Swab for wiping condensate from inner wall of wind instrument

Abstract: A piece of hygroscopic cloth (10) is connected to a flexible tenacious string (11) formed of non-hygroscopic material such as nylon for wiping condensate from an inner surface of a crook (13), and the flexible tenacious string (11) advances through an air passage (13a) of the crook (13) without clinging to the inner surface, thereby making the wiping work easy.

Description: 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, and the damp tends to condensed 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 work for a narrow air passage is not easy. Figure 1 illustrates a crook 1 of a bassoon. The crook 1 is gently curved, and the defines an air passage 1a. The air passage 1a is decreased from a blowing end 1b toward a connecting end 1c, and a double lead (not shown) is attached to the blowing end 1b. A player blows into the crook 1, and the breath causes the double lead to vibrate. The air passage guides the air flow to the next tubular piece called as a tenor joint. The damp 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 figure 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 figure 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 as 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 tardily 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. EP-A-0 612 055 discloses a swab according to the preamble of claim 1. The swab comprises a plate-shaped cleaning member made of spongy material. A hemispherical coupling member is attached to one side of the cleaning member. A string or rod is attached to the hemispherical coupling member. In addition, a cleaning cloth or chamois may be included in the swab. GB-A-2 182 191 discloses a device for cleaning wind instruments comprising a cleaning member which can be inserted into and pushed or drawn through the bore of the instrument, wherein the cleaning member is a resilient spring member covered with an outer absorbent coating and wound into a preformed helix or spiral, which as the device passes through the instrument resiliently engages the inner surfaces of the bore of the instrument, and expand and contracts therewith, thereby to effect the cleaning of those surfaces. A draw string attached to the device at one end and weighted at the other end may be provided. US-A-5,212,332 discloses a swab for removing moisture from the interior of a wind instrument and having a moisture absorbent rectangular or elliptical swab body, a swab drawstrip fixedly attached to and extending in opposite directions from said swab body, and a weight affixed to the free end of the leading tail of the drawstrip, wherein the weighted leading tail is dropped into the bell of an instrument and moves by gravity under the influence of the weight through the body of the instrument. When the weighted leading tail appears at the other end of the instrument, the swab is pulled through the instrument. US-A-2,537,149 discloses a swab for woodwind instruments and the like comprising a triangularly shaped patch of flexible water absorbent material having slits extending inwardly from one edge toward the opposite apex and a cord attached to said apex, said slits providing tabs on the trailing edge of the patch. Finally, US-A-3,739,420 discloses a device for removing moisture from, and cleaning the bore of, a clarinet, saxophone, or the like, musical instrument, comprising a generally triangularly shaped body portion formed of a flexible foamed plastics material, such as polyurethane, and a similarly shaped cover sheet formed of a moisture-absorbent material such as chamois. The cover sheet is of a size such that the side margins thereof extend beyond the corresponding margins of the body portion. The body portion and the cover sheet are secured to one another at an apex thereof, and a flexible cord is provided for the device to enable it to be pulled through the bore of a musical instrument. The leading end of the cord is provided with a weight. 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 this object, the present invention proposes a swab as set forth in claim 1. Preferred embodiments of the present invention may be gathered from the dependent claims. In particular, it is proposed to form a thin guide member of flexible tenacious non-hygroscopic material. While the 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. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The features and advantages the swab according to the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the crook of the standard bassoon; Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the prior art swab used for the crook; Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing another prior art swab; Fig. 4 is a front view showing a swab for a wind instrument according to the present invention; Fig. 5 is a front view showing a coupling incorporated in the swab; and Figs. 6A to 6C are perspective view showing a wiping work with the swab according to the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to figure 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 tenacious material. The tenacity allows the flexible guide string 11 to withstand thrust exerted thereon during a wiping work, 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 loose the tenacity. 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. Figure 5 shows the coupling member 12 encircled in broken lines BL in figure 4. One end portion 11a of the flexible guide string 11 is subjected to a cell chip treatment, and 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 figures 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 on a wiping work on the crook 13 forming a part of a bassoon with reference to figures 6A to 6C. First, the swab shown in figure 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 figure 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 the tenacity. 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 figure 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 figure 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 figure 6B), and the worker can easily pulls 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 figure 4 may be modified in size so as to use in another wind instrument.

