Music – Instruments – Electrical musical tone generation
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-01
2002-07-09
Donels, Jeffrey (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Electrical musical tone generation
C084S216000, C084S255000, C084S45200P
Reexamination Certificate
active
06417440
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a keyboard musical instrument and, more particularly, to dampers appropriate to a keyboard musical instrument and a keyboard musical instrument equipped with the dampers for damping vibrations of strings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
A damper is an essential component of an acoustic piano. The damper is linked with a key. The key gives rise to reciprocal motion of a damper head assembly. While the key is resting, the damper head assembly is held in contact with a set of strings, and prevents the set of strings from resonation with vibrating strings. A pianist is assumed to depress the key for generating a piano tone. The depressed key gives rise to upward motion of the damper head assembly, and, accordingly, the damper head assembly is spaced from the associated set of strings. The set of strings gets ready for vibrations. A hammer strikes the set of strings, and the set of strings vibrates for generating the piano tone. When the pianist releases the depressed key, the key is moved toward the rest position, and permits the damper head assembly to be brought into contact with the vibrating strings. The vibrations are taken up with the damper head assembly, and the piano tone is decayed. Thus, the damper deeply concerns the length of the piano tone.
FIG. 1
shows a typical example of the damper incorporated in a standard grand piano. In
FIG. 1
, the right side is closer to a pianist sitting in front of the standard grand piano than the left side, and is hereinbelow referred to as “front”. Oppositely, the left side is referred to as “rear”.
The prior art damper is designated in its entirety by reference numeral
1
. The prior art damper
1
is associated with a key
2
and a set of strings
3
. Although an action mechanism
2
a
and a hammer assembly
3
a
are provided for the key
2
, the action mechanism
2
a
and the hammer assembly
3
a
are similar to those of the standard grand piano, and no further description is hereinbelow incorporated.
A note of the scale is assigned to the key
2
, and the set of strings
3
generates a piano tone with the note identical with that assigned to the key
2
. While the key
2
is resting, the prior art damper
1
is held in contact with the set of strings
3
, and prohibits the set of strings
3
from vibrations. When a pianist generates the piano tone, he or she depresses the key
2
, and the key
2
actuates the prior art damper
1
. The prior art damper
1
leaves from the set of strings
3
, and permits the set of strings
3
to vibrate for generating the piano tone. The depressed key
2
actuates the action mechanism
2
a,
and the jack of the action mechanism
2
a
escapes from the hammer assembly
3
a.
The escape gives rise to free rotation of the hammer assembly
3
a,
and the set of strings
3
is struck by the hammer assembly
3
a.
The set of strings
3
vibrates so as to generate the piano tone. Thus, the set of strings
3
is allowed to vibrate while the prior art damper
1
is being spaced therefrom. The position at which the prior art damper
1
prohibits the set of strings
3
from the vibrations is hereinbelow referred to as “rest position”, and the position at which the prior art damper
1
permits the set of strings
3
to vibrate is hereinbelow referred to as “tone generating position”.
The prior art damper
1
comprises a damper lever flange
4
, a damper block
5
, a damper wire
6
, a damper head assembly
7
, which includes a damper head
7
A and a pair of damper felts
8
, and a damper flange
9
. The damper lever
4
is swingably supported by the damper lever flange
9
, and forwardly projects therefrom. The damper lever
4
is formed of wood, and holes are formed in the damper lever
4
. The damper block S is connected to the damper lever
2
by means of a pin, and upwardly projects from the damper lever
2
. The damper block
5
is rotatable around the pin. The damper wire
6
is fixed to the damper block
5
, and upwardly projects therefrom. A guide rail
10
is located over the damper flange
9
, and a hole is formed in the guide rail
10
. The damper wire
6
passes through the hole, and projects over the guide rail
10
. The hole is wide enough to permit the damper wire
6
smoothly to move therethrough. The damper head assembly
7
is fixed to the upper end of the damper wire
6
.
As described hereinbefore, the damper head
7
A and the pair of damper felts
8
as a whole constitute the damper head assembly
7
. The damper head
7
A is formed of wood, and the damper felts
8
are formed of felt. Hard wood is preferable for the damper head
7
A. Isunoki or Onoore is large in specific weight, and the damper head
7
A is usually formed of one of these kinds of hard wood. Isunoki or Onoore are Japanese names. Their botanical names are “distylium racemosum” and “betula schmidtii regel”. Although Isunoki does not have any English name, Onoore is usually translated in English as “birch” or “Onoore birch”. The damper felts
8
are fixed to the lower surface of the damper head
7
A, and are spaced from one another in the fore-and-aft direction.
While the key
2
is resting in the rest position, the rear portion of the key
2
is spaced from the damper lever
2
, and the damper head assembly
7
urges the damper wire
6
downwardly due to the self-weight. The damper wire
6
in turn urges the damper lever
2
in the clockwise direction around the damper lever flange
9
. However, the pair of damper felts
8
is held in contact with the set of strings
3
, and keeps the damper lever
4
spaced from the rear portion of the key
2
.
When the pianist depresses the front portion of the key
2
, the front portion of the key
2
sinks toward the front rail, and, accordingly, the rear portion of the key
2
is lifted upwardly. The rear portion of the key
2
is brought into contact with the damper lever
4
, and gives rise to rotation of the damper lever
4
around the damper flange
9
in the counter clockwise direction. Although the damper block
5
and the damper wire
6
are rotated around the damper flange
9
together with the damper lever
4
, the guide rail
10
does not allow the damper wire
6
and, accordingly, the damper block
5
to be rotated around the damper flange
9
. The guide rail
10
and the pin between the damper lever
4
and the damper block
5
convert the rotation of the damper wire
6
and the damper block
5
to straight motion. As a result, the damper block
5
and, accordingly, the damper wire
6
are moved upwardly as indicated by arrow A
1
. The damper wire
6
pushes up the damper head assembly
7
, and, accordingly, the pair of damper felts
8
is spaced from the set of strings
3
. Thus, the prior art damper
1
enters the tone generating position, and allows the set of strings
3
to vibrate for generating the piano tone. The depressed key
2
further actuates the action mechanism
2
a,
and causes the jack to escape from the hammer assembly
3
a.
The escape gives rise to the free rotation of the hammer assembly
3
a,
and the set of strings
3
is struck by the hammer assembly
3
a.
Thus, the prior art damper
1
at the tone generating position permits the set of strings
3
to vibrate for generating the piano tone.
A pedal mechanism
11
is provided for the prior art damper
1
. The pedal mechanism
11
includes a foot pedal
12
, a lifting rod
13
and a lifting rail
14
. The foot pedal
12
is rotatably supported by a lyre box (not shown), and the lifting rod
13
is connected to the rear portion of the foot pedal
12
. The lifting rod
13
upwardly extends, and projects into the piano case. The lifting rail
14
is swingably supported by the damper lever flange
9
, and is located under the damper lever
4
. Though not shown in
FIG. 1
, the pedal mechanism
11
is shared with the prior art dampers associated with other keys (not shown), and the lifting rail
14
laterally extends over all the damper levers or selected ones of the damper levers.
When the pianist wishes to prolong the piano tone or tones, he or she steps on the p
Donels Jeffrey
Morrison & Foerster / LLP
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