Adolphe Sax
Until the start of the 21st century, the largest existing member of the saxophone family was the rare contrabass, pitched in E, a perfect fifth lower than the bass. Inventor Adolphe Sax had a patent for a subcontrabass saxophone (or "bourdon" saxophone), but apparently never built a fully functioning instrument. In 1999, Benedikt Eppelsheim introduced the subcontrabass tubax, a modified saxophone pitched in B an octave below the bass saxophone.