Cymbal drum

Cymbal drum (10) includes a drum (12) having a plurality of openings (22) for receiving portions of a pair of cymbals (24) of cymbal assemblies (14), which cymbals (24) are adapted to clash together in response to the beating of the drum (12). The cymbals (24) are slidably mounted on a spindle (26) and separated by a compression spring (52). The level of the force used to beat the drum which is required to cause the cymbals to clash together may be selectively altered by varying the engagement of wing nut (48) with spindle (26). The nominal relative face-to-face alignment of the cymbals (24) may be selectively changed and the nominal relative tilting orientation of the two cymbals (24) may be selectively altered to vary the tones produced by the cymbal drum (10) of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION 
TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention relates to percussion type musical instruments and more 
particularly to a combination cymbal drum which may be adjusted to produce 
different sounds. 
BACKGROUND ART 
The prior art includes various percussion instruments used in conjunction 
with a drum. U.S. Pat. No. 852,881 discloses a cymbal which is supported 
closely adjacent to the head of a drum by adjustable arms. A foot-actuated 
beater rod is positioned to strike the cymbal when a foot pedal is 
depressed by the musician. 
In another musical instrument, a jingling sound producing instrument is 
mounted on the rim of a drum. The instrument includes an elongate flexible 
strap extending radially inwardly toward the center of the drum head from 
the rim. A larger, rigid arm also extends radially inwardly from the rim 
to overlie a portion of the flexible strap. A cross member is transversely 
attached to the free end of the flexible strap. A plurality of pins extend 
upwardly from the cross member to engage through the center of a pair of 
nominally vertically spaced apart metal sound discs. A pair of rubber 
snubber members extend downwardly from the cross member to press against 
the drum head. A screw, which is threadably engaged with the rigid arm, 
may be adjusted to press downwardly against the flexible strap to increase 
or decrease the pressure of the snubber members against the drum head, 
thus varying the tone of the sound produced by the metal sound discs. In 
operation, when the drum is struck with a hand or a stick, the resulting 
vibration causes the metal sound discs, which are loosely supported by the 
upright pins, to vibrate and strike each other. 
Another percussion instrument is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,261,253 which 
is composed of a sloped wooden panel supported above an underlying second 
wooden panel. A circular pad is affixed to the upper surface of the upper 
panel and an elongate support block is disposed across the underside of 
the upper panel to extend along the diameter of the circular shock 
absorbing pad. Two pairs of metal sounding members in the form of dished 
tambourine jingles are suspended on corresponding pins extending 
downwardly from the elongate block. In use, the shock absorbing pad is 
struck with a drum stick causing the upper panel and the two pairs of 
tambourine jingles to vibrate to theoretically produce simulative snare 
drum sounds. 
A tambourine is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 1,350,975 which consists of a 
rim extending around the circumference of a circular head. Horizontal 
slots are formed in the rim to receive pairs of tambourine jingles. The 
jingles have central openings to engage over vertical posts which span 
across the width of the slots. When the head of the tambourine is struck 
with a hand or other object, the tambourine jingles vibrate against each 
other. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,481,239 discloses another tambourine constructed similarly 
to the one disclosed in the above-described '975 patent with the exception 
that the tambourine does not include a head. Also, the rim of the 
tambourine is attached to the upper end of an axially movable, foot 
operated shaft, such as the type used in conjunction with a "high hat". 
Actuation of a shaft through a foot pedal causes the tambourine jingles to 
vibrate against each other. 
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
The musical instrument of the present invention comprises a drum having a 
plurality of elongate openings spaced around the circumference of the drum 
cylinder and a plurality of cymbal assemblies mounted on the drum with the 
two cymbals of each assembly extending partially through a corresponding 
drum opening. The two cymbals of each assembly are mounted on the drum to 
clash together in response to the beating of the drum. A spindle which 
extends diagonally from a mounting bracket extends through spindle 
receiving openings formed in the central portion of the cymbals. A 
compression spring is engaged over the central portion of the spindle to 
press oppositely outwardly against the central portions of the two cymbals 
to bias the cymbals against movement. A wing nut, threadably engaged with 
the free end portion of the spindle, is adjustable to vary the preload on 
the spring thereby altering the level of the force used to beat the drum 
which is required to cause the cymbals to clash together. 
The spindle receiving openings are formed in each cymbal at a location 
offset from the center of the cymbals so that by rotation of the two 
cymbals relative to each other about the spindle, the face-to-face 
alignment of the cymbals is altered thereby changing the tone produced by 
the cymbals when they are clashed together. The compression spring 
maintains the face-to-face alignment of the cymbals while permitting them 
to slide along the length of the spindle toward and away from each other. 
