Patent Publication Number: US-6218601-B1

Title: In-line keyboard

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention pertains to musical instruments, and more particularly to instruments having multiple finger-operated actuators. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
     Numerous types of musical instruments are played by using the fingers. Manipulating the fingers a certain way causes the instruments to produce corresponding notes of a musical scale. 
     Many instruments utilize a keyboard containing multiple actuators. In such instruments, there is normally a different actuator for each of the notes that the instrument can produce. In a piano, for example, the fingers strike keys that in turn actuate sound-producing strings. In other instruments, such as pipe organs, piano accordions, and concertinas, the fingers press actuators that enable air to move through sound-producing passages. A third category of keyboard instruments includes the electric keyboard, in which finger-operated actuators cause different electronic circuits to produce desired notes. 
     A goal of most instruments is to produce as many notes as practical. To achieve that goal with a keyboard instrument, a large and heavy instrument is usually required. The piano is a prime example. Since by their nature concertinas and piano accordions are portable, the number of actuators and therefore the number of notes that can be produced is intentionally limited. The keyboard of an electric keyboard can occupy as much space as a piano keyboard. 
     A further characteristic of keyboard instruments is that they require every actuator to be playable by every finger in order to adequately play the instrument. The fingers typically move all over the keyboard during the normal course of playing. A problem that flows from the prior keyboard designs is that a person must memorize the relation between every actuator and its corresponding note independent of the fingers a person might use to play the actuators. There is nothing on the keyboards that assists or guides the placement of the player&#39;s fingers. On the contrary, the placement of the player&#39;s fingers on the prior keyboards is random. Only in the context of the particular music being played does the actual placement of the fingers acquire any importance. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the present invention, an in-line keyboard is provided that greatly simplifies playing musical instruments. This is accomplished by apparatus that includes perpendicular rows and columns of actuators, each of which causes an instrument to produce a single musical note. 
     In its simplest form, the in-line keyboard has four columns and two rows of actuators. The eight actuators and the rest of the instrument are designed such that playing the actuators produces one octave of notes. The first row contains the four lowest notes of the octave. The second row, considered to be a higher row, contains the highest notes of the octave. Preferably, the in-line keyboard and instrument are designed such that consecutive actuators in the first row produce notes that ascend according to a musical scale of natural notes. The actuators of the second row correspond to notes that are a continuation of the scale. 
     For maximum versatility, the in-line keyboard has five columns of actuators. For an in-line keyboard with two rows of actuators, the instrument can play ten notes. Additional octaves are available by adding more rows of actuators. 
     In a preferred embodiment of the invention with five columns of actuators, the musical note corresponding to the actuator in the first row and last column is the same note as is produced by the actuator in the second row and first column. In that situation, pairs of adjacent actuators in a column correspond to perfect fifths of a scale. For example, notes C and G may be in the same column in adjacent rows. The same applies to notes D and A, E and B, or G and D. Accordingly, playing pairs of adjacent actuators in a column simultaneously produces a harmonious chord. 
     Any of the rows of actuators can be considered to be a home row of actuators. When the player&#39;s five fingers are over the actuators of the home row, the fingers are considered to be in a home position. From the home position, the player moves his fingers only up and down the actuators within the associated columns. All the actuators of a particular column are thus played only by a single finger. For a keyboard having four rows, for example, each finger plays only the four actuators of the column associated with that finger. 
     Further in accordance with the present invention, actuators that correspond to sharps and flats of a musical scale are incorporated into the in-line keyboard. The sharp and flat actuators are located in columns between the columns of the corresponding natural note actuators. According to one aspect of the invention, the sharp and flat actuators have a different tactile feel then the natural note actuators. The sharp and flat actuators provide guides that aid in keeping the player&#39;s fingers in the proper columns at all times. 
