Patent Publication Number: US-2003221539-A1

Title: Friction-resisting noise-eliminating rod member mounting arrangement for wind instrument

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention relates to wind instruments and, more particularly, to a rod member mounting arrangement for wind instrument that produces little friction and noises during the operation of the wind instrument.  
       [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art  
       [0004] A brass wind instrument, for example a saxophone has a set of sound holes. Each sound hole is matched with a normal-close or normal-open keypad. When the player pressed one key of the saxophone, the corresponding rod member is force to move the attached keypad to close or open the corresponding sound hole. FIGS. 1 through 3 show a rod member mounting arrangement for wind instrument according to the prior art. As illustrated, two supports are mounted on the body of the saxophone, and two screws are respectively mounted in a respective countersunk screw hole in the spherical head of each support to hold a rod member between the supports. The rod member is mounted with wind instrument elements, for example, keypad, key, key lever, actuating rod, etc. when the player of the saxophone pressed one key, the corresponding rod member is rotated between the respective supports through an angle, causing the attached wind instrument elements of the corresponding rod member to close/open the corresponding sound holes. Because the supports and the rod member are metal members, rotation of the rod member relative to the supports and the screws in the supports may cause friction noises when the rod member or the screws start to wear.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005] The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is the main object of the present invention to provide a rod member mounting arrangement for wind instrument, which eliminates friction noises during the performance of the wind instrument. It is another object of the present invention to provide a rod member mounting arrangement for wind instrument, which greatly prolongs the service life of the wind instrument. To achieve these and other objects of the present invention, the friction-resisting noise-eliminating rod member mounting arrangement comprises a metal rod member, said rod member having two recessed round holes respectively disposed in the two distal ends thereof and extended in axial direction, two bushings of friction material respectively fitted into the recessed round holes of said rod member, two supports respectively mounted on the body of a wind instrument, and two metal screws respectively fastened to said supports and engaged into said bushings to hold said rod member between said supports. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0006]FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a rod member mounting arrangement for wind instrument according to the prior art.  
     [0007]FIG. 2 is a sectional assembly view of the rod member mounting arrangement for wind instrument according to the prior art.  
     [0008]FIG. 3 is an elevational view of a regular saxophone. FIG. 4 is an exploded view of a rod member mounting arrangement for wind instrument according to the present invention.  
     [0009]FIG. 5 is a sectional assembly view of the rod member mounting arrangement for wind instrument according to the present invention.  
     [0010]FIG. 6 shows one application example of the present invention.  
     [0011]FIG. 7 shows another application example of the present invention.  
     [0012]FIG. 8 shows still another application example of the present invention.  
     [0013]FIG. 9 shows still another application example of the present invention.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
     [0014] Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, a friction-resisting noise-eliminating rod mounting arrangement for wind instrument in accordance with the present invention is shown comprised of:  
     [0015] a metal rod member  10 , the rod member  10  having two recessed round holes  11 ; 11 ′ respectively disposed in the two distal ends thereof and extended in axial direction;  
     [0016] two bushings  20 ; 20 ′ made of friction material (for example, friction rubber), the bushing  20 ; 20 ′ each comprising a tubular body  21  or  21 ′ fitted into one recessed round hole  11  or  11 ′ of the rod member  10 , and a stop flange  22  or  22 ′ extended around the periphery of one end of the tubular body  21  or  21 ′ and stopped at one end of the rod member  10  outside the corresponding recessed round hole  11  or  11 ′;  
     [0017] two supports  30 ; 30 ′ adapted to support the rod member  10  therebetween, the supports  30 ; 30 ′ each comprising a thin sheet of mounting base  31  or  31 ′ fastened to the body of the wind instrument, for example, saxophone, a conical shank  32  or  32 ′ perpendicularly extended from the center of the mounting base  31  or  31 ′, a spherical head  33  or  33 ′ integral the thinnest end of the conical shank  32  or  32 ′, and a countersunk screw hole  34  or  34 ′ extended through the spherical head  33  or  33 ′ in direction perpendicular to the axis of the conical shank  32  or  32 ′; and  
     [0018] two metal screws  35  respectively threaded into the countersunk screw holes  34 ; 34 ′ of the supports  30 ; 30 ′ and engaged into the tubular bodies  21 ; 21 ′ of the bushings  20 ; 20 ′ in the recessed round holes  11 ; 11 ′ of the rod member  10 .  
     [0019] The inner diameter of the tubular bodies  21 ; 21 ′ of the bushings  20 ; 20 ′ is approximately equal to the outer diameter of the screws  35 ; 35 ′. Because the bushings  20 ; 20 ′ are made of friction material and respectively coupled between the recessed round holes  11 ; 11 ′ of the rod member  10  and the screws  35 ; 35 ′ in the countersunk screw holes  34 ; 34 ′ of the supports  30 ; 30 ′, they prevent direct friction between the metal rod member  10  and the metal screws  35 ; 35 ′, eliminating the occurrence of friction noises due. The friction resisting material property of the bushings  20 ; 20 ′ greatly prolong the service life of the rod member  10 . Further, because the stop flanges  22 ; 22 ′ of the bushings  20 ; 20 ′ are stopped between the spherical heads  33 ; 33 ′ of the supports  30 ; 30 ′ and the ends of the rod member  10 , the bushings  20 ; 20 ′ prevent friction between the supports  30 ; 30 ′ and the rod member  10 .  
     [0020] The aforesaid bushings  20 ; 20 ′ can be used in the mounting of every rod member  10  of any of a variety of wind instruments, which rod member  10  may be mounted with any of a variety of fingerplates, plates, keypads, ring keys, etc. For example, in FIG. 4, the rod member  10  is mounted with an actuating rod  12  and a fingerplate  13 ; in FIG. 6, the rod member  10  is mounted with a fingerplate  14  and a keypad  15 ; in FIG. 7, the rod member  10  is mounted with a lever  16 , which has a fingerplate  17  at one end and a keypad  15  at the other end; in FIG. 8, the rod member  10  is mounted with two keypads  18 ; 19  and a ring key  17  at one keypad  19 ; in FIG. 9, the rod member  10  is mounted with a key  14 ′ and an actuating rod  12 ′ having an attached keypad  19 .  
     [0021] The saxophone, as shown in FIG. 3, has sound holes and normal-close or normal-open keypads matching the sound holes. In order to fit the locations of the sound holes and the performance of the fingers, the rod members, the actuating rods, the fingerplates, and the keypads have different shapes and are extended in different directions. However, friction bushings are respectively coupled between the respective rod members and the respective screws in the respective supports to eliminate friction noises.  
     [0022] A prototype of friction-resisting noise-eliminating rod member mounting arrangement has been constructed with the features of the annexed drawings of FIGS.  4 ˜ 9 . The friction-resisting noise-eliminating rod member mounting arrangement functions smoothly to provide all of the features discussed earlier.  
     [0023] While only one embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it will be understood that various modifications and changes could be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention disclosed.