Device for micro tuning pianos and other stringed instruments

A device for micro tuning stringed instruments such as pianos, harps, and the like including a portable tool mechanism removably attachable to a tuning peg having appropriate gearing and means for rotating the gearing to provide micro metric rotation of a socket adapted to be operatively disposed on an associated tuning peg, whereby rotation of the peg wraps the string associated therewith in a precise fashion.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates generally to a hand tool formulated to facilitate 
the precision tuning of pianos and other stringed instruments with a high 
degree of precision. 
One of the problems associated with tuning stringed instruments such as 
pianos, and the like has been the tendency of the manipulative tool 
associated with the wire tensioning device to be mechanically so "fast" 
that over tensioning of the associated piano wire has occurred, and the 
wire has to thereafter be detensioned and subsequentially retensioned, an 
iterative process that is inefficient from a time and labor point of view, 
and therefore needlessly increases the tedium associated with the skilled 
tuning. 
Known prior art devices exist in an attempt to address the above-noted 
problem, and the following patents reflect the state of the art of which 
applicant is aware, insofar as these patents appear to be germane to the 
process at hand. 
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360,409 Berner 2,917,961 
Madonna 
1,026,228 Severy et al. 
3,777,611 
Madonna 
2,254,012 Kudo 
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Severy et al. teaches the use of a known prior art technique for tuning 
pianos and the like in which a winding drum (FIG. 3) is adapted to engage 
a tangent screw (FIG. 4) within a frame portion (FIG. 5) so that a piano 
wire 12 wound upon the drum can be adjusted by means of manipulating the 
screw as best shown in FIG. 1. 
Similarly, each of the Madonna patents attempt to provide a solution to the 
long standing problem of precise micro metric tuning of piano strings 
wherein the peg upon which the piano wire is attached is provided by 
appropriate gearing to another mechanism the rotation of which operatively 
manipulates tension on the string. 
The patent to Kudo teaches the use of a mechanical tuning device for 
stringed musical instruments utilizing a worm gear and an associated 
toothed wheel the interengagment of which provides the ability to rotate 
the toothed wheel 18 and therefore retension the strings. 
The Berner piano tuning pin teaches a device somewhat similar to one of the 
Madonna patents, and is characterized in that a support block each has 
plural gearings thereon one for respective individual strings in a piano 
to be tuned. 
All of the known prior art techniques discussed hereinabove share the 
common disadvantage that the complex gearing associated with micro tuning 
is integrally formed with the piano, raising the cost of an expensive 
instrument substantially. None of the devices discussed hereinabove 
exemplary of the prior art have ever met with a an appreciable degree of 
success in the marketplace because all of these mechanisms require 
retrofitting on existing pianos, or required that the piano manufacturer 
modify the instrument in accordance with the above disclosed tuning 
directives, an event which has not occurred presumably due to both the 
extraordinary increase in expense associated with the instrument and the 
problems with providing clearance within the piano for the plurality of 
mechanical linkages associated therewith. 
By way of contrast, the instant invention is directed to and provides a 
single tool capable of selective deployment and removal from a 
conventional tuning peg on existing manufactured pianos which provides the 
micro metric tuning capabilities sought by the prior art devices but not 
obtainable thereby. The device according to the instant application can be 
rapidly and easily deployed from one peg to another, and is suitably 
configured and fashioned so as to decrease the likelihood of over 
tensioning a piano wire as conventional pianos are prone to do with the 
associated pegs, and provides advantages of the prior art in that a single 
mechanical linkage can be deployed from peg to peg removing the 
requirement of 88 separate gear assemblies and their associated clearance 
problems as would be required by the prior art. 
SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, this invention has as an objective the provision of a tool 
suitably formed to tune in a micro metric fashion pianos and other 
stringed instruments. 
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a device of the 
character described above in which the mechanical gearing associated 
therewith affords extremely precise control over the tension imposed upon 
a piano wire or the like. 
