Adjustable wind chime clapper support

A wind chime of the type in which a clapper strikes individual ones of a group of resonant vertical tubes incorporates an adjustable support for enabling the position of the clapper to be easily changed on the strand on which the clapper is hung to thereby change the tone or to effectively silence the chime.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
Field of the Invention 
The invention relates to a wind chime of the type in which a clapper piece, 
hung in pendular fashion, is swung by the wind into resonant tubes, 
thereby causing chiming sounds. In particular, the invention is directed 
to a type of clapper support piece which allows the vertical pendulum 
action length of the clapper to be adjustable. 
Background of the Invention 
Wind chimes typically are made with the vertical pendulum action length of 
the clapper fixed in one nonadjustable position. This arrangement has the 
disadvantage of not being able to silence the chimes or to change the tone 
by changing the clapper position. 
The object of the present invention is to overcome these disadvantages by 
providing a clapper support which enables the clapper position to be 
adjusted to change the tone and when desired to position the clapper so 
that it will not strike the tubes. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The invention comprises a wind chime clapper support built out of a hollow 
tube the upper end of which is snugly nested in a hole formed through the 
center of the wind chime clapper, with the line supporting the clapper 
being threaded through this hollow tube. The geometry of this support 
tube, combined with the material qualities of the tube and line, are such 
that the friction between the support line and the inside of the hollow 
tube is sufficient to hold the clapper at a given vertical pendulum action 
length without slipping due to normal stress, motion, or gravity, while 
allowing the clapper to be easily manually repositioned anywhere along the 
support line. Thus, the pendulum action length of the clapper can be 
changed simply by holding the support line and pushing or pulling the 
clapper up or down along the line. Despite the shaping used to achieve 
this characteristic, the geometry of the clapper support device is 
balanced and maintains the entry point for the support line above the 
clapper and the exit point for the support line below the clapper in close 
vertical alignment, so the clapper, the clapper support tube, and any 
weight hung beneath such as a wind baffle are substantially in vertical 
alignment when at rest.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The wind chime assembly 10 is attached to a centrally positioned main 
supporting metal hook 11 by which the wind chime is hung vertically in 
place. 
The lower end of the main support hook 11 is attached to the upper end of 
each of three hollow metal tubes 13 of identical length and diameter. The 
lower end of each of these three tubes 13 is attached to an annular frame 
formed of a metal tube 15. The point of attachment of each tube 13 to the 
frame 15 as viewed from above is at approximately 120 degrees from that of 
each of the other two, with the three tubes 13 being arranged around a 
circumference of constant radius on the surface of the tubular frame 15, 
so that they are balanced relative to one another. 
Aside from contributing to the attractiveness of the wind chime assembly 
10, each of the three metal tubes 13 also acts as a guide for one of three 
partially illustrated respective frame support lines 14. Each of these 
frame support lines is attached at the top 12 to the main support hook 11 
and at the bottom end to the tubular frame 15. Due in part to scale, only 
very small portions of the frame support line 14 are discernable in FIG. 
1. The frame support lines 14 are preferably made of clear nylon fishing 
line of suitable strength. 
The annular shaped and tubular frame 15 serves to support six hollow 
resonant metal tubes 22 which are the "chimes" and which hang vertically 
from the supporting frame 15, distributed symmetrically along the 
circumference of the frame 15 such that each resonant tube 22 as viewed 
from above is approximately 60 degrees apart from the adjacent tubes. The 
resonant tubes 22 are independently hung from the bottom of frame 15 by 
separate support lines 21. The resonant tube support line 21 for each 
resonant tube should be of sufficient length that the resonant tube 22 
hangs completely free of the frame 15. A larger or smaller number of tubes 
may of course be employed and conventional fishing line and line 
connectors are suited to being used. 
The clapper 41 consists of a round solid circular disc of a diameter which 
is preferably appreciably smaller than the circumference of the circle 
described as tangent to the inside of the six resonant tubes 22 when 
standing vertically still, but of suffucient mass and diameter such that, 
when the clapper 41 is swung by gentle human touch or by a small breeze, 
it easily collides with the resonant tubes to cause a ringing or chiming 
sound. The actual clapper 41 material may be of any suitable material e.g. 
plastic, metal, ceramic, or wood, that meets these criteria. 
The clapper 41 is hung from the wind chime support hook 11 on a single 
vertical support line or strand 31 of suitable form and strength such as a 
clear nylon fishing line. In this regard, it is important that the clapper 
support line material have some modest, but not extreme frictional 
characteristic against sliding when nested against a smooth but not slick 
metallic surface, such as the inside of a hollow copper pipe such as 
employed for the later described clapper support tube 42. The upper end of 
the clapper support line 31 is attached to the main support hook 11 by 
appropriate fastening means such as employed with fishing lines. 
The clapper 41 is formed with a central hole in which the upper end of a 
small hollow metal clapper support tube 42 is snugly fitted although glue 
or other adhesive on the outside of the clapper support tube 42 may be 
used, if necessary, as an augmenting measure. 
In the first embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3, the clapper support line 31 is 
threaded into the top of the metal support tube 42, threaded entirely 
through two circular, side by side loops or turns 43, 44 and then 
continues out the bottom of the support tube 42, with the line 31 
continuing downward until it terminates where tied to a circular disc 33 
which serves both as a wind baffle and as a small weight to keep the 
clapper support line 31 hanging straight. In a second embodiment, shown in 
FIGS. 4 and 5, the support tube 45 is formed with two vertical loops or 
turns 46, 48 through which the line 31 is threaded. 
The clapper support line 31 outer diameter and the clapper support tube 42 
inner diameter should be reasonably close, but not identical. The 
important characteristic for purpose of the invention is that the 
diameters be sufficiently close that contact, and thereby friction, will 
be continuously maintained between the clapper support line 31 and the 
inside of the clapper support tube 42 yet not be so snug that the clapper 
support line 31 cannot be slid through the clapper support tube 42 if the 
clapper 41 is forced with sufficient manual pressure to move on clapper 
support line 31. Thus, the clapper 41 can be repositioned to change the 
tone or to move completely out of contact with the tubes 22 to effectively 
silence the chimes. Additionally, the clapper support tube of the 
invention when mounted and used as illustrated and described serves the 
important function of levelling the clapper 41.