Patent Publication Number: US-2011067553-A1

Title: Drum

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a drum; and more particularly to a drum which is made of fiber to reinforce its structure, reduce its weight and improve its resonance effect. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     A conventional drum comprises a drum body made of either wood or metal. Although both the wood-made drum and the metal-made drum can produce a sound when being beaten, based on a further analysis, the conventional drum suffers from the following defects. 
     The wood-made drum body has low structure strength due to the characteristic of the wood. In addition, the making of a wood-made drum body includes the steps of machining plural wood pieces one by one and then assembling them together, so it takes lots of time and labor and is not economic. Further, the clearances formed between the connected wood pieces adversely affect the resonance effect of the drum. 
     As for the metal-made drum body, although it has a high strength structure, its weight is greatly increased, making it inconvenient to carry. In addition, the oxidation characteristic of the metal further adversely affects the tone of the drum. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a conventional drum  90  comprises a drum body  91  made of wood or metal. Both ends of the drum body  91  have an un-processed rough edge A which is prone to scratching the drumheads  92 , and therefore, the drumheads  92  must be replaced frequently, inevitably increasing the maintenance cost of the drum  90 . 
     The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a fiber-made drum. 
     In order to achieve the above objective, a drum in accordance with the present invention comprises a drum body in the form of a hollow cylinder, two reinforced frames, plural cylinder-shaped fixing members, two drumheads, two drum hoops and plural positioning screws. The drum body is made of at least one fiber layer. The two reinforced frames are disposed at both ends of the drum body. The respective fixing members are clad with a fiber layer and have a lateral side fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the drum body. The two drumheads each utilize a periphery thereof to cover the respective drumheads. The two drum hoops each are clad with a fiber layer and disposed on the respective drumheads. The respective positioning screws are inserted through the periphery of the respective drum hoops and screwed into the respective fixing members. 
     Based on a further analysis, the present invention has the following advantages: the drum body of the drum of the present invention is made of fiber layers, and each of the fixing members and the drum hoops are clad with a fiber layer, so the drum of the present invention not only has the advantages of reinforced structure, light weight and easy production but exert a better resonance effect, making the sound produced by the drum more robust and powerful. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a conventional drum; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of a drum in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the drum in accordance with the present invention; and 
         FIG. 4  is a partial cross-sectional of the drum in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention will be clearer from the following description when viewed together with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-4 , a drum  10  in accordance with the present invention comprises a drum body  11 , two reinforced frames  12 , plural fixing members  13 , plural fixing screws  14 , two drumheads  15 , two drum hoops  16  and plural positioning screws  17 . 
     The drum body  11  is in the form of a hollow cylinder and made of three fiber layers that are a first fiber layer  111 , a second fiber layer  112  and a third fiber layer  113 . The process for forming the drum body  11  includes the steps of attaching the first fiber layer  111  which is made by interlacing first and second carbon fibers or glass fibers to an outer peripheral surface of a cylinder, and then disposing the second fiber layer  112  which is made by winding carbon fiber or glass fiber around an outer peripheral surface of the first fiber layer  111 , subsequently, attaching the third fiber layer  13  which is made by interlacing first and second carbon fibers or glass fibers to the outer peripheral surface of the second fiber layer  112 , and finally pulling out the cylinder to finish the formation of the drum body  11 . 
     When the drum body  11  is made of one fiber layer, the drum body  11  is made of the second fiber layer  112 . The process for forming the drum body  11  includes the steps of disposing the second fiber layer  112  which is made by winding carbon fiber or glass fiber around the outer peripheral surface of a cylinder, and finally pulling out the cylinder to finish the formation of the drum body  11 . 
     The two reinforced frames  12  are disposed at both ends of the drum body  11  to maintain the shape of the drum body  11 . The respective reinforced frames  12  are formed with an inclined surface  121  at a top side thereof. 
     The respective fixing members  13  are cylinder-shaped and fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the drum body  11  at regular intervals by the fixing screws  14  which are inserted through the outer peripheral surface of the drum body  11  and screwed into the lateral side of the respective fixing members  13 . The respective fixing members  13  are clad with a fiber layer  131  made by interlacing first and second carbon fibers or glass fibers. 
     Each of the two drumheads  15  is provided with a limiting frame  151  around an outer periphery thereof. The respective drumheads  15  have an inner periphery covered on the respective inclined surfaces  121  of the reinforced frames  12  in such a manner that the respective drumheads  15  abut against a higher portion of the respective inclined surfaces  121  but not the whole inclined surfaces  121 . The inclined surface  121  of the respective reinforced frames  12  is processed to reduce its surface roughness, so that the friction between the inclined surface  121  of the reinforced frame  12  and the drumhead  15  can be reduced. The respective drumheads  15  are disposed around the periphery of the drum body  11  by the limiting frames  151 , by such arrangements, the respective limiting frames  151  serve as a medium to reduce the abrasion between the drumheads  15  and the drum body  11 . 
     On an outer surface of the respective drum hoops  16  is clad a fiber layer  161  which is made by interlacing first and second carbon fibers or glass fibers. The drum hoops  16  are disposed on the respective drumheads  15  and abutted against the respective limiting frames  151 . The respective positioning screws  17  have one end inserted through the periphery of the respective drum hoops  16  and screwed into one end of the respective fixing members  15  in such a manner that the periphery of the respective drum hoops  16  is pressed against by the positioning screws  17  to make the respective drum hoops  16  press the limiting frames  151  downwards to force the drumheads  15  to tightly abut against the respective reinforced frames  12 . 
     The drum body  11  of the present invention is made of fiber, and each of the fixing members  13  and the drum hoops  16  is clad with fiber, so the structure strength of the drum  10  of the present invention is enhanced, and since the carbon fiber has the advantage of light weight, the weight of the drum  10  of the present invention is greatly reduced. In addition, the ductility of the carbon fiber can further improve the resonance effect to make the sound of the drum more robust and powerful, and further the drum body  11  can absorb the shake caused by impact. 
     Since the carbon fiber is easy to produce, the drum body  11  of the present invention can be produced by one step, namely, without the steps of assembling or welding. Therefore, the production of the drum body  11  is relatively simple, quick and economic. 
     The fiber-made drum body  11  doesn&#39;t have any clearance, so the whole structure of the drum  10  is more durable and exerts the better resonance effect, making the sound produced by the drum of the present invention more robust and powerful. 
     While we have shown and described various embodiments in accordance with the present invention, it is clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.