IMPROVEMENTS ON TRUMPETS OF DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS, NAMELY, THE TREBLE OR COMMON TRUMPET, THE FRENCH HORN OR TENOR TRUMPET, AND THE BUGLE HORN
Year: 1811

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLOSE, of Dalton, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, Apothecary, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Second day of Novem-
ber, in the fifty-second year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
William Close, my exors, adññors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power,
sole priviledge and authority, that I, the said William Close, my exors, admors,
and assigns, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS ON TRUMPETS OF DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS, NAMELY, THE
TREBLE OR COMMON TRUMPET, THE FRENCH HORN OR TENOR TRUMPET, AND THE
BUGLE HORN;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
that if I, the said William Close, shall not particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause
the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and beconie void,
as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Close, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained as follows, that is to say:
Firstly, I do prevent and let off any inconvenient accumulation of moisture
which may be afforded by condensation in trumpets during performance; and
for this purpose, instead of requiring the instrument to be disjointed or taken
asunder, I do fix or apply a small tube or tubes to the channel of the same, at
any such parts or places as may be best adapted to that effect.
Fig. 1, b, c, represents one of the said tubes fixed or applied to the lower
part of one of the flexures of the main channel A, B. The size, figure, and means
of applying or fixing the said tube or tubes do not require to be described,
because the same may be greatly varied, and are sufficiently manifest without
farther explanation. But it may be remarked that the said tubes will be
large enough for treble trumpets if they be made about one twenty-fourth
part of an inch bore and about one inch in length; and for tenor trumpets
the bore may be somewhat larger, and the length about 2 inches. And,
moreover, in order the more speedily and effectually to condense such moisture,
I do (when the musician may prefer or require the same) cause the main
channel of the instrument, or part thereof, to pass through or be included in,
or be placed in contact, either wholly or in part, with an hollow body or vessel
of a spherical or other convenient and agreeable figure and size, containing
water or some other cooling fluid or material fit for the purpose; and,
Secondly, in trumpets and other instruments of the like description, I do
produce and obtain additional tones or notes besides those called the trumpet
notes, so as to render the same much more perfect and capable of being
played upon in several different keys diatonically, without requiring for that
purpose the use of additional tubes or crooks, or sliding pieces, or any holes
for fingering upon the main channel or body of the instrument. And I do
produce and obtain the said additional tones or notes by means of certain
tubular branches, additaments, or appendages, communicating with the main
channels of the said instruments, and either connected with or applied to the
same; and in the said branches, additaments, or appendages I do make
certain holes.or ventiges, upon which, by the act or operation of fingering, the
said additional tones or notes, are respectively produced. And I do farther
declare that, altho' the relative situation or position of the said branches, addi-
taments, or appendages, and the dimentions of the same, together with the
positions of the several holes or ventiges, are capable of considerable varia-
tions, according to the size of the instrument itself, and the several tones or

