Patent Publication Number: US-7592530-B2

Title: Noise-eliminating felt hammer

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   (a) Field of the Invention 
   This invention relates to a felt hammer that may eliminate noise and particularly to a felt hammer the structure of which is improved for a Xylophone or a Marimba. 
   (b) Description of the Prior Art 
   Xylophone and Marimba are percussion instruments, in which a specific hammer is used to strike acoustic disks, and a resonance pipes at the bottom is used to give off tune. A conventional hammer is roughly classified into a plastic hammer, a wooden hammer, and a felt hammer, and different tone colors are created when the hammer strikes; the former two hammers, the plastic one and the wooden one, are used to hammer the acoustic disks; however, although giving clear and crisp timbre, the high-class wooden acoustic disks are more easily damaged. The felt hammer is covered with a layer of felt that is wrapped by wool strands for producing a mellow and mild timbre. However, the wool strands are wrapped around the conventional felt hammer and are further bound for fixing. Thus, when the hammer repeatedly hammers the acoustic disks of the Xylophone or Marimba, as shown in  FIG. 6 , each strand of wool  10  can easily loosen and slide so that the tone quality deviates at the time of hammering; at the instant of hammering, noise is caused by the wool strands rubbing each other, which is particularly the case when the tone is given by the resonance pipe of the Xylophone. If such occurs, there is imperfection in the timbre and tone quality at the time of performance. 
   Consequently, because of the technical defects described above, the applicant has through experience and research developed the present invention, which can effectively improve the defects described above. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   This purpose of this invention is mainly to provide an improved felt hammer that may eliminate noise. With the improved structure of hammer, the animal hair/wool strands in the felt layer are securely fixed for preventing the noise made when the acoustic disks are hammered and for achieving a mellow and mild timbre. 
   From the object mentioned above, according to this invention, the structure comprises a grab handle, a hammerhead, a ring bush, and a felt layer. The hammerhead is plastic and combined with an end of the grab handle. The ring bush is made of elastic plastics, the surface of which is formed with a plurality of projecting nails which are arranged around the hammerhead. The felt layer is formed by the animal hair/wool strands that wrap backward and forward around the hammerhead and the ring bush, in which the animal hair/wool strands in the basic wrap layer is located in gaps between the protruding nails. Thus, the felt hammer specialized for the Xylophone or Marimba is formed. 
   As a result, the animal hair/wool strands in the basic wrap layer are securely located in the gaps between the projecting nails. Thus, the noise caused by the animal hair/wool strands rubbing each other may be eliminated for achieving a mellow and mild timbre. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a 3D exploded view of a hammer according to this invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a 3D assembly view of the hammer according to this invention; 
       FIG. 3  is a 3D sectional view of the assembled hammer according to this invention; 
       FIG. 4  is a sectional view of the assembled hammer according to this invention; 
       FIG. 5  is an enlarged sectional view of the assembled hammer according to this invention; and 
       FIG. 6  is a sectional view of the arrangement of conventional wool strands for the hammer. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Now, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form or structure disclosed. 
   With reference to the figures, a felt hammer that may eliminate noise according to this invention is particularly used for a Xylophone or a Marimba, mainly comprising a grab handle  1 , a hammerhead  2 , a ring bush  3 , and a felt layer  4 . 
   The grab handle  1 , as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , is a long rod made of a wood or another material, an end of which is connected to the hammerhead  2 . 
   The hammer  2 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , is a plastic part in the form of spheroid or cylinder or in another form, the center of which is formed with a thru hole  21  through which the hammer  2  is tightly set around the end of the grab handle  1 , as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . 
   The ring bush  3 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , is made of an elastic rubber or plastic material, having an inner diameter slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the hammerhead  2 , and a plurality of projecting nails  31  provided around its outer surface. The projecting nails  31  may be in the form of cylinder and sized preferably in diameter of around 1 mm and length of around 3 mm. Furthermore, preferably the plurality of projecting nails  31  are arranged in 5 rows on the surface of ring bush  3 , in which each row of projecting nails  31  are arranged around the circumference of the ring bush  3 , the length of each of the projecting nails at rows  1  and  5  on two sides of the surface of the ring bush  3  is about 2 mm, and the projecting nails  31  at rows  2  and  4  are staggered in two lengths which are about 3 mm and 1.5 mm. With the ring bush  3  that flexibly ties up the hammerhead  2 , as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the projecting nails  31  is made to be distributed around the circumference of hammerhead  2 . 
   The felt layer  4 , as shown in  FIGS. 1 ,  3 , and  4 , is formed with animal hair/wool strands  41  wrapping around the hammerhead  2  and the ring bush  3 . The animal hair/wool strands  41  are preferably formed of sheep wool and are wrapped for 12 cycles on average around the circumference of hammerhead  2  and ring bush  3  for one layer and further wrapped for accumulated 8 layers through 12 layers, making the felt layer  4  to be formed as a shuttle and making the basic wrap layer  411  of animal hair/wool strands  41  to be located in the gaps between the projecting nails  31 , as shown in  FIG. 5 . 
   When the grab handle  1 , the hammerhead  2 , the ring bush  3 , and the felt layer  4  are assembled, the felt hammer specialized for the Xylophone or Marimba is formed. The projecting nails  31  are provided on the surface of ring bush  3  to clamp the basic wrap layer  411  of animal hair/wool strands on the felt layer  4 , as shown in  FIGS. 3 through 5 , making the wrapping animal hair/wool strands  41  airtight and securely fixed. Thus, when the felt hammer strikes, noise caused by the animal hair/wool strands rubbing each other may be eliminated. Furthermore, with the designed ring bush  3  and felt layer  4  working with each other, when the acoustic disks of the Xylophone or Marimba are hammered, a mellow and mild timbre may be achieved. 
   It is stressed that the strands  41  can be formed of sheep wool or other types of wool in the broader sense of the word (namely, not limited to sheep wool). In fact, most animal hair can be used to form the strands  41 , 
   While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention need not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.