IMPROVEMENTS IN RENDERING DRUM SKINS AND GUT STRINGS LESS LIABLE TO HYGROMETRIC INFLUENCES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Antoine Joseph Sax, trading under the Firm of
Adolphe Sax, of Paris, France, Musical Instrument Maker, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RENDERING DRUM SKINS AND GUT STRINGS
LESS LIABLE TO HYGROMETRIC INFLUENCES."
Sealed the 17th July 1863, and dated the 24th January 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Antoine Joseph Sax at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th January 1863.
I, ANTOINE JOSEPH SAX, trading under the Firm of Adolphe Sax, of Paris,
France, Musical Instrument Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RENDERING DRUM SKINS AND GUT STRINGS LESS
LIABLE TO HYGROMETRIC INFLUENCES," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in impregnating or coating the skins of big or
other drums, tymbals, or tambourines, or the catgut strings of violins, basses,
violoncellos, or other musical instruments provided with the said description of
strings with any suitable chemical agent by which the said skins or the said
strings are rendered sufficiently impervious to wet as not to be so much
affected in their sound or pitch by the varied changes of the atmosphere. For
this purpose I prefer coating or impregnating the said skins or strings with
collodion alone or mixed with any other suitable substance, gutta percha, india-
rubber, gum lac, or any other suitable gum dissolved in any suitable solvent
might likewise be made use of for the same purpose.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Antoine Joseph Sax in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th July 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, ANTOINE
JOSEPH SAX, trading under the Firm of Adolphe Sax, of Paris, France,
Musical Instrument Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Antoine Joseph Sax, Her special licence, that I, the said Antoine
Joseph Sax, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Antoine Joseph Sax, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RENDERING DRUM SKINS AND GUT STRINGS LESS LIABLE TO
HYGROMETRIC INFLUENCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Antoine Joseph Sax, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the, same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I,, the said Antoine Joseph Sax, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained.in and. by the following
statement:-
The object of these improvements is to render drum skins and gut strings
for musical instruments less liable to be influenced by variations in the
hygrometric condition of the atmosphere, and they have principally, in view to
do away in great measure with the difficulties so often. experienced by musical
bands or other musicians, by the contracting or the distending which the skins
of their drums or the gut strings of their instruments are liable to through
variations in the degree of moisture of the atmosphere, which. leads to the
great annoyance arising from the instruments getting out of tune; thus, for
instance, it often happens that the big or other drums of a military band or of

page_text: a concert in the open air by a sudden shower are momentarily put out of
service; on the other hand, it generally occurs in crowded concert or ball
rooms that by the effect of the variation in the degree of moisture of the
atmosphere in the room the violins or other instruments provided with gut
strings get out of tune, and require to be tuned again after a comparatively
short time.
The object of my Invention is to do away in great part with these annoying
inconveniences by rendering drum skins and gut strings much less liable to
be influenced by variations in the hygrometric condition of the air, and the
same consists in impregnating or coating the skins of big, kettle, or other
drums, tabourines, or other musical instruments of the same class, as well as
the gut strings of violins, basses, violoncellos, or other musical instruments
provided with such strings with a solution of any suitable chemical agent,
which after becoming dry, will render the said skins or the said strings
sufficiently impervious to wet as to prevent them from attracting moisture
with the same avidity as those bodies are liable to when left in the state they
have been made use of up to this moment for the above-mentioned purposes.
The liquid I prefer to make use of is collodion, with which I impregnate the
said skins and strings, or with which I give them one or more coatings, which
impregnating or coating ought by preference to be done whilst the skins or
the strings are distended to about the pitch or strain they will be submitted to
when applied to the instrument; or the impregnating or the coating may take
place whilst the skins or the strings are applied to their respective instruments.
Instead of collodion suitable solutions of gutta percha, india-rubber, or other
similar gums in suitable solvents might be made use of, although I prefer by
far using collodion.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of my Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is or may be put into practical effect,
I wish it to be understood that I do not claim as my Invention impregnating
or coating skins or gut strings in general with collodion or other suitable
solutions for rendering the same less impervious to humidity, but what I con-
sider to be novel and original, and consequently claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, impregnating or
coating the skin of drums or the gut strings of musical instruments with
collodion or with a solution of any suitable chemical agent, for the purpose of
without impairing the sonorousness of the said drum skins or gut strings,
render the same much less liable to become wet, attract moisture, be influenced
by changes in the hygrometric condition of the atmosphere, and consequently
less liable to get momentarily out of service or out of tune as would be the

page_text: case if the said skins or strings had been left in the condition they were made
use of hitherto in musical instruments.
In witness whereof, I, the said Antoine Joseph Sax, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
A. G. BRADE.
A. J. SAX. (L.S.)