page_text: notes required or intended to be produced, and such other circumstances of
convenience or beauty as may be desirable or needful to be attended to; yet
that the said variations can and may be easily attained unto in practice by any
competent workman, from the following description and the Drawings here-
unto annexed, and from a due consideration of the size and tones or notes, and
circumstances aforesaid.
In Figure 2, A, B, C, D, E, represents a treble trumpet, 6 feet long,
to which I do occasionally annex one or more crooks or additional portions of
pipe to the main channel, provided with ducts or sewers, as already described.
On the outside of the flexure at B is also a duct for the egress of water at D,
about th of the length of the instrument. From the wide extremity an
additional branch or tubular appendage F, G, is affixed to and communicates
with the channel C, D, E. This pipe is about 12 inches long from D to h,
and its diameter about ds of an inch from D to F, where it gradually
diminishes to half an inch at G, and continues the same to h, where it is
contracted into a narrow channel th of an inch diameter and 3½ inches long,
which proceeds towards B, for about half its length, then turns back and
terminates at 5, with an orifice on the outside of the appendage. In the side
of the pipe F, G, are three direct openings at 1, 2, 4, and three tubular
openings at 3, 5, 6. The diameter of the hole at 1 is ths of an inch; but
those at 2 and 4 are smaller. The tubular hole at 3 is one inch long and th
of an inch diameter. The tubular hole at 5 has been already described. That
at 6 is th of an inch diameter and 1½ inches long. The trumpet being held
in the right hand, one of the fingers of that hand is assigned to the 1st hole,
and the fingers and thumb of the left hand to the other five; whereby the per-
former is enabled to fill up some of the blanks or intervals of the original
scale of the instrument, particularly those between what are usually denomi-
nated the 3d and 8th notes when the trumpet plays in the keys of E flat
and F. In some instances I intend to make the appendage without a curve
or flexure at G, and to fix it alongside the channel C, and to alter the arrange-
ment of the holes for the convenience of fingering, and in others to make it
of the shape of Fig. 4. The supplementary notes required to fill up the
intervals of the scale of the trumpet called the bugle horn from the 3rd to
the 6th notes may be produced by an appendage of similar construction to the
foregoing one, as represented in Fig. 4, where A, B, C, D, E represents a
bugle to the key of B flat, and F, G an appendage which is united to the
channel of the instrument at about th of its length from the wide orifice,
and contains three direct side holes at 1, 2, 4, and two tubular openings
at S, 5. The diameter of this pipe is one inch at F, and ths of an inch at .

page_text: its termination at 5, which is closed. The first hole may be half an inch
diameter, and those at 2, 4, smaller: The pipe or tubular opening at 3 is a
quarter of an inch diameter and one inch long. The same fingers may be
used as in playing the trumpet, Fig. 2; when an appendage 11 inches long
is attached to the channel of a bugle at about th of its length from the
wide extremity, and provided with three direct and three tubular holes.
Sixteen supplementary sounds may be produced, and the intervals between the
second and sixth original notes of the scale subdivided diatonically and almost
chromatically. A convenient form for the appendage in this case is repre-
sented in Fig. 4*, in which the direct holes are at 1, 2, 4, and the tubular ones
at 3, 5, 6. The same or corresponding intervals in the scale of the tenor
trumpet or French horn in the keys of E flat and F may be subdivided into
supplementary notes obtained by an appendage of similar construction with
that already described for the treble trumpet. A, B, Fig. 3, represents part
of the channel of the tenor trumpet or French horn, to which, at about
13 inches from its outer termination, is affixed an appendage or tubular
branch C, D, E, which has three direct or common openings at 1, 3, 4, and
tliree tubular holes at 2, 5; 6. The length of this appended pipe to E, where it
is contracted into the channel which forms the sixth hole, is about 24 inches.
Its diameter at C is one inch, and it is ths of an inch at 3 and 6. The first
hole is half an inch diameter, but 3 and 4 are smaller. The tubular hole 2,
which opens into the appendage between 3 and 4, is 44 inches long andths
of an inch diameter. The length of the tubular hole 6, which is connected
to the end of the appendage at E, and constructed in the manner which is
clearly shewn in the Drawing, is 6 inches and th of an inch diameter. That
at 5 is two inches long and ths of an inch diameter. These 6 holes are
managed by the three principal fingers of each hand. The additions already
described I call fixed appendages; and I shall now proceed to such as may be
denominated detachable or temporary additions.
a
Figs. 5, 6; represent the manner of making additions to the divergent parts
of trumpets by insertion of the wide or exterior orifice. A, B, C, D, Fig. 5,
represents a C-bugle, and e, f, g, h, an additional pipe or tubular appendage,
of which the part e, f, is inserted into the wide part of the instrument, and
confined there by piece of tape or cord, or by any other convenient means.
The length of this pipe from e, where its end is open to h, where the other end
is closed, is about 26 inches; its diameter from e to 2 is ths of an inch, then
diminishes gradually to h, where it is only about half that width, and commu-
nicates with an oval channel 4 inches long, which has an exterior opening
at 8, and is of uniform width, its diameter being two and two and a half tenths

