Patent Publication Number: US-11651754-B2

Title: Pressure drum damper for a percussive instrument

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. U.S. 62/921,080 filed May 30, 2019, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     This disclosure relates to drum instruments used in music, and particularly, this disclosure relates to drum accessory hardware used to change the sound of a drum. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Drummers, which may be referred to as users, have always looked for ways to control the sustain of a drum since they started playing them. Currently, they often buy drum heads comprised of different layers of plastic that try to control the sustain in a multitude of ways. There are many tonal problems with this approach as the true tambour of their special drum is lost to un-resonating plastic limiting the actual vibration of a wood or metal drum. It is my belief that these drum head manufacturers have gone down the wrong path for about 40 years by adding so many layers of plastic and foam material to control the sustain of a drum, the true resonant tone of the core instrument is sorely sacrificed. Previous drum enhancers and dampers include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,541,675 B2, U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,711,116, 4,567,807, 6,696,630 B2, and U.S. Pat. No. 9,159,305. 
     SUMMARY 
     This accessory hardware is removably secured or permanently secured to a drum and is configured to come in contact with the vibration characteristics of a drum head for a percussive instrument to alter the sound of a drum. Disclosed herein are drum dampers that can precisely alter the time of resonance of a drum head to create a desired length of sustain of the drum. 
     Disclosed herein is a drum damper includes a first body having a first surface and a second surface, and the first body includes a slot and a fader button positioned on the first surface of the first body and configured to slide along the slot. A second body is connected with the second surface of the first body and configured to releasably attach with a drum. Flexible bodies are connected with the second body, configured to dampen sound or vibration from a drum head and be in contact with the drum head, and connected with the fader button through the slot so that, when the fader button slides along the slot, the flexible bodies increase or reduce surface area contact with the drum head. 
     Disclosed herein is a drum assembly that includes a drum, and the drum includes a drum rim, including an aperture, and a drum head connected to a top edge of the drum rim. The drum assembly also includes a drum damper that includes a first body having a first surface and a second surface that includes one or more slots and a threaded fader button positioned on the first surface of the first body and configured to slide along the one or more slots. The drum assembly also includes a second body connected with the second surface of the first body and a thumb screw configured to secure the drum damper and the drum together through the aperture of the drum rim and interfaced with the threaded fader button so that, when the thumb screw is rotated, the threaded fader button is slidable along the one or more slots. The drum assembly also includes flexible bodies connected with the second body, configured to dampen sound or vibration from the drum head and be in contact with the drum head, and connected with the threaded fader button through the one or more slots so that, when the threaded fader button slides along the one or more slots, the flexible bodies increase or reduce surface area contact with the drum head. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The disclosure is best understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is emphasized that, according to common practice, the various features of the drawings are not to-scale. On the contrary, the dimensions of the various features are arbitrarily expanded or reduced for clarity. 
         FIG.  1    is a perspective view of a drum damper. 
         FIG.  2    is an exploded view of a drum damper of  FIG.  1   . 
         FIG.  3    is a perspective view of a drum damper of  FIG.  1    on a drum. 
         FIG.  4    is a perspective view of a drum damper of  FIG.  1    showing the damper in the off position. 
         FIG.  5    is a side view of a drum damper of  FIG.  1    showing the hinge and the locking thumb screw. 
         FIG.  6    is another perspective view of a drum damper of  FIG.  1    showing the movement of the fader button. 
         FIG.  7    is a perspective view of a drum damper according to an alternate embodiment. 
         FIG.  8    is a perspective view of a drum damper of  FIG.  7    mounted to the inside shell of a drum. 
         FIG.  9    is a side perspective view of a drum damper according to an alternate embodiment. 
         FIG.  10    is an alternate perspective view of a drum damper of  FIG.  9   . 
         FIG.  11    is an alternate perspective view of a drum damper of the drum damper of  FIG.  7   . 
         FIG.  12    is an alternate perspective view of a drum damper of  FIG.  11   . 
         FIG.  13    is an alternate perspective view of a drum damper of  FIG.  11   . 
         FIG.  14    is an alternate perspective view of a drum damper of  FIG.  11     
         FIG.  15    is an alternate perspective view of a drum damper of  FIG.  11   . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     This accessory hardware is removably secured to a drum and is configured to come in contact with the vibration characteristics of a drum head for a percussive instrument to alter the sound of a drum. Disclosed herein are drum dampers that can precisely alter the resonance of a drum head to create a desired length of sustain of the drum. 
