Patent Publication Number: US-2023154443-A1

Title: Tri-Column Airlift Bass Stand

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority to Provisional Application No. 63/278,798, filed Nov. 12, 2021, the entire contents of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This disclosure relates to improvements in hardware for mounting percussion instruments, namely, drum suspension hardware. 
     Percussion instruments are known to be mechanically mounted on support structures, e.g., stands, kit frames, carriers, etc., so that they may be played. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,588,228, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes stands for supporting marching bass drums. These marching bass drums are typically mounted on such stands so that their playing surfaces are vertically oriented. 
     In the case of marching bands, it is desirable for bass drums to be removed from personal carriers (i.e., carriers that allow the user to support the bass drum on the user&#39;s person in playing position while marching) and subsequently mounted on stands positioned on the ground or other playing surfaces (e.g., bleachers, etc.) so that the user may play the bass drum while it is mounted on the stand. In competitive (and even non-competitive) marching band performances, it is highly desirable to achieve a quick and seamless transition between carrier mounted and stand mounted playing. However, due to the large and heavy nature of the bass drum, and to the complexity of both carrier and stand mounting, such quick and seamless transitions are difficult to achieve. 
     Moreover, when the marching bass drum is carrier mounted (as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,326,842, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety), the playing torque is absorbed by the user supporting the drum. The playing torque is the horizontal torque applied to the bass drum by the user hitting the playing surfaces (e.g., with a mallet). Because the playing torque is absorbed by the user when the bass drum is carrier mounted, both playing surfaces (i.e., drum heads) of the bass drum remain relatively stable. That playing surface stability is vital to retaining a player&#39;s existing technique or further developing greater technical skills with increasing difficulty. 
     By contrast, when the bass drum is stand mounted, the playing torque is no longer absorbed by the user. Thus, the movement/torque applied to the bass drum by the user while playing it results in the bass drum undesirably twisting or otherwise being displaced with the mallet impact. As a result, the desired stability is no longer achieved. 
     This resulting instability is generally tolerated by performers as a trade-off to reduce performer fatigue. However, it is understood that using bass drum stands (e.g., for rehearsal, for in-the-bleachers performance, etc.) can be disruptive to the musicianship of the user. In particular, the development of the user&#39;s muscle memory and technical refinement can suffer, due to users adjusting their playing technique to accommodate the less stable stand mounted bass drum. This in turn promotes variances in sound and ensemble uniformity, both within the marching band and between carrier mounted and stand mounted performances. 
     It is therefore desirable to provide advantages over such known systems and methods. Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the presently described embodiments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG.  1    illustrates percussion instrument stand according to at least one embodiment. 
         FIG.  2    is a partially exploded view of the percussion instrument stand according to at least one embodiment. 
         FIG.  3    is a close-up of aspects of the percussion instrument stand according to at least one embodiment. 
         FIG.  4    schematically illustrates aspects of the percussion instrument stand according to at least one embodiment. 
         FIG.  5    schematically illustrates aspects of the percussion instrument stand according to at least one embodiment. 
         FIG.  6    illustrates percussion instrument hardware according to at least one embodiment. 
         FIG.  7    illustrates aspects of the percussion instrument hardware according to at least one embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The above described drawing figures illustrate the disclosed invention in at least one embodiment, which is further defined in detail in the following description. Those having ordinary skill in the art may be able to make alterations and modifications to what is described herein without departing from its spirit and scope. While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broad aspects of the invention to any embodiment illustrated. Therefore, it should be understood that what is illustrated is set forth only for the purposes of example and should not be taken as a limitation on the scope of the disclosed invention. 
       FIGS.  1 - 5    illustrate exemplary percussion instrument stands according to at least one embodiment. 
     The percussion instrument stand  100  includes a plurality of support columns  102 / 102   a ,  104 / 104   a ,  106 / 106   a , each support column associated with a support leg  114 / 116  that supports the support column off of a standing surface (e.g., the ground, a stage, a bleacher surface, etc.). The percussion instrument stand  100  further includes an instrument mount  200 / 222  configured to support a percussion instrument thereon so as to be vertically supported by one or more of the support columns. 
