Abstract:
A musical instrument that having a shaker that is adapted to house a plurality of impact particles. The instrument employs a spring mass system where the mean mass of the impact particles provide a force due to the accelerations as the impact the lower portion of the inner surface of the shaker member. Where the force of impact of the impact particles causes a compression of a shaker spring which provides an opposite force upon the impact particles while the spring is expanding and hence raises the mean mass of the impact particles away from the lower portion of the inner surface of the shaker. Thereby, the impact particles repeat the cycle of falling upon the lower surface and a damping oscillation motion is created. Where the impacts of the impact particles causes a desirable musical sound.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Application(s) 60/191,005 filed on Mar. 21, 2000. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a musical instrument and more particularly to a musical percussion instrument that incorporates a form of a “shaker”.  
         BACKGROUND ART  
         [0003]    A brief description of the background art is as follows  
           [0004]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,535 (Aragon) shows a baby rattle which has a light transparent shell, and when the rattle is moved back and forth, the impact causes the lights to go on. The only relevance of this is that it does show a center mounting member  44  which thus would make the chamber of the rattle have an annular configuration.  
           [0005]    U.S. Pat. No. 2,466,554 (Mossey) shows a pair of conventional sticks  10  for use by a drummer, and on each stick there is formed a hollow ball that would have particulate material inside. Thus, as the drummer moves the stick against the drum, the motion also creates the maraca effect in rhythm to the movements of the drumsticks. Again, this relevant only in that it would automatically show something of an annular configuration of the shaker.  
           [0006]    The following two patents show foot operated devices that shake maracas back and forth.  
           [0007]    U.S. Pat. No. 2,785,596 shows a foot peddle operating device where there are two maracas mounted about a pivot location  28  for back and forth motion opposite to one another. Each of these maracas are connected to the peddle through a link  46  so that as the peddle moves down, both maracas rotate. There is a spring  56  that is connected to one of the maraca handles, and it appears that the main effect of this spring  52  is to pull on the handle in such a way that it raises the foot peddle to its up position. It does not appear that it would cause any continuing oscillating movement of the maracas  38  and  40 .  
           [0008]    The second patent relating to the foot peddle operated concept is U.S. Pat. No. 2,658,421. The peddle  12  acts through a rod  28  to move the pivotal member  20  back and forth. The pivot member  20  causes the impact of the beaters  32  and  36  against the base drum. In addition, there is a vertical rod  50  that is attached at a lower end to a spring  58  and at its upper to a cross bar  56  that is in turn connected to two maracas  46 . The handles of the maracas are each attached to a related spring arm  44 . Thus, when the peddle  12  is depressed, this lowers the spring  52  which would pull the rod  50  downwardly.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    An apparatus to create musical noise. The apparatus has a first member that has a longitudinal axis where the first member is adapted to travel in a substantially reciprocating motion along the said longitudinal axis. The range of travel of the first member is defined as a first range or range of motion. The first member comprises a first stop location where a first portion of a shaker spring is operatively engaged thereto. The shaker spring further comprises a second portion located at the opposite region of the shaker spring. The first member further comprises a second stop location. The apparatus further has a shaker having an inner surface defining a cavity that is adapted to house a plurality of impact particles or beads. The shaker is adapted to move into direction the longitudinal axis and at least a portion of the shaker is adapted to move between the second stop location and the second portion of the shaker spring. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 is an isometric view illustrating the apparatus of the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is a side elevational view, with some of the components being in section, and also showing the apparatus in its rest position;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 shows the same apparatus as a view similar to FIG. 2, but showing the apparatus in action, where the foot pedal has just been depressed to its down position;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIGS. 2 and 3, but showing the apparatus after a very short increment of time is passed and the “high shaker” of the apparatus has moved downwardly against its compression spring to start at the initiation of a back and forth motion.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing a second embodiment of the present invention.  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0015]    The apparatus  10  of a first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS.  1 - 4 , and it comprises a foot pedal  12 , the outer swing end of which is attached to a vertical rod  14  that is formed as upper and lower rod sections  14   a  and  14   b , respectively. This rod  14  extends upwardly through a stationary sleeve or frame member  15  which is in turn supported from the floor or other stationary structure by a tripod  16 . This tripod  16  is shown in a rather simplified form comprising three legs  18  which extend outwardly to provide a stable support. It is to be understood that in a commercial model, the would be provided with the appropriate braces and the entire tripod assembly would be made so that it is collapsible so that it could be stowed. For ease of illustration the tripod  16  is not shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and  4 .  