     The method and apparatus of the invention, using actuators arranged in perpendicular columns and rows, thus enables a musical instrument to play a wide range of notes from a compact keyboard. The keyboard is very easy to learn to play, since each finger plays only a few actuators and those actuators are located in a single column. 
     Other advantages, benefits, and features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the detailed description of the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an in-line keyboard in its basic form. 
     FIG. 1A is a view similar to FIG. 1, but showing representative musical notes producible by the actuators of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 2 is a portion of the notes of a typical musical scale of natural notes. 
     FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an expanded version of the in-line keyboard of the invention. 
     FIG. 4 is a top view of a preferred in-line keyboard according to the invention. 
     FIG. 5 is a front view of FIG.  4 . 
     FIG. 6 is a top view of a modified embodiment of the invention. 
     FIG. 7 is a front view of FIG.  6 . 
     FIG. 8 is a view of an accordion equipped with an in-line keyboard according to the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Although the disclosure hereof is detailed and exact to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, the physical embodiments herein disclosed merely exemplify the invention, which may be embodied in other specific structure. The scope of the invention is defined in the claims appended hereto. 
     Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic view of an in-line keyboard  11  according to the present invention is illustrated. The in-line keyboard  11  comprises a frame  13  that is part of a musical instrument  14 . The in-line keyboard is not limited to use with any particular type of instrument  14 . On the contrary, the in-line keyboard is useful with any type of instrument in which individual discrete musical notes are produced by playing respective discrete keys or similar actuators. It is contemplated that pianos, electric keyboards, and piano accordions will especially benefit from the invention. 
     In the frame  13  are a number of actuators  15 . The particular type of actuator  15  is not critical to an understanding of the invention. As illustrated, the actuators are in the form of short cylinders. However, rectangular bars or buttons are also within the scope of the invention. 
     Similarly, the physical connections of the actuators to the sound-producing members of the instrument  14  are not limited to any particular construction. Rather, the actuators are physically connected to the sound-producing members by mechanisms, typically represented at reference numeral  16 , that suit the particular instrument having the in-line keyboard ii. For example, in a piano accordion, the actuators are connected by the mechanisms  16  to the valves  18  that regulate air flow past sound-producing reeds. In a stringed instrument such as a piano, the actuators are connected to the hammers that strike the strings. 
     My invention is concerned with the placement of the actuators  15  relative to each other and also as related to the notes of a musical scale. Each actuator is connected to the instrument in a manner that produces a single musical note when the actuator is played, such as by the mechanisms  16  and valves  18  of a piano accordion. Playing an actuator and playing a musical note are interchangeably defined as manually pressing an actuator and thereby causing the instrument to produce a sound that corresponds to the actuator. 
     In its simplest form, the in-line keyboard  11  of the FIG. 1 has eight actuators  15 , each corresponding to a different musical note. The actuators are arranged in two rows A, B and four columns  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 . Each actuator corresponds to a different note on a musical scale. Further, the actuators are arranged such that the actuator A- 1  in row A and column  1  is the lowest note of the scale that can be played by the instrument. Actuator A- 2  is the next higher note along the musical scale. Actuators A- 3  and A- 4  continue along the scale. Actuator B- 1  is the next note higher along the scale above note A- 4 . Actuators B- 2 , B- 3 , and B- 4  complete the in-line keyboard. If the actuators correspond to all natural notes, the in-line keyboard can play one octave of the notes, with note B- 4  being the same note as A- 1  but one octave higher. For example, actuator A- 1  may correspond to note C of a musical scale. In that case, the other actuators of the in-line keyboard correspond to the notes shown in FIG.  1 A. To use the in-line keyboard  11 , all the actuators  15  in the first column  1  are played with only one of the person&#39;s fingers. If the person plays with his right hand, all the actuators in the first column are played only with the person&#39;s first finger of his right hand, and the first finger plays only the actuators in the first column. All the actuators in the second column  2  are played with only the person&#39;s second finger, and the second finger plays only the actuators in the second column. Similar relations hold for the person&#39;s third and fourth fingers and the actuators in columns  3  and  4 . Thus, each of the person&#39;s fingers need move only along its associated column of actuators; a finger never has to cross over into another column. 