     At least one coupler  110 / 112  is provided to engage each of the support columns so as to resist a horizontal torque exerted on a percussion instrument. Accordingly, the coupler  110 / 112  may comprise a body that substantially bridges the space between support columns so as to transfer horizontal force between columns. In some embodiments, the coupler body may be substantially planar in the horizontal direction. 
     The coupler  110 / 112  may further include one or more receptacles configured to receive respective support columns and thereby form a bridge, with the coupler body, between support columns. The receptacle may be substantially c-shaped. In some embodiments, the receptacle may be configured to engage one or more lineal grooves  119  of the support columns. The receptacles may further permit longitudinal adjustment of the coupler along the support columns. 
     In at least one embodiment, the support columns may be arranged in a parallel triangular orientation, as shown. That is, the support columns may be oriented vertically parallel to each other at horizontal positions corresponding to the vertices of a triangle. Accordingly, the coupler body may be substantially triangular and the receptacles may be located at each vertex of the triangular shaped body. 
     In at least one embodiment, the support columns may be arranged in a polygonal orientation, e.g., as four or five parallel columns. That is, the support columns may be oriented vertically parallel to each other at horizontal positions corresponding to the vertices of a polygon. Accordingly, the coupler body may be substantially polygonal and the receptacles may be located at each vertex of the polygonal shaped body. 
     It will be understood, however, that the coupler may engage less than all of the support columns. In particular, the coupler may engage two or more of the support columns. In such embodiments, the receptacles may be located at any vertices of the body for which engagement with the corresponding support column is desired. It is preferable, however, that the arrangement of the coupler is such that the percussion instrument stand, via the coupler, resists resist horizontal torque exerted on the percussion instrument it supports. 
     In some embodiments, one or more of the support columns may be telescoping support columns, each having a base portion  102 ,  104 ,  106  that telescopically engages an upper portion  102   a ,  104   a ,  106   a  such that the length of the telescoping support column is adjustable telescopically. In such embodiments, the coupler may engage the support columns at respective upper portions  102   a ,  104   a ,  106   a  and/or base portions  102 ,  104 ,  106  thereof. In particular, a travel coupler  110  may engage the support columns at respective upper portions  102   a ,  104   a ,  106   a . The travel coupler  110  may have a body  110   a  with receptacles  110   b  for engaging the grooves  119  of respective upper portions  102   a ,  104   a ,  106   a . Additionally, or alternatively, a stationary coupler  112  may engage the support columns at respective base portions  102 ,  104 ,  106 . The stationary coupler  112  may have a body  112   a  with receptacles  112   b  for engaging the grooves  118 ,  119   a  of respective base portions  102 ,  104 ,  106 . 
     In some embodiments, one or more of the support columns may be mechanically assisted support columns having integrated gas springs  300   a . Such mechanical assists are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,438,266, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     In some embodiments, the percussion instrument stand  100  may include lateral support legs  116 . The lateral support legs  116  may be longitudinally slidable independently from each other on respective base portions  102 ,  104  via connected c-shaped travel collars  121  that may engage groves  118  on the base portions  102 ,  104  so as to permit repositioning of the lateral support legs  116  via the longitudinal sliding. The lateral support legs may be secured in position via a locking component  123 , as shown. The c-shaped collars  121  may also be of o-shaped circumstantial construction, while still allowing for the lateral support legs to be longitudinally slidable independently on the respective base portion. The lateral support legs  116  may further have slidably adjustable c-shaped collars  122  connected to a leg brace  126  so as to alter an extension of the lateral support legs  116 . The lateral support legs may be secured in position with locking component  122   a.    
