IMPROVEMENTS IN METAL MUSICAL WIND INSTRUMENTS (TO BE CALLED 'BESSON'S SYSTEM').
Year: 1853

page_text: Augu
Lorauou Demord,
16, Castle; Street, Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Patent,
Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN METAL MUSICAL
WIND INSTRUMENTS (TO BE CALLED 'BESSON'S SYSTEM')."A com-
munication.
Sealed the 31st May 1853, and dated the 5th February 1853.
.1
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Auguste Edouard
Loradoux Bellford at the Office of the Commissioners; of
Patents, with his Petition and Declaration, on the 5th February
1853, pursuant to the 9th section of the Patent Law Amend:
ment Act, 1852.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of -16, Castle Street,
Holborn, in the County of, Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
METAL MUSICAL WIND INSTRUMENTS (TO BE CALLED "BESSON'S SYSTEM'"
to be as follows: -
This Invention consists of certain improvements on Perinet's
system of piston, of which a portion is shown in Fig. 10, having
two bends B, by which the air enters and issues (it enters by one
and issues by the other). This system has the disadvantage of
9

page_text: presenting many bends to the passage of the air to the interior,
and of consequently impeding its action. In this Invention there
is an improvement in the system of piston called Perinet, with a
straight opening, which is universally known under the name of
"réel Besson." In this system there are only two bends E, E,
exterior to the first and third piston, and the column of air A
is straight or direct, which gives more power to the sound or
tone; but the tone produced by the pistons was not quite perfect;
this proceeded from the existence of a quantity of little protuberances
Fig. 10. and 11, (occasioned by the bad arrangement of the holes,)
which diminished the passages in which the air circulates, and
contracted it in passing each of them. These disadvantages have
caused minute researches to be made, the result of which is the new
system of piston herein-after described. In this system. the
straight direction to the column of air A is always preserved,
and the bends B, Fig. 10, and E, Fig. 11, which are used in the
first and third pistons of the Perinet system and " réel Besson,"
are dispensed with. The new piston of this Invention bears eight
holes instead of six; these eight holes, see Fig. 4, have the same
interior diameter as the opening by which the air enters into the
instrument. In the old system this advantage does not exist. The
column of air is contracted by the bends, and protuberances which
it encounters, and the want of room renders it necessary to make
holes in the pistons of a less diameter than that of the tube in
which the column of air circulates. These holes are placed
differently to the old system, and one of them 4, 4', is made.in
the form of a cresent Fig. 14, which does away with two sharp
angles at each of the pistons of the old system (Fig. 10. and 11);
in addition to which there are four holes upon the same line, and
four others placed laterally. In this new kind of piston a tube C
(or great crescent tube) is placed at the exterior. of the piston.
This tube forms a portion of the length of the slides D, and not of
the sonorous body. This arrangement does not affect in any way
the straight opening, and renders the communications of the pistons
with the tubes for the admission and emission of the air more easy
and direct (this tube giving more facility for the placing of the

page_text: holes of the pistons, which does away with the protuberances and
sharp angles which exist in the old system), and the cylindrical
portion of the system is reduced to its minimum, an advantage
which constitutes the perfection. This exterior tube C; Fig. 5,
which forms a part of the slides of the piston, can itself become a
slide according to the arrangement of the instrument. Figs. 8,
and 9, shew the tube C in these two supposed cases. This
new system of piston can be applied to all kinds of metal musical
wind instruments, from the sinall. bugle in e flat alto to the contra
basso e flat, an octave below that in e flat ordinarily grave, whether
these instruments be with an embouchure or with a reed, and
also to all forms of metal musical wind instruments. The spring
which raises the piston again can be placed above or below it, as
Fusual.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES IN THE DRAWING.
The same letters signify the same portions of the instruments in
all the Figures of the Drawing.
Fig. 1, represents front view of the new system of piston with
eight holes.
Fig. 2,
Fig. 3,
"
"
back view of the same
the same as No. 2,
"
"
"
"
"
supposing the slide of the third piston straight instead of being
bent round, as in the Figures 1, and 2.
Fig. 4, represents first or third piston in three different
positions.
"
perspective view of the new system of piston.
two side views
Fig. 5,
Fig. 6, and 7,"
Fig. 8, and 9,
placed in two different manners.
"
"
وو
"
views of the slides of first or third piston
Fig. 10, represents system called Perinet's.
Fig. 11,
"
Fig. 12,
Fig. 13,
"
system called "réel Besson" with straight holes.
section of Fig. 4, following the line, A, B.
section of Fig. 12,
Fig. 14,
"
"
view of the whole of the piston in form of a
C, D.

page_text: -
"
I claim, First, the arrangement of the eight holes made in
the pistons, such as I have indicated and represented in Fig 4.
Secondly, the mode of exterior and interior circulation of the
air, such as I have described and represented in Figs. 8, and 9.
Thirdly, the crescent shaped holes represented in Figs. 14, 4, and
13, and their application to pistons of all kinds of metal musical
wind instruments, whatever number of holes these pistons may have.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifth
day of February, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
(L.S.) AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD