Music – Instruments – General features
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-02
2003-11-25
Lockett, Kimberly (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
General features
Reexamination Certificate
active
06653542
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a keyboard device for an electronic keyboard musical instrument such as an electronic piano, which has a substrate attached through a spacer for detecting information on a key depressed on a keyboard.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1
illustrates an exemplary keyboard device for a conventional electronic piano, where one each of black and white keys are shown in an unpressed state. The illustrated keyboard device
31
comprises a multiplicity of keys
33
arranged from left to right (in the depth direction in
FIG. 1
) (only one each of which is shown); a chassis
32
for supporting the keys
33
; a multiplicity of hammers
34
(only one of which is shown) arranged for pivotal movement associated with depression on each key
33
; and the like. Each of the keys
33
is pivotably supported by a balance pin
36
(only one of which is shown) implanted on the chassis
32
in a central portion of the key
33
in the longitudinal direction (in a horizontal direction in FIG.
1
). The chassis
32
is horizontally fixed to a keybed
35
with screws
35
a.
The hammer
34
is supported by a hammer rail
37
. The hammer rail
37
is provided with a plurality of action ribs
39
attached at predetermined intervals in the horizontal direction with a multiplicity of screws
40
(only two of which are shown). Further, a stopper rail
41
is attached to these action ribs
39
with a multiplicity of screws
42
(only two of which are shown), and extend from left to right to cover all the hammers
34
. Above the hammer
34
, a key switch
45
is further disposed for detecting information on depression on a key
33
associated therewith. The key switch
45
comprises a substrate
46
, and a switch body
47
attached to the substrate
46
for each key
33
, and is attached to the action rib
39
in the following manner.
First, the substrate
46
is attached to the stopper rail
41
by driving a screw
48
into the stopper rail
41
through a spacer
48
from the lower surface of the substrate
46
. Next, with a rear end portion of the substrate
46
inserted into an engaging recess
43
a
of a fulcrum member
43
, the stopper rail
41
is secured to the action rib
39
from above with the screws
42
, whereby the key switch
45
is attached to the action rib
39
.
In the foregoing manner, the stopper rail
41
is provided separately from the action rib
39
, and the stopper rail
41
is attached to the substrate
46
, followed by the attachment of the stopper rail
41
to the action rib
39
from above with the screws
42
. Such an attachment process is employed by the following reason. If the stopper rail
41
was integrally formed with the action rib
39
, the substrate
46
would have to be attached to the action rib
39
from below with screws, in which case the key
33
and hammer
34
would impede a driver from accessing the screws, resulting in difficulties in assembly and disassembly of the keyboard.
Another conventional keyboard device illustrated in
FIG. 2
is also known. In the illustrated keyboard device
51
, a hammer rail
52
comprises integrally formed hammer rail
37
, action rib
39
and stopper rail
41
illustrated in
FIG. 1. A
cylindrical spacer
66
has been previously formed with a screw hole
66
c
. For attaching a substrate
56
to the hammer rail
52
, a screw
66
b
is first driven into the screw hole
66
c
of the spacer
66
through the substrate
56
to attach the substrate
56
to the spacer
66
. Next, with one end portion of the substrate
56
inserted into an engaging recess
52
a
of the hammer rail
52
, a screw
66
a
is driven into the screw hole
66
c
of the spacer
66
through the hammer rail
52
to attach the substrate
56
to the hammer rail
52
through the spacer
66
.
The conventional keyboard device
31
illustrated in
FIG. 1
, however, has the disadvantage of a large number of required parts and low assembling accuracy due to the separately provided action rib
39
and stopper rail
41
. In addition, since the substrate
46
is attached to the stopper rail
41
with the screws
48
a
, and the stopper rail
41
is also attached to the action rib
39
with the screws
42
, a larger number of assembling steps are required, resulting in an increase in the manufacturing cost.
The conventional keyboard device
51
illustrated in
FIG. 2
in turn eliminates the aforementioned problem because the hammer rail
52
is composed of the integrally formed action rib
39
and stopper rail
41
in FIG.
1
. However, when the spacer
66
is attached to the substrate
56
with the screw
66
b
, the spacer
66
, which rotates together with the screw
66
b
, causes difficulties in driving the screw
66
b
into the screw hole
66
c
. In addition, when the screw
66
a
is loosened for disassembly, the spacer
66
, which rotates together with the screw
66
a
, causes the screw
66
b
to readily loosen. For this reason, a rotation preventing tool must be used for preventing such associative rotation, with additional efforts required for this work. The conventional keyboard device
51
has an additional problem of the requirement of expense for previously forming the screw hole
66
c
in the spacer
66
.
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made to solve the problems as mentioned above, and it is an object of the invention to provide a keyboard device for an electronic keyboard music instrument which is capable of reducing the manufacturing cost by reducing the number of parts and the number of assembling steps associated with the attachment of the substrate, and of securely attaching the substrate to a chassis through a spacer.
To achieve the above object, a keyboard device for an electronic musical instrument according to the present invention is characterized by comprising a keyboard device for an electronic musical instrument, characterized by comprising a plurality of keys; a chassis for supporting the plurality of keys; a substrate having an engaging hole and attached to the chassis for detecting information on depression on the plurality of keys; a spacer having a tab for preventing rotation and interposed between the substrate and the chassis such that the spacer is attached to the substrate with the tab in engagement with the engaging hole; and a first screw driven into the spacer through the chassis for attaching the substrate to the chassis.
According to this keyboard device for an electronic keyboard musical instrument, the spacer is attached to the substrate by engaging the tab for preventing rotation into the engaging hole of the substrate. The substrate in turn is attached to the chassis with the first screw driven into the spacer through the chassis. Thus, since the spacer is prevented from rotating relative to the substrate by the engaged tab when the substrate is attached to the chassis, the substrate can be readily attached to the chassis without using a special tool for preventing the rotation when the first screw is fastened.
In the foregoing keyboard device, the tab is preferably elastic, and snap fitted into the engaging hole of the substrate.
According to this preferred embodiment of the keyboard device, the tab of the spacer is snap fitted into the engaging hole of the substrate, taking advantage of elasticity, so that the spacer can be readily attached to the substrate in a single motion while it is prevented from coming off.
In the foregoing keyboard device, the spacer is preferably fixed to the substrate with a second screw driven into the spacer through the substrate.
According to this preferred embodiment of the keyboard device, the spacer can be securely fixed to the substrate without saccadic movements by driving the second screw into the spacer through the substrate. In this event, it is possible to omit a process for threading the spacer, as before, by previously forming a lower hole in the spacer and using a tapping screw for the second screw.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4587877 (1986-05-01), Zacharias
patent: 6362412
Shimoda Yoshiaki
Suzuki Akihiro
Crowell & Moring LLP
Kabushiki Kaisha Kawai Gakki Seisakusho
Lockett Kimberly
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