Patent Publication Number: US-8987576-B1

Title: Electronic musical instrument

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application 61/583,382 filed Jan. 5, 2012 and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     I. Crayon Coloring System 
     The first present invention relates to an artistic kit and in particular to a system for providing improved artistic renderings in media such as wax crayons. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Wax crayons provide an artistic medium that is relatively inexpensive, non-toxic, clean to use, and readily available. These features make crayons particularly attractive for use with children in creative endeavors and in early practice of motor skills. 
     Nevertheless, wax crayons have some significant drawbacks. It is difficult to create an even, highly saturated field of color with most crayons. Smooth papers do not receive the wax of the crayon effectively and attempts to lay down additional layers of crayon may be defeated by the preceding layer of wax which provide a lubricating layer resisting further abrasion of the crayon tip. Too much pressure on the crayon can cause a “plowing” of the previous layer resulting in small specks of dark color that can become detached and can undesirably spread over other areas of the drawing. Rough papers which provide better “tooth” to abrade the wax crayon tip for the deposition of color, produce a mottled color field with significant uncolored area. 
     For these reasons, children can become dissatisfied with crayons at an early age before they have access to other artistic media, potentially curtailing their artistic explorations. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides an improved form of coloring book or similar coloring materials that provide increased color saturation, uniformity, and gradation when using wax crayons. In a simplest embodiment, the invention includes a semitransparent top sheet and corresponding opaque bottom sheet providing each printed with a desired outline. Both sheets may be colored with wax crayons and then superimposed to align the outlines. In this way, the coloring of each layer is reinforced increasing saturation of the colors when similar colors are used and providing novel color combinations when different colors are used. The top sheet also acts as a diffusing layer allowing more uniform colors and smoother shading effects to be implemented. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a coloring book implementing the present invention having alternate opaque and semitransparent sheets; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded diagram of three successive pages of the coloring book showing an ability to provide coloring guides for three different coloring patterns; 
         FIG. 3  is a simplified cross-sectional view through the opaque and semitransparent sheets showing multiple reflections and transmissions that improve the saturation of reflected light; 
         FIG. 4  is a figure similar to that of  FIG. 3  showing a diffusing effect on color patterns on the opaque layer versus the semitransparent layer; 
         FIG. 5  is a simplified representation of a two layer coloring pattern with a shading layer and a monochrome layer; 
         FIG. 6  is a figure similar to that of  FIG. 5  showing two monochrome layers for color addition; 
         FIG. 7  is a figure similar to that of  FIG. 6  showing a coloring pattern with an overlying black shading layer; 
         FIG. 8  is a figure similar to that of  FIGS. 5-7  showing three layers comprising the opaque layer and front and back of the semitransparent layer each having a different coloring pattern; 
         FIG. 9  is a simplified, exploded perspective view of the mechanism of the present invention showing nested clock shafts each attached to a ratchet gear positioned above a corresponding electromechanical pawl held on a carriage that may be reciprocated by a gearmotor; 
         FIG. 10  is a front elevational view of one ratchet gear engaged by an electromechanical pawl; 
         FIG. 11  is a fragmentary view of  FIG. 10  and a top view of the gearmotor at a first resting stage in between clock hand movement; 
         FIG. 12  is a figure similar to that of  FIG. 11  showing the electromechanical pawl engaging the ratchet in preparation for clock hand movement; 
         FIG. 13  is a figure similar to that of  FIG. 11  showing movement of the gearmotor to draw the electromechanical pawl to an advanced position pulling the ratchet gear one increment; 
         FIG. 14  is a figure similar to that of  FIG. 12  showing retraction of the pawl prior to return to the position of  FIG. 11 ; 
         FIG. 15  is a plot of angular position of a ratchet wheel with time during the sequence of  FIGS. 11-14  showing the smooth acceleration and deceleration of the ratchet wheel such as permits reduced torsional forces on the clock hands; 
         FIG. 16  is a simplified schematic of the present invention showing a pendulum bob at its equilibrium position having a small magnet attached thereto and positioned above a steel plate to which the magnet is attracted, and further showing a control system for controlling the separation between the plate and magnet by means of the stepper motor; 
         FIG. 17  is a simplified perspective view of the controller of the present invention showing outer conductive pads arranged on a cubic housing; 
         FIG. 18  is a simplified depiction of the interior of the controller of  FIG. 17  showing an internal microcontroller communicating with the conductive pads and centrally located accelerometers; and 
         FIG. 19  is a signal flow diagram showing processing of the generated signals by the controller introducing an output to a music synthesizer; 
         FIG. 20  is a perspective view of the transfer funnel of the present invention; 
         FIG. 21  is a perspective view of two bottles having their contents transferred using the present invention; and 
