IMPROVED METHODS OF PRODUCING MUSICAL SOUNDS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick John Julyan, of 20, Gerrard Street, Sobo
Square, in the County of Middlesex, Carpenter, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED METHODS OF PRODUCING MUSICAL SOUNDS."
"IMPROVED METHODS OF PRODUCING MUSICAL SOUNDS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick John Julyan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th June 1854.
I, FREDERICK JOHN JULYAN, of 20, Gerrard Street, Soho Square, in the
County of Middlesex, Carpenter, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVED METHODS OF PRODUCING MUSICAL SOUNDS" to be as
follows:-
The Invention consists in passing a current of air over or across a stretched
string or membrane, so placed as by its vibrations alternately to obstruct and
clear tho aperture through which the air passes; the strings or membrane
may act either simply as a musical string or membrane, or simply as a reed to
a close or open pipe or other air vessel, or both as a musical string or membrane
and as a reed. Thus a portion of a stretched string may be made to vibrate in
or against a slit in a plate or pipe by blowing past the string into the slit, and
different notes may be made by stops on the string, and if a pipe is added,
by keys on the pipe, or by other known means; or there may be a separate
string and pipe for each note, and the sounds may be reinforced by a sounding
board.

page_text: Again, the membrane of a drum or tambourine may be made to vibrate
by placing a straight edge over and nearly in contact with it, and blowing
between them. In this application of a current of air the sound may, for
certain effects, be rapidly and conveniently stopped by the direct action of a
stopper on the aperture at which the vibrations are created.
By "string" and "membrane" in this Specification are meant any suitable
elastic materials in the forms of strings and membranes respectively; and by
"string" is not meant necessarily a round string, nor by "stretched membrane,"
necessarily a membrane confined all round.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick John Julyan in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
JOHN JULYAN, of No. 20, Gerrard Street, Soho Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Carpenter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederick John Julyan, Her special license that I, the said Frederick
John Julyan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Frederick John Julyan, my executors, administrators, and 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 "IMPROVED
METHODS OF PRODUCING MUSICAL SOUNDS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Frederick John Julyan, 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 Frederick John Julyan, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say)
My Invention consists in passing a current of air over or across a portion of

page_text: a stretched string or a membrane, so placed as by its vibrations alternately to
obstruct and clear the aperture through which the air passes. The string or
membrane may act either simply as a musical string or membrane, or simply
as a reed to a close or open pipe or other air vessel, or both as a musical
string or membrane and as a reed. Thus a portion of a stretched string may
be made to vibrate in or against a slit in a plate or pipe by blowing past the
string into the slit, and different notes may be made by stops on the string,
and if a pipe is added, by holes in the pipe, or by other known methods; or
there may be a separate string and pipe for each note, and the sounds may be
reinforced by a sounding board. Again, the stretched membrane of a drum or
tambourine may be made to vibrate by placing a flat or slightly curved plate
with a straight edge over and nearly in contact with it, and blowing between
them; and a musical pipe may be made to speak by means of a membrane
stretched over its mouth and tuned in unison or harmony with the pipe, and
sounded as above mentioned. In this application of a current of air the sound
may, for certain effects, be rapidly and conveniently stopped by the direct action
of a stopper on the aperture at which the vibrations are created.
I now proceed to describe in detail some of the applications of the Inven-
tion. For an instrument to consist of a single string and tube, I take a
round tube of thin metal, about seven-eighths of an inch in diameter, and
about two feet long, and in lieu of the ordinary embouchure I make in
it a longitudinal slit about one and three-fourths of an inch or two inches
long, and about one-twelfth of an inch wide, commencing half an inch
from one end of the tube. To the sides of this slit I attach metal
lips, projecting about half an inch from the tube, terminating in straight
edges parallel to each other and to the length of the tube, and about
one-sixteenth of an inch apart, the distance varying according to the width
of the string and its use as a free or close reed; over these lips, and
nearly in contact with them, I stretch a wire or string of metal, silk, gutta
percha, or other suitable material, which may be either round or flattened at
the part over the lips, and may either vibrate freely between the lips without
touching them, after the manner of a free reed, or may be wide enough to
If the string
touch the lips in its excursion, after the manner of a close reed.
is flattened the flattened part may, for the purpose of checking lateral vibrations,
be made broadest at the extremity, and gradually narrowing towards the round
part of the string, in which case the aperture between the lips will be made to
correspond. This string must be stretched and tuned by means of pegs
attached to the tube, and must be of suitable length, according to its material
and size, to be tuned into unison or harmony with the tube. I find that a brass

