Music – Instruments – Stringed
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-03
2002-11-05
Nappi, Robert E. (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Stringed
C084S421000, C084S422100, C084S422200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06476300
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 11-287975 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.
Normally, the hi-hat stand employs a structure in which a stand member is supported by a stand leg unit and a pedal frame in order to secure stability in performance of cymbals. The stand leg unit is normally constructed by a “foldable” tripod consisting of three legs. It is also known that some stand leg unit is constructed by two legs.
FIG. 3
is a perspective view showing a setting state of a conventional hi-hat stand which is supported by a tripod consisting of three legs and is equipped with double drum pedals.
FIG. 4
shows a positional relationship between the three legs and pedal, while
FIG. 5
shows a positional relationship between the three legs and pedals. As shown in
FIG. 3
, a hi-hat stand
5
is mainly constructed by a pair of cymbals consisting of a lower fixed cymbal
1
A and an upper moving cymbal
1
B, a stand member
2
for supporting the cymbals
1
, a pedal device
3
for allowing a performer to play with the cymbals
1
and a “foldable” stand leg unit
4
for supporting the stand member
2
.
The stand member
2
contains a lower pipe
6
, an intermediate pipe
7
and an upper pipe
8
, which are assembled together in a vertical direction. That is, the intermediate pipe
7
is connected to an upper end of the lower pipe
6
, and the upper pipe
8
is connected to an upper end of the intermediate pipe
7
. In addition, the stand member
2
also contains an operation rod
9
, which penetrates through the pipes
6
,
7
and
8
to freely move up and down. The lower fixed cymbal
1
A is attached to an upper end of the upper pipe
8
in an upward manner, while the upper moving cymbal
1
B is attached to an upper end of the operation rod
9
in a downward manner to oppositely face with the lower fixed cymbal
1
A. The operation rod
9
is normally pressed upwardly by a return spring (not shown) which is inserted into the lower pipe
6
. Thus, the upper moving cymbal
1
B is normally separated from the lower fixed cymbal
1
A in a vertical direction.
The pedal device
3
is constructed by a pedal frame
11
, a pedal
12
, a heel
13
, an interconnection rod
14
and a transmission member
15
. The pedal frame
11
is placed on a floor and is attached to a lower end of the stand member
2
. The heel
13
is provided as a back-end portion of the pedal
12
, which is placed close to the performer. The interconnection rod
14
interconnects the pedal frame
11
and the heel
13
together. The transmission member
15
is constructed by a belt or else, which interconnects a lower end of the operation rod
9
and a front end of the pedal
12
together. Herein, the front end of the pedal
12
is placed close to the stand member
2
. In order to play the cymbals, the performer depresses the pedal
12
with his/her foot to lower the operation rod
9
against spring force of the return spring, so that the upper moving cymbal
1
B strikes the lower fixed cymbal
1
A to produce a cymbal sound.
The pedal frame
11
is made of light metals such as aluminum alloy. Namely, the pedal frame
11
is constructed by a plate-shaped lower frame portion
11
A and a gate-shaped support portion
11
B. The lower frame portion
11
A is directly placed on the floor, and the support portion
11
B vertically stands from the lower frame portion
11
A. Herein, back ends of the interconnection member
14
are detachably interconnected with the lower frame portion
11
A. Thus, it is possible to secure a constant relative distance between the lower frame portion
11
A and the heel
13
. In addition, a lower end of the lower pipe
6
is fixed to a center of an upper surface of the gate-shaped support portion
11
B.
The stand leg unit
4
is constructed by “foldable” three legs
16
a
,
16
b
,
16
c
and three stays
18
a
,
18
b
,
18
c
as well as a first metal fitting
17
and a second metal fitting
19
. As shown in
FIGS. 4 and 5
, the three legs
16
a
,
16
b
,
16
c
are arranged about the stand member
2
with equal angles therebetween. Upper ends of the legs
16
a
,
16
b
,
16
c
are connected to a prescribed position of the intermediate pipe
7
by means of the first metal fitting
17
. The stays
18
a
,
18
b
,
18
c
are respectively provided and connected with intermediate portions of the legs
16
a
,
16
b
,
16
c
. Ends of the stays
18
a
,
18
b
,
18
c
are connected to a prescribed position of the lower pipe
6
by means of the second metal fitting
19
. Thus, the stand leg unit
4
supports the stand member
2
in a stable manner together with the pedal frame
11
. The three legs are subjected to uniform arrangement using an equal angle therebetween. That is, an angle &thgr; (i.e., 120°) is provided between two adjacent legs, namely, legs
16
a
and
16
b
, legs
16
b
and
16
c
, and legs
16
a
and
16
c
within the three legs. In a normal use condition, the hi-hat stand is not connected with the double drum pedals
21
, wherein the stand leg unit
4
is arranged together with the stand member
2
as shown in
FIG. 4
such that the legs
16
a
,
16
c
are arranged in obliquely front sides of the stand member
2
while the leg
16
b
is arranged in a back side of the stand member
2
.
The double drum pedals
21
allow the performer to rapidly and repeatedly hit a bass drum
22
multiple times. Namely, the double drum pedals
21
contain a first pedal
23
A and a second pedal
23
B. The second pedal
23
B is installed on a pedal frame
24
(see a right section of FIG.
3
), which pivotally supports a first rotation shaft
25
A and a second rotation shaft
25
B respectively. A first beater
26
A and a second beater
26
B are respectively attached to the first rotation shaft
25
A and the second rotation shaft
25
B. On the other hand, the first pedal
23
A is installed on a pedal frame
27
, which pivotally supports a rotation shaft
28
. The rotation shaft
28
is interconnected with the first rotation shaft
25
A by means of a universal joint
29
. Thus, it is possible to independently operate the first beater
26
A and the second beater
26
B in response to depression of the first pedal
23
A and the second pedal
23
B. The first pedal
23
A is arranged in proximity to the pedal
12
of the hi-hat stand
5
. So, the performer selectively depresses the pedal
12
or the first pedal
23
A by his/her left foot, whilst the performer depresses the second pedal
23
B by his/her right foot. In the normal use condition shown in
FIG. 4
, if a user (or performer) intends to additionally arrange the first pedal
23
A in proximity to the pedal
12
, the leg
16
c
, which is placed in a right side of the pedal
12
within the three legs, acts as an obstruction to additional setting of the first pedal
23
A. To allow the additional setting of the first pedal
23
A, the user rotates the three legs of the stand leg unit
4
by 30° or so in a counterclockwise direction with respect to the stand member
2
as shown in FIG.
5
.
As described above, the conventional hi-hat stand
5
normally employs the aforementioned structure in which the stand member
2
is supported by the stand leg unit
4
together with the pedal frame
11
. Herein, the stand leg unit
4
is constructed by the three legs
16
a
,
16
b
,
16
c
, which provides the performer with complicated troublesome arrangement of parts of the hi-hat stand around his/her foot. For this reason, the conventional hi-hat stand
5
raises a problem in that the performer's foot may come into
Lockett Kim
Yamaha Corp.
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