NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS APPLIED TO ORGANS, HARMONIUMS, AND OTHER FREE REED INSTRUMENTS FOR TUNING SAME
Year: 1876

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by Axel Richard Fröst at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 15th August 1876. A communication from
abroad by Maria Procopé, of Stockholm, Sweden.
AXEL RICHARD FRÖST, of Harley Place, in the County of Middlesex.
"NEW
OR IMPROVED APPARATUS APPLIED TO ORGANS, HARMONIUMS, AND OTHER FREE
REED INSTRUMENTS FOR TUNING SAME" A communication from abroad by Maria
Procopé, of Stockholm, Sweden.
"
The objects of this Invention are to provide means for the tuning of organs,
harmoniums, and other free reed instruments which shall be effective, lasting, and
cheap, all as herein-after described.
I employ a movable or adjustable spring or slide or screw mechanism which is
placed against the upper or lower side of each of the vibrating tongues of the
instrument, and I arrange the adjustment of this mechanism so that it can be
moved backwards or forwards relatively to the vibrating tongue, and thus lengthen
or shorten the vibrating part of the latter for the purpose of altering the pitch of
the note produced thereby.
According to one mode of carrying this Invention into effect I employ a spring,
the outer bent end of which is placed against the upper part of the vibrating
tongue, the inner or front end of the spring bent at right angles, and to this part
is connected a regulating screw or lover, or a lever and screw. By moving the
lever, or by turning the screw (by means of a knob with milled edge or by key or
spanner) the spring is caused to move backwards or forwards as required. The
spring works in a carriage or groove in such manner that it is well supported
therein, the outer free end being as short as possible. The spring may be formed
with a slot, and be held down by two screws fitting in the slot.
In order to render the spring more lasting the free end of same may be held
down and supported by means of a set screw or by making the free end of the
spring without a bent down part. The set screw may be made to pass through the
spring with its point, and this point then is brought against the tongue as required,
or a rigid slide may be used instead of a spring.
According to a modification I employ a spindle formed with a head at its outer
end, and this head comes against the upper or under side of the vibrating tongue.
The spindle is made to turn by means of knob or key.
According to one mode the spindle is prevented from moving endways, and I
forin the head with a projecting spiral thread on its circumference, and according

page_text: to the part of the thread which comes in contact with the vibrating tongue so is
the regulation of its note effected.
According to another mode I form the head plain, and form the spindle as a
screw working in a nut, and by turning this screw the head is brought backwards
or forwards relatively to the vibrating tongue. If the screw is made without head
and is brought down close against the vibrating tongue the same object may be
attained, but the vibrating tongue, instead of being hold in place by a screw in the
middle must then be notched on each side and held by screws fitting in said
notches.
In order to prevent overturning, so as to disarrange the instrument, a regulating
screw may be employed of the following description:-I form it with two screwed
parts of equal length, each fitting in its nut, and the plain turned down part
between, and the outer free end or distance to the head I make of a slightly greater
length than each screwed part; if the screw then is turned so far as to leave the
nuts any further turning will cause no damage.
The aforesaid improved mechanisms or parts may be combined in various ways.
In some casos I employ a double regulating mechanism for a vibrating tongue.
a is a
Fig. 1 of the Drawings is an elevation partly in section, Fig. 2 a plan, and Fig. 3
a. cross section, showing one mode of carrying this Invention into effect.
vibrating reed or tongue, b is the slide formed as a spring bent down at one end
against the upper part of the reed; its other end is bent up, and has there attached
to it a regulating screw d working in a fixed nut e, by preference forming part of
the carriage in which the slide b is guided, being held down in a groove by the two
screws c, c, working in a slot which limits its travel. The screw d is formed with
a square end for attaching a key, or it might be formed with a knob to turn by the
finger. By turning the screw one way or the other the pitch of the note is altered
as required.
Fig. 4 shows a similar arrangement, only here the slide 6 is moved by means of a
lever, which has its fulcrum in the bracket g, and may be operated by a screw d
working in a nut e¹ or by other mechanical equivalent, or else by hand direct. his
a block for holding down and guiding the slide b, and b¹ is a set screw for depressing
it more or less.
Fig. 5 shows the regulating slide b applied to the under side of the reed a, and
operated by a screw & working in a nut c.
Fig. 6 shows an arrangement similar to Fig. 1, only the slide 6 is here at the
outer point provided with a screw 6¹, which can be adjusted as required.
Fig. 7 shows a spring slide b, which can be set or adjusted as required by
means of a regulating screw 6¹ which passes through a fixed cross bar 6³ forming
its nut.
Fig. 8 shows a similar arrangement, but the slide 6 is here fastened to a guide k,
which works in a groove formed in the stationary nut e.
In Fig. 9 is shown a rigid round bar b, with set screw 61 at one end, and at the
other end so connected to the screw d that the latter can turn independently, the
bar 6 being prevented from turning by the screw 7 working in a groove in the
bar b.
On Fig. 10 is shown a spindle d, the head 6 of which is formed with a screw
thread or cam on its circumference. The spindle & can be rotated by means of the
knob d (or it might be by a key), but cannot move endways because of the
shoulder which works in a suitable recess in the carriage e. According to the
part of the thread or cam on 6 which comes opposite the tongue a, so will the pitch 5
or note of it be.
In Fig. 11 the spindle & is formed with a screw, and the head bis made plain
round. The screw works in the nut e, and by turning the screw its head b is
regulated relatively to the reed a. The stroke or travel of the screw is limited, as
shown.
Fig. 12 shows a similar arrangement, but the screw d, with its head b, is here
applied under the tongue or reed a.
•
5

page_text: Fig. 13 shows another mode of limiting the travel of the spindle d so that no
harm is done by overscrewing. It is screwed in two places, working each in a
nute; the distance between the two nuts is a little longer than the length of each
thread, and when the spindle is turned so far that the thread has left one of the
nuts e, one of the screwed parts of the spindle d is between the two nuts e, and
any further turning in the same direction will do no harm. Stops m may also be
applied in this or any of the other cases. The arrangement of the two nuts e and
two screwed parts of d may also be applied in any of the other appliances here
shewn.
Fig. 14 is sectional elevation, and Fig. 15 a plan of an arrangement where the
spindle d is made without a head 6, its plain end coming against the upper (or it
might be the under) side of the tongue or reed a, which for this purpose is notched
out on each side and fastened by a screw on each side fitting in said notches
instead of one in the middle.
Fig. 16 shows the screw d applied to one side, and the slide b is made with a
front part going out to one side to reach over (or it might be under) the reed, and
provided with a set screw b¹, or formed with a bent part as in some of the other
Figures.
It will be obvious that the appliances here shown may be modified, and may
also be combined more or less with one another. Various more or less obvious
modes of limiting the travel of the regulating slide b may also be applied, besides
those here shown and described.
And having now described the nature of this Invention, and some modes of
carrying the same into effect, I declare that I claim, fitting the reed or tongue a
with a rigid or elastic slide or sliding part 6 which by a screw d or equivalent
appliance can be adjusted relatively to the said reed, all substantially as described
and as shewn.
In witness whereof, I, the said Axel Richard Fröst, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.