PROVEMENTS IN HARMONIUMB AND OTHER SIMILAR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Armand Gilbee, of the Firm of L.
88
IM-
de Fontainemoreau and Co., Patent Agents, of 4, South Street,
Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
PROVEMENTS IN HARMONIUMB AND OTHER SIMILAR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS."-
A communication from abroad by Maria Procopé, of Stockholm,
in the Kingdom of Sweden.
Sealed the 9th February 1872, and dated the 25th October 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Armand
Gilbee at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 25th October 1871.
I, WILLIAM ARMAND GILBEE, of the Firm of L. de Fontainemoreau
and Co., Patent Agents, of 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN HARMONIUMS AND OTHER SIMILAR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS," to be as
follows, that is to say:
-
It has been the practice until now to fix the tongues or vibrators of
harmoniums and other similar free reed instruments to the frame by

page_text: means of screws or rivets at one end, and in tuning them the tongues
or vibrators had to be scraped or filed until the proper pitch was
obtained, and this has been attended with great inconvenience, in
addition to which the tongues or vibrators become in time so thin
as to be rendered useless.
manner:-
Now by this Invention these defects are obviated in the following
- Instead of employing one tongue or vibrator for each note
as at present, I employ two, videlicet, one of the ordinary length which
is the vibrating tongue, and the other a short one which does not
vibrate. The tongues of an octave are fixed to the frame by bars or
ledges under which they slide, the upper bar holding the short tongues,
and the lower one the vibrating tongues.
By this arrangement the vibrating tongues may be moved until they
are set at the required height to obtain the proper tone, and the bar
under which they are placed is then screwed down to the frame and
holds them firmly in their position; the short tongues may then be set
at the proper distance from the vibrating tongues, and are held in that
position by screwing down the upper bar or ledge. Scales are placed
in the frames at the sides of the tongues, so that the distance apart
of the free ends of the short and the vibrating tongues may be easily
regulated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Armand Gilbee in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM 2
ARMAND GILBEE, of the Firm of L. de Fontainemoreau and Co., Patent
Agents, of 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of October, in the 3
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the

page_text: thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Armand Gilbce, Her special
licence that I, the said William Armand Gilbee, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Armand
Gilbee, 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, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HARMONIUMS AND OTHER SIMILAR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS,”
ȧ communication to me from abroad by Maria Procopé, of Stockholm,
in the Kingdom of Sweden, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Armand Gilbee, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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

page_text: does not vibrate. The tongues of each of such pair are connected to-
gether by a suitable bar or bridge (or they may be separate as herein-after
described). The tongues are held in position on the frame by bars or
ledges under which they slide (the upper bar holding the short tongues
and the lower one the vibrating tongues) and are fixed to the frame
by screws. Each of the bars connecting a pair of tongues is furnished
with a set screw by which the height of the tongues may be varied, and
scales are provided by which the height may be more easily regulated.
To make the Invention communicated to me better understood, I
will proceed to describe the same by reference to the accompanying
Drawing, in which Figure 1 is a plan of an octave of reeds for a
harmonium constructed according to this Invention; Figure 2, front
view of same; and Figure 3, section on line A, B, of Figure 1.
a, a, is the frame; b, c, the bars or ledges grooved on the under side
to receive the tonges e and f, and fixed to the frame a by screws d. Each
pair of tongues consists of a vibrating tongue e and a short tongue ƒ con-
nected together by a bar or bridge i, the feet of this bar or bridge being
either soldered to the tongues, as in Figure 3, or fixed thereto by screws.
k, k, k, are the set screws of the connecting bars i, i, i; the ends of these
screws turn loosely in the bars i and pass through tapped holes in
the guide bar a' on the frame a. g and are screws for fixing the
tongues e,f; h, h, h, graduated scales for regulating the height of the
tongues.
By this improved construction of reeds, to tune any particular tongue
or vibrator e, it is merely necessary to loosen its fixing screw g, and also
the screw of its corresponding short tongue f, then by turning the
set screw k either to the right or to the left, the height of the tongue
or vibrator may be raised or lowered as required, the scale h enabling
this height to be regulated with great nicety; the screws 9 and I are
then screwed down tight, and the tongues will be kept firmly fixed
to the frame.
Instead of the tongues being united as herein-before described they
may be separate, and fixed and regulated by any suitable mechanical
means.
The improvements herein before described are annlicable to all free

page_text: Having now particularly described the nature of the Invention com-
municated to me, and the best means I am acquainted with for carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details herein laid down, as the same may be varied
without departing from the principle of the Invention; but what I
claim is, the construction of the reeds of harmoniums and other similar
musical instruments with two tongues, which are moveable, and either
united or separate as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Armand Gilbee, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.