         FIG. 22  is a fragmentary cross-section of  FIG. 21  taken along line  22 - 22  positioned near second cross-sections taken along lines A and B of  FIG. 22 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to  FIG. 1 , a coloring book  10  of the present invention may provide for a pair of covers  12  holding a series of alternating semitransparent paper sheets  14  and opaque paper sheets  16 . 
     The semitransparent sheets  14  may, for example, be a fiber-based vellum material providing the ability to read black twelve-point text through the sheet when the text is one-sixteenth of an inch away from that surface of the sheet. The opaque paper sheets  16  may be any standard paper material but is preferably a bleached fiber white paper providing opacifiers for high opacity and reflectance. Standard copy paper may be used in this capacity. The left edges of each sheet  14  and  16  may be bound by the spine  18  between the covers  12  in a registered fashion as will be understood from the description below. The spine  18  may bind the pages with glue, stitching or the like. 
     The coloring book  10  may be provided in conjunction with a box of wax crayons  17  having enumerated or labeled colors that may relate to and be keyed to the coloring patterns to be described herein 
     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , a front surface  20  of the semitransparent sheet  14  may have a printed outline  22  comprised of black ink in the form of actual lines and/or stippling patterns. The semitransparent sheet  14  may fit on top of a lower opaque sheets  16  having on its front surface  20  a corresponding printed outline  22  so that the two outlines  22  will align with each other when placed one on top of the other as held by the spine  18 . The printed outlines  22  on the semitransparent sheet  14  and the opaque sheet  16  need not be identical. Other colors of ink may be used for the printed outlines  22  and their thickness may be different, for example, to minimize or accentuate the printed outline  22  on the semitransparent sheet  14 . 
     The transparent sheet  14  may be bound so that its front surface  20  may be placed against a rear surface  26  of an upper opaque sheets  16 ′ which may also have an outline  22 ′ corresponding to the mirror image of outline  22  so that the two may also be aligned in registration in this inverted form. Each of the outlines  22  may also include coloring guidelines  30  showing boundaries between different colors and shades rather than the edge of an object (e.g., foreground versus background) which coloring guidelines  30  may be the same or may differ from other corresponding coloring guidelines  30  as will be discussed below. Generally the coloring guidelines  30  may be thinner or lighter than the outlines  22 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , in use, the front surface  20  of the semitransparent sheet  14  may be colored to deposit a colored wax layer  31  on its front surface  20 . The wax layer  31  may be applied with reference to the outlines  22  (shown in  FIG. 2 ) on either the sheets  14  and  16  and/or the coloring guidelines  30 . In addition, a rear surface  28  of the upper sheet may also be colored to provide a wax layer  32 . This wax layer  32  may be guided by the outline  22 ′ or the coloring guidelines  30  on the rear surface  26  of the upper sheet  16 ′. Finally, front surface  20  of the lower sheet  16  may also be colored to provide a wax layer  34  guided by the outline  22  on the front surface  20  of the lower sheet  16  and/or coloring guidelines  30 . 
     Ambient light  38  passing down on the top of the transparent sheet  14  when aligned and abutting the upper surface of the opaque sheets  16  will provide a first reflected component  40  being light reflected off of the upper wax layer  31  (and partially transmitted through that wax layer  31 ). A second component  42  includes color picked up by transmission through the wax layer  31  and reflected from wax layer  32  and possibly transmitted through layer  31  again. A third component  44  provides color transmitted through layers  31 ,  32  and reflected from layer  34  to again be transmitted through layers  32  and  31 . Generally components  40 ,  42 , and  44  will be combined into a single highly saturated or color mixed light providing a more vivid, very, or saturated color experience to the user. The sheet  16  may include an opacifier or reflective agents  41  to improve the amount of light returned in components  40 ,  42  and  44   
     Referring now to  FIG. 4 , the transparent sheet  14  also serves a diffusing function so that light component  44  reflected from layer  34  is diffused to provide for a more smoothly graduated intensity value  50  at edges of the colored region  34  in a more uniform color field  52  within the area of the layer  34 . In contrast, color layer  31  provides a light component  40  that is substantially undiffused providing generally sharp intensity drop-offs  54  at edges of the layer  31  and an irregular color field  56  within layer  31  caused by irregularities in the coloring process on a rough surface of the semitransparent sheet  14 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 5 , color layers  31 ,  32 , and  34  provide augmenting color emitters that may be used in a variety of different techniques. In one technique, an upper transparent sheet  14  provides a uniform color pattern  62  of the type conventionally intended in coloring books with the regions within an outline uniformly colored. This form of coloring is sometimes termed “ligne claire” or “atomic style” refers to a technique with uniform color fields and simple lines that avoid shading or hatch marks. In contrast, a lower pattern  64  provided by layers  34  or  32  may provide for a shading color pattern  66 , for example, as implemented by a coloring guidelines  30 , whose hard edges will be diffused as described above with respect to  FIG. 4  to produce a more realistic shading effect. 
