Patent Publication Number: US-8974138-B2

Title: Fast disassembly fastening apparatus for musical instruments

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a fastening apparatus for musical instruments and particularly to a fast disassembly fastening apparatus for musical instruments. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A conventional musical instrument fastening apparatus, such as one for fixing cymbals as shown in  FIG. 1 , mainly includes a post  1  fastened to a cymbal stand  5  to hold a cymbal  3 . The top of the post  1  runs through two felts  2  with the cymbal  3  sandwiched therebetween, and the post  1  is fastened by a fastening nut  4  to securely hold the two felts  2 . The felts  2  are made from pliable material and can absorb vibration to improve the timbre of the cymbal  3 . 
     While the aforesaid structure can generate sound by striking the cymbal  3 , in the event that removing the cymbal  3  is desired, the fastening nut  4  has to be unfastened first, more time and efforts are needed for unfastening and refastening again, hence it cannot fully meet use requirements. Moreover, the fastening nut  4  is fastened by wrenching, hence is prone to wearing off and loosening after repetitive fastening and unfastening, and cannot securely hold the felts  2  and cymbal  3  and result in forming gaps between them and not effective vibration absorption. The timbre of the cymbal  3  could also be changed and become undesirable upon striking. There are still rooms for improvement. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a fast disassembly fastening apparatus for musical instruments to meet requirements of fast changing the musical instruments. 
     To achieve the foregoing object, the fast disassembly fastening apparatus of the invention is mounted onto a bracing post and includes a mounting seat, a latch portion, an elastic portion and a press portion. The mounting seat has a housing compartment with an aperture run through by the bracing post. The latch portion is hinged in the housing compartment and has a fixed position intruding into the aperture and a release position escaping from the aperture. The elastic portion is compressed inside the housing compartment to push the latch portion to the fixed position. The press portion is inserted into the housing compartment from an exterior of the mounting seat to contact the latch portion and is depressible to push the latch portion to reach the release position. 
     Thus, by pressing the press portion, the latch portion can be pushed to move to the release position with the bracing post running through the aperture; and after the press portion is released, the elastic force of the elastic portion can push the latch portion to reach the fixed position, and then the latch portion can latch the bracing post so that the mounting seat can be securely held on the bracing post to fix a musical instrument. The fastening structure thus formed is operable by pushing the press portion, thus can perform fastening and unfastening quickly to meet use requirements. 
     The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a conventional fast disassembly fastening apparatus for musical instruments. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the invention. 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded view of the invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic view of the invention in a use condition to clamp a musical instrument. 
         FIG. 5A  is a schematic view of the invention in use condition-1. 
         FIG. 5B  is a schematic view of the invention in use condition-2. 
         FIG. 5C  is a schematic view of the invention in use condition-3. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 2 ,  3  and  4 , the present invention aims to provide a fast disassembly fastening apparatus for musical instruments that is mounted onto a bracing post  10  connecting to a musical instrument stand  11 . The fastening apparatus of the invention includes a mounting seat  20 , a latch portion  30 , an elastic portion  40  and a press portion  50 . The mounting seat  20  has a housing compartment  21  with an aperture  22  run through by the bracing post  10 , a cap  201  to latch on the mounting seat  20  and a base  202 . The housing compartment  21  is formed on the base  202  and sealed by the cap  201 . The cap  201  and base  202  have respectively an opening  203  corresponding to each other with the aperture  22  formed thereon. The base  202  has a notch  204  at one side run through by the press portion  50 . The cap  201  and base  202  also have respectively at least one latch strut  205  and one latch cavity  206  formed thereon mating each other for latching together, thereby to couple the cap  201  and base  202  together. 
     The latch portion  30  is hinged in the housing compartment  21  and has a fixed position intruding into the aperture  22  and a release position escaping from the aperture  22 . The latch portion  30  includes two clamp jaws  31  hinged about axle strut  24  in the housing compartment  21  and located at two sides of the aperture  22 . 
     The elastic portion  40  is compressed inside the housing compartment  21  to push the latch portion  30  to the fixed position. The elastic portion  40  may include two elastic elements  41  corresponding to the two clamp jaws  31  for pushing thereof so that the latch portion  30  is moved to the fixed position. The housing compartment  21  and each clamp jaw  31  have respectively a recess  211  and a cavity  311  to hold one elastic element  41 . Each clamp jaw  31  has an arched latch basin  312  facing one side of the aperture  22  and having a latch thread  313  formed thereon to enhance clamping strength on the bracing post  10 . 
     The press portion  50  is inserted through the notch  204  into the housing compartment  21  from an exterior of the mounting seat  20  to contact the latch portion  30  and is depressible to push the latch portion  30  to the release position. The press portion  50  has a latch flange  51  on each of two ends, and the housing compartment  21  has two latch recesses  212  mating the latch flanges  51  to increase pressing precision. The press portion  50  also may have a guide slot  52  while the mounting seat  20  has a guide strut  23  mating and inserting into the guide slot  52  to slide therein to guide moving direction of the press portion  50 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5A ,  5 B and  5 C, when in use and before the press portion  50  is pressed, referring to  FIG. 5A , the latch portion  30  (the two clamp jaws  31 ) is at the fixed position, and the latch portion  30  (the two clamp jaws  31 ) intrudes into the aperture  22 , hence the bracing post  10  cannot run through the aperture  22 . Then pressing the press portion  50 , the latch portion  30  (the two clamp jaws  31 ) is pushed to move to the release position and escapes from the aperture  22  as shown in  FIG. 5B , and then the bracing post  10  can run through the aperture  22 . Next, releasing the press portion  50 , the latch portion  30  (the two clamp jaws  31 ) is pushed by the elastic force of the elastic portion  40  (the two elastic elements  41 ) to the fixed position to clamp the bracing post  10  as shown in  FIG. 5C , thereby the mounting seat  20  can be securely held on the bracing post  10 . 
     As a conclusion, by pushing the press portion  50  clamping of the latch portion  30  (latch jaws  31 ) on the bracing post  10  can be controlled. The fastening structure thus formed provides fast disassembly and assembly with simple operation, thus an instrument  60  (referring to  FIG. 4 ) can be quickly mounted or removed to meet use requirement without wearing away of the fastening apparatus easily.