         [0016]    As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and  4  there is a coil spring  20  positioned within the sleeve  15 . This spring  20  presses against an upper stop member  21  that is fixedly attached to the rod  14  and in its upper position engages an annular inwardly extending upper flange  22  defining a second support surface  22 ′ to limit its upward travel. The lower end of the spring (or first spring)  20  bears against a lower annular inwardly extending flange  23  that provides a first base support surface formed at the bottom end of the sleeve  15 . The components  12 - 23  described above are, or may be, conventional, and these same components  12 - 23  are commonly used in a prior art percussion instrument called a “high hat”.  
         [0017]    To disclose now the novel portions of the present invention, there is a novel form of the shaker  25  which comprises a donut-shaped container  26  (i.e. torus shaped) the interior of which is separated by radially aligned interior walls or surface  28  defining a central cavity which are transversely aligned with respect to the circumference of the torus shaped container  26 . These walls  28  are located at 90 degrees spaced locations to make four separate 90 degree compartments  30  each having an arcuate length of 90 degrees. In each compartment there is a number of beads or impact particles  32 . The purpose of the partitions  28  is to maintain an equal quantity of beads  32  in each of the four quadrants  30  so that the donut-shaped container  26  is balanced. There are four radial spokes  34  joined at their outer ends to the container  26  and at their inner ends to a central hub (or central base portion)  36  which is mounted around the upper part  14   a  of the rod  14  for up and down reciprocating motion. The central hub  36  further has an upper surface  37  and a lower surface  39  whereas the upper surface adapted to engage the lower surface of the upper stop member  40  and the lower surface  39  is adapted to be functionally engaged to the shaker spring  44 . The shaker spring  44  comprises a first portion  47  and a second portion  49  that are located at opposite functional regions of the spring. The first portion  47  is functionally attached to the drive rod  14  at the upper surface  41  of the not  38 . The term functionally attached means that this is the area of the control rod where the spring applies pressure thereto and can for example the rigidly attached thereto or slidably located on the rod  14  imparting a force onto surface  41 . Further, a number of springs can be employed for the preferred embodiment in the broader scope of the present invention.  
         [0018]    FIGS.  1 - 4  further show a lower cylindrically shaped connecting nut member  38  that is engaged by inner threads to the top end of the lower section  14   b  of the rod (or referred to as the drive rod or first member)  14  and also inner threads to engage the lower end of the shorter upper rod section  14   a  in the preferred form. The top end of the upper rod section  14   a  is connected to stop member (or upper stop member)  40  in the form of collar  42  held in place by a thumb screw  43 . The drive rod  14  further has a lower portion  14 ′, a central portion  14 ″ and an upper portion  14 ′″ (see FIG. 3). The nut member  38  has an upper surface  41  and a lower surface  43 . The drive rod  14  has a central longitudinal axis that extends the length of the rod. Further, the direction indicated by arrow  62  defines a first direction. Likewise, the direction substantially diametrically opposed to arrow  62  is referred to as a second direction.  
         [0019]    There is a coil spring (or otherwise referred to as the second spring, or shaker spring)  44  which surrounds the lower part of the upper part of the rod portion  14   a . The lower end of this compression spring  44  bears against the connecting nut member  38 , and the upper part of the compression spring  44  bears against the hub  36  of the high shaker  25 . Thus the nut member  38  functions both as a connector and as a stop member for the lower end of the spring  44 . Positioned around the upper rod section  14   a  is a resilient O-ring  46  defining a lower stop surface adapted to engage the surface  41  of the nut member  38 . The O-ring  46  is positioned at the lower surface of the stop member  40 . This O-ring  46  serves as a resilient cushion to engage the hub  36  at the end of its upper limit of travel. The bottom surface of the old ring  46  defines a second stop location on the first member  14  (or rod  14 ). In the preferred form the stop member and O-ring  46  are employed. However, the broader scope any method to restrict the range of travel of the shaker  25  can be employed. For example, a flexible member can be attached to the shaker  25  and the other portion of the flexible member could be attached to a stationary frame member. Alternatively, a form of a stop member  40  can be employed to restrict the travel of the shaker  25 , and a second member attached to the shaker  25  can be used to displacing the shaker  25  along the longitudinal axis of the rod  14 . In this broader scope of the invention, the rod  14  could be stationary during operation.  