     Alternatively, as shown in  FIG. 6 , both the upper layer  60  and lower layer  64  may provide for uniform color patterns  68  and  70  respectively, but the colors used in these uniform color pattern  68  and  70  may be different to provide for unusual effects or hues not readily obtained with the available crayons. 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , the upper layer  60  may provide for a black stippling  71  as well as an outline  22  or instead of only an outline  22 . The stippling  71  may be dots or artistic stippling such as hatching or the like. The lower layer  64  may provide for multiple color fields  72  providing hues whose intensity is modulated by the black stippling  71 . It will be appreciated that the coloring guidelines  30  may alternatively be provided on a separate sheet and used for rough guidance only with the user transferring the color guidelines mentally to the sheet  16  during the coloring process. 
     Referring to  FIG. 8 , intermediate layer  74  between upper layer  60  and lower layer  64  (for example provided by layer  32 ) may be used where each the layers has a different color pattern  76 ,  78  and  80  (from different coloring guidelines  30 ) to provide different colors that combine to provide both the range and gradation in shading 
     It will be understood that the registration process of the present invention is not limited to the binding effect of the spine  18  but may also implemented with loose semitransparent sheets  14  and opaque sheets  16  aligned by a picture frame, clips, glue, registered holes, or the like. 
     Generally the terms translucent and semitransparent are used synonymously herein both indicating inability to transmit light with diffusion in contrast to transparent which transmits light without substantial diffusion. 
     A crayon coloring system substantially as shown and described employing at least one colorable transparent or translucent sheet having printed guidelines positionable over another colorable layer having printed guidelines. 
     II. Clock Mechanism 
     The second invention relates to clock mechanisms for providing an indication of time and in particular to a clock mechanism providing multiple hands and arbitrary rotational rates. 
     Background of the Invention 
     Common multi-hand clock mechanisms employ a mechanical timing element (e.g. an escapement driven by a pendulum) controlling a rotating shaft that drive multiple other shafts each attached to different clock hands through a set of gears. By changing the ratio of the gears, a wide variety of different rotational rates may be obtained for the clock hands. 
     Typical mechanical clock mechanisms require high precision parts and low friction bearings particularly when high gear ratios are employed. These requirements can significantly increase the cost of the mechanism, accentuate problems of mechanism wear, and require sophisticated manufacturing capabilities. Realistic accuracy limitations in the timebase used in most mechanical clocks and the problems of mechanical friction practically limit the ability of such clocks to provide extremely low rotational rate hands (for example, for eclipse prediction). 
     Summary of the Invention 
     The present invention provides a clock mechanism that may accurately produce a wide variety of different hand rotational rates with a simple and low precision mechanism. Generally the mechanism employs a set of coaxial “ratchet” wheels. A tray of electrically actuated pawls is reciprocated by a motor and or the like to selectively engage and rotate the ratchet wheels independently under control of a microprocessor. 
     It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a simple, low tolerance mechanism that may flexibly provide a wide range of different hand rotational rates without mechanical modification. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to  FIG. 9 , a clock mechanism  100  of the present invention may provide for a series of ratchet wheels  102  arranged along a common axis  104  to rotate in parallel planes. The ratchet wheels  102  are generally circular discs, for example, approximately ⅛ inch thick having regularly spaced notches  103  extending radially inward from their peripheries by approximately ¼ inch at a regular angular spacing, for example, of 6° center to center. 
     Each of the ratchet wheels  102  is attached at its center to a tubular shaft  106  extending along the axis  104  there from. The tubular shafts  106  of each successive ratchet wheel  102  is of progressively smaller diameter so that the tubular shafts  106  fit in a telescoping fashion. The tubular shafts  106  are sized to rotate smoothly with respect to each other about a central support shaft  108  extending along axis  104  and attached to a housing  110  or the like. The tubular shafts  106  are of different lengths to extend along axis  104  in a forward direction to expose portions of each shaft  106  edits and removed from the ratchet wheel  102 . In this way the ends of the tubular shafts  106  are exposed for separate attachment each to a clock hand  112 , the clock hands  112  which may then be rotated independently about axis  104  by angles α. 
     Positioned beneath the ratchet wheels  102  in a direction displaced radially from axis  104  is a sliding tray  114  presenting a planar surface generally parallel to a tangent of the ratchet wheels  102 . The sliding tray  114  may be reciprocated as indicated by arrow along an axis  116  perpendicular to axis  104  and aligned with the planar surface of the sliding tray  114 . The sliding tray  114  may connect to a crank arm  118  attached to a wheel  120  turned by a gearmotor  122  so that with rotation of the gearmotor the sliding tray  114  reciprocates with the generally sinusoidal motion along axis  116 . 
     The sliding tray  114  may hold a series of electromagnetic pawls  132  being generally pawls of solenoids  130  extending vertically upward from the tray  114  expelled by actuation of the solenoids  130 . Each of the pawls  132  is aligned with a plane of rotation of a different ratchet wheel  102 . 
