Improvements in Mouthpieces for Musical Instruments.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Mar., 1897-Accepted, 15th May, 1897
Improvements in Mouthpieces for Musical Instruments.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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:-
This invention relates to an improvement in mouth-pieces for wind-instruments of
the trumpet-type, as for instance, the horn, the bugle, the cornet, the trombone,
the tuba, the euphonium, and the serpent, the object being to increase their power,
and to enable the user to better control and color their tones.
With these ends in view the invention consists in a mouth-piece for wind-
instruments of the trumpet-type, constructed with one or more spirally arranged
ribs or webs for imparting a spiral rotary movement to the column of air forced
into the mouth-piece by the user. The invention further consists in certain details
of construction and combinations of parts as will be hereinafter described and
pointed out in the claim.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1, represents a view in perspective of a mouth-piece for wind-instruments
constructed in accordance with my invention.
Figure 2, a view thereof in central longitudinal section, and
Figure 3, a detached perspective view of the web.
In carrying out the invention as herein shown, a web A is employed, having
three spiral ribs A¹ A¹ A', the said web being as a whole straight, and adapted in
cross section to fit within the stem B of the mouth-piece B', which with its stem
may be of any approved construction, and adapted to be used in conjunction with
any of the instruments named, or in any other wind-instrument of the trumpet-type.
By the employment of such a web, the columu of air forced into the mouth-piece
and hence into the instrument by the user, is given a spiral rotary movement,
whereby it acquires, as it were, coherence, and carrying power, so that it is carried
throughout the instrument with less friction and more effect than is the column of
air ordinarily forced into a wind-instrument by the user. Thus an increase of
power in the instrument is secured, and more perfect control over the same as to
the effects which may be produced by it, and particularly those of coloring the
tones.
It is not necessary that a web constructed as shown and described should be
employed, for, if desired, its place might be taken by one or more independently
formed webs located within the stem of the mouth-piece, or one or more webs
might be formed integral with the inner wall of the mouth-piece by grooving the
same, or otherwise, the invention broadly comprehending the construction of the
mouth-piece of a wind-instrument of the trumpet type with ribs or webs arranged
to give a spiral rotary movement to the column of air forced into the instrument
by the user.
Instead of applying the invention to a removable mouth-piece, it might be
located within the mouth-portion of an instrument with the same effect, and that
alternative is considered as being comprehended by this invention.