         [0020]    Further, there is an annular bumper  48  made of rubber or some other resilient material at the top end of the sleeve  15  to cushion the impact of downward travel of the rod  14  when it reaches its lower limit.  
         [0021]    To describe the operation of this first embodiment, reference is made to FIGS. 2, 3 and  4 . FIG. 2 shows the apparatus  10  in its rest position. It can be seen that the spring  20  is holding the rod  14  in its uppermost position so that the upper surface of the stop member  21  presses against the flange  22 , with the rod  14  being at its upper limit of travel and the pedal  12  being positioned above the floor level  45 . Also, the compression spring  44  positions the shaker  25  at its upper location where the center hub is spaced upwardly from the connector/stop member  38  and is in contact with the upper stop member  40 .  
         [0022]    Let us assume that the musician abruptly pushes the foot pedal  12  down to its lowermost position where the pedal  12  is a short distance above the floor level  45 , and the connector/stop member  38  is bottomed out against the bumper  48 . With the spring  44  being in moderate compression in supporting the weight of the shaker  25  and also pressing the hub  36  with moderate force against the upper stop member  40 , as shown in FIG. 2, the shaker  25  moves downwardly at the same velocity as the rod  14 . When the rod  14  has abruptly bottomed out by the connector/stop member  36 , at that instant the shaker  25  is in the position of FIG. 3. However, the inertia of the shaker  25  will cause it to continue its downward travel from the position shown in FIG. 3 toward the position in FIG. 4. It will also be noted that as the shaker  25  has been moved downward rather abruptly by the rapid downward travel of the stop member  40  engaging the hub  36 , the inertia of the beads  32  caused them to strike the upper part of the container  26 .  
         [0023]    Then with the pedal  12  still being depressed, as the shaker  25  moves from the position of FIG. 3 to FIG. 4, it compresses the spring  44  to the position shown in FIG. 4. Also, it can be seen that the beads  32  have now either dropped to the lower position in the container  26  and have impacted the lower wall portion of the container  26  or are dropping downwardly to make such impact.  
         [0024]    Let us now assume that the musician has kept his foot on the pedal  12  so as to leave the pedal  12  depressed for a short period of time. At this time, the spring  44  (being compressed), will push the shaker  25  upwardly to engage the stop member  40 . The hub  36  of the shaker  25  in striking the upper stop member  40  will cause an abrupt stop, thus causing the beads  32  to continue to move upwardly and impact the upper portion of the container  26 .  
         [0025]    Again, assuming that the pedal  12  remains depressed, then the shaker  25  would experience some rebound action from the O-ring  46  and drop downwardly to a position somewhat above the position shown in FIG. 4, with the beads  32  again dropping downwardly. Thus the spring  44 , being compressed, would move the shaker  25  back upwardly. The up and down motion of the beads acts as a damping force against the up and down motion of the spring  44 , and after one or two oscillations, the up and down motion would become sufficiently short so that there would be little or no further up and down motion of the beads  32 .  
         [0026]    From the above description, it becomes apparent that simply abruptly depressing the pedal  12  will cause a vertical “shaking action” of the shaker  25  so that the beads will move up and down in the container  26 . The musical effect of this is a more immediate and louder sound of the beads impacting the wall of the container  26 , and then a series of “schush-like” sounds due to subsequent oscillations.  
         [0027]    Let us now assume that these oscillations have subsided so that there is no more sound emitting action of the beads  32 , and that now the pedal  12  is abruptly raised by the drummer quickly raising his foot. The immediate effect of this is that the spring  20  would act against the stop member  21  to immediately cause the rod  14  to rise. At this time, the spring  44  is holding the shaker  25  at its uppermost position of FIG. 2. Then with the abrupt rise of the connector/stop member  38 , the spring  44  will again become compressed and will cause the shaker  25  to accelerate upwardly. Then when the spring  20  has been fully extended, the stop member  21  abruptly stops when it strikes the flange  22  to stop further upward motion of the rod  14 . The action of the spring  44  then immediately pushes the shaker  25  upwardly so that the hub  36  of the shaker  25  hits the O-ring  46 . This would result in the beads  32  continuing their upward travel to strike the upper wall of the container  26 . Then the shaker would rebound in a downward direction to again compress the spring  44  and the beads  32  would drop to the lower part of the container  26 . There would be a continuing (but diminishing) oscillating motion caused by the movement of the spring back and forth to again emit the “schush-like” sounds.  