     The sliding tray  114  may support an optical interrupter flag  124  that moves along axis  116  with the sliding tray  114 . The position of the optical interrupter flag  124  may be detected at the two extreme positions of reciprocation of the sliding tray  114  by one of two photodetector assemblies  126  and  128  opposed along the reciprocation axis  116  and attached to the housing  110 . The photodetector assemblies  126  and  128  may, for example, provide for C-shaped housings supporting in opposition a photodetector and light emitting diode. The optical interrupter flag  124  may trigger the photodetector assembly  126  or  128  by interrupting a beam between the photodetector and light emitting diode of the photodetector assembly  126  or  128 . Sensing the limits of excursion of the sliding tray  114  allow the gearmotor  122  to be controlled to effect a single reciprocation during which the electromagnetic pawls  132  may be controlled in time as will be described further below to provide movement of one or more of the ratchet wheels  102 . 
     Generally when the sliding tray  114  is in its extreme rightmost position (per  FIG. 10 ) the gearmotor  122  is deactivated. This rightmost position will be termed the ready position and is the position that the tray  114  resides in between its operation to move the ratchet wheels  102 . 
     When one or more ratchet wheels  102  are to be moved, the pawls  132  corresponding to those ratchet wheels  102  are extended (as shown in  FIG. 10 ) by activating their corresponding solenoids  130 . The gearmotor  122  is then controlled to produce one half cycle of reciprocation thereby moving the sliding tray  114  fully leftward so that the pawls  132  pull their ratchet wheels  102  along with them is financing the ratchet wheels  102  as will be described below in more detail. 
     Each of the gearmotor  122 , the photodetector assemblies  126  and  128 , and the solenoid  130  our attached through an interface board  136  to a microcontroller  138 , for example, an Arduino Uno microcontroller (http://www.arduino.cc) based on an Amtel chip and generally available from a number of suppliers. The interface board  136  may provide an interface between low voltage control signals from the microcontroller  138  and high currents necessary to drive the gearmotor  122  and electromagnetic pawls  132  by means of a transistor as will be generally understood in the art. A similar transistor level shifting circuit may be used to interface the photodetector assemblies  126  and  128  to the microcontroller  138 . The microcontroller  138  may also connect to a real-time clock such as the DS1307 or DS 3231 to provide accurate time signals necessary for clock. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 10 , the sliding tray  114  may be supported on glides  140  to move along axis  116  under action of the gearmotor  122  so that a given pawl  132  may engage a notch  103  of the ratchet wheel  102  when the corresponding solenoid  130  is energized and may be free from interference with rotation of the ratchet wheel  102  when the corresponding solenoid  130  is deenergized. A keeper spring  142  engages notches  103  on each ratchet wheel  102  opposite the pawl  132  to hold the ratchet wheel  102  against inadvertent motion when it is not engaged with a pawl  132 . Such motion may, for example, be caused by frictional coupling between a telescoping tubular shaft  106  of a moving ratchet wheel  102  and other stationary ratchet wheels  102  or external shocks or vibration. Generally, the keeper spring  142  provides a rounded tooth  144  at the end of a cantilevered spring arm biasing the rounded tooth  144  radially inwardly at the periphery of the ratchet wheel  102 . The keeper spring  142  allows the ratchet wheel  102  to be moved easily in either direction once the spring force of the keeper spring  142  is overcome pressing the tooth  144  out of the notch  103 . The spring keeper pawl  142  will engage a notch  103  at regular “neutral” positions with of rotation of the ratchet wheel  102  in alignment with a pawl  132  at the rest position. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 11 , when the ratchet wheel  102  is in a neutral or rest position as described above, and then pawls  132  on the sliding tray  114  are in their “ready” position (the extreme leftmost position in  FIG. 11-14  beneath one notch  103  designated “A”. At this time, the pawl  132  is down (deenergized) waiting for the next command to move the ratchet wheel  102 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 12 , when a command is from the microcontroller  138  (shown in  FIG. 9 ) is received at the gearmotor  122  to move the ratchet wheel  102  by one position (a position being the angular spacing between adjacent notches  103 ), the appropriate solenoid  130  is activated to extend the pawl  132  associated with the particular ratchet wheel  102  to be moved. The pawl rises to engage the notch  103  designated A. 
     Referring to  FIG. 13 , after a short time delay allowing the full extension of the pawl  132 , the gearmotor  122  is activated to pull the sliding tray  114  to its extreme rightmost position carrying with it the solenoid  130  and the pawl  132  engaged with notch  103  (A) and thus rotating the ratchet wheel  102  by one inter-notch increment (typically 6°). When the gearmotor  122  has pulled the sliding tray  114  to its extreme rightmost position per the action of wheel  120  and crank arm  118 , as detected by optical sensor  126 , power is released from the solenoid  130  and the pawl  132  drops down as indicated by  FIG. 14  out of engagement with the notch  103  designated A. The gearmotor  122  continues to rotate until it reaches the ready or neutral position indicated by  FIG. 11  at which time the gearmotor  122  and solenoid  130  remain in the off condition until a new movement of the ratchet wheel  102  is required. 
     Generally the microcontroller  138  (shown in  FIG. 9 ), will monitor counts of a real-time clock and when sufficient counts have been accumulated will set bits in a movement buffer. Then on a regular interval (for example determined by the same real-time clock) movements of the tray  114  described above will be initiated with those pawls  132  corresponding to buffers having bits in them being activated. If no buffers have bits in them, the movement of the tray  114  is skipped until the next period. Setting the bits in the buffer may be done by a simple divider to provide an arbitrary “gear ratio” for the particular ratchet wheel  102 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 15 , the angular motion a of a ratchet wheel  102  as a function of time is largely at zero angular velocity during a period between motions of the ratchet wheels  102  which may occur as infrequently as once a minute. When the ratchet wheels  102  are stationary, no power is used by the gearmotor  122  or solenoids  130 . Power use is confined to with short transition periods  150 , when the ratchet wheels  102  are moved to increment the hands  112  and the solenoids  130  and gearmotor  122  may be activated. The extremely low duty cycle for many clock functions will thus minimize the power usage of the clock. 
     During the transition periods  150 , the motion of the ratchet wheel  102  conforms approximately to a section of the sine wave  152  as a result of the crank arm  118  and wheel  120  connection. Longer crank arms  118  will provide closer conformance to a sine wave. It will be appreciated that a sine wave may be repeatedly differentiated while retaining bounded values (the derivatives of a sine wave being successive sine and cosine waves of various phases). This means that the peak torques experienced by the hands  112  and their attachment to the shaft  106  and is limited as would otherwise require stiffer and stronger components or shorter and lighter hands  112 . The bounding of angular derivatives with time fundamentally limits the third derivative of motion (jerk) such as can cause unnecessary wear. For this reason components of the present invention may be largely constructed of simple materials such as wood and plastic without undue wear concerns. 
     It will be appreciated that the pawl elements may, for example, be any electrically controllable engaging elements including electrically controllable bimetallic elements, wax motors or the like and that the tray  114  may slide linearly or maybe position to rotate about a common axis with the ratchet wheels  102  or other similar compatible motions. 
     The invention provides a clock mechanism having a set of indexed wheels that may be electronically individually engaged to move during a half cycle of a reciprocating carriage under the control of the electronic computer. 
     III. Automatic Pendulum Clock Tuner 
     The third invention relates to clocks using pendulums as a timebase and in particular to a method for automatically tuning and maintaining a high precision for such clocks. 
     Background of the Invention 
     Pendulum clocks such as grandfather or grandmother clocks represent a design that was unsurpassed for accuracy up until the development of electronic oscillator based clocks (for example using quartz resonators) in the 1930s. Such clocks rely on the relatively steady period of a swinging pendulum. In the present day, such clocks provide a stately reminder of a simpler time and an attractive example of fine craftsmanship and elegant mechanism. Often such clocks employ mechanical chimes which provide an audible reminder of the passage of time that would be difficult to duplicate in any other way. 
     Despite the charm of such clocks, considerable care and patience in adjusting the clock is required to obtain an accuracy that is typically lower than one minute per week and for most clocks as much as five or ten minutes of drift during that time. Adjusting the clock requires stopping the pendulum and making physical changes in the length of the pendulum. Normally this process must be repeated over a period of several weeks or a month because determination of the error requires sufficient time for the error to accumulate to be registered by the clock mechanism. 
     While this degree of accuracy for pendulum clocks is quite good for most purposes, in a modern environment with the ubiquity of high accuracy clocks, an error of several minutes or more, especially with a chiming clock, can be offputting. 
     Summary of the Invention 
     The present invention provides a method of adjusting the effective periodic rate of the pendulum without the need to adjust the pendulum weight or length but rather by adjusting the effective gravitational acceleration on the pendulum. A changing gravitational acceleration is simulated by a magnetic attraction between a small permanent magnet and a ferromagnetic material such as an iron plate, each held on opposite ones of the pendulum and the stationary reference point with respect to the movement of the pendulum. By changing the separation between the ferromagnetic material and magnet, the speed of the pendulum may be changed without direct contact to the pendulum. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to  FIG. 16 , a pendulum  210  may provide for a pendulum arm  212  swinging about a pivot  214 . The pivot  214  is directly above a vertically extending pendulum arm  212  when the pendulum arm  212  is in its equilibrium position within an arcuate swing range  216 . A pendulum bob  218  may be attached to a lower end of the pendulum arm  212  to provide substantially the dominant mass of the pendulum. 
     The separation between a center of mass of the pendulum bob  218  and the pivot  214  (the pendulum length) may be controlled by an adjustment nut  220  on a threaded rod extending from the end of the pendulum arm  212 . The nut  220  supports the pendulum bob  218  which may otherwise slide along the pendulum arm  212 . In this way, the nut  220  may be turned to slightly raise or lower the pendulum bob  218  on the pendulum arm  212  to provide coarse adjustment of the pendulum frequency. The pivot  214  may communicate through an escapement or other well-known mechanism with a clock mechanism (not shown) providing, for example, a gear train connected to hands reading out hours and minutes and to a chiming mechanism for chiming at various intervals. A set of weights or other source of motivating power may attach through the gear mechanism to the pendulum to provide periodic impulse to the pendulum to keep it swinging. Typically this periodic impulse is also provided by the escapement. The period of the pendulum may be approximated by the formula 
     