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a device of the 
character described above which can be readily disposed upon any of the 
plurality of tuning pegs on a piano without laborious and tedious 
initialization, a constraint inherent in the known prior art techniques. 
It is still yet a further object of this invention to provide a device with 
the character described above in which a pluralilty of support means are 
selectively engagable with adjacent tuning pegs to provide a nesting and 
bearing surface for the tool thereby providing stability and enhancing the 
micro metric tuning ability of the instrument associated with the instant 
application. 
It is still yet a further object of this invention to provide a device with 
the character described above which is extremely durable in construction 
and safe to use. 
A further object of this invention contemplates the provision that the 
device as set forth hereinabove which would lend itself to mass production 
techniques. 
These and other objects will be made manifest when considering the 
following detailed specification when taken in conjunction with the 
appended drawing figures wherein there is provided a device for micro 
tuning pianos, and other stringed instruments which includes a tuning peg 
receiving means, a shaft associated therewith and supported thereon a 
toothed wheel adapted to rotate said peg receiving means, a further gear 
operatively connected to said toothed gear to cause rotation thereof and 
of said peg receiving means, an instrumentality to rotate said further 
gear in operative meshing engagement with the toothed wheel, an 
instrumentality to reorient the rotational instrumentality about a 
specific set of axes while still allowing operative rotation of said 
further gear, and a nesting instrumentality associated operatively 
therewith adapted to find purchase areas and nest against other components 
associated with the piano, harps, zithers or other stringed instruments to 
provide a bearing surface for precise support of the micro metric tuning 
device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to the drawings now wherein like reference numerals refer to like 
parts throughout the various drawing figures, reference numeral 10 is 
directed to the micro tuning device for stringed instruments according to 
the instant application. 
The tuning device 10 is formed with a depending socket member having an 
outer preferably annular wall 1 and a centrally disposed axially extending 
bore 2 provided with a configuration complemental to the outer surface of 
the piano tuning pegs p or any other peg as shown in FIG. 1. Since most of 
the pegs are quadralateral, a complementally formed foursided bore that 
engages the flat sides of the peg can securely and snuggly engage the peg, 
or in another alternative, an octagonal bore adapted to engage the mid 
points and the vertical edges of the peg head can also be provided. Other 
types of bores can be removably affixed to the tool 10 to accommodate 
different dimensioned tuning pegs. The upper end of the socket 1 is 
provided with a shoulder 1b from which extends a topmost portion 1a of the 
socket 1 having two opposed sides formed substantially planar and parallel 
to each other for purposes to be assigned shortly. 
The socket 1 is supported on a body member 17 having a central opening 
dimensioned to receive the socket 1 as best shown in FIG. 2. The socket 1 
is oriented appropriately within the body 17 by means of a stop shelf 7 
disposed and fixed to the socket adjacent a lowermost portion of the body 
17. On a top face of body 17, a spacer 8 is provided coplanar with the 
shoulder 1b. The topmost portion 1a of the socket 1 has an axially 
threaded bore 5 adapted to receive a screw 4 having complementally formed 
threads along its length. To this end, a spacer 6 is provided between the 
screw 4 and the socket body topmost portion 1a so that between the spacers 
6 and 8 a toothed wheel 3 can be sandwiched. As shown, the wheel 3 has a 
plurality of radially disposed peripheral teeth 3a provided with a pitch 
complemental the pitch of a worm gear 9 supported on shaft 9a. 
More specifically, the worm gear shaft 9a is carried by first and second 
spaced pillow blocks 11 each carried upon the body 17 by means of a 
laterally extending shelf 18 best viewed in FIG. 2. Thus, with the pillow 
blocks 11 bolted onto the supporting shelf 18, rotation of the worm gear 9 
about the shaft 9a will cause incremental micro motion of the gear 3 
through teeth 3a coacting with the worm gear 9. The spaced parallel flat 
sides on the upper body 1a and their mating interfit with associated flats 
on the toothed gear 3, along with the engagement of the screw 4, causes 
rotation of the socket 1 and its associated bore 2 and thus the micro 
adjustment of the tuning pegs 3 is possible. 
