Improvements in Harmonicas.
Year: 1897

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Harmonicas.
I, HUGH PARIS, of Rat Portage, in the Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
--
My invention relates to harmonicas or mouth-organs and has for its object to
provide means for controlling the admission of air to the cells or chambers in which
the reeds are located, whereby a succession of sounds at intervals of a semitone, as in
playing a chromatic scale, may be produced from the oppositely-located "inhaling
and "exhaling" reeds without transferring the blast of air backward or in opposite
directions along the mouthpiece.
I attain the above object by employing a shifting or movable mouthpiece, each of
the openings of which is adapted to register with a plurality of reed cells or chambers,
whereby the blast of air may be introduced into a plurality of the cells or chambers
without moving the lips upon the mouthpiece.
Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear in the following
description and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in the
appended claims.
In the drawings,
Figure 1 is a perspective view of an instrument constructed in accordance with
my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same.
Fig. 3 is a partial longitudinal section to show the means for operating the
mouthpiece.
Fig. 4 is a side view of the instrument with the casing removed, the relative pitches
of the different reeds being indicated. Fig. 5 is a similar view of the opposite side
of the instrument.
Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of
the drawings.
1 and 2 represent, respectively, the reed-plates provided with the usual slots 3
and 3, and the contiguous reed-tongues 4 and 4*, and the interval between said
reed-plates is divided by webs or partitions 5 to form a plurality of reed cells or
chambers 6 in each of which at opposite sides are arranged an inhaling and an exhaling
or an inlet and an outlet reed designed to be sounded, respectively, by inhalation and
exhalation.
The reed-plates or equivalent parts of the instrument are extended toward the
front ends of the webs or partitions to form guides 7, in which are fitted the side
edges of a sliding or shifting mouthpiece 8 preferably constructed of bone or its
equivalent, and provided with a plurality of blast-openings 9. The movement of this
mouthpiece must be sufficient to provide for causing the registration of each
blast-opening with at least two of the reed cells or chambers whereby the performer,
without sliding the lips upon the mouthpiece may sound the reeds in either cell or
chamber.
The advantage of this construction will be apparent upon a comparison of Figs. 4
and 5 in which are shown the relative pitches of the reeds carried, respectively, by the
reed plates. It will be seen that while all of the sounds constituting a chromatic scale
are arranged upon the two reed-plates, the contiguous degrees of that scale are not
arranged in such positions as to occur in order or in relatively opposite positions on
the two plates. For instance, the degrees indicated in the drawings as G and G* are

page_text: formed by inlet-reeds on the same plate, and hence said reeds communicate with
adjacent but different cells or chambers. In order to sound said reeds in succession,
therefore, it is necessary to transfer the blast of air from one cell to the next, and if
it be desired to sound the next degree in order in a chromatic scale which would be A,
it is necessary to exhale through the cell or chamber in which the reed for the
degree G is located or to return or move the lips in an opposite direction with relation
to the instrument. It is in order to avoid this alternate forward and backward
movement of the lips upon the instrument in sounding a run consisting of a regular
succession of degrees that I employ the sliding or shifting mouthpiece, which can be
vibrated with greater facility to transfer the blast of air from one cell or chamber to
the next than is possible with the lips, as by a movement of the head or of the
instrument.
Various means may be employed for enabling the performer to communicate
motion to the slide, the means shown in the drawings however, consisting of a
spring-tongue 10, attached to one end of the instrument and engaging an opening 11
in the mouthpiece, said tongue having a knob or key 12, which projects longitudinally
from the end of the harmonica. The spring is so arranged as to hold the mouthpiece
normally in a fixed position, and hence when the knob is released or relieved of
pressure it returns the mouthpiece to said normal position. This construction
enables the performer to vibrate the slide with rapidity, as it is desired to sound the
different notes in succession, and bence gives a far greater range to the instrument in
the matter of accuracy than can be attained by the lips with the ordinary construction
of instruments of this class. Furthermore, the improvement above described provides
for playing in any key upon one instrument.
It will be seen that the reed cells are half-spaced, while the openings in the mouthpiece
are full-spaced or are arranged at intervals corresponding with those in harmonicas in
general use. By this arrangement an instrument having the range of tones involved
by the chromatic tuning above described is brought within the compass of an instrument
of the ordinary construction without arranging the openings which are controlled
by the lips and tongue of the operator at such short intervals as to increase the
difficulty of the performance.
It is obvious that various changes in the form, proportion and the minor details
of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing
any of the advantages of this invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The combination with a harmonica having chromatically-tuned half-spaced reed.
arranged in half-spaced reed-cells, of a movable mouthpiece having full-spaced
openings adapted to register in either position of the mouthpiece with alternate
reed-cells the intermediate parts of the mouthpiece covering the intermediate reed-cells,
substantially as specified.
2. The combination with a chromatically-tuned harmonica having half-spaced
reed-cells in each of which is arranged a plurality of reeds, the contiguous degrees of
the chromatic scale being arranged in contiguous or different reed-cells, while the reeds
arranged in the same cell are tuned to sound an interval greater than a semitone, of a
mouthpiece mounted to slide longitudinally of the reed-plates and having full-spaced
openings adapted to simultaneously communicate with alternate reed-cells, the
intermediate reed-cells being closed, substantially as specified.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.