       
         
           
             T 
             = 
             
               2 
               ⁢ 
               
                   
               
               ⁢ 
               π 
               ⁢ 
               
                 
                   L 
                   g 
                 
               
             
           
         
       
     
     where T is the time for the pendulum to complete a single cycle, L is the length of the pendulum between the center of mass of the bob  218  and the pivot  214  and g is the acceleration of gravity. As is understood in the art, adjusting the nut  220  changes the length L to change the value of T to bring the clock into a highest state of accuracy. 
     The present invention provides at an end of the threaded rod extending downward from the nut  220 , a small rare earth magnet  222 . In addition, a steel plate  224  having a generally horizontal orientation is positioned centered beneath the magnet  222  but spaced therefrom when the bob  218  is in the equilibrium position. A force of magnetic attraction between the magnet  222  and the steel plate  224  through a range of it swinging provides a downward force simulating that of gravity during a portion of the swing range  216 . This downward force modifies the period of the pendulum according to the equation: 
     
       
         
           
             T 
             = 
             
               2 
               ⁢ 
               
                   
               
               ⁢ 
               π 
               ⁢ 
               
                 
                   L 
                   
                     g 
                     + 
                     m 
                   
                 
               
             
           
         
       
     
     where m is an integral of the instantaneous magnetic force vector between the rare earth magnet  222  and the steel plate  224  over the arcuate swing range  216  which, because of its symmetry, will generally be a vertically oriented force aligned with the gravitational vector g and represents roughly average force imparted by the attraction of the magnet  222  and the steel plate over the swing range  216 . Adjusting the plate  224  upward or downward will increase or decrease the value of m, respectively. 
     The steel plate  224  is mounted for such vertical movement, for example, on a stepper motor  226  providing a helical drive shaft  228  to which the steel plate  224  is attached so that rotation of the stepper motor extends or retracts the drive shaft  228  and decreases or increases the separation between the steel plate  224  and the magnet  222 . 
     The stepper motor  226  may be controlled by a microcontroller  230  which may further receive a signal from a Hall effect sensor  232  positioned between the magnet  222  and the steel plate  224  and activated by the magnet  222  during some part of the swing of the bob  218  to reveal the actual period of the pendulum. The microcontroller  230  may, for example, be an Arduino Uno as described above. The microcontroller  230  may also receive a timing signal, for example, from a real-time clock  234  (such as the DS 1307 widely available from a number of suppliers) or by monitoring the frequency of wall voltage from an AC power source  36  according to well-known techniques. 
     The microcontroller  230 , being an electronic computer providing some input/output circuits, and a processor communicating with a nonvolatile memory holding a program may execute that program to count the number of pendulum swings as determined by the Hall effect sensor  232  versus a known desired time for those pendulum swings under the assumption that the pendulum  210  is perfectly adjusted to swing at the right rate. For large grandfather clocks, the period of the pendulum  210  will normally swing 60 to 72 times per minute which may be assessed by observation. 
     When the number of pendulum swings detected by the Hall effect sensor  232  is less than would be required for a perfectly tuned pendulum for a predetermined interval of time, the steel plate  224  is moved up toward the pendulum bob  318  and when the number of pendulum swings is more than would be required for a perfectly tuned pendulum for the predetermined interval of time the steel plate  232  is moved down. This control may implement a proportional feedback loop and it will be understood that increased accuracy may be obtained by also looking at an integral term, for example tallying the total number of pendulum swings and elapsed time and the error between them to effect a second control loop. Extremely fine movements of the steel plate  224  may be obtained for high accuracy of much less than one second per week. The current inventors have obtained time errors of one in less than 10,000 and there appears to be no limit to the accuracy provided the control loop is active. In the event of power outage, friction holds the system in its last state providing the highest degree of static tuning possible. 
     It will be appreciated that the positions of the ferromagnetic material and magnet may be reversed, that other mechanisms may be used to raise and lower the steel plate such as a cam or lever and that a variety of control algorithms may be used to the same effect. Clearly the motor  226  may be removed in favor of a manual adjustment knob or the like and the magnet and plate system alone without sensor or electronics provides an alternative adjustment mechanism for such clocks that does not require stopping the pendulum. 
     The invention provides a tuning system for pendulum clocks having an opposed magnet and ferromagnetic attractor positioned between the pendulum and a stationary surface and allowing for controllable separation of the magnet and ferromagnetic attractor to change the period of the pendulum. The separation may be controlled electronically by sensing pendulum swings and comparing them to a precise clock to adjust the separation according to deviations between these two measures. 
     IV Electronic Musical Instrument Control Surface 
     The fourth present invention relates to a control surface for an electronic instrument such as a MIDI instrument and in particular to a highly sensitive and versatile control surface for real-time performance. 
     Background of the Invention 
     Electronic music synthesis synthesizes the sound of conventional instruments using electronic circuitry that duplicates physically vibrating elements of such instruments with electronic resonators or more recently algorithms or wave tables executed by electronic processors. The earliest controllers for such music synthesizers included keyboards, being arrays of electrical switches. To provide control for loudness as well as pitch of a note, it is known to provide keyboards with velocity sensing, the velocity of the keypress movement between two points being a rough proxy for the force of pressing. 