     In some embodiments, the percussion instrument stand  100  may include a front support leg  114 . The front support leg may be longitudinally slidable independently on base portion  106  via connected c-shaped travel collar  120  that may engage groves  119   a  on base portion  106  so as to permit repositioning of the front support leg  114  via the longitudinal sliding. The front support leg may be secured in position with locking component  123   a , as shown. The c-shaped collar  120  may also be of o-shaped circumstantial construction, while still allowing for the front support leg to be longitudinally slidable independently on the base portion  106 . The front support leg  114  may further have slideably adjustable c-shaped collars  128  connected to a leg brace  124  so as to alter the extension of front support leg  114 . The front support leg may be secured in position with locking component  123   b.    
     Exemplary slideably adjustable support legs are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,703,725, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     The instrument mount  200 / 222  may comprise a saddle receiver  200  with a catch-lock (or snap-lock) cam mechanism  222 . As shown in  FIG.  3   , the saddle receiver  200  may comprise one or more j-shaped components configured to receive a tube bridge  440 A (or tube lug) of the percussion instrument  400 . The catch-lock cam mechanism  222  may be rotatable about a horizontal axis so as to secure the tube bridge  440 A (or tube lug) within the saddle receiver  200 . In operation, the tube bridge  440 A (or tube lug) of the percussion instrument is gravity assisted to drop into the saddle receiver  200  so as to seat to the bottom of saddle and thereby actuate the catch-lock cam mechanism  222  to close and thereby secure the tube bridge (or tube lug) within the saddle receiver  200 . The catch-lock cam mechanism  222  may be configured to be manually rotatable about the horizontal axis to engage and disengage the tube bridge  440 A without the necessity of external tools. In some embodiments, the catch-lock may be omitted. 
     As shown in  FIGS.  6  and  7   , in some embodiments, the tube bridge  440 A may be a retrofit tube bridge configured to be retrofit to the percussion instrument in an after-market modification. The tube bridge  440 A may include a bridge tube  440   b  suspended between opposing mounts  400   c , which may be mountable on the percussion instrument. In operation, the bridge tube may be dropped-and-locked into the instrument mount  200 / 222  as described above. 
     In some embodiments, the mounts  400 - c  include respective eye loops. The eye loops may be oriented perpendicular to the tube bridge so as to accept respective j-hooks of an instrument carrier that support the percussion instrument on a user&#39;s body (e.g., the carriers of U.S. Pat. No. 7,326,842), as shown in  FIG.  7   . 
     The percussion instrument stand  100  may further include a bass drum support  224 , particularly in embodiments where the percussion instrument  400  is a bass drum. The bass drum support  224  may be longitudinally adjustable on one of the support columns so as to enable the bass drum to rest thereon. In combination with the tube bridge  440 A and the instrument mount  200 / 222 , the longitudinal adjustment of the bass drum support  224  allows for the rotational repositioning of the bass drum  400  to a preferred playing zone. 
     The features described above are considered novel over the prior art of record and are considered critical to the operation of at least one aspect of the invention and to the achievement of the objectives of the invention. The words used in this specification to describe the exemplary embodiments are to be understood not only in the sense of their commonly defined meanings, but also to include any special definition with regard to structure, material or acts that would be understood by one of ordinary skilled in the art to apply in the context of the entire disclosure. 
     The definitions of the words or drawing elements described herein are meant to include not only the combination of elements which are literally set forth, but all equivalent structures, materials or acts for performing substantially the same function in substantially the same way to obtain substantially the same result. In this sense it is therefore contemplated that an equivalent substitution of two or more elements may be made for any one of the elements described and its various embodiments or that a single element may be substituted for two or more elements in a claim without departing from the scope of the invention. 
     Changes from the claimed subject matter as viewed by a person with ordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised, are expressly contemplated as being equivalents within the scope intended and its various embodiments. Therefore, obvious substitutions now or later known to one with ordinary skill in the art are defined to be within the scope of the defined elements. This disclosure is thus meant to be understood to include what is specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptually equivalent, what can be obviously substituted, and also what incorporates the essential ideas. 
     The scope of this description is to be interpreted in conjunction with the appended claims.