The two cymbals of each assembly are also tiltable relative to each other 
so that they progressively clash together rather than striking each other 
"squarely" thereby also producing various musical tones. This is 
accomplished by providing the mounting bracket with a boss portion which 
is askewed relative to the length of the spindle. The center portion of 
the distal surface of a first cymbal is pressed against the boss by the 
compression spring acting between the two cymbals. As a result, the 
spindle is tilted relative to the first cymbal. A bevel washer is engaged 
over the spindle between the distal surface of the second cymbal and the 
wing nut to press against the outer central portion of the second cymbal 
to thereby support the cymbal in tilted orientation relative to the 
spindle. The bevel washer may be rotated about the spindle to change the 
tilting orientation of the second cymbal relative to the first cymbal 
thereby varying the tone produced by the cymbal assemblies.

BEST MODE OF THE INVENTION 
Referring initially to FIGS. 1 and 2, a cymbal drum 10 constructed 
according to the best mode of the present invention currently known to 
applicant is illustrated as including in basic form a drum 12 and a 
plurality of cymbal assemblies 14 mounted on the drum. Drum 12 includes a 
cylinder 16, a rim 18 formed around the circumference at each end of the 
cylinder and heads 20 attached to the rims to close off the ends of the 
cylinder. Drum 12 may be of various typical types, such as a snare drum. 
Additionally referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, a plurality of elongate openings 
22 are formed in the drum cylinder 16 to receive portions of cymbal 
assemblies 14. Each opening 22 has rounded ends, the length of the 
openings extend along the circumference of the drum and are substantially 
longer than the width of the openings. Although openings 22 are 
illustrated as equally spaced apart along a circumferential row located 
approximately midway between the ends of the drum, the openings can be 
irregularly spaced apart and/or disposed in more than one row thereby 
producing different musical tones. 
Each cymbal assembly 14 includes a pair of oppositely facing cymbals 24 
mounted on a spindle 26 extending diagonally outward from a mounting 
bracket 28 secured to drum cylinder 16. Each cymbal is generally 
dish-shaped having a flat annular rim portion 30, a sloped intermediate 
portion 32 and a flat, recessed circular center portion 34 disposed 
parallel with a corresponding rim portion 30, FIG. 3. The cymbal center 
portions 34 are not located at the exact center of the cymbal, but are 
offset to one side. A hole 36 for receiving spindle 26 is formed on each 
center portion 34, with the hole also offset from the exact center of 
cymbal 24. Thus by rotating the two cymbals relative to each other about 
the spindle, the face-to-face alignment of the cymbals is altered. 
Preferably holes 36 are large enough to enable cymbals 24 to freely slide 
along spindle 26 when drum 12 is beaten. 
Referring specifically to FIGS. 3 and 4, the inner end of spindle 26 is 
threadably engaged with mounting bracket 28 secured to the outer surface 
of drum 12. Each mounting bracket 28 includes a mounting flange portion 38 
formed with two spaced apart, counter-sunk clearance holes for receiving 
screws 39 which also extend through aligned clearance holes formed in drum 
cylinder 16 to engage with appropriate hardware disposed on the inside of 
the drum cylinder, such as lock washers 40, and nuts 42. Rather than using 
screws 39, lock washers 40 and nuts 42 to attach bracket 28 to drum 12, 
other types of hardware such as rivets may be employed. As illustrated in 
FIG. 4, ideally mounting flanges 38 are curved to correspond to the 
circumference of drum cylinder 16; however, this curvature is not 
absolutely essential since flanges 38 are rather short in length in 
comparison to the circumference of the drum cylinder. Mounting bracket 28 
also includes a spindle receiving boss portion 44 interconnected with 
mounting flange portion 38 by a triangularly shaped web 46. Boss portion 
44 bears against the upper surface of the center portion 34 of the upper 
cymbal 24. Although not essential to the present invention, the cymbal 
contacting surface of boss portion 44 is parallel to the drum heads 20. 
As best illustrated in FIG. 3, spindle 26, which extends downwardly from 
mounting bracket 28 and outwardly away from drum cylinder 16, is askewed 
relative to the central axes of the two cymbals 24. A wing nut 48 is 
threadably engaged with the lower or free end portion of spindle 26 to 
prevent the cymbals from disengaging from the spindle. A bevel washer 50 
is engaged over the free end portion of spindle 26 and interposed between 
wing nut 48 and the lower surface of central portion 34 of the lower 
cymbal 24 to support the lower cymbal while accommodating the askewed 
orientation of spindle 26. The bearing surfaces of washer 50 are askewed 
relative to each other to approximately the same extent to which spindle 
26 is tilted from the central axes of cymbals 24. As a result, bevel 
washer 50 may be rotated about spindle 26 to vary the angular tilt of the 
lower cymbal between a first position wherein the rim portions 30 of the 
two cymbals 24 are disposed parallel to each other (FIG. 3) and various 
tilted positions in which the rim portions of the cymbals are angularly 
tilted relative to each other. A compression spring 52 is engaged over the 
central portion of spindle 26 to push against the inside surfaces of 
cymbal center portions 34. Spring 52 forces the upper cymbal against 
mounting bracket boss portion 44 and the lower cymbal against bevel washer 
50. 
