Asynchronous slapping musical instrument

A musical instrument for producing slapping sounds occurring at an audibly distinct asynchronous rate. A rigid slat member has a plurality of flexible slat members disposed adjacent thereto on at least one side and connected at one end to form a gripping handle. The flexible slats are increasingly weighted away from the rigid slat member such that when the rigid slat is rapidly accelerated through a swinging motion by gripping the handle the outermost slats will be flexed a greater distance than the inner slats. Consequently, the time for unflexing when the swinging has stopped is greater for the outer flexible slats whereby they strike in a slapping motion at a sufficiently delayed time to be audibly distinguishable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to percussion type musical instruments and, 
more particularly, to instruments for producing a slapping sound. 
Instruments for use in producing a slapping sound are used both 
professionally and as toys. Typical examples well known in the art are 
shown as FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. For example, in FIG. 1, the instrument 10 
comprises a pair of slats 12 held in parallel spaced relationship by a 
handle 14 as shown in the ghosted position. By gripping the handle 14 and 
rotating the instrument 10 back and forth as indicated by the arrow 16, as 
for example against the side of a hand 18, a slapping sound can be 
created. Each time the instrument 10 is struck against the hand 18, a 
single slap is produced. The frequency or pattern of the slapping sounds 
is very varied by varying the rate or time of rotation. 
In yet another example as shown in FIG. 2, the instrument 20 comprises a 
pair of resiliently flexible slates 22 disposed on either side of a rigid 
slat 24 by handle 26. As the instrument 20 is rotated as indicated by the 
arrow 28 the resiliently flexible slats are alternately rotated away from 
the rigid slat 24 as indicated by the arrows 30 to the ghosted position 
and thereafter return to slap against the rigid slat 24. The slapping 
sound produced by the instrument 20 is a regular sound of a fixed 
frequency determined by the rate of rotation alternations. 
A well-known so-called "noisemaker" instrument used commonly at parties, 
Halloween, New Year's celebrations, and the like is shown in FIG. 3. The 
noisemaker 32 comprises a metal pan 34 attached to a handle 36. A pair of 
elongated spring steel wires 38 are connected to the handle on one end and 
have wooden balls 40 attached to the opposite end on either side of the 
bottom of the pan 34. As the metal pan is shaken in an alternating 
rotation motion as indicated by the arrow 42, the wooden balls flex the 
wires 38 to the ghosted positions and return to strike the metal pan 34 to 
create a loud clanging sound. As with the instrument 20 of FIG. 2, 
however, the noisemaker 32 creates a regular sound of varying frequency 
depending upon the rate at which the instrument is shaken by the handle 
36. 
Often times, particularly in percussion accompaniment to musical 
selections, it is desirous to produce an asynchronous sound. To attempt to 
use an instrument such as that of FIG. 1 with any regularity or 
complicated nature to the sound is difficult to virtually impossible. 
Wherefore, it is the object of the present invention to provide a musical 
instrument producing slapping sounds of an asynchronous nature which have 
the potential for being relatively complex but repeatable in a manner 
which is easily accomplished over a long duration. 
SUMMARY 
The foregoing objective has been accomplished by the musical instrument of 
the present invention for producing asynchronous slapping sounds 
comprising a rigid slat member; and, a plurality of resiliently flexible 
slat members disposed adjacent at least one side of said rigid slat member 
and connected thereto on one end to form a handle portion for gripping, 
the flexible slat members having the masses thereof concentrated and the 
flexing characteristics provided such that each of the flexible slat 
members flexes further than the next adjacent of the flexible slat members 
closer to the rigid slat member in response to equal accelerations normal 
to the rigid slat member such that when the flexible slat members are 
flexed by an acceleration of the rigid slat member by the swinging thereof 
the flexible slat members will take differing times to unflex when the 
swinging has stopped to thereby slap against the rigid slat member and the 
more inner ones of the flexible slat members at times delayed from one 
another sufficiently to create an audibly distinguishable asynchronous 
slapping sound.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, the preferred embodiment of the present 
invention is shown. The instrument, generally indicated as 44, comprises a 
rigid slat member 46 having two pairs of substantially identical 
resiliently flexible slat members disposed with two on either side of 
member 46. The members 46, 48 are clamped together between two handle 
members 50 as with rivets 52 to form a handle portion generally indicated 
as 54. In a tested embodiment of the present invention, rigid slat member 
46 and handle members 50 were made from one-fourth inch plywood and 
resiliently flexible slat members 48 were made from 3/32-inch thick 
polyethylene plastic. The two outermost slat members 48 have metallic 
weights 56 attached on the outside thereof on the end furthest from handle 
portion 54. 
As can be seen with particular reference to FIG. 5, if the handle portion 
54 is gripped and the instrument rotated in the direction of arrows 58 in 
a reciprocal manner, the flexible slat members 48 on opposite sides of the 
rigid slat member 46 will be subjected to alternate equal accelerations. 
Since the force imparted is equal to the mass times the acceleration, with 
equal accelerations, the flexible slat members 48 are subjected to 
differing flexing forces due to the addition of the metallic weights 56 
(e.g. mass). Thus, as shown in the ghosted positions, forces f.sub.1 will 
flex the inner flexible slat members 48 a given amount while the greater 
force f.sub.2 will flex the outer flexible slat members 48 a much greater 
amount. Consequently, as the swinging is stopped, the resilient flexible 
slat members 48 which have been flexed will tend to resume their position 
against the rigid slat member 46. Having been flexed considerably further, 
however, the outer slat member 48 will take an additional time to reach 
and strike the inner flexible slat member 48 and rigid slat member 46 
which is sufficient to be audibly discernible. Thus, as the instrument 44 
is oscillated, an audibly distinguishable asynchronous slapping sound will 
be created. 
While the embodiment described above is shown with two pairs of resiliently 
flexible slat members 48, more complex asynchronous slapping patterns can 
be created by adding additional flexible slat members 48 on either side. 
Each succeedingly outward flexible slat member 48 in such case is weighted 
or otherwise caused to flex a greater amount than the next more interior 
member 48 to cause the audibly distinguishable time delay discussed above. 
It should be understood that the time delay can be caused additionally by 
changing the flexing characteristics each flexible slat member 48. That 
is, in the preferred embodiment as shown, the flexible slat members 48 
(and for aesthetic reasons the rigid slat member 46 as well) are tapered 
towards the handle portion 54 in width. This causes the mass to be 
concentrated further from the handle and the portion closer to the handle 
to be more flexible. This same technique of construction or others such as 
providing thinner portions, etc. could be employed to create the variable 
flexing in response to equal accelerations described above and are 
considered to be within the scope and spirit of the present invention as 
specifically described herein.