IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY OF CHIMES. APPLICABLE ALSO TO ORGANS
Year: 1868

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Daniel Imhof at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 18th December 1868, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME. I, DANIEL
IMHOF, of 547, Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex, Musical
Instrument Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MACHINERY OF CHIMES. APPLICABLE ALSO TO ORGANS," and have petitioned
Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn
Declaration that I am the true and first Inventor thereof, and that the
same is not in use by any other person or persons to the best of my
knowledge and belief.

page_text: that the following Complete Specification under my hand and seal, fully
describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following state-
ment:
My said Invention is for an improvement on my Invention of "Im-
provements in the Machinery of Chimes, applicable also to Organs," for
which Letters Patent under the Great Seal, dated the Twenty-ninth day
of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-six, and numbered 2516, were granted to me.
My said Invention for which the said Letters Patent were granted
(herein-after-called my original Invention) is described in the Spe-
-cification filed in pursuance of the said last-mentioned Letters Patent,
and I claim to refer to the said Specification in describing my said
improvements. In the said Specification I have described and given
Drawings of one mode of performing my said original Invention ns
applicable to chines and organs, and the Drawings explanatory of the
said mode are indicated by the letters D and E.
In the said mode of performing my said original Invention the
hammers, in the case of chimes and the drumsticks in organs, are raised
into what in my said Specification I call the striking position by star
wheels acting upon rollers placed on the sides of levers. Each lever by
means of a pin fixed on it locks into a catch on an arm attached to a
second lever connected with the hammer or with the arm which works
the drumstick, as the case may be; and after being raised is retained in
the striking position by a catch and let go, and the hammer or drumstick
made to strike by a tracker connected with the musical action acting on
the last-mentioned catch. A separate star wheel is required for every
hammer and drumstick.
:
My improvements consist of substituting for the star wheels a
revolving bar, having projections running lengthways on its surface, as
herein-after described, which, acting on arms attached to the levers
connected with the hammers or arms which work the drumsticks, raise
the levers into the striking position in which they are retained by the
catches connected with the musical action,

page_text: A machine constructed according to my Invention of improvements on
my said original Invention has this advantage over one made according
to my original Invention, that it is simpler, one of the levers being
dispensed with, more economical, the revolving bar with projections
being much less costly than the star wheels and stronger. The lift in
the revolving bar can begin while the projection which is acting on
the arm is below the centre of the bar, and be continued until it
arrives at its highest point; and if in a machine constructed according
to my original Invention the lever when raised into the striking
position should not be retained by the catch through any defect in
the workmanship the hammer will continue to strike until the machine
is adjusted, while in a machine made according to my improvements
in a similar case the hammer would come down gently and remain
quiet.
1
The following description and the Drawings therein referred to shew
my said improvements as applicable both to chimes and the instruments
of percussion in organs.
In Figure A the revolving bar is placed over the lever connected with
the hammer or drumstick, as the case may be, and in Figure B it is
placed under the said lever. The available space for the machinery will
in each case determine which arrangement is to be preferred.
In Figure A, O, O, is the framework; 1, the revolving bar shewn in
transverse section; 2, the pivot or axis on which it revolves; 3, 3, 3, the
projections on the revolving bar; 4, the arm acted upon by the pro-
jections and connected with the lever 5 by the pin 6, on which it works
loosely. I find it better to make a slot in the lower part of the arm 4
long enough to allow it to have a sufficient play on the lever 5 to let the
lever 5 pass through the slot; 7 is the pin or fulcrum on which the
lever 5 works; 8 is a weight attached by a rod to the arm 4 to make
the latter fall away clear from the revolving bar when the lever has been
raised into the striking position; 9 is a projection from the arm 4 which
presses against the spring 10 fixed to a longitudinal bar 11, shown in
section in the Figure, and attached to the frame O, O. There is a
pin 12 on the lever 5 which locks into a catch on the arm 13 when the
lever is raised into the striking position. The arm 13 works on a pin 14,
so as to be capable of taking the position shewn by the dotted lines 13¹;
15 is a tracker attached to the arm 13, and connected with the musical

page_text: action; 16 is a spring fixed to the frame O, O, which presses the arm 13
towards the pin 12, so as to make the latter lock into the catch when the
lever is raised into the striking position, as shewn in Drawing. The
length of the slot in the arm 4 must be so regulated as to prevent the
arm 4 from falling back too far, otherwise the projection 9 will miss the
spring 10, or a pin or stop must be placed on the lever 5 to effect the
The action of the machine is as follows:-The revolving bar
turning in the direction shewn by the arrows brings one of the pro-
jections 3 against the notched end of the arm 4 and pressing against
it in Figure A depresses and in Figure B raises the lever 5 until the
_pin_12 comes above the catch on the arm 13, it then continuing to
revolve lowers the pin 12 gently on to the catch, the arm 13 having
been pressed forward by the spring 16. When the musical action
acting through the tracker 15 draws back the arm 13 the pin 12
is liberated and the end of the lever 5 towards the arm 13 falls and
causes the hammer or drumstick, as the case may be, to strike. The
end of the lever 5 next to the arm 13 is immediately raised again
by one of the projections on the revolving bar acting on the notched
end of the arm 4 as above described. In Figure B one of the pro-
jections on the revolving bar 1 is indicated by the dotted lines 3' as
beginning to act on the notched end of the arm shewn by the dotted
lines 4 which shews that the lift begins below the centre, and that
consequently for the same lift the distance from the centre of the
transverse section of the revolving bar to the extremity of the projections
upon it is much less than it would be necessary to have from the centre
of a star wheel to the extremity of its arms, and this is one of the
advantages of my improvements as above stated.

page_text: invention the combination of the said parts as above described as
an improvement on my said original Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Imhof, have hereunto seť
my hand and seal, this 18th day of December, in the year of our
Lord 1868.
Signed and sealed by the said
Daniel Imhof, in the presence of
DANIEL IMHOF. (L.S.)
C. HARWOOD CLARKE,
24, Lincoln's Inn Fields.