     Current controllers may provide an improved loudness control dimension through the use of piezoelectric elements or sensing resistive elements both of which may directly detect finger pressure on an elastomeric pad above the sensor. Such controllers may be used to launch pre-recorded waveforms of drums (using a drum synthesizer, being a type of music synthesizer) with amplitude selected according to the pressure exerted on the elastomeric pad. While a traditional keyboard is arrayed in substantially a linear manner, controllers of this type may be arranged in rows and columns of buttons. 
     One drawback to current controllers that provide velocity sensing is a latency between pressing the control surface and obtaining the musical note. Some of this latency is the result of a time necessary to determine the peak amplitude of the pressing force or the velocity of the key before the corresponding soundwave form can be output with the proper amplitude. Considerable force may be necessary to activate the key, possibly because there is a need to prevent crosstalk between keys when detecting the force is both a trigger and a loudness control signal. 
     The controller may provide signals to the music synthesizer to control the latter, those signals typically but not always conforming to the musical instrument device interface (MIDI) standard. The signal may include a pitch, velocity, and possibly other dimensions of control such as pitch bending and the like. 
     Summary of the Invention 
     The present invention provides a multi-surface controller for electronic music that differs from conventional controllers in at least one of two respects. First, it provides orthogonal control surfaces that separate the keypad into intuitively distinguishable groupings by orientation that may nevertheless be quickly accessed. Second, it provides extremely sensitive low latency control through the use of capacitive touch switches augmented for the purpose of velocity sensing with an accelerometer. A multiaxis accelerometer allows multiple control surfaces to be simultaneously activated with different accelerations and yet successfully decoded independently. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to  FIG. 17 , an electronic instrument controller  310  may provide, for example, a hollow cubic housing  312  constructed of an electrically insulating material and sized to be grasped in one&#39;s hand and freely moved. The housing  312  may support an array of conductive touchpads  314  on an upper face  316   a , a left side face  316   b  and a right side face  316   c  (as shown) or on any two or more perpendicular surfaces. The conductive touchpads  314  may be desirably but not necessarily arranged in two rectilinear rows and columns on the faces  316 , for example, with four conductive touchpads  314  on each such face  316 . A cable  318  or equivalent wireless connection may communicate with a MIDI instrument  320  that may receive control signals from the controller  310  to provide appropriate sound waveforms to amplifier speaker system  322  as is understood in the art. The cable  318  may also communicate with the power supply  324  for powering the circuitry inside the controller  310  (as will be described) or an equivalent battery-powered power supply ma be inside the housing  312 . 
     Generally, the controller  310  may be played by touching one or more of the conductive touchpads  314  which each act as capacitive sensing switches to trigger the transmission of a MIDI signal to the MIDI instrument  320 . The force of touching may be detected by an internal accelerometer (not shown in  FIG. 17 ) providing, for example, three-axis sensitivity along the X, Y and Z axes normal to the face  316   a ,  316   b  and  316   c , respectively. 
     Referring now also to  FIG. 18 , the housing  312  may contain a microcontroller  326  such as Arduino Due commercially available from a number of suppliers and providing a higher sampling rate to accurately distinguish peak accelerations. The microcontroller  326  may communicate with a three-axis accelerometer  329  (for example the ADXL  345  triple axis accelerometer) communicating with the microcontroller  326  through an I2C interface of a type known in the art to provide readings of accelerator force on the housing  312  along any of the axes X, Y and Z (shown in  FIG. 17 ). Each of these axes will generally be normal to one face  316  allowing orthogonal touchpads  314  among different groups defined by different faces  316 . 
     Output and input pins from the microcontroller  326  may be connected to each of the conductive touchpads  314  and the controller  326  to implement a capacitive touch sensing to rapidly detect touches of those touchpads  314  by capacitive coupling to a human user. The microcontroller  326  may communicate with a MIDI interface circuit  328 , for example, including optoisolator and series resistance as defined in the MIDI standard incorporated herein by reference, to forward a MIDI control signal over the cable  318 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 19 , generally the controller  326  will execute a stored program  330  that will detect touch signals  332  on one or more of the touchpads  314  each signal  332  identified to a particular face  316 . The program  330  will also receive acceleration signals  334  from one or more of the axes of the accelerometer  329 . Upon receiving the touch signals  332 , a MIDI output  338  will be generated on cable  318  according to a predefined mapping between touchpads  314  and MIDI instruments and notes. The MIDI output  338  will generally include a note on command, a pitch command and a predetermined velocity command. This may be followed by a second velocity command  340 , for example, after a touch or controller command to adjust the volume to a peak value detected in this accelerations signal  334  when that peak occurs significantly after an initial touch. Note that generally simultaneously tapping two faces  316  of the controller will produce a force that may be resolved into X, Y and Z components to be associated with different single touchpads  314  on individual faces  316  because of the orthogonality of the force vectors associated with the faces  316 . The clustering of touchpads  314  on the faces  316  provides a memory aid in distinguishing touchpads  314  during play. The touchpads  314  may be grouped in several fashions. For example, each touchpad  314  of a given face  316  may comprise notes of a common chord, or touchpads  314  of each face  316  may provide for different instruments, e.g. percussion, bass, and melody, or each  316  may group touchpads  314  for different functions such as: control buttons, for example, for controlling looping or timing, loop file selection buttons and loop initiation triggering. In contrast to many controllers, the present controller allows the entire controller  310  to move and thus for rhythms to be established, for example, by striking the controller against the surface such as a palm, side of the leg, or moving the controller  310  between two surfaces. The controller  310  may be played with continuous pressing of one or more buttons and a shaking to modulate the loudness. 
