Improvements in Musical Stringed Instruments.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Sept., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 24th May, 1900-Accepted, 30th June, 1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Musical Stringed Instruments.
We, HENRY DAVIDSON, of 224, Queen's Road, Dalston, Engineer, and EDMUND
CHARLES MASSEY, of 194, Adelaide Road, Brockley, Gentleman, both in the
County of London, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
:
Our invention relates to musical stringed instruments and has for its object
to provide means for tightening or tuning the strings with greater facility than
is possible with the means heretofore used.
According to our invention we provide a plate of metal or other suitable
material having formed therein a series of slots. in which pieces hereinafter
referred to as tension blocks slide. Each of these tension blocks has arranged in
connection with it a screw for adjusting the said tension blocks in the slot. Each
tension block is notched or otherwise formed to facilitate the attachment of the
string to it.
In applying our invention to a violin, for example, the pegs to which the
strings are now attached are taken from the instrument and a slotted plate is
applied to the head instead thereof.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Agents for the Applicants."
Improvements in Musical Stringed Instruments.
We, HENRY DAVIDSON, of 224, Queen's Road, Dalston, Engineer, and EDMUND
CHARLES MASSEY, of 194, Adelaide Road, Brockley, Gentleman, both in the
County of London, 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:-
-
Our invention relates to musical stringed instruments and has for its object
to provide means for tightening or tuning the strings with greater facility than
is possible with the means heretofore used.
According to our invention we provide a plate of metal or other suitable
material having formed therein a series of slots in which pieces, hereinafter
referred to as tension blocks, slide. Each of these tension blocks has arranged in
connection with it a screw for adjusting it in its slot, and is also notched or other-
wise formed to facilitate the attachment of the string to it,

page_text: in applying our invention
схатрте,
18
strings are now attached are taken from the instrument and my slotted plate is
applied and suitably secured to the bead of the said instrument..
In the accompanying drawings-
Figure 1 is a front elevation of our tension device;
Figure 2 is a plan; and
Figure 3 is a side view thereof;
4.1
Figure is a front view shewing the tension device applied to the head of a
violin; and
Fig. 5 is a side view of the same.
a is the plate of metal or other suitable material; the said plate is advan-
tageously formed of the shape shewn, that is to say, with the lower portion a¹
bent at an angle to the main portion and having a central slot a² so that the
plate can be fitted upon the heads of violins and like instruments in the manner
hereinafter described. b, bare the slots formed in the plate a for receiving the
tension blocks, which blocks consist of front and back pieces c, d repectively,
connected by a neck e. The necks are of a length corresponding to the thickness
of the metal plate a and engage the slots b, as clearly shewn. f, f.are the
screws which engage screw-threaded holes in the back portions d of the tension
blocks, the upper ends of the said screws f. f being provided with heads g, g
which bear against backwardly projecting lugs a³, a³ upon the metal plate a
and are formed with wings g', g' whereby they can be turned.
The front portion of each tension block is formed with lateral notches c¹, cl
and with a longitudinal hole for enabling the string, which it is to tighten,
to be secured thereto as hereinafter described.
To apply the tension device to the head of a violin for example, we advan-
tageously provide upon the back of the said plate a internally screw-threaded
sockets h, h so placed that when the plate is placed upon the head A of the
violin, as shewn in Figures and 5, the said sockets lie on either side of the
head A as clearly shewn in the said figures. The plate is then secured in position
by means of screws i, i which pass through holes in a plate ; and engage the
screw-threaded sockets as clearly shewn so that by tightening the said screws, the
plate securely clamped upon the violin head. is a bridge formed upon the
plate a, the said bridge being notched to receive the strings B in the usual
manner.
Each string B is advantageously secured to its tension block in the following
manner, that is to say, its end is passed up through the central hole c², around
one lateral notch, underneath the block, around the other notch, over the top
of the block and then down through the first lateral notch so that it can be tied
to the string as shewn.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is: -
1. A. tension device for musical stringed instruments having a neck and head,
comprising a plate having slots adapted to receive tension blocks to which the
strings of the instrument are secured and with which engage screws held in the
plate, substantially as, and for the purpose, herein before described and
illustrated.
as
2. A tension device for musical stringed instruments having a neck and head,
comprising a plate of metal or other suitable material and of a shape such that it
can be applied to the head of the musical instrument, and having slots formed
therein for receiving tension blocks each consisting of a front portion for receiving
the string and a back internally screw-threaded portion connected to the front
portion by a neck engaging the slot, the said tension blocks being adjusted in
the slots by means of screws engaging the screw-threaded back portions and
having heads bearing against lugs upon the plate, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
5

page_text: 3. A tension device for musical stringed instruments having a neck and head,
comprising a plate slotted to receive tension blocks to which the strings are
secured and which are adjusted in the slots by screws held in the said plate and
means for detachably connecting the plate to the head of the musical stringed
instrument, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated.
4. The tension device for musical stringed instruments, hereinbefore described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.