page_text: of an inch respectively. At 1, 3, 4, 6, are four direct or common openings,
and four tubular holes at 2, 5, 7, 8. The length of the tubular opening
between 2 and f is 1 inches long and ths of an inch diameter. The
tubular hole 5 is 11 inches long and th of an inch diameter. That at 7 is
an oval channel, which opens into the trunk of the appendage between 4 and
5, and measures 4½ inches in length and 16th of an inch diameter one way
and th the other. The four fingers of each hand being properly applied to
the holes in the appendage, the instrument will produce nearly all the sup-
plementary notes which are wanted between its lowest or radical sound and
the double octave to the same. I add this kind of detachable appendage to
bugles which have fixed ones, as represented in Fig. 4; and as I intend to vary.
the dimensions of the main channels of such trumpets as I may hereafter
construct, or some of them, from their common proportions, in such manner
as may be found most suitable and convenient for the application of my said
improvements, and accordingly I do make some of the cups of the mouth-
pieces, both for the bugle and treble trumpet, with appendages of a conical
shape, or of a deeper concavity than is common. A, B, Fig. 6, represents
the wide part of a tenor trumpet or French horn, and c, d, e, a tubular
appendage, which is inserted into the same, and contains three common
openings at 1, 2, 4, and two tubular openings, as shown by the dotted lines at
3 and 5. The length of the appendage from c to e is about 21 inches, and
its diameter uniformly about ths of an inch. The end c is open, but the
other end e is closed. The tubular hole 3 is about 3 inches long and th of
an inch diameter. The tubular hole 5 is th of inch diameter, and 12 inches
long. The fingers and thumb of the one hand being applied to the holes
enables the performer to produce nearly the same series of notes as that of
the tenor trumpet Fig. 3. In trumpets intended for military purposes; I cou-
nect the movable appendages, like those represented in Figs. 5 and 6, by tape
or cordage, or other such material, to the bells of the same; but in band or
concert or other like instruments, wherein the same may be preferred; I do
fix the same more firmly to the trumpets by solder, screws, studds, or other
usual means. The manner of constructing appendages for producing sup-
plementary notes, which shall only communicate occasionally with the
channels of trumpets, is represented in Fig. 7, where A, B, is part of the
main channel of an instrument, and C, D, the additional pipe or appendage,
which has finger holes at 1; 2, 3. A key K, K, which cuts off the communi-
cation with the main channel, and may be occasionally opened, is inclosed in
the additional pipe, and part of the said key projects through the hole 1, or
any other hole. When such a key as is represented in the Drawing is usel (for

page_text: the constructor may use one with a double movement if he chuse), the
addition or communication of this branch to or with the channel of the
trumpet is made by depressing the key with a finger, which at the same
time may close the hole where the said part of the key projects, at the
same time that other fingers may be applied to other holes, if requisite,
to produce the notes which the appendage is intended to supply. And
I do likewise make this kind of addition to the mouthpieces or portions
of trumpets called bitts, shanks, and crooks, to be inserted or added at any of
the joints, or to any suitable part or parts of the channels of trumpets con-
structed either with or without any other appendages or improvements.
And I do farther hereby declare, that though I do most commonly close the
exterior terminations of the trunks of my appendages, in order that by the
instrument producing one note with all the finger holes closed, the length of
the appended pipe required may only be half as long as would be required in
an open pipe of uniform width, as in the stopt pipes of the organ, yet when
convenience of construction or any other circumstances shall or may make it
more desirable that the said appended pipe should be open, instead of being
closed, I do in such cases adopt the same, notwithstanding its length; and
when common openings in the sides of my appendages will sufficiently answer
my purpose I do use them alone, whenever the same can conveniently be
brought within the compass of the fingers, though in general I do use a con-
bination or mixture of direct and tubular openings; and on such occasions as
may render it in anywise more desirable to make an additional closed chamber
to any appendage when closed at the extremity and its side holes, I do carry
the same into effect in manner similar to the following, that is to say:
I make the part of the appendage represented in Fig. 8, from A to B, demi-
cylendrical, or straiter than the preceding part, and make a hole of the strait
pipe near the end above B, to which I adapt a closing key K, with a stem
turned up, as represented between the letters D, E. I then surround the
cylindrical part of the pipe A at this letter with thread, and take a cylendrical
piece of pipe D, D, E, of the capacity required for the additional cell or chamber
c, c, when it includes the strait part of the other, closed at one end and open at
the other, and adapt it by putting it over the other part A, B, and fixing it upon
the thread between D, D, having previously made a hole in a proper position
for the stem of the key to project through the side of the pipe between D, E,
so that when the hole above B in the pipe A, B, is opened the hole above C
in the pipe D, D, E, may be closed by the finger which depresses the key.
And farther, in addition to the foregoing outline or statement of the
construction of my tubular appendages for producing supplementary notes, I