Rotation of the shaft 9a of the worm gear 9 can occur in a most beneficial 
manner by virtue of the following mechanism. One end of the worm gear 
shaft 9a is provided with a cap 12 on a side of the pillow block 11 remote 
from the worm gear 9, and an opposed extremity of the shaft 9a remote from 
the cap 12 passes through the second of the two pillow blocks 11 and 
operatively communicates with a universal type joint 13 having a first 
portion 13a and a second portion 13b operatively affixed in an 
interconnecting gimble mechanism of substantially cruciform shape having 
extremities provided with bearings adapted to rotate within the first and 
second universal housing portions 13a and 13b respectively. Rotation of 
the shaft 9a is effected through the use of the universal joint mechanism 
by means of a handle 16 operatively connected to the second universal 
portion 13b by means of a shaft 15 extending between the universal 13b and 
the handle 16 and removably affixed thereto by a threaded member 14 so 
that removal of the handle 16 in favor of a different type of turning 
device (such as a rachet) is possible. 
In use and operation therefore, the universal joint 13 allows orientation 
of its handle in a manner not axially aligned with the worm gear 9a so 
that obstructions and other impediments commonly found associated with and 
proximate to the plurality of tuning keys of the piano can be avoided and 
the tuning operation can proceed in a most expeditious fashion. The pitch 
of the worm gear 9 and its associated toothed gear 3 is such that 
relatively large rotation of the handle provides an extremely small micro 
metric rotation of the socket 1 an important consideration when tensioning 
the piano wire W. 
An instrumentality is provided to lend and augment the stability of the 
tool in its associated and intended environment. More specifically three 
remaining quadrants removed from the shelf 18 (emanating radially from 
body member 17), are each provided with first and second horizontally 
extending pairs of ears 19 and 20, each having apertures 21 in linear 
alignment so that a bearing support plate 22 can be attached to one or 
more of the ear pairs as will now be defined. The bearing support plate 22 
is formed from first and second vertically offset leg members 23 and 24 
interconnected by a horizontal shelf 25 which all in a preferred form of 
the invention are integrally cast from a single piece. The shelf 25 
provides a surface adapted to nest upon any of the plurality of tuning 
pegs P and the length of the lowermost leg 24 substantially corresponds to 
or is slightly less than the vertical dimension of the tuning peg so that 
at least one peg abuts a bottom face of the upper leg 23 (shelf 25) and is 
in tangential registry with the lowermost leg 24. By having the bearing 
plate 22 disposed between a pair of pegs for instance, stability and 
resistance to rotation of the tool will be effected, since the bearing 
plate 22 is connected at a topmost portion by means of a shaft 21a through 
the apertures 21 connected in the pair of ears 19, 20 as best seen in FIG. 
1. Thus, the connecting pin 21a can be selectively removed and the bearing 
plate 22 can be repositioned in any of the three pairs of outwardly 
horizontally extending ears to take advantage of the location of the pegs 
used for support wherever they may happen to be. A pair of apertures 27 
are provided at top corners of the upper leg 23 of the bearing plate 22 to 
support the shaft 21a therein. In a further preferred form, the bearing 
plate 22 includes a purchase area 26 in the form of a screw on an edge of 
upper leg 23 or the like which allows the bearing plate 22 to be kicked up 
when it is desired to move the tool from one peg to the next. 
In use and operation, operative rotation of the handle and therefore the 
shaft 15 in the direction of the double arrows R cause rotation of the 
worm gear 9 and ultimately of the tooth gear 3 and therefore the socket 1. 
Due to the intimate contact of the socket 1 with the peg P rotation of the 
peg causes the piano wire W to be further wound thereabout, altering the 
tension of the piano wire. The relationship of the gearing provides 
precise control of the tuning process without needlessly overtensioning 
the piano wire. 
Having thus described the invention it should be apparent that numerous 
structural modifications are contemplated at being part of this invention 
as set forth hereinabove and as defined within the scope and fair meaning 
of the claims appended hereto.