         [0028]    Now let us examine the operation of the invention where there is the downward movement of the foot pedal  12  followed in a very short increment of time by a release of the pedal  12  to permit it to move rather rapidly in an upward direction. Now we have a more complex interaction between the springs and the moving masses involved. To relate this to FIGS.  2 - 4 , let us assume that the pedal  12  has been abruptly depressed so that the rod  14  moves from the position of FIG. 2 rather rapidly down to the position of FIG. 3. In the position of FIG. 3, we will assume that the pedal  12  has just bottomed out where the connector/stop member  38  has impacted with the bumper  48 . In this position, as described above, we can expect the shaker  25  will continue its downward motion to compress the spring  44  to the position of FIG. 4.  
         [0029]    Now let us assume that instead of keeping the pedal  12  in its down position, almost immediately after the pedal  12  is depressed, it is released to cause the spring  20  to move against the stop member  21  and move the rod  14  upwardly. We now have a situation where the spring  20  is pushing the rod  14  in an upward direction, but the spring  44  being compressed by the downward momentum of the shaker  25 , is exerting a force to push the connector/stop member  38  downwardly. Let us further assume that for a short increment of time the forces exerted by the two springs  20  and  44  are about equal. In that instant, the upward movement of the rod  14  would be retarded. However, as the downward movement of the shaker decelerates, then the action of the spring  21  and the spring  44  combine to propel the shaker  25  upwardly at a greater speed and if only one of the springs  20  and  44  were acting alone. The effect of this would be further oscillations of the shaker  25  in its upper position such as shown in FIG. 2.  
         [0030]    However, to add another possibility in the operation of the present invention, let us assume that the same method of operation has been initiated as described above, and we are now at the time period where the spring  21  is moving toward its full up position of FIG. 2, and the spring  44  is pushing the shaker  25  to its furthest up position. However, before the shaker  25  has been able to move to its full position, the pedal  12  is again abruptly depressed causing the upper stop member  40  to engage the hub  36  at the time that the shaker  25  is on an upward path of travel. This would cause a more abrupt deceleration of the upward movement of the shaker  25  and a greater impact of the beads against the upper portion of the wall of the container  26 .  
         [0031]    Thus, it can be seen that the musician can time the depressing of the pedal  12  its release, and again depressing it in timed relationship to the oscillating motion caused by the spring  44  to reinforce, diminish or vary the oscillating motion of the shaker  25 .  
         [0032]    At this point, to provide a better appreciation of the operating aspects of the present invention and how other methods of using could be employed, it may be helpful to review some basic principals concerning a spring mass system and apply this to the present invention. Let us take the rather simple example where there is an object (e.g. a one pound weight) which is attached to one end of a coil spring, and the person has the other end of the coil spring in his hand. This spring mass system has a resonant frequency which depends upon the strength of the string and the mass of the object attached to the spring.  
         [0033]    To explain this further, let us assume that the person moves his hand up and down slowly so that the frequency of the up and down motion is below this resonant frequency. When this happens, the weight will generally follow the motion of the person&#39;s hand, with a certain amount of lag. As the hand is moved up slowly, the spring will extend to a certain extent, but in large part the object will simply follow the person&#39;s hand. Now as the person moves his hand downwardly, the object again will descend, and when the person&#39;s hand stops, the object will also decelerate and then maybe make a few oscillations a short distance up and down.  
         [0034]    Now let us assume that the person moves his hand up and down more rapidly. When the up and down motion of the person&#39;s hand reaches the resonant frequency, then the pattern of motion changes so that as a person&#39;s hand is moving down the object is moving up, and as a person&#39;s hand is moving up, the object is moving down. At the resonant frequency, if there is very little frictional resistance, as the up and down motion of the hand continues, the amplitude of the object moving up and down will become greater and greater. Also, as the up and down movement of the person&#39;s hand increases, thus applying more energy into the spring mass system, if the losses are very low the amplitude of the up and down movement of the object will increase more rapidly. However, because there are always some losses involved, such as frictional losses, then the oscillations will decline unless the imparted energy to the system by the person moving his hand up and down matches the energy losses. Now let us relate this analysis to the present invention.  
