Swab for wiping condensate from inner wall of wind instrument

A piece of hygroscopic cloth is connected to a flexible string formed of non-hygroscopic material such as nylon for wiping condensate from an inner surface of a crook, and the flexible string advances through an air passage of the crook without clinging to the inner surface, thereby making wiping away the condensate easy.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a swab used for a musical instrument and, more 
particularly, to a swab for wiping condensate from the inner wall of a 
wind instrument. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART 
While a player is breathing into a wind instrument, the column of air 
vibrates inside of the wind instrument, and the vibration is radiated from 
the wind instrument as sounds. However, the breath is warm and wet, 
containing water vapor which tends to condense on the inner wall of the 
wind instrument. The condensate is usually wiped away with a swab after 
the performance. 
The wind instrument has various structure, and is usually broken down into 
tubular pieces. The air passages of the tubular pieces are usually not 
constant. For example, a crook and a bell joint are indispensable tubular 
pieces of a bassoon. The air passages of the crook is several millimeters, 
and the bell joint defines an air passage as wide as several centimeters. 
Most of the other wind instruments are analogous, and the wiping away of 
condensate for a narrow air passage is not easy. 
FIG. 1 illustrates a crook 1 of a bassoon. The crook 1 is gently curved, 
and defines an air passage 1a. The air passage 1a is decreased from a 
blowing end 1b toward a connecting end 1c, and a double reed (not shown) 
is attached to the blowing end 1b. A player blows into the crook 1, and 
the breath causes the double reed to vibrate. The air passage guides the 
air flow to the next tubular piece called a tenor joint. The water vapor 
of the breath is condensed on the inner surface of the crook. 
After the performance, the player usually wipes the condensate from the 
inner surface of the crook 1 with a swab. The prior art swab 2 is 
illustrated in FIG. 2, and comprises a square piece 2a of hygroscopic 
cloth, a guide string 2b sewed on the square piece 2a and a guide weight 
2c attached to the leading end of the guide string 2b. The guide string 2b 
is formed from cotton yarn or artificial silk yarn, and is sewed along a 
diagonal line 2d of the square piece 2a. The guide weight 2c is elongated, 
and is thin enough to pass the narrow air passage at the connecting end 
1c. The guide weight 2c is not so heavy. 
When the player wipes the condensate from the inner wall of the crook 1, 
the crook 1 is disassembled from the tenor joint (not shown), and the 
player keeps the crook 1 in the position where the blowing end 1b is 
upwardly directed. The player picks up the guide weight 2c, and drops the 
guide weight 2c into the air passage at the blowing end 1b. The player 
moves the crook 1 so that the guide weight 2c slides on the inner wall of 
the crook 1, and the guide string 2b follows the guide weight 2c. The 
player takes the guide weight 2c from the connecting end 1c, and pulls out 
the guide weight 2c. The guide string 2b and, accordingly, the square 
piece 2a of hygroscopic cloth proceed through the air passage toward the 
connecting end 1c, and the condensate is wiped away from the inner wall of 
the crook 1 with the square piece 2a of hygroscopic cloth. 
Another prior art swab 3 is illustrated in FIG. 3, and is different from 
the prior art swab 2 in the shape of the hygroscopic cloth. The prior art 
swab 3 also comprises a triangle piece 3a of hygroscopic cloth, a guide 
string 3b sewed along the perpendicular line 3c of the triangle piece 3a 
and a guide weight (not shown) attached to the leading end of the guide 
string 3b. A player uses the prior art swab 3 in a similar manner to the 
prior art swab 2. 
However, a problem is encountered in the prior art swabs 2 and 3 in that 
the crook 1 is liable to be clogged with the swabs 2 and 3. 
Another problem inherent in the prior art swabs 2 and 3 is difficulty of 
taking out the wet square/triangle piece 2a/3a from the crook 1. 
The present inventors contemplated the first problem, and noticed that the 
guide weight 2c was too light to pull the guide string 2b/3b clinging to 
the wet inner surface of the crook 1. While the guide weight 2c and the 
guide string 2b/3b were slowly advancing through the air passage 1a, the 
square/triangle piece 2a/3a of hygroscopic cloth absorbed the condensate, 
and became heavy. The light guide weight 2c could not pull the heavy wet 
square/triangle piece 2a/3a, and the crook was clogged. 