     There are several major advantages to the in-line keyboard  11 . As one advantage, it is very easy to learn to play. If the actuators in row A are considered to be a home row, notes higher up the musical scale from the notes of the home row are produced merely by playing the actuators in the row B. The design of the in-line keyboard enables a person who is unable to read music to readily play the instrument. 
     In fact, the in-line keyboard enables a blind person to play a musical instrument. The person can read braille music with one hand and play the instrument with the other hand. The blind person need not be concerned about the original location of his fingers on the in-line keyboard beyond recognizing their locations on the home row. 
     Another advantage of the in-line keyboard  11  is that adjacent pairs of actuators in each column  1 - 4  are related by respective perfect fifths along a musical scale of natural notes. Consequently, simultaneously playing two adjacent notes in any column produces a harmonious chord. For example, the chord GC (FIG. 1A) is easily produced by using the first finger to play the C and G actuators simultaneously. 
     A further benefit of the invention is that it occupies a more compact space, for the same number of actuators, than traditional keyboards. For instance, the length of the in-line keyboard of the invention is but a fraction of the length of a piano, electric keyboard, or piano accordion required for the same number of notes to be produced. 
     It will be noticed that the arrangement of the actuators, such as those shown in FIG. 1A, form a pattern that is related to the notes as written on a musical scale. Looking also at FIG. 2, the notes along a scale of written music for one octave, starting and ending with note C, are shown. The arrangement of the actuators is such that all the actuators in columns  1  and  3  correspond only to notes with staff lines through them, e.g., notes C and G in column  1 . Similarly, all the actuators in columns  2  and  4  correspond only to notes between the staff lines, e.g., notes D and A in column  2 . That characteristic of the in-line keyboard further contributes to the ease of learning to play an instrument with the in-line keyboard. 
     FIG. 3 shows an in-line keyboard  17  having two rows A, B and five columns  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5  of actuators  19 . Each actuator  19  corresponds to a different natural note producible by the instrument  21 . With five columns, a person&#39;s thumb is used to play the actuators in the first column  1 . The note corresponding to the actuator at row A column  5  is a duplicate of the note corresponding to the actuator in row B column  1 . In the example of FIG. 3, the note produced by the actuator A- 1  is note C. In addition to being able to produce more than one octave of notes, the in-line keyboard  17  also provides the increased flexibility and versatility associated with different actuators playing the identical note. For example, in the illustrative in-line keyboard  17  of FIG. 3, note G is produced by playing either actuator A- 5  or B- 1 . 
     FIG. 4 depicts an in-line keyboard  23  having five rows A, B, C, D, E and five columns  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5  of actuators  25 . Each actuator A- 1  to E- 5  corresponds to a natural note of a musical scale. A typical correlation of the actuators  25  and the musical notes is shown on the respective actuators. That is, actuator A- 1  corresponds to the note G. Other notes are as shown on the actuators. Almost three full octaves of notes are producible using the in-line keyboard  23 . Like the in-line keyboards  11  and  17  described in conjunction with FIGS. 1 and 3, respectively, the in-line keyboard  23  has the advantage of fitting a large number of actuators in a compact space. Also, adjacent actuators in each column are related by perfect fifths of a musical scale. It will further be noticed that all the actuators in each column correspond to musical notes that either are on the lines of the staff of written music, or notes that are between the lines of the written music staff. For example, the notes G, D, A, E, B corresponding to the actuators of column  1  all lie between the lines of the musical staff, FIG.  2 . The notes A, E, B, F, C corresponding to the actuators of column  2  all lie on the lines of the musical staff. 
