IMPROVEMENTS IN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS WITH PISTON OR CYLINDER VALVES, AND IN THE METHOD OF WRITING OR ARRANGING MUSIC FOR THE SAME
Year: 1859

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Davies at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th December
1859. A communication from abroad by Gustave Auguste Besson, of
Paris, Manufacturer.
I, GEORGE DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of
Middlesex, and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City of Glasgow, Civil
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS WITH PISTON OR CYLINDER
VALVES, AND IN THE METHOD OF WRITING OR ARRANGING MUSIC FOR THE SAME,"
(a communication from abroad by Gustave Auguste Besson, of Paris, Manu-
facturer,) to be as follows:-
These improvements are applicable to all kinds of wind musical instruments
having piston or cylinder valves, whether made of brass or other material.
The object of the Invention is to enable such instruments to be played with
facility in any key (major or minor) without the necessity for the lips or the
hands of the musician changing their position on the instrument, and without
any previous study or increased labor on the part of the player.
It has been remarked that in this class of musical instrument the execution

page_text: is correct and brilliant when playing in the keys of C natural, B flat, A flat,
G natural, F natural, E flat, D natural major, and in their relative minor
keys, whilst on the contrary the music wants fullness of tone and correctness
of tune in the keys of B natural, A natural, G flat, E natural, D flat major,
and in their relative minor keys. But as these latter keys B natural,
A natural, G flat, E natural, D flat, are exactly a semi-tone below the keys
C natural, B flat, G natural, F natural, D natural, which are correct, easy,
and brilliant, it becomes a question of lowering the pitch or diapason of the
instrument a semi-tone, so that when playing in C natural the tone shall be
that of B natural, and so on. The great difficulty which presents itself in
accomplishing this object consists in the necessity for simultaneously lengthen-
ing the piston tubes in exact proportion to the lengthening of the body of
the instrument in order to keep them in tune.
To effect this, it is proposed to furnish each of the piston valves with twice
the usual number of openings or air passages, one set of openings communi-
cating with a set of piston tubes of the ordinary lengths, and the other openings
communicating with an additional set of piston tubes, which are rather longer,
so as to produce a semi-tone lower. The instrument is also furnished with
another piston called "the transposing stop," under the command of the left
hand, and which directs the air either through the upper or ordinary set of
piston tubes, or through the lower or additional set of piston tubes, and in the
latter case at the same time lengthens the body of the instrument sufficiently
to lower the whole pitch a semi-tone, so that when the "transposing stop " is
untouched the instrument is unaltered, but when the "stop" is pressed in, the
whole pitch of the instrument (both open notes and valve notes) is lowered a
semi-tone, the "embouchure" and fingering still being the same. In applying
this system to bass horns with four pistons, the lower notes form G down to C,
which are ordinarily too sharp, can be produced correctly by using a "trans-
posing stop," which lowers the pitch two tones and a half (a fourth), the
additional piston tubes being, of course, of a proportionate length. Another
advantage of this system is that a cornopean made according to this Invention
can easily be converted into a trumpet, capable of running the chromatic scale
from the second C below the stave to C above the stave, and even higher, if
the lips permit, by simply substituting a turning slide, which shall lower the
pitch two tones and a half and using a trumpet mouth-piece.
The novel method of arranging or writing the music necessitated by the
above-mentioned improvements consists in arranging such music in a key one
semi-tone (or for bass horns two tones and a half) higher than ordinary, the

page_text: "
sign P ("poussé") being placed above the stave where the "transposing stop
is to be pressed, and a line thus I
carried under the
stave indicates that the "transposing stop" is to be held till the sign L
("lâché") occurs above the stave, when it is to be released. It will be evi-
dent that the music being written as many semi-tones higher as the diapason of
the instrument is lowered, the "tune" will be correct, whilst the "fingering "
of the instrument will be rendered much more simple.