IMPROVEMENTS IN REEDS FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS to be as follows:
Year: 1884

page_text: I JAMES BAILLIE HAMILTON of Studland Street, County of Middlesex England
do hereby declare the nature of said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REEDS FOR
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS to be as follows:-
"
My Invention consists of certain improvements in the construction of reeds for
organs and other musical instruments, the main object of my Invention being to so
construct the reed as to quicken the "speech" of a tongue which would be other-
wise too broad and therefore too rigid to speak freely, and this object I attain by
making a portion or portions of the free end or tip of the reed more sensitive to
initiate the vibration of the whole reed.
In the Provisional Specification lodged with my application for Letters Patent
dated 12th April 1884 N° 6325 a reed is described with two tongues and an
intermediate strip all formed out of, one piece of metal the intermediate strip
extending beyond the tip of the tongue and being there secured to the reed plate.
According to my present Invention I make a reed having three strips side by side,
but the central one is of the same length as the others and is unconnected with the
reed plate.
In the actual manufacture I prefer to form the reed tongues by stamping the
whole tongues out at one operation, the dies being constructed to depress the
central portion below and so put it out of the plane of the others and sever it
therefrom at the sides and thus form the three strips closely adjacent to each other.
In this way a broad reed tongue which if solid would be too rigid to vibrate
under the pressure or suction of air in the instrument is here provided with a free
tip having portions which by their great sensitiveness initiate the vibration of the
whole reed.
And here it may be observed that, in the three section reed described the outer
strips will respond most quickly because they have the rigid sides of the reed plate
adjacent to them, while the central strip has only the yielding strips on each
side of it.
For the same purpose I prefer to make the central strip less flexible than the
other two, which may be accomplished by making it wider or by making it of
thicker metal, the two outer strips in the latter case being preferably ground or
filed down after punching or stamping up.

page_text: It will be understood that while I prefer to make the reed with its tip severed
into three strips as described I do not limit myself to the number of these strips.
For instance the tip may be severed into only two free strips which are
preferably made of different flexibility by making one strip somewhat wider than
the other.
In this case also the reed tongue may be formed by stamping up, the severing
being accomplished by depressing one portion and, raising the other between the
dies..

page_text: COMEDIE DI ECIFICATION,
.
I JAMES BAILLIE HAMILTON of Studland Street in the County of Middlesex
England do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REEDS FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS" and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My Invention consists of certain improvements in the construction of reeds for
organs and other musical instruments the main object of my invention being to so
construct the reed as to quicken the "speech" of a tongue which would be other-
wise too broad and therefore too rigid to speak freely, and this object I attain by
making a portion or portions of the free end or tip of the reed more sensible to
initiate the vibration of the whole reed.
In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of one form of my
improved reed with its reed plate detached and Figure 2 is a longitudinal section
of the same, Figure 3 is a perspective view of another form of reed.
The construction of reed shown in Figures 1 and 2 closely resembles in appear-
ance a reed described in the Specification of my application for Patent No 6325
dated 12th April 1884. In the said Specification the reed referred to is described
as having two tongues and an intermediate strip all formed out of one piece of
metal the intermediate strip extending beyond the tip of the tongue and being
there secured to the reed plate.
According to my present Invention I make a reed having three strips side by
side, but the central one as shown in Figures 1 and 2 is of the same length as the
others and is unconnected with the reed plate at that end instead of being
connected therewith as was the case in my said former Invention.
In these figures 1 and 2 A is the reed plate, B the compound reed tongue
rivetted at its. base to the plate A and b 61 63 are the three strips into which the
free end of the reed is cut.
In the actual manufacture, I prefer to form the reed tongue by stamping the
whole tongue out at one operation, the dies being constructed to depress the central
portion b below and so put it out of the plane of the others b and 6' and sever .it
therefrom at the sides and thus form three strips closely adjacent to each other.
In this way a broad reed tongue which if solid would be too rigid to vibrate
under the pressure or suction of air in the instrument is here provided with a free
tip having portions which by their greater sensitiveness initiate the vibration of the
whole reed. In the three section reed described, the outer strips b and b¹ will
respond most quickly, because they have the rigid-sides of the reed plate adjacent
to them, while the central strip 62 has only the yielding strips b and b¹ on each
side of it.
For the same purpose I prefer to make the central strip be less flexible than the
other two, which may be accomplished by making it wider or by making it of
thicker metal the two outer strips in the latter case being preferably ground or
filed down after punching or stamping up.
It will be understood that while I prefer to make the reed with its tip severed
into three strips, as described, I do not limit myself to the number of these strips.

page_text: For instance in Figure 3 I have shown one of my broad reeds with its tip
Bevered into only two free strips which are preferably made of different flexibility
by making one strip wider than the other.
In this case also the reed tongue may be formed by stamping up, the severing
being accomplished, by depressing one portion between the dies.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1st A reed for musical instrument consisting of a reed plate having a single slot
and a reed tongue adapted to vibrate in the said slot, and having a free tip severed
into two or more closely adjacent strips, substantially as hereinbefore described.
2nd A reed having a tongue with its free end severed into two or more strips of
different flexibility substantially as herein before described.
3rd A reed having a tongue with its free end severed into three strips the
central strip being less flexible than the other two substantially as herein before
described.