Patent Publication Number: US-11049480-B1

Title: Bow for musical string instrument

Description:
FIELD 
     The disclosure relates to a bow for a musical string instrument and more specifically to a bow provided with a tonal enhancer. 
     BACKGROUND 
     To play a musical string instrument, such as a violin, a viola or a cello, a bow is used to pull its strings so as to make the strings vibrate to produce sound. The same musical string instrument could sound very differently with different bows. 
     Making bows requires delicate skills. Many properties of a bow, such as material and elasticity of the stick, weight distribution, the way the hank of bow hair is wrapped, etc., affect the quality of the bow and the feeling of handling the bow, and the bow would in turn greatly affect the sound quality produced by a musical string instrument with the bow. This is the reason why in competitions held by the Violin Society of America, bows and violins are evaluated separately. 
     SUMMARY 
     Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a bow, with which tone of sound produced by a musical string instrument may be enhanced. 
     The bow includes a stick having opposite first and second ends and a mortise formed near the second end, a tip formed at the first end of the stick, a frog including a projection that has an eyelet that is received in the mortise, a hair ribbon held between the tip and the frog, a screw inserted in a longitudinal direction of the stick from the second end into the stick and extending through the eyelet, and a tonal enhancer. 
     The screw is configured to be rotatable to cause the frog to move relative to the tip in the longitudinal direction. The tonal enhancer is made of a material having Young&#39;s modulus less than 3.5 GPa, and is sandwiched between the stick and the screw. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment (s) with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view illustrating one embodiment of a bow according to the disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a fragmentary partially-sectional view illustrating components of the bow according to the embodiment; 
         FIG. 3  is a fragmentary schematic view illustrating the bow according to the embodiment; 
         FIGS. 4 and 5  are sound waveforms produced by an open E string of a violin with the same bow provided with and without a tonal enhancer of the disclosure; and 
         FIGS. 6 and 7  are sound waveforms produced by an open D string of the violin with the same bow provided with and without a tonal enhancer of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Before the disclosure is described in greater detail, it should be noted that where considered appropriate, reference numerals or terminal portions of reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements, which may optionally have similar characteristics. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , one embodiment of a bow  100  according to this disclosure, with which tone of sound produced by a musical string instrument may be enhanced, includes a stick  1  that has a first end  11  and a second end  12  opposite to each other, a tip  2  that is formed at the first end  11 , a frog  3  that is installed on the stick  1  near the second end  12 , a hair ribbon  4  that is held between the tip  2  and the frog  3 , a screw  5  that is used to adjust a position of the frog  3  on the stick  1 , and a tonal enhancer  6 . In this embodiment, the stick  1  and the tip  2  are formed as one piece. 
     Further referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the stick  1  further has a mortise  13  that is a rectangular hole formed near the second end  12 . 
     The frog  3  includes a main body  31  having a bottom side  310  that is configured to be fittingly attached to the stick  1 , a projection  32  fastened at and projecting from the bottom side  310  of the main body  31 , and a ferrule  33  bound at the main body  31  and surrounding the hair ribbon  4  to serve as a guide to flatten and widen the hair ribbon  4 . The mortise  13  is longer than the projection  32  in a longitudinal direction of the stick  1  of the bow  100 , so that the projection  32  may be movably received in the mortise  13 . The projection  32  is formed with a threaded hole that serves as an eyelet  320 . 
     The tonal enhancer  6  is made of a material having Young&#39;s modulus substantially equal to or less than 3.5 GPa. In some embodiments, Young&#39;s modulus of the material of the tonal enhancer  6  is substantially equal to or less than 1 GPa. In this embodiment, the tonal enhancer  6  is made of a material selected from the group consisting of sponge, rubber, foams, silicone, emulsions, and combinations thereof. The tonal enhancer  6  may be designed in a form of, but not limited to, a circular disc, a ring, a block or a ball. 
     The screw  5  includes a head  51 , and a shank  52  that is at least partially threaded and that is connected to the head  51 . To attach the frog  3  to the stick  1 , the projection  32  is first received in the mortise  13 , the tonal enhancer  6  is placed at the second end  12  of the stick  1 , and then the shank  52  of the screw  5  extends through the tonal enhancer  6  and is inserted into the stick  1  in the longitudinal direction in such a way that the tonal enhancer  6  is sandwiched between the second end  12  of the stick  1  and the head  51  of the screw  5 , so as to provide acoustic insulation between the stick  1  and the screw  5 . Further, the shank  52  of the screw  5  extends through the eyelet  320 . In addition, the shank  52  of the screw  5  is screwed into and threadedly engages the eyelet  320 , such that the screw  5  may be rotated to cause the frog  3  to move relative to the tip  2  in the longitudinal direction, thereby adjusting the tightness of the hair ribbon  4 . 
     Speaking of the function of the tonal enhancer  6 , a conventional bow (not shown) that comes without a tonal enhancer causes an open E string of a violin (not shown) to vibrate and to produce sound with a waveform shown in  FIG. 4 , while the bow  100  including the tonal enhancer  6  according to the disclosure causes the same open E string of the violin to vibrate and to produce sound with a waveform shown in  FIG. 5 . It is evident that, compared with the waveform of  FIG. 4 , the waveform of  FIG. 5  has a greater number of fine structures (indicating more subharmonics) and sharper peaks, and such features imply relatively richer tones. 
     Similar effect may be observed in other strings. For example, when the conventional bow causes an open D string of the violin to vibrate, the sound produced by the open D string has a waveform shown in  FIG. 6 , while the bow  100  according to the disclosure causes the open D string of the violin to vibrate and to produce sound with a waveform shown in  FIG. 7 . Compared with the waveform of  FIG. 6 , the waveform of  FIG. 7  has a greater number of fine structures and sharper peaks. 
     In summary, the bow  100  of the present disclosure including the tonal enhancer  6  sandwiched between the stick  1  and the screw  5  allows the instrument to produce sound with superior sound quality. It is also noted that, since the tonal enhancer  6  is placed at the second end  12  of the stick  1 , where the player holds, and since the tonal enhancer  6  is quite lightweight, the tonal enhancer  6  will not affect the feeling of handling the bow  100 . 
     In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiment(s). It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and so forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects, and that one or more features or specific details from one embodiment may be practiced together with one or more features or specific details from another embodiment, where appropriate, in the practice of the disclosure. 
     While the disclosure has been described in connection with what is (are) considered the exemplary embodiment(s), it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiment(s) but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.