     It will be appreciated that the housing  312  need not be a cube and other shapes providing for orthogonal surfaces may be used. In addition, the dual triggering providing for capacitive sensing augmented by acceleration sensing may be used in a conventional single face controller. 
     Generally the invention provides an electronic music controller having orthogonal surfaces presenting capacitive touch switches and a contained multiaxis accelerometer operating together to provide two dimensions of musical control. 
     V. Funnel for Transferring Bottle Contents 
     The present invention relates to a funnel and in particular to a funnel for recovering and transferring flowable product from partially filled containers into new containers. 
     Background of the Invention 
     Product containers for shampoos and soaps and other viscous yet flowable materials can retain anywhere between 3 percent and 25 percent of the product when they are ostensibly empty according to the consulting firm Booz and Company as reported in the Wall Street Journal Wednesday Dec. 12, 2012. This can be the result of pump dip tubes that necessarily do not fully extend to the bottom of the container or general impatience by the consumer in waiting for contained viscous products to flow out of a mostly empty container when that container is inverted. One approach in dealing with this problem is to drain the residual product from an old container into a new nearly full container having a similar product, for example, using a funnel. This can be a time-consuming process requiring the consumer to hold the old bottle in inverted orientation as the product drains over the course of many minutes. 
     Summary of the Invention 
     The present invention provides a funnel system for transferring material from an old bottle to a newer bottle that supports the older bottle during the transfer process. This support is practical for a wide variety of different bottle sizes and shapes by means of a central core extending upward from the funnel that supports the old bottle from inside the spout, a dimension that tends to be much more consistent among bottle designs. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 20 and 21 , a transfer funnel  410  of the present invention may provide for an upwardly concave cup  412 , for example, providing a hemispherical shell. Extending upward along an axis  414  of the cup  412  is a support column  416  having radially extending ribs  418  running along its length and spaced equally around its circumference. The support column  413  is sized to be received within the neck  420  of a spent bottle  422  of a material such as a lotion or other viscous flowable liquid. The support column  416  may taper inward as one moves upward over its length and the ribs  418  may be molded of elastomeric material so as to flexibly engage a range of inner diameters of bottle necks  420  determined by the present inventors to differ relatively little compared with other dimensions and shapes of the bottles  422 . The ribs  418  further prevent an obstruction of the neck  420  by the support column  416  by providing a flow passageway  424  between the ribs out of the neck  420  into the cup  412 . 
     Extending downward from the concave cup  412  from its lower apex is a tubular spout  428  having a central bore  430  open downward and communicating with the interior of the cup  412  in the manner of a funnel. The spout  428  may also have ribs  432  and be tapered so as to support itself against the interior diameter of a neck  434  of the second bottle  436 . In this manner the second bottle  436  may support the first bottle  422  in inverted orientation through the inter-fitting of the spout  428  with the neck  434  and the support column  416  with the neck  420 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 23 , when so supported, the lower edge of the neck  420  of the upper bottle  422  may rest on spacer legs  440  joining a bottom of the support column  416  with the cup  412 . The legs  440  elevate the neck  420  above the bottom of the cup  412  allowing flow through the passageway  424  to accumulate within the volume of the cup  412  without the need for a close seal between bottles  422  and  436 . The legs  440  surround the opening  430  of the spout so that material from the cup  412  may freely drain through the opening  430  into the bottle  436 . 
     Generally the invention provides transfer elements for bottles providing a funnel having a spout supporting the funnel within the neck of a first bottle and an upwardly extending support column supporting the neck of an inverted bottle over the funnel. 
     For all of these inventions, certain terminology is used herein for purposes of reference only, and thus is not intended to be limiting. For example, terms such as “upper”, “lower”, “above”, and “below” refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. Terms such as “front”, “back”, “rear”, “bottom” and “side”, describe the orientation of portions of the component within a consistent but arbitrary frame of reference which is made clear by reference to the text and the associated drawings describing the component under discussion. Such terminology may include the words specifically mentioned above, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import. Similarly, the terms “first”, “second” and other such numerical terms referring to structures do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. 
     When introducing elements or features of the present disclosure and the exemplary embodiments, the articles “a”, “an”, “the” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of such elements or features. The terms “comprising”, “including” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements or features other than those specifically noted. It is further to be understood that the method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed. 
     It is specifically intended that the present invention not be limited to the embodiments and illustrations contained herein and the claims should be understood to include modified forms of those embodiments including portions of the embodiments and combinations of elements of different embodiments as come within the scope of the following claims. All of the publications described herein, including patents and non-patent publications, are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.