         [0035]    If the beads  32  were simply glued in place so that these would not move in the container  26  with the up and down motion of the shaker  25 , and if the frictional engagement of the hub  36  around the upper part of the rod  14  were very low, then if there is an oscillating motion imposed on the shaker  25 , the oscillation will continue for a longer time. But the up and down movement of the loose beads  32  in the container  26  creates increased losses, thus causing the oscillations to diminish more rapidly.  
         [0036]    Now we superimpose the up and down motion of the pedal  12 . If the pedal  12  is moved up and down at a frequency which is at least as high as a resonant frequency of the spring mass system of the shaker  25  of the spring  44 , the musician could find that as he was moving his pedal  12  up and down the shaker  25  would oscillate back and forth “in phase” with the movement of the pedal  12  which would operate in the same way as the person&#39;s hand moving the spring in the above example. In terms of a resonant mass system, this would mean that as the pedal  12  is moved up, the shaker  25  would be moving down, and as the pedal  12  is depressed, the shaker  25  would be moved upwardly.  
         [0037]    However, let&#39;s now superimpose on this that the fact that the beads are now caused to be loose, so they have a dampening effect with less oscillations. Let us now further assume that the pedal  12  is moved up and down at a frequency which is at least higher or greater than the resonant frequency of the spring mass system of the shaker  25  and the spring  44 . In this instance, provided the amplitude of the up and down movement of the pedal is great enough, the energy imparted into the spring mass system of the shaker  25  of the spring  44  would be great enough to overcome the frictional losses of the beads  32  moving up and down in the container  26  to maintain a constant oscillating action of the shaker  25  (with the upward and downward impact of the beads  32 ). The above analysis would also depend upon the strength of the spring  20 , (i.e. if the strength of this spring  20  were sufficiently great so that the release of the pedal  12  would cause the rod  14  to rise as rapidly as the person&#39;s foot in releasing the pedal  12 ).  
         [0038]    Now let us explore one more facet of the present invention and we will go back to the example of the person having an object suspended from a coil spring and the person&#39;s hand is grasping the other end of the spring. Let us now assume that the person is holding the upper end of the spring at a level three in a half feet above the ground, and the person abruptly raises his hand one foot up so as to extend the spring. The spring stretches, and then when the person stops his hand, the spring is still stretched to cause the object to accelerate upwardly. Then when equilibrium is reached where the force of the spring on the object equals the weight of this object, the upward velocity of this mass will begin to decrease as the object travels upwardly to a point where the object will stop, and then the mass will start to fall. Then we will have a series of up and down oscillations which are diminishing in amplitude. However, let us assume that at intervals of say every 5 seconds, the person again moves his hand abruptly either upwardly or downwardly. If the person times this movement correctly, then this movement will cause the oscillations to increase.  
         [0039]    Let us now assume that this object, instead of being simply a solid mass, is the shaker  25  attached to the end of the coil. As the free end of the spring is pulled up abruptly, the shaker will start its up and down motion, with the oscillations diminishing more rapidly because of the energy losses caused by the motion of the beads. However, again if the person times his upward and downward movements relative to the up and down movement of the shaker  25 , the oscillations can periodically be reinforced. Thus, when the person executes a very abrupt movement to reinforce the oscillations, the “schush-like” sound of the shaker will increase, diminish, and then increase again when there is further timed movement of the person&#39;s hand either upwardly or downwardly.  
         [0040]    The combination of the spring  44  and the rebounding action of the O-ring  46  approximate the action of a spring-mass system. There are some deviations from this because of the spring  44  bottoming, the abrupt stops, differences in the action of the spring  44  and the O-ring  46 . However, in large parts the basic relationships apply.  
         [0041]    It is evident from the above analysis that both the design parameters and also the precise mode of operation of the apparatus can allow the musician to get a wide variety of musical percussion sounds. For example, if the spring  44  is made with a higher strength, so as to raise the resonant frequency of the spring mass system, the oscillations of the shaker  25  can be made to occur more rapidly and also have a greater force of impact.  