     Disclosed herein are embodiments of a drum damper that can be removably secured to a drum then adjusted in a multiple of ways to achieve the desired sustain of a drum. 
     One aspect of this disclosure is a drum damper configured to removably attach to a drum hoop by the user, pulling apart both flexible surface ends and letting go via a spring clip. Some spring clips are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,711,116, which is incorporated herein in its entirety. The drum damper comprises a first main body that attaches to a second body and the flexible surfaces. The drum damper comprises an arced locking thumb screw to secure the first body to the second body. The drum damper also comprises a set of flexible surfaces that can be moved with a dial via an open slot located within the first body. 
     Another aspect of this disclosure is a drum damper that presents the option for the user to put a desired amount of pressure on the drum head to alter the length of sustain of a drum. The drum damper is comprised of a first body hinged to a second body with teeth. These teeth allow the user, after loosening a thumb screw, to accurately move the first surface in contact with the flexible surfaces to a desired angle, then tighten the locking thumb screw holding in place the angle and creating the pressure of the arced flexible surface in contact with the drum head to a desired firmness. 
     Another aspect of this disclosure is a drum damper that has at least one or more flexible surfaces that can independently be adjusted for more or less firmness on the drum head for dampening. 
     Another aspect of this discloser is a drum damper that has a hook within the second body to secure a second flexible surface. This flexible surface can be rolled up and secured on the second body creating a downward force to keep the other flexible surfaces flat against the drum head during dampening. 
     In some implementations of the drum damper, it can be removably secured on the outside rim of a drum. 
     In some implementations of the drum damper, it can be configured to work on the inside shell of a drum by utilizing the screws from the lugs that secure the lugs to the drum. 
     These and other features, aspects and advantages of this disclosure will become better understood with reference to the following drawings and description. 
     With the pressure drum damper, either as a drum accessory that attaches to the hoop or built within the drum, the user can have three ways of controlling the sustain. The user can adjust the downward pressure, the firmness of the damper&#39;s flexible surfaces, and the surface area on the drum via the dial, all of which play a role in finding the right sustain for the user. 
     An advantage of the pressure drum damper is that the user can tune their drum low or high and adjust the sustain from the pressure damper. In the past, drummers would tune around the long resonance and finding the right balance between top and bottom heads was difficult and time consuming. Now a drummer can simply adjust the dial on the top or bottom head until they sound in tune and the length of the resonance is perfect. 
       FIG.  1    is a perspective view of a drum damper according to one embodiment and is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. The drum damper  10  includes a first body  12  and a second body  14 . It includes one or more flexible bodies  16 ,  18 , and  20 . 
       FIG.  2    is an exploded view of a drum damper  10 . The drum damper  10  has a series of parts that are instrumental once assembled to create a fully adjustable drum damper. First body  12  is a rigid surface. Second body  14  is a flexible or rigid body. There are three flexible surfaces  16 ,  18  and  20 . The flexible surfaces maybe described as a first flexible surface  16 , a second flexible surface  18 , and a third flexible surface  20 .  22  is a spring clip while  24  is the fader button.  26  is the thumb screw with a self-locking arc  28 .  46  is the square rigid nut going into a slot  42 .  32  is a rigid plate used to hold the flexible surfaces  16 ,  18 ,  20  together evenly.  34  is the female end of a Chicago Screw while  36  is the male end of a Chicago Screw.  38  is a spring washer.  40  are the four sets of rivets.  44  are the teeth located inside the hinge arc of the first body  12 .  30  are the teeth located inside the outside arc of the second body  14 .  48  is the hook for the flexible surface  20 . 
