Year: 1898

page_text: We, ROY BERKELEY SIMPSON, Composer, residing at Dallas, in the County of
Dallas, and State of Texas, and WALTER EDWARD KAYE, Surveyor and Land
Agent, residing at Fort Worth, in the County of Tarrant, and State of Texas,
both citizens of the United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to mandolins and the objects are to obtain a tone for
mandolins as nearly as possible equal to that of violins and other stringed in
struments played by bows, to attain a penetrating tone never before accomplished,
to facilitate the rendering of slurred passages, to obtain harmonics as
readily as on bow stringed instruments, to increase the range of scale without
increasing the length of the neck, to avoid the harsh metallic tones so common
in mandolins, to make the mandolin more durable, to prevent the instrument from
splitting and cracking when subjected to sudden changes of temperature, and to
prevent the warping of the neck.
We accomplish these objects by the novel construction of parts hereinafter
described. Reference is had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this
specification.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a mandolin showing more frets than mandolins
The
have heretofore been provided with showing the improved sound-holes.
sourd-holes are preferably f-shaped or S-shaped. They may have the shape of
the S-mark, or they may be straight parallel holes, or they may be in the shape
of ornamental or fancy scrollwork on each side of or parallel with the strings
and must be on each side of the strings. This arrangement of the sound-holes
allows an extension of the finger-board. Fig. 2 is a view, partly broken, with the
top or sounding-board removed to show the arrangement of the end piece of the
neck and the braces A and A¹ mortised in the reinforcing strip H and the
shell H¹ and extending to the jacket H. Fig. 3 is a view of the sounding-board
inverted showing the arrangement of the sound-holes F F, braces A A¹ and the
bars CC, D D, and d d glued to the said board. These braces and bars strengthen
the delicate parts of the sounding-board and may be made of any suitable wood
whose acoustic properties correspond with the acoustic properties of the wood
used in constructing the mandolin. Fig. 4 illustrates the U-shaped brace E
for the end piece of the neck, shown also in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 illustrates the shape
of the braces A and A. Fig. 6 illustrates the bass-bar B. Fig. 7 is a side eleva-
tion of one of the ribs showing mortised place for brace E. The frets are made
of steel. Using steel makes it posible to put in a greater number of frets, because

page_text: the steel frets can be made very narrow, thereby leaving the spaces between the
frets wide, notwithstanding the increase in the number of frets.
Dated this 21st day of December 1897.
ROY BERKELEY SIMPSON,
WALTER EDWARD KAYE.
Mandolins.
We, ROY BERKELEY SIMPSON, Composer, residing at Dallas, in the County of
Dallas, and State of Texas, and WALTER EDWARD KAYE, Surveyor and Land
Agent, residing at Fort Worth, in the County of Tarrant, and State of Texas,
both citizens of the United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our invention relates to mandolins and the objects are to obtain a tone for
mandolins as nearly as possible equal to that of violins and other stringed in-
struments played by bows, to attain a penetrating tone never before accomplished,
to facilitate the rendering of slurred passages in music, to obtain harmonics as
readily as on bow stringed instruments, to increase the range of scale without
increasing the length of the neck, to avoid the harsh metallic tones so common
in mandolins, to make the mandolin more durable, to prevent the instrument from
splitting and cracking when subjected to sudden changes of temperature, and to
prevent the warping of the neck.
We accomplish these objects by the novel construction of parts hereinafter
fully described and more particularly pointed out in the claims. Reference is
had to the lrawings left with the Provisional Specification.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an increased number of frets and the im-
proved sound holes. Fig. 2 is a view, partly broken, with the top or sounding
board removed to show the arrangement of the end piece of the neck and the brace
bars. Fig. 3 is a view of the top or sounding board inverted showing arrange-
ment of braces and sound holes. Fig. 4 is a view of the U-shaped brace for the
end piece of the neck of the mandolin. Figs. 5 and 6 are side elevations of the
braces. Fig. 7 is a side elevation of one of the ribs showing a mortised place
for the U-shaped brace. Similar letters of reference are used to indicate the same
parts throughout the several views.
Fig. 1 shows the finger board N which is attached to the neck M. Instead of
seventeen frets, twenty-two or more are inserted in the finger board. The sound-
ing holes F F are shown in Figs. 1 and 3. Fig. 2 shows the braces A and A'
mortised in the reinforcing strip H and the shell H and extending to the
jacket H. Fig. 5 shows the shape of these braces. Brace A relieves the pressure
of the strings under the bridge. Brace A relieves the strain on the neck and
prevents warping of the neck. Besides being mortised in the shell these braces
are glued to the sounding board R. The bar B is glued to the under side of the
sounding board and parallel with the G or large strings and extends back of
brace A. Fig. 5 shows a place cut out in brace A for bar B. This bar equalizes
the tone on the four double strings and creates a penetrating power that cannot be
obtained without it. The bars D D and d d brace the delicate parts of the sound-
ing board. By careful experiments these bars can be arranged along the nodal
lines of the sounding board and they must be located along the nodal lines in order
to get the best effect and not to impair or deaden sound. All of these braces are