By its unique design, the present invention provides a single instrument 
which is capable of producing sounds normally generated by two separate 
instruments, a drum and a pair of cymbals. Moreover, each of the cymbal 
assemblies 14 may be individually adjusted to vary the intensity with 
which drum 12 must be beaten before cymbals 24 are caused to clash 
together. This is accomplished by changing the engagement of wing nut 48 
with spindle 26 thereby altering the preload imposed on spring 52 which 
imparts a movement-resisting biasing force on the cymbals. It will be 
appreciated that each of the cymbal assemblies may be adjusted so that all 
of the cymbal pairs 24 strike together at the same time, or alternatively 
each of the assemblies may be adjusted so that the cymbal pairs clash 
together at different times so that sounds of various tones and loudness 
are produced. 
Moreover, the tone produced by cymbal assemblies 14 also may be altered by 
rotating the cymbals of each assembly relative to each other so that the 
rim portion of one cymbal is offset from the rim portion of the opposite 
cymbal when the cymbals strike each other. The friction caused by the ends 
of spring 52 pushing against the central portions 34 of the cymbals 
restrains the cymbals from rotating about spindle 26 thus maintaining them 
in selective face-to-face orientation while simultaneously permitting the 
cymbals to slide along the spindle toward and away from each other in 
response to the beating of the drum. 
Further tonal qualities can be achieved by rotating bevel washer 50 from 
the orientation illustrated in FIG. 3 so that the cymbals are nominally 
tilted relative to each other causing their rim portions to progressively 
strike each other rather than allowing the entire rim portions to strike 
each other simultaneously. The particular angular or tilted orientations 
at which the cymbals 24 are positioned are maintained by compression 
spring 52 while still enabling the cymbals to slide along spindle 26 
toward and away from each other as drum 12 is beaten. Thus, it is to be 
appreciated that constructing cymbal drum 10 in the manner described above 
enables the musical sounds produced by the instrument to be selectively 
varied in three different ways, by changing the level of drum beating 
force needed to cause the cymbals to clash together, by altering the 
offset or face-to-face relationship between the cymbals and by tilting the 
cymbals relative to each other. 
Rather than constructing cymbal assembly 14 as illustrated in FIGS. 1-4, 
spindle 26 could be disposed parallel to the central axis of the cymbals 
and bevel washer 50 eliminated. The engagement of wing nut 48 on spindle 
26 may be adjusted to alter the intensity with which drum 12 must be 
beaten before the cymbals clash together. Moreover, by forming cymbals 24 
with holes 36 offset from the true center of the cymbals, the face-to-face 
alignment of the cymbals may be changed by rotating the cymbals relative 
to each other about spindle 26 so that the entire surface area of spindle 
rims 30 do not contact each other when the cymbals clash together. 
Moreover, even though spindle 26 is disposed "square" to the central axes 
of the cymbals, the cymbals may be tilted relative to each other by 
placing a bevel washer similar to washer 50 between the lower or distal 
surface of lower cymbal 24 and wing nut 48. The desired relative tilt 
between the cymbals may be obtained by varying the relative angle between 
the two faces of the bevel washer. 
It is applicant's belief that the quality of the sound produced by the 
present invention is enhanced by forming oblong openings 22 in drum 
cylinder 16 so that portions of cymbals 24 may be disposed within the 
interior of the drum cylinder. This enables the different sounds produced 
by drum 12 and cymbal assemblies 14 to be advantageously blended together. 
It is possible to construct cymbal drum 10 so that cymbal assemblies 14 
are disposed entirely outside of drum cylinder 16, for instance, by 
increasing the length of mounting bracket boss portions 44 so that 
spindles 26 are positioned further away from the drum cylinder. However, 
the quality of the sound may be somewhat diminished if the cymbal drum is 
constructed in this manner. 
As will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention is 
addressed, the present invention may be embodied in forms and embodiments 
other than those specifically disclosed above, without departing from the 
spirit or essential characteristics of the invention. The particular 
embodiment of the cymbal drum 10 described above is therefore to be 
considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, i.e. the 
scope of the present invention is as set forth in the appended claims 
rather than being limited to the example of cymbal drum 10 as set forth in 
the foregoing description.