page_text: wire of the size known as No. 6 or 7 of brass music wire, and about twenty-
three inches and one half of another inch long between the pegs, vibrating
freely between lips just sufficiently separated to clear it, is suitable to be used
with a tube two feet long open at both ends, but I prefer a string made of
floss silk varnished with copal or other waterproof varnish, and about the size
of the first string of a violin. The tube must be pierced with holes, after the
manner of a flute, to produce the various notes of the chromatic scale within
its compass, and the position and size of these holes must be determined by the
judgment and experience of the maker, and by trials, according to the known
practice of musical instrument makers. Figure 1 in the annexed Drawing
represents with tolerable accuracy the positions and sizes of the holes which I
have found to answer for a tube of the dimensions above stated, open at both
ends. These holes are stopped and opened by means of keys, kept to their
places by springs in the usual way. The tail of each key is so arranged as
when it is depressed to stop the string at the proper place against a ledge
acting as a finger board attached to the tube, and thus to bring the string into
unison or harmony with the tube. The relative distances of these key-tails or
stops will be the same as those of the frets of a guitar. In order to enable the
performer to play enharmonically, the key-tails may be made thin and slightly
elastic, so as to be capable of being pushed a little up or down the scale by the
finger in playing. In Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the annexed Drawing, a, a, are
the lips of the tube; b, b, is the string; c, c, are the pegs by which it is stretched;
d, d, d, d, are the keys; f,f, is the ledge or finger board. The key m, m, is no
essential part of the Invention; it is made to press upon the string by the
spring n, and its office is to enable the player to lower the pitch of the string
to the extent of about a semitone by pressing upon the key. In order to
prevent the string from striking against the sides of the slit when it is vibrating
freely, or from diverging laterally from the slit when it is used after the manner
of a close reed, I use a guide string g, g, of fine wire, silk, or other suitable
material, tied round the principal string at about four or five inches from the
further end of the mouth-piece, and led down at right angles to the main
string in a plane parallel to the plane in which the lips of the mouth-
piece lie, to a bridge about one inch below the main string, and thence
to a regulating peg h. The effect of this guide string is to confine the
vibrations of the principal string nearly to a plane perpendicular to the
plane in which the edges of the mouth-piece lie. The guide string is not
essential when a flattened string is used as a close reed. The sounds are
produced by blowing through the slit of the mouth-piece. Figure 4 shews one
of the keys; Figure 5 is a section of the tube lips and string; Figure 6 shews

page_text: a way of making the holes in the flute with level faces. It is obvious that the
pitch and compass of the instrument may be altered by altering its dimensions,
and that many variations of the above arrangement may be made. Tails may
be added to the extreme keys, so as to bring them within easier reach of the
fingers. The tube may be wholly dispensed with, and the string alone may be
fitted with a mouth-piece and guide string, as above described, and a finger
board and sounding board; and by fitting a close cap over the mouth-piece
with an aperture for blowing into, the necessity of adjusting the player's lips to
the mouth-piece may be avoided, and by means of such a cap, the instrument
may be played with wind from a bellows. For producing sounds from a
stretched membrane, I take a membrane or thin sheet of vulcanised india-
rubber, parchment, or other suitable material, and stretch it over the mouth of
a tube or other aperture until it is of the required pitch. A plate of metal,
wood, or other material with an edge straight in plan, but slightly hollowed
below, is fixed over the membrane at a very acute angle with it, so that the
extremities of the straight edge may be in contact with two points in the
circumference of the membrane, and a very narrow passage for air may be left
between them. The space between the plate and the portion of the membrane
lying under it is enclosed, and forms a chamber into which air may be blown,
so as to pass under the straight edge and excite vibrations in the membrane.
It is obvious that a similar effect may be produced by a perfectly flat plate,
with its edge slightly raised above and parallel to the membrane. Figures 7
and 8 shew the application of the Invention to a drum, or tambourine, or organ
pipe. a, a, is the membrane; b, the plate; c, the aperture for blowing into.
The arrows shew the direction of the current of air. Figures 9, 10, and 11 shew
another application of a stretched membrane to an organ pipe. a is the organ
pipe; b, b, is the membrane stretched over the end of the pipe, so as partially
to cover it, and having a free edge; c is a block with a slightly hollowed
edge, performing an office nearly similar to the office of the plate in Figures 7
and 8, or a block may be used with a perfectly straight edge, nearly touching
the free edge of the membrane, which will then act as a free reed; d is the
foot of the organ pipe. In this example the wind passes into the organ pipe.
Figures 12 and 13 shew two other applications of a stretched membrane to an
organ pipe, after the manner of a free reed. In Figure 12 two blocks c, c, are
fixed in the pipe at the extremity which joins the foot, so as to form a slit with
parallel sides; the membrane b is stretched across and over this slit, so as
nearly to fill it in its excursions while vibrating freely, or the membrane may
be made wide enough to form a close reed. In Figure 18 the extremity of the
pipe is flattened laterally and partly cut away, so as to allow the membrane b

page_text: to be stretched straight across, and its free edge to form part of the extremity
of the tube. The edge of the foot is flattened in like manner, and nearly
touches the free edge of the membrane. A block or stop c within the foot
forms with its straight edge a narrow straight slit, through which the air passes
in a thin current against the free edge of the membrane, and by the vibrations
of the membrane is directed alternately into and out of the organ pipe.
Figure 14 shews another arrangement. d is the foot of an organ pipe ending
in an oblong narrow mouth with straight lips. This is placed in contact with
a membrane b, stretched across the end of an organ pipe or tube a. A current
of air in the direction of the arrow will excite vibrations in the membrane. In
these applications of a stretched membrane I prefer for most purposes to
use thin sheets of vulcanised india-rubber, because that material is very elastic
and is little affected by moisture or change of temperature.
Now, I claim as my Invention, the use of a stretched string or membrane to
produce musical sounds, by means of a current of air, according to the several
methods above described, and I do not confine myself to the particular arrange-
ments above described, but generally I claim the use of a stretched string or
membrane, so placed in connexion with a fixed obstacle as to produce musical
sounds by alternately obstructing and clearing the way for a current of air
passing between a portion of such string or such membrane and the fixed
obstacle, except that I do not claim as my Invention the arrangement shewn
in Figure 15, which represents a membrane stretched between two curved
plates of metal, so as to have two of its edges free; the curvature of
one or both of the plates (which is exaggerated in the Drawing) being very
slight.
"
Lastly, I declare that in this Specification I mean by the words "string"
and "membrane," any suitable elastic material in the forms of strings and
membranes respectively, and used in a stretched or strained state, and by the
word string I do not mean necessarily a round string.
of our
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick John Julyan, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of December, in the
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
year
FREDERICK JOHN JULYAN. (L.S.)