If a heavy guide weight effective against the clog was attached to the 
leading end of the guide string 2b/3b, the heavy guide weight per se 
clogged the air passage, because such a heavy guide weight was too large 
to pass the narrow air passage 1a at the connecting end. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide a 
swab which smoothly passes through a piece of tubular member of a wind 
instrument. 
To accomplish the object, the present invention proposes to form a thin 
guide member of flexible non-hygroscopic material. While a player is 
thrusting the thin guide member into an air passage, the thin guide member 
can propagate the thrust to the leading end portion thereof; however, the 
thin guide member deforms the shape thereof along the inner wall defining 
the air passage, and the leading end of the guide member advanced toward 
the other end of the air passage. 
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a swab for 
wiping condensate from an inner surface of a tubular member forming a part 
of a wind instrument, comprising: a piece of hygroscopic material 
insertable into an inner space of the tubular member; a flexible guide 
member deformable along an inner wall of the tubular member defining the 
inner space when the flexible guide member is thrust into the inner space; 
and a coupling member for fixing the piece of hygroscopic material to one 
end of the flexible tenacious guide member.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to FIG. 4 of the drawings, a swab embodying the present invention 
comprises a piece 10 of hygroscopic cloth, a flexible guide string 11 and 
a coupling member 12 for connecting the piece of hygroscopic cloth 10 to 
the flexible guide string 11. 
The piece 10 of hygroscopic cloth is formed from cotton fiber, silk fiber, 
hemp yarn, artificial silk fiber, nylon fiber, polyester fiber, a 
commingle yarn of nylon and polyester. A piece of non-woven hygroscopic 
fabric and a sheet of hygroscopic paper are available for the swab 
according to the present invention. 
The piece 10 of hygroscopic cloth is shaped into a generally rhombic 
configuration, and is folded back along a long center line so as to 
overlap the two edges 10a and 10b with the other two edges 10c and 10d, 
respectively. The halves of the piece 10 are sewed with a string 10e along 
the edges 10a/10c and 10b/10d, and the piece 10 of hygroscopic cloth is 
shaped into a generally isosceles triangle. Two holes are formed at both 
ends of the base of the generally isosceles triangle shaped hygroscopic 
cloth 10. The width W ranges from 5 millimeters to 10 millimeters, and the 
ratio between the length L and the height H falls within the range from 
5:1 to 30:1. The length L and the height are dependent on the air passage 
of a tubular member from which the swab wipes condensate. 
The flexible guide string 11 has a diameter ranging from 1 millimeter to 2 
millimeter, and is formed of flexible material having sufficient rigidity 
so that the flexible guide string maintains its shape under no load 
conditions but deforms to the curvation of the air passage when it is 
inserted therein. The rigidity allows the flexible guide string 11 to 
withstand thrust exerted thereon during wiping, and the flexible guide 
string 11 advances along an air passage without forming a coil. 
Non-hygroscopicity is another desirable property for the flexible guide 
string 11, because hygroscopic material is liable to lose its rigidity. 
For this reason, the flexible guide string 11 is formed of nylon, 
polypropylene, polyethylene or chloroethylene, and a vinyl coated flexible 
metal wire is available for the flexible guide string 11. Especially, the 
nylon string is desirable, because a manufacturer can purchase it from a 
commercial market at a reasonable price. 
FIG. 5 shows the coupling member 12 encircled in broken lines BL in FIG. 4. 
One end portion 11a of the flexible guide string 11 is inserted into the 
inner space of the generally isosceles triangle shaped hygroscopic cloth 
10 through the hole formed at a leading end portion thereof. The coupling 
member 12 is implemented by a synthetic resin tube, and the leading end 
portion of the generally isosceles triangle shaped hygroscopic cloth 10 is 
inserted into the synthetic resin tube 12 together with the flexible guide 
string 11. The synthetic resin tube is caulked. Then, the synthetic resin 
tube presses the leading end portion 10f of the generally isosceles 
triangle shaped hygroscopic cloth 10 against the outer surface of the 
flexible guide string 11, and fixes the generally isosceles triangle 
shaped hygroscopic cloth 10 to the flexible guide string 11. Thus, the 
generally isosceles triangle shaped hygroscopic cloth 10 is connected to 
the flexible guide string 11 by means of the synthetic resin tube or the 
coupling member 12. 
In this instance, the total length TL of the flexible guide string 11 and 
the generally isosceles triangle shaped hygroscopic cloth 10 is longer 
than an air passage 13a of a crook 13 (see FIGS. 6A to 6C), because a 
trailing end portion 10g of the generally isosceles triangle shaped 
hygroscopic cloth 10 should be outside of the blowing end portion 13b when 
the leading end 11a of the flexible guide string 11 reaches the connecting 
end 13c of the crook 13. However, another swab according to the present 
invention is shorter than an air passage, because the flexible guide 
string may be taken out from an intermediate portion of the air passage. 
Subsequently, description is hereinbelow made of wiping condensate from the 
crook 13 forming a part of a bassoon with reference to FIGS. 6A to 6C. 
First, the swab shown in FIG. 4 is prepared. A worker puts the leading end 
portion 11a of the flexible guide string 11 into the air passage 13a at 
the blowing end portion 13b, and thrusts the flexible guide string 11 into 
the air passage 13a as indicated by arrow AR1 (see FIG. 6A). The flexible 
guide string 11 well withstands the bending moment due to the thrust, and 
propagates the thrust to the leading end 11a. For this reason, a weight is 
not necessary for the swab according to the present invention. 
The tenacity of the flexible guide string 11 is so large that the thrust 
causes the flexible guide string 11 to advance along the air passage 13a 
of the crook 13 toward the connecting end 13c without forming a coil. Even 
though the inner surface of the crook 13 is wet with condensate, the 
non-hygroscopic flexible guide string 11 slides on the wet inner surface 
of the crook 13 without loosing its rigidity. Moreover, the 
non-hygroscopicity prevents the flexible guide string 11 from clinging to 
the inner wall of the crook 13. When the flexible guide string 11 passes a 
curved portion of the air passage 13a, the flexible guide string 11 is 
deformed. 
When the leading end portion 11a reaches the connecting end 13c of the 
crook 13, the worker picks up the leading end portion 11a, and pulls the 
flexible guide string 11 as indicated by arrow AR2 (see FIG. 6B). The 
generally isosceles triangle shaped hygroscopic cloth 10 follows the 
flexible guide string 11, and advances along the air passage 13a toward 
the connecting end 13c. While the generally isosceles triangle shaped 
hygroscopic cloth 10 is passing through the air passage 13a, the 
condensate is absorbed by the generally isosceles triangle shaped 
hygroscopic cloth 10, and is wiped from the inner surface of the crook 13. 
The generally isosceles triangle shaped hygroscopic cloth 10 is taken out 
from the connecting end 13c as shown in FIG. 6C. 
The generally isosceles triangle shaped hygroscopic cloth 10 is widely 
shrunk depending upon the air passage 13a, because the piece of 
hygroscopic cloth is sewed into a tube-like configuration. Moreover, the 
generally isosceles triangle shaped hygroscopic cloth 10 is less liable to 
be twisted in the air passage 13a by virtue of the tube-like configuration 
and the ratio between the length L and the height H. Thus, the air passage 
13a is hardly clogged with the swab according to the present invention. 
Even if the generally isosceles triangle shaped hygroscopic cloth 10 is 
coiled in the air passage 13a before the leading end 11a reaches the 
connecting end 13c, the trailing end 10g is still outside of the blowing 
end portion 13b (see FIG. 6B), and the worker can easily pull the trailing 
end 11g back. 
As will be appreciated from the foregoing description, the swab according 
to the present invention passes through an air passage without clog by 
virtue of the flexible tenacious guide string 11. The tube-like generally 
isosceles triangle shaped hygroscopic cloth 10 is less liable to be 
twisted in the air passage, and causes the swab according to the present 
invention to smoothly pass through the air passage. Moreover, when the 
total length TL is longer than the air passage 13a, the worker can pull 
the generally isosceles triangle shaped hygroscopic cloth 10 back, and the 
air passage is easily recovered from the clog. 
Although particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown 
and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various 
changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit 
and scope of the present invention. 
For example, the piece of hygroscopic cloth may be shaped into a bundle of 
strings, a ribbon or a braid. The swab shown in FIG. 4 may be modified in 
size so as to use in another wind instrument.