AN IMPROVEMENT IN VIOLINS AND OTHER SIMILAR STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN VIOLINS AND OTHER SIMILAR STRINGED
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS."-A communication.
Sealed the 4th April 1854, and dated the 25th January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th January 1854.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN VIOLINS AND OTHER SIMILAR STRINGED
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS" to be as follows:-
The nature of this Invention consists in the application to violins, violin-
cellos, bass viols, and other similar strained musical instruments of a horn or
trumpet, in such a manner that the latter shall open into the interior of the
violin, by which means the vibrations of the latter are greatly increased, and
its tones rendered much more powerful.
The tube of the horn may be inserted at any point, but it is preferred, in
order not to cut into the body of the violin, to insert the horn at the point
where the neck of the violin is usually attached, a hole being opened for that
purpose into the body of the violin. At the end of the neck a screw or other
suitable metallic head is attached to the horn.

page_text: The finger board is also attached to the latter, the whole being so arranged
that the size and shape of all the parts that come in contact with the hand of
the player are the same as in the ordinary violin. By means of this modifi-
cation tones are produced upon instruments of this description superior to
anything attained before. It is evident that the improvement may be applied
to guitars, as well as to other stringed instruments.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by
the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord.
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William Edward
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Edward Newton, 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 "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN VIOLINS AND OTHER SIMILAR STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS," being a
communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 William Edward Newton, de hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of "An Improvement in Violins and other similar Stringed
Musical Instruments "is described by my foreign correspondent as consisting

page_text: in the application to violins, violoncellos, bass viols, and other instruments of
this description, of a horn or trumpet in such a manner that the latter shall
open into the interior of the violin, by which means the vibrations of the
latter are greatly increased, and its tones rendered much more powerful and
sonorous.
The tube of the horn may be inserted at any point, but it is preferred, in
order not to cut into the body of the violin, to insert the horn at the point
where the neck of the violin is usually attached.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a violin with
the improvement adapted thereto. Fig. 2 is a section on the line x, y.
A is
the violin; B, the bell of the horn or trumpet; C, its tube, which is secured
to the violin at D, where the neck is usually attached, a hole being opened for
the purpose into the body of the violin at E. A screw or other suitable
metallic head is attached to the horn, and the finger-board F is also attached
to the latter, the whole being so arranged that the size and shape of all the
parts that come in contact with the hand of the player may be the same as in
the ordinary violin. By means of this modification tones are produced upon
instruments of this description superior to any thing attained before.
It is evident that the improvement may be applied to guitars as well as to
other similar stringed instruments; it will not, however, be necessary to give
any further detailed description, as from the foregoing explanation any intel-
ligent workman will be able to adapt the improvement to the various kinds of
stringed musical instruments to which it may be applicable.
What I claim as new in the present Invention, and desire to secure by
Letters Patent, is, the application of a trumpet mouth or other analagous
contrivance to violins, violoncellos, bass viols, and other similar stringed musi-
cal instruments, as above described and for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of June, in the of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
year
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)