Claims: A swab for wiping condensate from an inner surface of a tubular member (13) forming a part of a wind instrument, comprising: a piece (10) of flexible hygroscopic material insertable into an inner space (13a) of said tubular member (13); a guide means for guiding said piece of flexible hygroscopic material along said inner space; and a coupling member (12) for fixing one end of said piece (10) of flexible hygroscopic material to one end of said guide means, wherein said guide means is implemented by a flexible tenacious guide member (11) adapted to advance along a curved inner wall of said tubular member (13) defining a part of said inner space (13a) by changing the shape thereof when said flexible tenacious guide member is thrusted into said inner space, for guiding said piece of flexible hygroscopic material along said curved inner space; said piece of flexible hygroscopic material has a width increased from said one end thereof to an intermediate point and decreased from said intermediate point to the other end thereof; and said coupling member has a diameter less than the diameter of said inner space and approximately as thin as on end of said flexible tenacious guide member wrapped with said one end of said piece of flexible hygroscopic material. The swab as set forth in claim 1, in which said flexible tenacious guide member (11) is shaped into a string allowed to pass through said inner space (13a), and said piece (10) of hygroscopic material is spreadable so as to be wider than said inner space (13a). The swab as set forth in claim 2, in which the total length (TL) of said flexible tenacious guide member (11) and said piece (10) of hygroscopic material coupled to said flexible tenacious guide member (11) by means of said coupling member (12) is larger than a distance between both open ends (13b/13c) of said inner space (13a) so that a part of said piece of hygroscopic material (10g) is outside of one (13b) of both ends of said inner space (13a) when a leading end (11a) of said flexible tenacious guide member (11) reaches the other (13c) of both ends of said inner space (13a). The swab as set forth in claim 1, in which said flexible tenacious guide member has non-hygroscopicity. The swab as set forth in claim 4, in which said flexible tenacious guide member (11) is shaped into a string. The swab as set forth in claim 4, in which said flexible tenacious guide member (11) is formed of a substance selected from the group consisting of nylon, polypropylene, polyethylene and chloroethylene or from a vinyl coated flexible metal wire. The swab as set forth in claim 1, in which said piece (10) of hygroscopic material is shaped into one of cloth, a bundle of strings and braid. The swab as set forth in claim 7, in which said one of said cloth, said bundle of strings and said braid is formed from one of cotton fiber, silk fiber, hemp yarn, artificial silk fiber, nylon fiber, polyester fiber, a commingle yarn of nylon and polyester, non-woven hygroscopic fabric and paper. The swab as set forth in claim 1, in which said piece (10) of hygroscopic material is a piece of cloth sewed into a tube-like configuration, and a trailing end of said flexible tenacious guide member (11) is inserted into an inner space at a leading end portion (10f) of said piece of (10) hygroscopic material so as to be fixed to said leading end portion of said piece of hygroscopic material (10) by means of said coupling member (12). The swab as set forth in claim 9, in which said coupling member (12) is implemented by a deformable tube member, and said deformable tube member presses said leading end portion (10f) of said piece (10) of hygroscopic material against an outer surface of said trailing end portion of said flexible tenacious guide member (11). The swab as set forth in claim 9, in which said tube-like configuration is increased in inner diameter from one end thereof (10f) to an intermediate point, and is decreased in said inner diameter from said intermediate point to the other end thereof (10g). The swab as set forth in claim 11, in which said tube-like configuration is a generally isosceles triangle when said tube-like configuration is collapsed. The swab as set forth in claim 12, in which said generally isosceles triangle has a ratio of base to height ranging between 5 : 1 to 30 : 1.

Inventors: KENMOCHI HIROSHI, UJIHARA TATSUYA, KENMOCHI, HIROSHI, UJIHARA, TATSUYA
Applicants: YAMAHA CORP, YAMAHA CORPORATION
Application year: 1996
Main classification: G10D9
IPC codes: G10D9