page_text: glued to the under side of the sounding-board and may be made of any suitable
wood whose acoustic properties correspond with the acoustic properties of the
wood used in constructing the mandolin. The bars C C are glued to the under
side of the sounding-board and prevent the splitting of said board caused by the
sudden changes of temperature, one of the bars C C being cut away for the passage
of bar B at an angle. The bar B may be cut away in part for the passage of the
bar C. Each bar and brace must have a notch or groove cut therein so that the bars
and braces will not touch each other. The number of bars and braces may be
increased at pleasure but no two pieces must touch each other and the bars must
he very thin. The bars and braces may be improved by cutting scollops in the
sides next to the board. In order to get the best effect the bass and other bars
must have perfect freedom to vibrate with the sounding-board independently of
each other. The bar B extends substantially the entire length of the board and
is beveled to conform to the shape of the board. Bar B is placed slightly to the
left side of the board in order to give more weight to the bass side of the instru-
ment whereby a richer, violin like tone is given to the sounding-board. Having
more weight on the bass side and less weight on the treble side of the sounding-
board secures an even distribution of power. This is accomplished in part by
placing the bass bar as above described and by making the treble or right side
of the sounding-board thinner than the bass or left side before the bass bar is
glued on. In this way a very thin sounding-board can be made to stand the
strain caused by the changes of temperature in any kind of a climate whether in
a dry or damp climate. It is necessary only to arrange the braces and bars
properly.
The sounding-holes F are preferably f-shaped or S-shaped. They may have
the shape of the $-mark, or they may be in the shape of ornamental or fancy
scrollwork on each side of and parallel with the strings and must be on each side
of the strings. This arrangement of the sound-holes allows an extension of the
- finger-board.
Fig. 6 shows the shape of the bar B. The tapering end of this bar points to-
wards the neck of the mandolin. The U-shaped brace E is mortised in the neck
of the mandolin and also in the ends of the ribs. This brace may be made of
vulcanized rubber, gutta-percha, or some hard substance that will not impair
the acoustic properties of the wood used in constructing the instrument. This
brace prevents the splitting or chipping off of the end piece of the neck where
the ends of the ribs are glued on. The mortises in the ends of the ribs hold the
ribs in place and prevent the neck from bending up when subjected to great
strain by the strings. It will be understood that the reinforcing-strip H is cut
into to allow brace E to extend partly into the ends of the ribs.
It will be seen that the mechanical construction of the instrument will make
it strong and durable. The shape and arrangement of the sound-holes give
qualities to the tone of the mandolin never before attained. In other mandolins
the sound-holes do not allow more than half of the vibrating-air capacity of the
instrument to respond when the strings are struck by the pick or plectrum. In
our mandolin all the air capacity is utilized. The vibrating-air capacity in
our mandolin is so great that it vibrates to B natural, and on other mandolins
the vibrating-air capacity vibrates only to G natural, which is two tones lower,
and consequently when our mandolin is tuned to concert pitch the tension of the
strings is not so great as that required in other mandolins and the danger of
breaking the strings is considerably lessened.
The particular arrangement of the sound-holes and the bass-bar B gives a
smooth tone necessary for the rendition of slurred passages in music, as well as
making it possible to tune the mandolin to a higher pitch than other mandolins.
The bass-bar and the sounding-holes by means of the greater vibrating-air
capacity prevent the harsh metallic sound noticed in other mandolins.
We have an improvement in frets for mandolins. In other mandolins brass
and German-silver have been used and the finger boards last only a short time.

