Abstract:
A violin shoulder cradle is provided for supporting a violin or similar stringed instrument on the shoulder of a musician. The cradle broadly includes a base for coupling adjacent the back of the violin body and a shoulder rest. The shoulder rest is contoured to substantially conform to the musician&#39;s shoulder while maintaining the desired substantially horizontal orientation of the violin along its longitudinal axis while in use. The outer surface of the shoulder rest is generally sloped from the remote edge toward the proximate edge inwardly toward the base, and includes a waist section which is closest the base, rising toward the first end in a plurality of steps.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention broadly concerns a shoulder cradle useful for violins, violas and similar stringed instruments intended for support on the shoulder of the musician. More particularly, it is concerned with a shoulder cradle which is provided with a stepped shoulder-engaging shelf and which maintains the instrument at the proper position. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Violins produce tones when a bow is drawn across the strings, known as arco, or when the strings are finger-plucked (pizzacato). As used herein, the term “violin” is intended to include similar instruments such as violins of reduced size, such as half or three-quarter sized violins, and violas, where the instrument is typically positioned between the shoulder and chin of the musician. The violin produces a sympathetic vibration between the instrument&#39;s belly and back, which adds volume and resonance to the sound produced by the vibration of the strings. A chin rest is typically provided adjacent the tail piece between the belly of the violin body which provides a support between the musician&#39;s chin and the violin body. 
     Shoulder rests have sometimes been used between the violin body and the musician&#39;s shoulder. In the simplest form, the cushion includes a small fabric or elastic cushion which if held between the back of the violin body and the shoulder of the wearer. These shoulder rests help to support and cushion the violin against the shoulder of the wearer whereby the hard wooden back of the violin is separated from the musician&#39;s shoulder. However, they have lacked features which would inhibit the violin from slippage on the shoulder and which promote proper playing positions. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     These and other objects are largely met by the violin shoulder cradle of the present invention. That is to say, the violin shoulder cradle hereof not only inhibits slippage and promotes the maintenance of the violin in the proper playing position, but is ergonomically configured for comfort and precise conformation to the shoulder of the musician. 
     Broadly speaking, the violin shoulder cradle hereof includes a base having instrument gripping legs and a shoulder rest which is stepped into a plurality of different shelves in order to better conform to the wearer&#39;s shoulder. The shoulder rest includes a relatively hard foundation which provides the stepped shelves, on which is preferably applied a relatively thin cushion. Most preferably, the cushion has a surface of a friction-promoting material such as velvet cloth or the like which resists slippage relative to the clothing of the wearer. The stepped shelves engage the bone structure of the musician&#39;s shoulder and clavicle, thereby providing levels of engagement in contrast to a surface without such stepped shelves which is prone to slippage. 
     Additionally, the arms of the base extend laterally to firmly grasp the instrument, thereby providing a solid and unitary platform to rest on the musician&#39;s shoulder. At least one of the legs is preferably adjustably coupled to the base to permit the musician to adjust the distance between the instrument and the shoulder rest to accommodate the physical size and playing position of the musician. The cradle will enable the musician to be more relax ed during performing, thereby accommodating a good technique and allowing the musician to comfortably play longer and better. 
    
    
     These and other advantages will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art with reference to the drawings and description which follow. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the violin shoulder cradle of the present invention with the musician and the violin shown in dashed lines for ease of viewing the cradle; 
     FIG. 2 is a an exploded and inverted side elevational view of the cradle hereof viewed from the tail end of the violin located nearest the musician&#39;s neck when in use, showing the pad, shoulder rest and base; 
     FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the cradle hereof, with a portion of the base plate an d a portion of one leg broken away for clarity; and 
     FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the cradle hereof taken from the side of the cradle normally oriented away from the musician&#39;s neck to show the stepped shelves to be supported on the musician&#39;s shoulder. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a violin shoulder cradle  10  in accordance with the present invention mounted on a violin  12  properly positioned for playing by a musician  14 . For reference purposes, the violin  12  includes a neck  16  corresponding to a central longitudinal axis and normally positioned away from the neck of the musician, and a body  18 . The body  18  has a belly  20  with a chin rest on which the chin of the musician is placed and a back  22  opposite the belly  20  and spaced therefrom by a surrounding rib  24 . It is to be understood that the violin  12  has strings extending along the longitudinal axis of the violin  12  from the remote end of the neck  16  to a tail piece adjacent its bottom end  26 , which vibrate when plucked or when a bow is drawn across the strings. 
     The cradle  10  hereof is placed between the back  22  of the violin  12  and the shoulder  28  of the musician when the violin is played, as shown in FIG.  1 . The cradle  10  broadly includes a base  30  and a shoulder rest  32 . The base  30  includes a base plate  34  and first and second couplers  36  and  38 . The base plate  34  is preferably generally arcuate as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and substantially conforms to the shoulder rest  32  along the inner surface thereof, the shoulder rest  32  having a first end  40  and a second end  42  which are enlarged in width relative to midsection  44 . The base plate  34  includes a plurality of apertures  46  for receiving screws  48  for attachment of the base  30  to the shoulder rest  32 , and also for receiving screws  50  for mounting the couplers  36  and  38  to the base plate  34 . In addition, the base plate  34  includes enlarged openings  52  proximate the first end  40  and the second end  42  for permitting a portion of the couplers  36  and  38  to pass therethrough. 
