey
Yamaha Corporation
LandOfFree
Composite keyboard musical instrument, silent system for... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Composite keyboard musical instrument, silent system for..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Composite keyboard musical instrument, silent system for... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3194630