IMPROVEMENTS IN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, AND IN THE MEANS OF PLAYING ON MUSICAL INSTRU- MENTS
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
BAIN, of the Wilderness, Hampton Wick, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Irelaud, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of October,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, in the the eleventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and graut unto me, the
said Alexander Bain, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Alexander Bain, my exors
adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Baiu, my exors,
adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, AND IN THE MEANS OF PLAYING ON MUSICAL INSTRU-
MENTS;" in which said Letters l'atent is contained a proviso that I, the said
Alexander Bain, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within.six calendar mouths next and immediately after the
date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Alexander Bain, do liereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists,-
First, of a mode of arranging wind musical instruments together with
apparatus in such manner that by the passage of perforated surfaces the notes
of the instrument may be permitted to sound in such order as may be desired
to produce a given tune; and,
Secondly, my Invention consists of so arranging apparatus that by the act
of playing one instrument another or several instruments may be simultane-
ously played on by the intervention of electro-magnetic apparatus.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me. It
is well known that there are a great variety of wind musical instruments
which depend for their sounds on the uncovering or leaving open and closing
various openings, and according to the order in which the air is permitted to
pass freely through or is stopped from passing through such openings so are
the tunes played thereby..
Now the object of the first part of my Invention is to employ a moving
perforated surface, such as paper, by which the holes of the instrument which
may require to be closed or opened at a particular moment of time are closed
or opened by the unperforated surface or perforated surfaces respectively
coming opposite such holes of the instrument.
Figure 1 shows a transverse section, and Figure 2, a plan of so much of a
wind musical instrument as will enable me to describe more fully the manner
of carrying out this part of my Invention. I would, however, state, that the
description of musical instrument to which my Invention may be applied may
be varied, these Figures being shewn for the purpose of more readily explain-
ing this part of my Invention, and the same are to be taken as an example.
These Figures shew part of the wind chest of a musical instrument, which
consists of a series of metal spring tongues, such as are well known and used
in a variety of instruments which are called by different names. a is the air
passage from the wind chest; b, a metal tongue; c, a covered chamber into
which the tongue opens when pressed on by the air from within the air chest ;
dis an opening in each of such covered chambers; and so long as such open-
ings are kept closed, the tongues in those chambers will not be caused to
sound; but so soon as the passage of air is free by the openings being
uncovered, the tongues will be caused to sound their notes.
So far this

page_text: arrangement does not materially differ from instruments now made, and the
same separately is not claimed by me as of my Invention. e,f, and g, h, are
two pairs of rollers which are kept in surface contact by means of india-rubber
bands i, i, or by other suitable means, and motion being given to the roller e
will cause the paper to be drawn through between the rollers, and over the
perforated cover c of the several chambers; and if the paper should be wholly
unperforated, none of the tongues would be caused to sound, although there
be a pressure of air in the air chest ; but if the paper be perforated opposite
any of the openings d, the notes of those tongues will be sounded; and such
would be the case if the openings belonged to other arrangements of wind
instrument. It will therefore be understood that the paper is to be punctured
at such places and in such order for each tune to be played that the punc-
tured parts will come over the holes d where the notes are to sound, whilst
those notes which are not to sound at any moment of time are to have their
holes covered by the unperforated part of the paper or other perforated sub-
stance may be employed; but I believe paper will be found cheapest and
most suitable for the purpose. By this mode of arranging wind musical
instruments in combination with perforated paper or other material it will be.
evident that an instrument may be caused to play any tune within the range
of its notes by simply perforating the paper or other substance in such order
as to cover and uncover the openings in the order requisite for producing the
Lune. It will be evident that the time of each note will be regulated by
the width of the perforations formed through the paper or other substance
employed.
my
I will now describe the second part of my Invention, which has for its object
the playing on several musical instruments simultaneously by means of electro-
magnetic apparatus intervened between the instruments. This part of
Invention is capable of a great variety in its adaptation, and i may be varied
out so that the act of one player may be transferred to several similar or dis-
similar instruments. The most convenient mode of carrying out this part of
my Invention, when a performer is to play on one instrument, and to have his
acts transferred by electro-magnetic apparatus to other instruments than the
one he is playing on, is for the performer to play on a piano or other key.ed
musical instrument, and to have a means of connecting electric apparatus to
another instrument or instruments. I would here state that the mode of
arranging electro apparatus, so as to form electro magnets in circuits, being
well understood, I have not thought it necessary to show galvanic batteries
and complete apparatus for carrying the Invention into practice, as it will
only be necessary to shew so much of apparatus as will enable a workman

page_text: readily to apply my Invention to a series of instruments so that they may be
simultaneously played.
Figure 3 shows a side view of a finger key of a pianoforte or other keyed
musical instrument on which the performer would play in the ordinary manner,
and in doing so he will cause a contact to be made between two pieces of
metal a and b, the one being on a spring, the other being fixed on the key
board or frame of the instrument, as shown; and as these two pieces of metal
are in connection with two wires c and d, which are connected to the two poles
of a battery, a circuit will be formed each time the metal surfaces a and b
come together, and as several temporary magnets may be in the same circuit,
each will be influenced simultaneously, and may be made the means of
actuating the keys of as many musical instruments; and such temporary
magnets may be variously arranged for this purpose, as will be understood by
Figure 4, which shows a side section of another key board of a musical instrn-
ment, which is supposed to be in the circuit which is completed or broken by
the player in the act of performing on the other keyed instrument shown in
the previous Figure. e is a temporary magnet of soft iron, which, when
excited, gives motion to the armaturef, which, by the rod g, forces down the
key simultaneously with the performer's striking down the key in the pre-
vious Figure; and such would be the case with several other instruments if
brought into the same circuit; and in this manner is each key of each inusical
instrument to be in communication by electric apparatus. By this arrange-
meut a performer may be playing several instruments distant from each other
or, in place of the first instrument being played on by a performer, a self-
acting apparatus may be employed, using perforated surfaces of paper or
other suitable material. Figure 5 shows a section of so much of apparatus
as will enable me to explain how this may be done. i is one of several metal
rollers mounted on and turning with its axis in suitable bearings not shown
in the Drawing. is a wire in contact with the axisj, which is in connection
with one pole of a battery. is a spring having at its free end a stud m, and
it is at the other or fixed end by a wire connected with the other pole of
the battery, and several electro magnets suitably arranged for acting on parts
of musical instruments may be arranged in the circuit opened and closed by
this apparatus. o is a perforated strip of paper so perforated that the stud on
the spring may pass through a perforation whenever the note which this
circuit controls is to be sounded, the unperforated paper keeping the circuit
open when this note of each instrument is not to be sounded.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would remark, that I do not confine myself to

page_text: the details herein described, so long as the peculiar character of my Invention
be retained; but what I claim is,―
First, the arranging of wind musical instruments in such manner as to act
with a perforated paper or surface, as herein described; and,
Secondly, I claim the applicationofelectric apparatustomusical instruments,
as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Bain, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
ALEXANDER (L.S.) BAIN.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of March, in the
year of our Lord 1848, the aforesaid Alexander Bain came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-eight.