     The couplers  36  and  38  each have an elongated wire loop  54  and a clamp  56 . The clamp  56  is coupled on the back surface  58  of the base plate  34  by screws  50 . The wire loops  54  each have first leg  60  and second leg  62 , as well as spiral section  64  and clamped bend  66  received in clamp  56 . The spiral section  64  is substantially flat, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. The first leg  60  is preferably vertically adjustable and has a threaded end received in one end of an internally threaded sleeve  68 , while the portion of the clamped bend  66  opposite the spiral section  64  is threaded and threadably received into the opposite end of the sleeve  68 . Thus, the first leg  60  is not only vertically adjustable but also free to swing. Both the first leg  60  and the second leg  62  have terminal ends over which a rubber foot  69  is placed for clamping against the rib  24  of the violin  12 , as illustrated in FIG.  1 . 
     The shoulder rest  32  generally includes a foundation  70  and a covering pad  72 . The foundation  70  is made of a relatively dense and firm material such as wood, e.g. walnut, or a synthetic resin such as an acyrlic or polymethyl methacrylate, and may be molded or formed to shape, or conformed by machining a series of laminated sheets as illustrated by the dotted lines in FIG.  4 . The foundation  70  has relatively flat inner surface  74  facing the base plate  34  with the exception of recesses  75  for receiving the clamped bends  66  and clamp  56 , and a contoured outer surface  76 . The outer surface  76  is sloped so that the thickness between the outer surface  76  and the inner surface  74  along the remote edge  78  normally oriented toward the violin&#39;s neck is greater than the thickness between the inner surface and the outer surface along the proximate edge  80 . The difference in thickness at the remote edge  78  versus the proximate edge  80  produces a varied and conforming slope along the outer surface  76  which is generally greater toward the first end  40  than the second end  42 , but in so sloping compensates for the slope of the musician&#39;s shoulder, such that base plate  34  and the back  22  of the violin are substantially horizontal when supported and held between the chin and shoulder of the musician  14 , even when the neck of the violin is unsupported by the musician&#39;s hand. 
     It may also be seen from FIGS. 1,  2  and  4  that the outer surface  76  of the foundation  70  is also provided with a waist  82  between the first and second ends. The waist  82  is more proximate the base  30  and thus in the area of the waist  82 , the foundation  70  is of reduced thickness. A plurality of stepped shelves  84 ,  86 , and  88  of gradually increasing thickness when viewed in elevation extending from the waist  82  toward the first end  40 , and a generally continuous rise  90  extends from the waist  82  toward the second end  42 . The shelves  84 ,  86  and  88  are thus intended to be positioned on the forward part of the musician&#39;s shoulder, the waist  82  on the top of the musician&#39;s shoulder, and the rise  90  extending from the top of the musician&#39;s shoulder partway down the back of the shoulder  28 . The shelves  84 ,  86  and  88  are not flat and slope from the remote edge  78  toward the proximate edge  80  as described above, with shelf  84  separated from waist  82  by ridge  92 , and shelves  84 ,  86  and  88  separated by respective ridges  94 ,  96  and  98 . The ridges are angled at about 5 to 20 degrees and more preferably about 7 to 10 degrees from the adjacent shelf, and adjacent shelves are preferably of thicknesses varying between about ⅛ inch to about ⅝ inch and more preferably about ¼ inch to ½ inch therebetween, such that shelf  84  would be about ⅛ inch to about ⅝ inch below the adjacent shelf  86  as viewed in FIG.  2 . The size and spacing of the shelves and ridges may be varied according to the size of the overall cradle  10 , such that the dimensions and spacing of a cradle designed for a child using a small violin would be less than for a full sized adult, who would in turn typically play a full sized violin or viola, but the ridges provide a separation between the adjacent shelves to step the shelves as opposed to a continuous slope. The pad  72  is configured to overlie the foundation  70  but to be relatively thin and only moderately compressible of a material such as high density closed cell foam so as to ensure that the definition of the stepped shelves and waist  82  are not lost or substantially diminished by the pad  72 . The pad  72  preferably includes a non-slip covering material, such as velvet or the like, which resists slippage on the musician&#39;s clothing. 
     In use, the first leg  60  of each of the couplers is turned to a desired height for the user so as to provide the desired and comfortable placement of the violin  12  according to the musician&#39;s style and physical build. The cradle  10  is then coupled to the violin  12  as shown in FIG. 1, with the remote edge  78  oriented toward the neck  16  and the base plate  34  toward the back  22  of the violin  12 , with the first and second ends  40  and  42  oriented generally transverse to the longitudinal axis of the violin which extends along the length of the neck  16 . The violin  12  slightly spreads the legs  60  and  62  of each coupler away from each other. This in turn spreads the spiral section  64  which acts as a spiral spring to clamp the violin  12  between the legs  60  and  62 . The musician need only then place the violin  12  on his or her shoulder with the outer surface  76  generally conforming to the shoulder muscle, clavicle and acromion.