CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON THE DOUBLE AND SINGLE FLAGEOLET OR ENGLISH FLUTE
Year: 1819

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BAINBRIDGE, of Holborn Hill, in the City of London, Musician and Turner,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourth day of Octo
ber, in the fifty-ninth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
William Bainbridge, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Bainbridge, my
exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and yend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS ON THE DOUBLE AND SINGLE FLAGEOLET OR ENGLISH FLUTE;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said
William Bainbridge, shall not particularly describe and ascertain 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, and cause the same
to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent,
that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages what-
soever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as
in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Bainbridge, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention.

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in the following description thereof (that is to
say):
My first improvement is, to make two English flutes or flageolets of the
same pitch as a concert German flute, or nearly so, in order that a person may
be enabled to perform on each of them with one hand only, and produce
notes, the production of which would require the use of two hands on an
instrument constructed with the usual distances of the holes in flutes of the
same pitch; besides which one person is enabled to play duetts on these large
instruments. This I do by placing the holes and keys in the situations
described in the Drawing annexed to this Specification (and which I consider
as part of it), but the situations of the holes and keys may be varied by
placing them a little higher or lower; if they are placed higher they must
be made proportionably smaller, and if lower proportionably larger. The
circumference of the instrument may also be increased or diminished; if it
be increased the holes. must be made proportionably larger, and if it be
diminished they must be made proportionably smaller. In order to enable, a
person to play duetts on two of these large-sized instruments while holding
them in the manner of holding a German flute, I bore a hole in the side of the
right-hand flute (in the part specified in the Drawing) for the purpose of
conveying the wind from the right-hand flute to the left-hand flute through
a tube which connects the two instruments together; part of the plug of
each flute must be cut away sufficiently to admit the air into each flute.
When the performer blows into the mouthpiece care must be taken to make
the cap or top of each flute air-tight. The air may also be conveyed from
one of the instruments to the other by means of a tube communicating with
the tops of the caps, but I prefer the method which I have described. In order
regulate the pitch it is necesssary to observe, that if the plug is of a greater
width than that mentioned in the Drawing, the flute will be sharper in
pitch, unless the instrument be either lengthened in proportion to the increase
of width, or made proportionably wider in the bore.
The flutes may bo
made wider in the bore from top to bottom, but if this be done they will
be flatter, and will therefore require to be made proportionably shorter, in
order to preserve the pitch. They may likewise be made narrower in the
bore from top to bottom, in which case they must be made a little longer
in proportion for the same reason, but I prefer the width mentioned in the
Drawing. The variations which I have mentioned may be executed by any
workman conversant with the manufacture of instruments of this description
after he shall have examined the Specification and the Drawing.

page_text: My second improvement is to place a key (marked C in the Drawing) on
the left-hand flute, for the purpose of producing with one hand the notes B
and C above the lines, which, before the introduction of this key, required two
hands. This key may be placed on any part of the left-hand flute from F to A,
or higher, or in any part of the top joint, the workman regulating the size
of the hole in each place by making it capable of sounding B above the
lines, while the performer at the same time covers the holes of the flute in
the same manner as to produce the note A above the lines, namely, the second
finger on only. This key C may be placed so as to be used either by the
thumb or little finger.
My third improvement is to place. a key (marked E in the Drawing) on
the left-hand flute for the purpose of producing with one hand the note E
on the fourth space, which, before the introduction of this key, required two
hands. I sometimes place a key near the sound hole of the left-hand flute
for the purpose of making the half-notes, which key is called in the Drawing
chromatic key. (For this application of the chromatic key I have already
obtained His Majesty's Letters Patent, and therefore do not claim it here
as a new Invention.) When this key is so placed I make the hole under
the key marked C smaller, so that it shall produce B above the lines when
this chromatic key is lifted up with it, A being fingered at the same time as
before described.
The above-mentioned keys marked C and E may be applied to my smaller
single or double flutes or flageolets, regulating the size of the holes in proper-
tion to the size of the instruments..
By the application of the improvements above described a person who has
only one hand may perform several tunes on the left-hand flute or flageolet.
If the instrument should be so constructed as to have any of the holes at a
greater distance from each other than in the annexed Drawing, whereby the
performer might find a difficulty in covering any hole, that difficulty may
be removed by putting an additional open flap key over such hole, so that
the end of it may be within reach of the finger, but I prefer the distances
specified in the Drawing. On each of the flutes I have put on one side of
the holes letters and on the other side figures; the letters shew the names
of the notes produced when the fingers cover up to those holes; and the
figures denote the number of fingers which must be used to cover up to
those holes, and therefore the person who makes the instruments must be
careful to have each hole turned to the note with which it is marked. On
the principles, and with the improvements above stated, I make large-sized
single and double English flutes or flageolets of sizes different from those

page_text: described by the Drawing, taking care of course to regulate the distances
and other particulars in proportion to the variations in size.
My fourth improvement is to place an additional key, as described in the
Drawing, on the right-hand flute, and also on the octave flageolet, for the
purpose of making the note called B below the lines on a concert flute,
and likewise to make the note which corresponds with that note on instru-
ments of other sizes. I also apply this additional key to single and double
English flutes and flageolets of various sizes, by which the note is made
lower in proportion according to the size of the instrument. In order
to produce this note the instrument must be made longer from the
note D, as described in the Drawing, and in the part which constitutes the
additional length a hole must be made as specified in the Drawing, and tuned
so as to make the note D as usual when six holes are covered. When a
key is pressed to cover this hole the note B below the lines is produced by
fingering the instrument in the manner just described with regard to D.
This improvement gives to the performer the advantage of making additional
harmony when playing two improved flageolets, or when playing only one
improved flageolet in concert.
In order to accommodate persons who may not choose to incur the expense.
of all the improvements, I occasionally make instruments with only parts of
the improvements, as may be desired.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bainbridge, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and ninenteen.
WILLIAM (L.s.) BAINBRIDGE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of December, in
the year of our Lord 1819, the aforesaid William Bainbridge came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, 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.
Inrolled the Third day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and nineteen.

page_text: Figure or Number & on the other side the holes is placed
a Letter which Letter is the name of the note when the
Angers cover up to that hole, Counting from the Top
of the Flute, so that the Instrument must be tuned
accordingly viz. one hole cover'd on the left hand Flute
makes B on the Middle line, two holes covered 4, & so on as
the Drawing, the same for the Octaves except keeping the
first finger of left hand off the hole No. likewise the back
C Key on the light land Flute must be lifted up with the
thumb for all the Octaves on that Flute, as underneath that
Key is an artifical pinch hole.
A Key to stop the secinul of the Right Hand Flute may be
made like that on Double Flugelas & may be closed by the
pressure of the Mouthv