An Improved Bass Flute.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Sept., 1893-Accepted, 28th Oct., 1893
COMPLETE
SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Bass Flute.
I, JOHANN CARL ALBERT MORITZ, of 15 Gyps Strasse, Berlin, in the Kingdom
of Prussia and German Empire, Musical Instrument Maker, 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 sheet of drawings, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say :-
The object of this invention is to produce a flute the compass of which is an
octave lower than the so-called great flute heretofore in use, without proportionally
increasing the difficulty of manipulation and without making the tuning more
difficult for the player. The position of the keys is entirely new though the
fingering remains unaltered as in the great flute now in use, and effects are
produced with my bass flute which have not been attainable with the instruments
heretofore employed. Quite new shades of sound or tone are produced by the
combination of this bass flute with other instruments especially with violins and
the like.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a top view of the improved flute,
Figure 2 a vertical section taken on the line a-x of Figure 1, and
Figure 3 a top view of a modified form of the flute.
The most material features of this flute consist in the alteration of the head piece,
in the arrangement of the key seat and of the keys themselves, as also of the keys
for the sound holes. Finally the bore of the instrument is different from the bores
which are used in accordance with the heretofore known formula for flutes.
The head piece is either bent into a U form or suitably coiled or twisted and
the object of thus forming the head piece is to make the instrument handy in
playing and to shorten the whole instrument which, in consequence of the depth of
the tone, would otherwise be of great length. The bent, coiled or twisted part
of the head is detachable between the mouthpiece and the middle piece of the
flute for the purpose of cleaning and regulating the pitch. For the construction
of the middle piece any suitable material may be employed.
The bore of the instrument is of a conical shape but of a somewhat greater
width as ascertained by experiment so as to correspond with the deeper tone.
This width can be greater than that corresponding to the usual formulæ especially
to the formula 1:
1
The greater distance apart of the open sound holes, rendered necessary by the
greater length of the instrument, requires that these should be closed by keys
because they cannot be reached by the fingers, and consequently the fingering of
the other closed holes is made more difficult, if not impossible. A completely new
key mechanism has therefore been provided whereby the flute, as regards the
fingering, can be manipulated exactly like a great flute in C.
The compass of the new flute extends from the small d to the three-stroked c,
though by the addition of a C foot the small c can be easily blown. The tone of
the flute is full and soft in the lower notes whilst the middle notes are rich in melody
and the highest notes very powerful and nervous in tone.
It may be here remarked that the new bass flute is a flute in the true sense
of the word, as the already forgotten bass flute, called in the French language
It
"flute à sec," was of a completely different form as compared with my flute.
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page_text: All previously used so-called bass flutes have been only fifes in the serise now under-
stood as they were blown by means of various kinds of mouthpieces. Moreover these
flutes never possessed such a compass as the bass flute forming the subject of this
invention as, although noted in a bass key, they stood in sound an octave higher.
Another form of this bass flute is shown in Figure 3 in which the mouth orifice
retains its usual position on the principal tube as in the D flute heretofore used,
while the foot of the flute; and not the head, is bent into a U shape or coiled or
twisted and in that case can be lengtheneds The flute thereby becomes double
tubed and part of the keys can be transferred to the second tube but the order of
the keys themselves remains unchanged.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. A bass flute in which the mouth orifice is not placed in the direct
prolongation of the principal tube but in a secondary tube, or in which the mouth
orifice remains unaltered in the principal tube and the foot forms the secondary
tube.
Second. In the bass flute forming the subject of the first claiming clause hereof
the arrangement of a Ushaped bent or suitably coiled or twisted head or foot piece
as hereinbefore described.
Third. In the bass flute forming the subject of the first claiming clause hereof
the use of a wide bore corresponding to the deep tone of the flute which bore
may be considerably greater than that given by the formula 1 :
before described.
+
3 as herein-
Fourth. In the bass flute forming the subject of the first claiming clause hereof
the combination of the principal tube constructed in accordance with the third
claiming clause hereof with key mechanism suited to the distance apart of the
sound holes for the purpose of facilitating the fingering and for enabling the
instrument to be manipulated in a manner similar to that of the great flute in C, as
hereinbefore described.
Dated this 12th day of September 1902.
J. C. A. MORITZ,
Per W. H. Beck,
115, Cannon Street, London, Agent.