IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING SONOROUS SIGNALS AND MUSICAL SOUNDS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING SONOROUS SIGNALS AND
MUSICAL SOUNDS."-A communication from abroad by Jules Antoine
Lissajous and Henri Pierre Flaud, of Paris, in the Empire of
France.
Sealed the 22nd February 1870, and dated the 11th September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th September 1869.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County'
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING SONOROUS SIGNALS
AND MUSICAL SOUNDS," a communication from abroad by Jules Antoine
Lissajous and Henri Pierre Flaud, of Paris, in the Empire of France, to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar reed instrument to be sounded by
steam, air, gas, or liquid for the purpose of producing sonorous signals

page_text: such, for example, as are used at sea in cases of fog, or for producing
musical sounds by combining together a number of such reed instruments
in the form of an organ.
The peculiar feature of this Invention consists in the reed, which is of
a bivalve construction, being composed of two pieces of metal made
seme-cylindrical at one end and gradually running into a flat at the
opposite end; these two pieces are laid with their two concave surfaces
facing each other, and are securely held together at the cylindrical end
formed by the junction of the two semi-cylinders by a metal ferrule or
otherwise, whilst their flattened portions are left free to vibrate, for
which purpose a gradually increasing space is left between the edges
of the bivalves from their absolute junction with each other to their
flattened extremities. A suitable trumpet mouth is applied to this
metallic reed, and to this again may be fitted a sound director of any
convenient form and material for the purpose of directing the waves of
sound in any required direction. Steam, air, or liquid is forced through
the reed for the purpose of sounding the instrument, a small chamber or
mouth piece surrounding the reed being fitted to the instrument for the
reception of the actuating fluid before it passes into the reed, and when
steam is employed a small cock is applied to this chamber or mouth
piece for the purpose of drawing off any water of condensation that may
collect therein. By forcing liquid through this apparatus whilst it is on
the surface of the water it may be used for producing submarine signals.
Two or more of these instruments giving different sounds may also be
combined together, and employed for conveying signals by varying the
order of the different sounds produced.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th March 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middle-
sex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-

page_text: third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license
that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR PRODUCING SONOROUS SIGNALS AND MUSICAL SOUNDS," a communication to
me from abroad by Jules Antoine Lissajous and Henri Pierre Flaud, of
Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
The said Invention relates to a peculiar metallic reed made in the form
of a duck's bill for use in instruments to be sounded by steam, air, gas,
or liquid, for the purpose of producing sonorous signals, such, for
example, as are used at sea in cases of fog, or for producing musical
sounds by combining together a number of such metallic reed instru-
ments in the form of an organ.
The peculiar feature of this Invention consists in the metallic reed,
which is of a bivalve construction, being composed of two pieces of suitable
metal or alloy made semi-cylindrical at one end and gradually running
into a flat at the opposite end. These two pieces are laid with their two
concave surfaces facing each other, and are securely held together at the
cylindrical end formed by the junction of the two semi-cylinders by a
metal ferrule or otherwise, whilst their flattened portions are left free to
vibrate, for which purpose a gradually increasing space is left between

page_text: the edges of the bivalves from their absolute junction with each other to
their flattened extremities. A suitable trumpet mouth is applied to this
metallic reed, and to this again may be fitted a sound director of any
convenient form and material for the purpose of directing the waves of
sound in any required direction. Steam, air, or liquid is forced through
the reed for the purpose of sounding the instrument, a small chamber or
mouth piece surrounding the reed being fitted to the instrument for the
reception of the actuating fluid before it passes into the reed, and when
steam is employed a small cock is applied to this chamber or mouth
piece for the purpose of drawing off any water of condensation that may
collect therein. By forcing liquid through this apparatus whilst it is on
the surface of the water it may be used for producing submarine signals.
Two or more of these instruments giving different sounds may also be
combined together, and employed for conveying signals by varying the
order of the different sounds produced.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed, more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a longitudinal section of the
improved sound-producing apparatus complete as adapted to be blown
by steam; Figure 2 is an enlarged longitudinal section of the metallic
reed; Figure 3 is a transverse section of the cylindrical end of the reed;
Figure 4 is a plan of the reed corresponding to Figure 2; Figure 5 is a
transverse section of the same taken along the line 1-2, in Figures 2
and 4; and Figure 6 represents a sectional elevation of the trumpet
mouth combined with an adjustable sound director and concentrator.
a, a, are the metallic bivalves forming the reed, one end of each of
which is semi-cylindrical, whilst the other end is flattened, as shewn in
the Drawings. These two valves are united together at their semi-
cylindrical ends by a ferrule 6 or otherwise, and if desired may be further
secured by soldering so as to form at one end a tube T (Figure 2) from
the point G, where the valves commence to assume a flattened contour;
the two valves gradually separate towards their extremity, leaving a thin
wedge-shaped space between their edges, which permits of their free
vibration. This metallic reed a is fitted into a mouth piece P, into which
opens the pipe o for conducting therein the steam or compressed fluid,

page_text: 5
vapour, gas, or liquid, which after passing through and acting upon the
recd escapes by the metallic trumpet mouth C. R is a cock for drawing off
the water of condensation when using steam. The form and dimensions
of the trumpet mouth will of course depend on the tone to be produced;
and may be provided with one or more lateral openings for the purpose
of ensuring the absolute fixity of sound which it is intended to convey
by causing it to sound on the principal of the harmonic pipes of an
organ. In order to render the concentration of sound greater in any
given direction a concentrating cone C¹ (Figure 6) may be added to the
trumpet mouth so as to envelope the bell of the trumpet, leaving a space
around it and extending a short distance beyond it. This concentrator
may be composed of wood or metal, and may be in the form of a
truncated cone or pyramid or other like form. The trumpet may be
carried on a hollow axis fitted into a box provided with a stuffing box.
This axis serves for the introduction of the steam or other fluid or gas,
and admits of the trumpet being turned in any direction without
interrupting its free communication with the receiver or generator.
The concentrating apparatus should be fixed to the instrument so as
to turn along with it; or the trumpet may remain stationary and the
concentrator moveable, in which case it would be of a curved form, as
shewn in Figure 6, whereby the sound may be successively directed in
any quarter round the axis of the fixed trumpet. These metallic reeds
should be constructed of any clastic metal or alloy not readily oxidisable,
such, for example, as brass or bronze. They are bivalvular like the reeds
of bassoons and hautbois, but unlike them are constructed of metal, whilst
at the same time their mode of operation being different admits of their
application to the special purposes referred to; they may also be readily
mounted and dismounted. They are specially applicable as signal
trumpets for use at sea, for lighthouses, for army, and other signalling
purposes, railways, and workshops. They may also be applied to organs
and other musical wind instruments, and may be sounded by means of
air induced by a jet of steam or gas so as to substitute where requisite
the expenditure of a large quantity of fluid at a low pressure for a small
quantity of fluid at a high pressure.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to

page_text: be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The peculiar construction of metallic bivalve reed, as herein-
before described and illustrated by the Drawings.
Second. The application of this metallic reed to the production of
sonorous signals or musical sounds, as herein-before described.
Third. The peculiar combination and arrangement of trumpet mouth
and sound concentrator or director with the said metallic reed, as and for
the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Specification, set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of March
One thousand eight hundred and seventy.