     The first body  12  can be made of metal, alloy, wood, plastic, rubber, aluminum or any combination thereof. The second body  14  can be made of any rubber, plastic, or any other flexible material. Preferably, the second body  14  is made of a firmer flexible material. The flexible surface  16  can be made of any rubber, plastic, Mylar, felt, leather, or any combination thereof. The flexible surface  18  and  20  can be made of spring steal, plastic, Mylar, felt, or combination of plastics but preferable rubber. The construction of the thumb screw  26  can be made of metal, plastic or rubber, or any combination thereof. Preferably, the thumb screw  26  is a combination of metal and hard rubber. Once the flexible surfaces  16 ,  18 , and  20  are secured with rivets  40  to the rigid plate  32 , rivets  43  come from under the flexible leather surface  16 , into clip  22  and through second body  14  to receive cap  41 , the rivets are set and the second body is secured to all three flexible surfaces. The next part of the construction is adding the square nut  46  to slot  42  then the first surface  12  and teeth  44  over the teeth  30  of the second surface  14 . To secure these together, the thumb screw  26  is screwed through a hole in the first surface  12  and into the square nut  46 . The thumb screw  26  is then tighten all the way so that the base of the thumb screw  26  locks into the arc of the first surface  12 . The last part of the construction detail is placing the female end of the Chicago Screw  34  face down through the flexible surface holes, turning around the flexible surfaces so the female end of the Chicago Screw  34  fits through the slot  50  and into the fader button  24 , washer  38  to be secured with the male part of the Chicago Screw  36 . 
       FIG.  3    is a perspective view of the drum damper  10  located on a drum  6   b  and attached to a drum rim  62 . The flexible surface  16  is coming in contact with drum head  64 . 
       FIG.  4    is a perspective view of a drum damper  10  showing the fader button  24  slid to the off position  52 . It shows the elevated flexible surface  16  not touching the drum head  64  when the fader button  24  utilizing the slot  50  is slid up to the off position  52 . This function disengages the damper  10  and returns the vibration of the drum head  64  when struck with a stick, back to full sustain. 
       FIG.  5    is a side view of a drum damper  10  showing the locking thumb screw  26  the angle of arc  28  that matches the arc  29  of the first body  12 . To engage the pressure of the drum damper  10  the user will need to unscrew the thumb screw  26  enough so that the teeth  44  of the first body  12  disengages with the teeth  30  of the second body  14 . After the thumb screw  26  is loosened, the first body  12  can be free to pivot up or down. If the first body  12  pivots down and the thumb screw is tightened, the teeth will come together and lock the first body  12  in closer proximity to the drum head  64 . The flexible surfaces between the first body  12  and the drum head  64  will put more downward dampening pressure  56  on the drum head  64 . 
     Another feature shown in  FIG.  5    is the construction of the thumb screw  26  with arc  28  that, once the user turns the screw to meet the matching arc  29  of first body  12 , they come together to form a hump that the user can forcibly overcome to lock into place. This creates a self-locking thumb screw once tightened together. This feature prevents the first body  12  of damper  10  from ever loosening from vibrations of the drum during play. 
     Another feature shown in  FIG.  5    comprises of a flexible surface  20  that is free at one end and can be rolled up and attached to the second body  14  via the hook in the second body  14 . The flexible surface arc creates a downward force  17  that extends through to the bottom leather surface  16  keeping the damper  10  flexible surfaces taut against the drum head  64 . 
       FIG.  6    is an alternate perspective view of a drum damper  10  showing the movement  56  on the fader button  24 . The fader button  24  can be moved by the user via the slot  50  in the first body  12 . The fader button  24  and flexible surfaces  16  and  18  are attached via the Chicago screw  36  and when the fader button is moved  56  so do the flexible surface  16  and  18  shown moving  57 . Also, the fader button  24  can be moved all the way to the top of the first body  12  to the off position  52  for no dampening of the drum head. 
       FIG.  7    is a perspective view of a drum damper  11 , which is similar to drum damper  10  of  FIGS.  1 - 6   . The drum damper  11  is configured to work in the inside of any drum particularly a base drum. The main body  15  is constructed with a slot  51  to accept existing screws within a drum, which can be utilized to attach and adjust drum damper  11  to the walls of drum shell. This drum damper holds the flexible surfaces  16  and  18  to the main body  15  via metal plate  32  and screws or rivets  33 . Flexible surface  20  can be chosen by user to be looped and held with the hook  48  or not. The rest of the functions described of a drum damper  10  of  FIGS.  1 - 6    are similar to drum damper  11 . 
       FIG.  8    is a perspective view of a drum damper  11  of  FIG.  7    mounted to the inside shell of a drum  72 . Drum damper  11  can be secured via the existing screws  70  of the drum shell  72  used to hold drum lugs  73  to the drum shell  72 . The body  15  of drum damper  11  utilizes slot  51  to secure drum damper  11  to the drum. A user unscrews the screws  70 , adds drum damper  11  and replaces existing screws  70  to hold drum damper  11  in place. Drum damper  11  can be slid in slot  51  until the flexible surfaces  16  and  18  make contact to the drum head  64 . Once contact is made, user can tighten screws  70  to secure in place. The rest of the features of drum damper  11  are similar to drum damper  10 . 
       FIG.  9    is a side view of the drum damper  9 , which is similar to drum damper  10  of  FIGS.  1 - 6   . Drum damper  9  is permanently affixed to the inside shell  72  of a drum. The construction details are as follows. The base  92  is attached to drum shell  72  and the flexible surfaces  16 ,  18 , and  20  are permanently attached to the base  92 . The base  92  has at least one slot  82  to allow the screw or screws  84  to pass freely though the base and to the fader  90  that hold the other end of the flexible surfaces  16  and  18 . The thumb screw  86  incorporates one end for the user to turn and another end that is threaded  88  to pass through a hole in the drum shell  72  and extend to meet the threaded fader button  90 . 
       FIG.  10    is another side view of the damper  9  of  FIG.  9    showing the movement of the fader button and in turn dampening surfaces of  16 ,  18 , and  20 . When the user turns the thumb screw  86 , the threads  88  connected to the thumb screw, act as a gear to move the fader button  90  along the slots  82  in the main plate  92 . The fader button  90  is attached to the opposite end of the flexible surfaces  16  and  18 . Flexible surface  20  has a springy quality and is rolled up to help support the flexible surface  16  to keep it firm against the underside of drum head  64 . Flexible surface  18  also has a springy quality to help flexible surface  16  to stay firm against the underside of the drum head  64 . For less dampening the user turns the thumb screw  86 , moving the fader button  90  toward the drum shell  72 . When the user turns the gear clockwise, the flexible surfaces are pulled by the fader button and rolled up and off the underside of the drum head  64  creating even dampening pressure to the drum head the entire way. 
       FIG.  11    is a perspective view of another drum damper  11 , which may be similar to drum dampers  9 ,  10 ,  11  of  FIGS.  1 ,  7 , and  9   . This drum damper applies many of the same principles of drum damper  9  and  10  previously described above. The difference of this drum damper  11  from damper  9 , is that the main plate  92  can swivel utilizing the hinge joint  94 . The user can create more dampening force or pressure  100  to drum head  64  by sharpening the angle of the main plate  92  forcing the flexible materials  16  and  20  up against the drum head  64  to slow vibration down faster after the drum is struck. 
     Also shown in  FIG.  11    are support pistons  98  and  99  and a coiled spring  96 , all of which work together for the user to adjust and choose the angle of the main plate  92 , thus changing the pressure of the damper to the drum head. The coiled spring could be replaced by two magnets of opposite polarity if needed. Vertical support pistons  99  are used for vertical movement of the main plate  92  while horizontal pistons  98  are used for horizontal movement of the main plate  92 . 
     Also,  FIG.  11    shows a flexible rubber surface  20  in a firmer orientation to the drum head  64 . This unique rolling feature of the flexible surface  20  is helpful for applying the right kind of pressure on the leather surface  16  coming in contact with the drum head  64  for even dampening. 
       FIG.  12    is a perspective view of the drum damper  11  of  FIG.  11    showing a sharper angle  101  of the main plate  92  thus increasing the force or pressure  100  of the flexible surfaces  16 ,  18 , and  20  to the underside of the drum head  64 . 
       FIG.  13    is another perspective view of the drum damper  11  of  FIG.  11    and a 3-gear latch system  102  on the outside of a drum. This latch system determines the angle of the main plate  92  by three differently angled slots within  102  that accept a protrusion  104  comprised in the thumb screw  86 . The thumb screw can be pulled out of these slots and adjusted into one of the threes slots.  FIG.  13    shows the bottom slot utilized in order for the user to get a sharper angle of the main plate  92  adding pressure to the drum head for more aggressive drum dampening. 
       FIG.  14    shows a perspective view of the drum damper  11  of  FIG.  11    with the main plate  92  angled away from the drum head  64 . The drum damper  11  is now in the off position in relation to the drum head  64 . 
       FIG.  15    shows a perspective view of the drum damper  11  of  FIG.  11    from the outside of a drum shell  72 . The 3-gear latch system  102  is showing the thumb screw  86  and its protrusion  104  sitting in the top slot angled down which puts the drum damper  11  in the off position in relation to the drum head  64 .