IMPROVEMENTS IN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS TO BE PLAYED MECHANICALLY OR AUTOMATICALLY BY MEANS OF PERFORATED TUNE BANDS OR MUSIC SHEETS
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Pulford at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 16th June 1881.
JOHN PULFORD, of Wynford Road, Islington, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS TO BE PLAYED MECHANICALLY OR
AUTOMATICALLY BY MEANS OF PERFORATED TUNE BANDS OR MUSIC SHEETS."
My Invention relates to improvements in wind musical instruments in which
tunes are played mechanically or automatically by means of tune bands or music
sheets of perforated paper or other suitable material, and to that class of such
instruments in which the music sheet or tune band travels over or above the
bridge or reed-chamber and between the same, and an adjustable presser-bar or
cap that presses the sheet or band upon the said bridge or reed chamber, and in
which a note is sounded (whenever a perforation in the music sheet or tune band
comes opposite one of the air passages in the reed chamber) by air drawn through
the reeds by bellows arranged in combination with the said reed-chamber or
bridge.
When it is desired to use with such instruments as heretofore constructed an
endless perforated tune band adapted to play one or more tunes, and permit such
tune or tunes to be repeated as often as desired, great difficulty is experienced in
placing the said band over the reed-box or bridge and within the case of the
instrument, which difficulty arises chiefly from the fact that the bands for different
tunes vary in length, and in most cases necessitate folding within the case (which
folding frequently occasions the tearing and breaking of the band), and the
provision of special devices for keeping the band in the proper position to travel
through the instrument.
The object of this Invention is to provide means whereby such tune bands may
be readily and quickly placed in position and removed or replaced. For this
purpose instead of attaching the presser bar or cap and the upper roller for
assisting in drawing the tune band along over the reed box directly to the body
of the case of the instrument as heretofore, I connect the same to the cover of the
said instrument, which is made detachable instead of being hinged, so that the
cover with the said presser-bar and roller may be entirely removed from the body
of the case which contains the reed box or chamber, and the bellows and their
operating mechanism. When the cover and its appurtenances are thus removed

page_text: the reed chamber is exposed, and the tunc band may be readily placed thereon and
around the case of the instrument, which is so constructed that it rests on the
ends only of its base, a space being left between the same and the table or other
support of the instrument of sufficient width and depth to permit the free passage
of the said tune band. When the cover and the tune band are in place in the
instrument the aforesaid pressure-cap will press the band firmly upon the reed
chamber, and the roller will grip the paper between it and the lower feed roll,
which is actuated by the same crank or handle of the instrument that operates
the bellows. When this crank is turned the tune band will be drawn over the reed
chamber, and as the perforations in the said band pass over the reed openings the
notes will be sounded by the wind drawn in through the reeds by the action of
the bellows. The aforesaid pressure-cap is hinged to the lid or cover, and is
pressed down upon the paper by suitable springs.
If it is desired to use a music sheet on my improved instrument the same may
be readily inserted without removing the lid and its appurtenances by raising the
pressure cap, whose pivot has formed on or attached to it a small rod or arm
extending through the cover and outside of the case for this purpose.