Abstract:
A drum mute for eliminating overtones and ringing that occurs when a drum head to which the mute is affixed is struck. The drum mute has a thin, flexible, resilient sheet which may be adhered to the drum head. The undersurface of the sheet includes an adhesive to adhere it to the drum head and an area of felt. Preferably, the sheet has an angled bend to resiliently hold the felt against the drum head.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The field of the invention is accessories for musical instruments, and the invention relates more particularly to percussion instruments such as drums and mutes associated therewith. 
     Drums often create, in addition to their desired sound, an overtone and ringing when hit. Various mutes have been devised in an effort to reduce or eliminate such undesired overtones. One such mute is shown in the Saputo U.S. Pat. No. 4,671,158. This device is affixed to the rim of the drum and is limited in placement in that it is required to be adjacent the counterhoop of the drum. Furthermore, it, being composed of arms and screws, can loosen upon use. Still further, the pressure exerted upon the drum head must be adjusted. The mute shown in the Robinson U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,807 is affixed to the rim of a drum. It also is thus limited in placement to a position adjacent the rim. The muting effect is brought about by gravity. It is, thus, limited in response time as well as limited for use where the drum head is generally horizontal. Various other mutes are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,244,266, 4,325,280, 4,246,825, 573,320 and 663,853. None of these devices permit a combination of a positive force of the mute against the drum head and a completely randoming positioning of the mute combined with inexpensive construction. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide an easily installed drum mute which provides a positive muting pressure against the drum head and which may be used in any drum head orientation. 
     The present invention is for a drum mute for eliminating overtones and ringing that occur when a drum head to which the mute is affixed is struck. The mute comprises a flexible, resilient sheet having an outer surface, an inner surface and a peripheral edge. A layer of delayed tack adhesive is affixed to at least a portion of the inner surface of the sheet. Another portion of the sheet contains an area of felt, and when the sheet is adhered to a drum head, the felt is held against the outer surface of the drum head. When the drum head is struck, the desired drum sound is emitted, but the mute quickly touches the head before undesirable overtones are created. Preferably, the flexible, resilient sheet has an angled bend to further urge the felt against the drum head. Because the mute is held on by adhesive directly to the drum head, it may be placed in any position on the drum head to provide an optimum amount of muting. Furthermore, more than one mute may be adhered to the drum head. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a plurality of drums having a mute of the present invention adhered to the head thereof. 
     FIG. 2 is a plan view of one of the drums of FIG. 1 showing the drum mute of the present invention together with a phantom view of possible drum mute placement locations. 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view partially cut away of the drum mute of the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 is a side view of the drum mute of FIG. 3. 
     FIG. 5 is a bottom view thereof. 
     FIG. 6 is side view of the drum mute of the present invention adhered to the head of a drum. 
     FIG. 7 is an alternate embodiment of the drum mute of the present invention. 
     FIG. 8 is a side view of the alternate embodiment of FIG. 7 adhered to a drum head. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     A set of drums is shown in perspective view in FIG. 1 and indicated generally by reference character 10. The set of drums includes a bass drum 11, a snare drum 12 and a tom drum 13. Each drum has a drum head or skin 14 and a pair of counterhoops 15 and 16. 
     The drum mute of the present invention is indicated by reference character 17 and is shown best in FIG. 3. Drum mute 17 is made from a flexible, resilient sheet 18. A sheet of 15 mil polyvinyl chloride has been found useful, although other thin, flexible and resilient materials could be used. Sheet 18 has an outer surface 19, an inner surface 20 and a peripheral edge 21. It is generally in the form of an elongated rectangle whose length 22 is approximately twice its width 23. An area of felt 24 is adhered to a portion of inner surface 20. A layer of delayed tack adhesive 25 is also adhered to inner surface 20. Preferably, an angled bend 26 (shown best in FIG. 4) is formed across sheet 18. Angled bend should be an obtuse angle indicated by reference character 27, in FIG. 4, and ideally it is between 160° and 170° degrees. The longitudinal axis 32 is shown in FIG. 5, and it is preferable that angled bend 26 be at right angles thereto. As shown best in FIG. 6, when adhesive 25 has been adhered to drum head 14, the area of felt 24 is elastically urged against the upper surface 28 of drum head 14. Preferably, a peel-off cover 29 is provided for removal prior to adhering to drum head 14. It is also preferable that there be an adhesive-free area 30 between adhesive 25 and felt 24. This provides an area of flexure which permits the felt to rise off the upper surface 28 of the drum head at the instant the drum head is struck while still urging the felt elastically downward toward the drum head to quickly mute out overtones. It is also preferable that the mute have rounded corners 31. 
     The term &#34;felt&#34; is not intended in its narrow sense but rather in its functional sense. That is, any soft, muffling type of composition would be likely to be useful. A felt having a thickness of about one-sixteenth of an inch has been found useful. 
     A mute having a length 22 of 31/4 inches, a width 23 of 13/4 inches was fabricated. An area of felt extending 2 inches from one longitudinal end to the angled bend was adhered to the inner surface 20. At the other end of the inner surface, the length of double-faced adhesive tape was adhered to the inner surface from the edge a distance of 5/8 of an inch. This left a length of 5/8 of an inch along the longitudinal axis 32 of an adhesive-free and felt-free area which permits the flexing of the mute during use. 
     Although angled bend 26 is preferred, the device can also be fabricated without an angled bend. Such a mute 33 is shown in FIG. 7, and this also is fabricated from a resilient sheet 34 and includes an area of felt 35 and an area of delayed tack adhesive 36. This is shown applied to the upper surface 28 of a drum head 14 in FIG. 8. It can be seen that the adhesive layer 36 is thinner than the felt layer 35 and, thus, elastically holds the felt layer 35 against the upper surface 28 of drum head 14. 
     As indicated in FIG. 2, the mute can be placed at any area of the drum head 14. Furthermore, more than one mute can be placed on a single drum head if desired. It is also evident that the drum mute of the present invention may be inexpensively fabricated and is very portable. It may be placed on the drum head so that it is completely free of any interference with the playing of the drum and is easily removed if desired. The mute of the present invention is not limited to one specific size of drum, and one size of mute fits all sizes and styles of drums. Furthermore, the device is not limited to use on drums which have a rim, and rimless drums, such as conga drums and concert timpani drums can also readily use the drum mute of the present invention. Furthermore, because the device works by resiliency, it may operate in any given attitude, that is, upside down or vertical. Thus, the device can be used both on the top and the bottom of the same drum if desired. 
     The present embodiments of this invention are thus to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive; the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.