Music – Instruments – Drums
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-29
2002-06-04
Nappi, Robert E. (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Drums
C084S422300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06399865
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to stands used for musical instruments such as drum kits, and particularly to stands of hi-hat cymbals.
This application is based on Patent Application No. Hei 11-242881 filed in Japan, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Musical instruments such as drum kits consisting of sets of drums and cymbals use various types of stands such as stands of hi-hat cymbals (hereinafter, referred to as “hi-hat stands”). Herein, the hi-hat stand supports hi-hat cymbals, i.e., a pair of cymbals being arranged in a face-to-face manner.
FIG. 5
shows an example of a hi-hat stand which is conventionally used for performance of cymbals. A hi-hat stand
1
is constructed by a foldable tripod (or stand leg unit)
2
including three legs, a “hollow” stand member
3
, an operation rod
4
, a spring device
5
and a pedal device
6
. The stand member
3
is fixed and supported by the stand leg unit
2
, and the operation rod
4
penetrates through a hollow internal space of the stand member
3
to freely move up and down. The spring device
5
normally presses the operation rod
4
upwardly. The pedal device
6
is attached to a lower portion of the stand member
3
. In addition, a lower fixed cymbal
7
is fixed to an upper portion of the stand member
3
, while an upper moving cymbal
8
is attached to an upper portion of the operation rod
4
. Thus, the lower fixed cymbal
7
and the upper moving cymbal
8
are arranged opposite to each other in a face-to-face manner.
The stand leg unit
2
includes three legs
9
a,
9
b,
9
c,
which are arranged in a triangular manner to encompass the stand member
3
with equal intervals of distance and angle therebetween. In addition, the stand leg unit
2
also includes a first metal fitting
10
, three stays
11
a,
11
b,
11
c,
and a second metal fitting
12
. Herein, the first metal fitting
10
interconnects upper ends of the legs
9
a,
9
b,
9
c
together. One ends of the stays
11
a,
11
b,
11
c
are interconnected with intermediate portions of the legs
9
a,
9
b,
9
c.
Another ends of the stays
11
a,
11
b,
11
c
are interconnected together by the second metal fitting
12
. The first and second metal fittings
10
,
12
are respectively fixed to selected positions of the stand member
3
by means of bolts. In order to transport and store the hi-hat stand
1
in some place, a human operator releases bolts of the first metal fitting
10
so that the first metal fitting
10
is moved upwardly along the stand member
3
and the stand leg unit
2
is folded together with the stand member
3
.
The spring device
5
is constructed by a pipe
13
and a return spring (not shown). The pipe
13
is fixed to an outer periphery of the lower portion of the stand member
3
, and the return spring is built in the pipe
13
to bring upward restoration properties in movements of the operation rod
4
and the pedal device
6
. That is, the return spring presses upwardly the operation rod
4
and a pedal
16
of the pedal device
6
.
The pedal device
6
is constructed by a pedal frame
14
, a heel
15
and the pedal
16
as well as an interconnection member
17
and a transmission member
18
. The pedal frame
14
, which is placed on a floor, has an L-shape in side view and is attached to a lower end of the stand member
3
. The pedal is equipped with the heel
15
at a back-end portion thereof, which is close to a performer. The interconnection member
17
is attached to the heel
15
and is detachably interconnected with the pedal frame
14
. A front-end portion of the pedal
16
, which is close to the stand member
3
, is interconnected with the lower end of the operation rod
4
by means of the transmission member
18
such as a belt. In musical performance, a performer (or player) depresses the pedal
16
by his/her foot to pull down the operation rod
4
against upward spring force of the spring device
5
, so that the upper moving cymbal
8
strikes the lower fixed cymbal
7
. The interconnection member
17
is formed in a U-shape in plan view by bending a metal rod. In addition, end portions of the U-shaped interconnection member
17
are bent rectangularly in side directions to form hook portions. So, a bent portion (or an intermediate portion of the U-shape) of the interconnection member
17
is fixed to a lower surface of the heel
15
, while the hook portions are detachably inserted into stop holes, which are formed at lower ends of the pedal frame
14
. Using the U-shaped interconnection member
17
, it is possible to secure a constant relative distance between the pedal frame
14
and the heel
15
. This allows depression of the pedal
16
in a stable manner.
It is demanded that the hi-hat stand
1
can be transported and set for musical performance with ease. In addition, it is demanded that the hi-hat stand
1
can be stored in a small space. To meet the aforementioned demands, the hi-hat stand
1
is constructed such that the stand leg unit
2
is foldable. In addition, it is constructed such that the lower fixed cymbal
7
and the pedal frame
14
are detachably attached to the stand member
3
, while the upper moving cymbal
8
is detachably attached to the operation rod
4
. The pedal
16
is interconnected with the operation rod
4
by the transmission member
18
, so it cannot be separated from the stand member
3
with ease. However, it can be separated from the pedal frame
14
by disconnecting the interconnection member
17
from the pedal frame
14
.
The conventional hi-hat stand
1
lacks a fixing structure for fixing the pedal
16
to the stand member
3
although the pedal
16
can be separated from the pedal frame
14
by disconnecting the interconnection member
17
form the pedal frame
14
. So, a human operator suffers from disadvantages in transportation of the stand member
3
, as follows:
(1) When the human operator carries the stand member
3
being held horizontally while placing the pedal in a lower side, the pedal
16
hangs down so that it may rotate or move around in forward and backward directions as well as left and right directions. This is troublesome for the human operator to transport the hi-hat stand
1
.
(2) When the human operator carries the stand member
3
on which the pedal
16
is put, it is difficult for the human operator to hold the stand member
3
by one hand. For this reason, the human operator must use both of his/her hands to hold the stand member
3
and the pedal
16
together. This causes a difficulty in transporting the hi-hat stand
1
.
In addition, the conventional hi-hat stand lacks a holding structure for holding the interconnection member
17
together with the pedal
16
or stand member
3
. So, if the human operator transports the hi-hat stand
1
in a condition where the pedal
16
hangs down from the stand member
3
, the pedal
16
rotates or moves together with the stand member
3
being transported. In that case, there is a probability in that the pedal
16
which moves unintentionally is caught in or brought into contact with other musical instruments, objects and structures, for example. So, the human operator must pay a great attention to transportation of the hi-hat stand very carefully.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to provide a musical instrument stand which is improved in transportability. That is, the musical instrument stand is well designed to avoid unintentional movements of a pedal or interconnection member in transportation. In addition, it is designed to allow easy transportation using one hand of a human operator to completely hold the hi-hat stand.
A musical instrument stand of this invention is basically constructed by a pair of cymbals, a stand member, a foldable tripod containing three legs, a pedal device containing a pedal and a heel, a pedal frame, an operation rod, a return spring and an interconnection member. Herein, the return spring applies resilience to the operation rod, a lower end of which is being
Dickstein , Shapiro, Morin & Oshinsky, LLP
Lockett Kim
Nappi Robert E.
Yamaha Corporation
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