     Further in accordance with the present invention, actuators corresponding to the sharp and flat notes of a musical scale are includable in the in-line keyboard. In FIG. 4, the in-line keyboard  23  includes, in addition to the natural note actuators A- 1  to E- 5 , appropriate sharp and flat actuators  27 . Each of the sharp and flat actuators  27  is physically connected to a different sound producing member of an instrument in the same manner as the natural note actuators  25 . That is, playing a sharp or flat actuator causes the instrument to produce the corresponding sharp or flat musical note. 
     The particular placement of the sharp and flat actuators  27  is dependent on the arrangement of the natural note actuators  25 . In the in-line keyboard  23 , there is an actuator  27 A corresponding to the note G sharp. The G sharp actuator is located between the natural notes G and A. Other appropriate sharp and flat notes are as shown. The sharp notes are thus conveniently and intuitively arranged on the in-line keyboard. 
     It is a feature of the invention that the physical configurations of the natural note actuators  25  are different than the configurations of the sharp and flat note actuators  27 . In the preferred embodiment, the natural note actuators  25  are in the form of cylinders. Each cylinder has a top surface  29  that is located at a first distance X above the surface  31  of the in-line keyboard frame  32  or other adjacent portion of the musical instrument  33  when the actuator is at rest, FIG.  5 . In contrast to the cylinders of the natural note actuators, the sharp and flat actuators  27  are preferably in the form of parallelepipeds with relatively long and narrow rectangular top surfaces  35 . The surfaces  35  are at a distance Y from the instrument surface  31 . Preferably, the distance Y for the sharp and flat actuators is greater than the distance X for the natural note actuators. 
     The sharp and flat actuators  27  perform two important functions. First, of course, when played they cause the instrument to produce the corresponding sharp and flat notes. Second, they serve as guides to aid a person&#39;s fingers to remain only in their proper columns. A person almost instinctively realizes a mistake in playing if a finger moves from its proper column over the higher protrusions of the actuators  27  to an adjoining column. In that manner, the in-line keyboard  23  is rendered even easier to play correctly. 
     As illustrated and described, the natural note actuators  25  are in the form of cylinders. However, other shapes are also possible. For example, the natural note actuators may be parallelepipeds with square top surfaces. The tactile feel of a column of square surfaces with the protrusion X is sufficiently different from the feel of the rectangular surfaces at the protrusion Y to promote the fingers to stay in their proper columns. 
     FIGS. 6 and 7 depict an in-line keyboard  37  that is particularly useful with a piano accordion  38 , FIG.  8 . The in-line keyboard  37  replaces the conventional piano-like keys on the treble end of the piano accordion. The presence of the extra actuators  39  and  41  enable two full octaves of notes to be available in a small space. The extra actuator  39  is played with the person&#39;s thumb, and the extra actuator  41  is played with the fourth finger. 
     In summary, the results and advantages of keyboard type musical instruments can now be more fully realized. The in-line keyboard provides both a very easy way to play an instrument as well as the ability to play a wide range of notes from a small space. This desirable result comes from using the perpendicular row and column arrangement of the actuators. The actuators are connected to the instrument in a manner that enables the instrument to produce musical notes corresponding to the actuators played. The actuators correspond to the notes of a musical scale. The actuators are arranged such that playing adjacent actuators produces successive notes along a musical scale. The actuators are further arranged such that each of a player&#39;s fingers plays only a single column of actuators. Sharp and flat notes are adjacent the related natural notes. The sharp and flat actuators have a different tactile feel than the natural note actuators, which encourages a player to keep his fingers in the proper columns. 
     It will also be recognized that in addition to the superior performance of the in-line keyboard, its construction is such as to cost little, if any, more than traditional keyboards. Also, because it is so easy to learn to play, the in-line keyboard is ideal for beginning musicians. 
     Thus, it is apparent that there has been provided, in accordance with the invention, an in-line keyboard that fully satisfies the aims and advantages set forth above. While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications, and variations as fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.