page_text: We have found that steel frets will last longer than the brass or German-silver
frets and can be made much smaller and almost flush with the surface of the
finger-board. On other mandolins a person can practice only a short time before
the fingers become sore and blistered. When steel frets are used, the strings
may lie much closer to the finger-board, thereby rendering the fingering of the
instrument much easier. Using steel makes it possible to put in a greater
number of frets, because the steel frets can be made very narrow, thereby leaving
the spaces between the frets wide, notwithstanding the increase in the number
of the frets, and consequently the fingering of rapid passages in the upper re-
gister is greatly facilitated.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said in-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. A mandolin having a neck-piece provided with a U-shaped brace mortised
therein.
2. A mandolin having a sounding-board provided with sounding-holes arranged
parallel, curved braces glued to the under side of said board, one set of said
braces being arranged on the outside of and near one end of said holes and
another set of braces on the inside of and near the other end of said holes.
3. A mandolin having a neck-piece, a finger-board attached to said neck-piece,
a shell and jacket attached to and inclosing the inner end of said neck-piece and
U-shaped brace mortised in said shell and neck-piece.
4. A mandolin having a neck-piece, a shell attached to said neck-piece, and a
U-shaped brace mortised in said neck and said shell.
5. A mandolin having a neck-piece, a shell attached to said neck-piece, a
U-shaped brace mortised in said neck-piece and said shell, and cross-braces
mortised in said shell.
6. A mandolin having a neck-piece, a shell and a finger-board attached thereto,
said finger-board being provided with steel frets, a U-shaped brace mortised in
said shell and neck-piece, a sounding-board provided with a bass-bar and having
sound-holes.
7. A mandolin having a sounding-board provided with two f-holes, one on
each side of the center of the instrument, whereby the finger-board may be ex-
tended farther over the sounding-board and be provided with an increased
number of frets, and the finger-board having the increased number of frets, and
means under the sounding-board for strengthening the board about the edges of
the holes of said board without impairing the sound of the instrument comprising
braces radiating from said holes.
8. A mandolin having a sounding-board provided with two f-holes just above
the bridge, one on each side of the center of the instrument, whereby the finger-
board may be extended farther over the sounding-board and be provided with an
increased number of frets, and the finger-board having an increased number of
frets, and means under the sounding-board for preventing the edges of the board
about the sound-holes from warping and impairing the instrument comprising
braces radiating from the holes of the sounding-board.
9. A mandolin having a sounding-board provided with sound-holes in cach
side thereof consisting of curved slots. a bass-har extending substantially the
entire length of said board and glued to the underside to the left of the central
part thereof, cross braces, and two bars arranged at an angle about the tail part
of said board, all glued to said board, each of said braces and one of said bars
having a groove for said bass-bar whereby said bass-bar is adapted to vibrate with
said board independently of said braces and said bar.
10. A mandolin having curved sound-holes arranged symmetrically in each
side thereof, a bass-bar glued to said board under and parallel to the G strings
and extending substantially the entire length of said board, the treble side of

page_text: said board being made very thin whereby the nodal lines thereof will be along said
bar, and cross-braces glued to said board without touching said bass-bar.
11. A sounding-board having sound-holes arranged in each side thereof and
bars and cross-braces attached to the underside of said board and adapted to
strengthen the delicate parts thereof, each bar or cross-brace having a notch or
groove cut therein at the crossing of said bar and brace whereby said bars vibrate
with said board independently of said braces for the purposes set forth.
Dated this 26th day of October 1898.
A. L. JACKSON.
Agent for Applicants.