page_text: do declare, that in the application of the said additions I by no means confine
myself to limitted forms, to limitted positions, or manner of fixing them to the
channels, or to certain dimensions, number of holes and keys, but that I do
vary and modify the same according to the circumstances before mentioned, in
order to make my trumpets of any manageable sizes and lengths that may be
required; and I do adapt the dimensions, forms, or contours and construction
of my tubular appendages to the same in such manner as may be most conve-
nient to the performers, and for other purposes; and I do vary the number.
and positions of the minor pipes or tubular holes, and their dimensions, and
do place the said minor pipes either on the outside of the wider pipes to which
they are connected, or within the same, as symmetry of form or convenience may
require; that I do construct the trunks of the tubular appendages with either
closed or open terminations, with holes either common or tubular, or both, to
be closed occasionally, or some of them to be left always open, and with keys
within or attached to the same, as may be found requisite in the construction
of my trumpets, conformably with the premises; and that I do, make, use, and
apply my said improvements either in one united and undividable fabric,
structure, or body, or divisable by disjointing or otherwise into several pieces, at
pleasure, as circumstances or the intended use of the instrument may require;
and that I do vary the forms or contours and dimensions of the channels of
the said trumpets according to their intended pitches or keys, and the con-
venience of playing upon then. And farther, that I do, in some instruments,
make joints or divisions in my fixed appendages, represented in Figs. 2, 3, 4,
and others when requisite, either to detach the principal parts thereof from the
instruments, or to lengthen or shorten the same, or to add any other parts
occasionally, which may be better adapted to the performance of the instru-
ments, and also to make joints or divisions in the movable or detachable appen-
dages, Figs. 5, 6, and others, for taking them asunder for convenient carriage.
And I do in various instances, when required, make provision, not only by
keys, but by valves, cocks, sliding plates, on the principle of those in the wind
chest of the organ or otherwise, to cut off or intercept occasionally all commu-
nication between the channels of the trumpets and their wide tubular
appendages, or to intercept occasionally the communication by cylindrical or
conical pieces of pipe open at both ends, and have each a hole in one side, to
answer to the opening or mouth of the appendage, and are placed in the
insides of the trumpets, and turned concentrically by the assistance of a
stud projecting externally through a groove or otherwise; and I do also
effect the same purpose by cylindrical tubes with holes, as aforesaid, moving
longitudinally in the trumpets by any proper means, or by some parts of the

page_text: trumpets sliding over or turning upon other parts, or by placing tubes of
proper shapes and dimensions, or such like expedients, only occasionally
within the trumpets.
And lastly, I do declare that I do use my said improvements either
seperately or collectively, and do construct my said instruments (which from
their multifarious sounds I call polyphonian trumpets, or by other appropriate
names) of silver, brass, copper, pewter, or any other sonorious metal or
mixture of metals, or other suitable materials.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Close, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One