         [0042]    In the present invention, the spring  44  has been described as a compression spring which always act to urge the shaker  25  upwardly, with the O-ring  46  supplying the rebound action. A variation of this would be to have the spring act both as a compression spring and as a tension spring  44 , with one end of the spring  44  being attached to the connector/stop member  38  and the other end of the spring being connected to the hub  36  of the shaker  35 . In this instance, the “at rest” position of the shaker  25  would be between the stops  38  and  40 , and the upward force of the spring would be in that particular position would be equal to the weight of the shaker  25 . However, if an up and down motion is imparted to the shaker, then the action of the spring  46  would correspond yet more closely to the “pure” mass system to cause the up and down oscillations, without the rebounding.  
         [0043]    Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 5. Components of this second embodiment which are similar to components in the first embodiment will be the like numerical designations, with an “a” suffix distinguishing those of the second embodiment.  
         [0044]    This second embodiment is substantially identical to the first embodiment, in that it has a pedal  12   a , the rod  14   a , the sleeve  15   a , the spring  20   a , the shaker  25   a , the upper stop member  40   a , the connector/stop member  38   a , the hub  36   a , etc. A difference is that there is one compression spring  44   a  positioned between the hub  36   a  and the connector/stop member  38   a , and an additional compression spring  60   a  positioned between the upper stop member  40   a  and the hub  36   a  of the shaker  25   a . In the position of FIG. 5, it can be seen that the pedal  12   a  is depressed to its full down position, and the shaker  25   a  is also in its further down position with the spring  44   a  being compressed, and the upper spring  60   a  being either compressed not at all, or more likely still under compression but at that location exerting a lesser force than the lower spring  44   a  which is compressed downwardly from the neutral position. Assuming that the pedal  12   a  has just now been abruptly pressed, and the shaker  25   a  has bottomed out relative to the spring  44   a , then with the pedal  12   a  still being depressed, the shaker  25   a  will move upwardly to compress the upper spring  60   a , then downwardly to compress the spring  44   a , in the oscillating motion with this motion being damped by the beads  32 , described above.  
         [0045]    All of the various operating modes as described above could be employed with this second embodiment. In addition, let us explore further modes of operation. The spring mass system in the second embodiment now comprises the shaker and the two springs  44   a  and  60   a  which act together with a certain resonant frequency. Let us assume that the musician starts depressing the foot pedal up and down either continuously or periodically to match the resonant frequency. Let us assume, that the resonant frequency of this system is one complete oscillation every one third of a second, and the musician starts moving his foot up and down at a frequency of once every second with these being very abrupt downward movements which would occur when a person is keeping the beat with his foot. By timing the downward motion of the foot pedal  12  on every third oscillation of the shaker  25 , the up or down motion of the shaker would be reinforced. Thus, we can envision the situation where the resulting sound on each set of three oscillations would be the first greater “schushing sound”, a second somewhat lesser “schushing sound”, and the third less than the second sound, with this pattern repeating.  
         [0046]    To propose yet another mode of operation, let us assume that the musician is moving the pedal up and down a short distance at one beat every second, getting the series of sounds, and then the pedal  12  is suddenly released when the shaker  25   a  is just arriving at its lowermost position. This would cause a more rapid upward acceleration of the shaker  25   a . This would cause the oscillations caused by the two springs  44   a  and  60   a  to be greater, but in addition to this the initial impact by the spring  21  raising the shaker  25  a substantial distance and then having it abruptly stop by making contact with the upper stop member  40  would cause a much greater impact, and thus a greater sound.  
         [0047]    As another option in the present invention, the tuned frequency of the spring mass system could be modified in either of two ways (or possibly by combination of the two). With reference to the first embodiment, this could be accomplished by removing the upper stop member  40  and also the shaker member  25  and replacing the spring  44  with a stronger or weaker spring. Also, instead (or in addition to) replacing the spring, another shaker could be positioned in the mechanism, with the shaker having a different mass. Also, as indicated above, both of these could be done.  
         [0048]    The same method could be used in modifying the second embodiment by replacing either or both of the springs and/or replacing the shaker with one of different mass.  
         [0049]    The range of the shaker  25  (or referred to as the “first range”) is defined as the path of travel of the shaker in operation. This range is the path of travel between the rotor overhang  46  and the second portion  49  of the spring  44 . In the preferred form, the shaker  25  oscillates in the vertical direction. However, it can be appreciated that the longitudinal axis of the rod member  14  can be aligned in the substantially vertical direction.  
         [0050]    It is to be recognized that various modifications and additions could be made to the design present invention and the mode of operation without departing from the basic teachings thereof.