Year: 1887

page_text: I, JAMES FREDRICK CROWTON, of 3, Bedford Terrace, Bellis Street, Monument
Road, Birmingham, Warwickshire, Jeweller, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:
:-
This invention has reference to a new or improved apparatus for holding and for
turning over the leaves of books or sheets of music which is constructed as follows:-
I provide a frame preferably 1-shaped the central part being divided longitudinally
into two parts which are connected together by links at the back so that one part can
be opened out parallel from the other or fixed tight against the other so as to
securely hold the back of a piece of sheet music between them. The two parts of the
vertical piece are opened out from one another for the insertion of a piece of music
or for holding the same by means of a lever at the back which is centred to one
part and has an eccentric slot through which projects a pin fixed to the other part.
By moving this lever partly around its centre either up or down the eccentric slot
acting as a cam on the pin opens the two parts out from one another or closes them
together as may be required. In order that the apparatus will hold a thick book of
bound music open when required I fix near the base of the vertical part of the said
frame two stout wires projecting upwards, their upper ends being free, between
which and the vertical part of the frame the cover of the book can be inserted.
Fixed to the horizontal part of the frame are two U-shaped holders preferably of
wire situated one on either side of the vertical part which serve to hold the cover of
the book and those leaves which are not required to be turned over.
:-
That part of the apparatus by which the leaves are turned over is constructed as
follows provide a number of L-shaped levers, preferably about eight, but
a larger or smaller number may be used each made preferably of a piece of
steel wire bent to that form and about equal in height and length to the height
and half the width of the frame. The vertical arms of the said levers are placed in
the said division of the vertical part of the frame their upper ends being fixed
thereto. In their normal state the said arms lie one in front of the other their

page_text: horizontal parts extending along in front of the left hand half of the horizontal part
of the frame. At the outer end of each of the horizontal parts of the said levers is a
spring clip consisting of a pair of vertical spring fingers capable of holding one of
the leaves of the music between them. The said spring fingers may either be
formed of wire in a piece with the levers by bending the wire twice upwards and
downwards or otherwise into the required shape or they may be stamped from sheet
metal and fixed to the wire levers. The vertical part of each of the said wire levers
forms a spring so that if its horizontal part is moved round from its normal position
on the left hand side of the frame round its vertical part as a centre to the other side
of the frame its vertical part will be twisted and on the horizontal part being
released will cause it to spring back to its normal position. At the right hand side
of the horizontal part of the frame I provide a forked bracket which projects
therefrom and is so situated that one or all of the spring levers will, when moved
round to that side of the frame, fit therein. The said levers are held in the forked
bracket by means of a hooked catch near the extremity of the bracket which is
inclined in front and is pressed back when struck by the levers in passing into the
slot but is caused by means of a spring to shoot across the slot when the levers have
passed into the slot so as to prevent their return.
When the apparatus as above in part described is in uso the book or sheet of music
is held as above described and the leaves which are required to be turned over are
severally placed in the spring-fingers of the horizontal levers which are then held on
the right hand side of the stand by the spring catch. On the side of the forked
bracket opposite to the said hooked catch is provided a releasing lever for the
purpose of releasing the horizontal levers and turning the leaves one at a time.
One end of the said releasing lever projects from the bracket conveniently to the
player's right hand and when it is pressed downwards its other end passes between
the first and second horizontal levers and pressing back the hooked catch releases the
first lever which flys round with the leaf held by it to the left hand side of the stand
but holds back the second lever and its leaf. Directly the hand is released from
the releasing lever it springs upwards and allows the second horizontal lever to
move a short distance forward to the spring catch ready to be released when
required and the third lever held back by the releasing lever and so on until all
the levers have similarly been released and the leaves held by them turned
over one at a time to the left hand side of the stand. Projecting from the
horizontal part of the stand is a semi-circular guide forined preferably of two
pieces of wire side by side bent into that form between which the horizontal levers
move. On the said guide and between each lever is a loose washer which washers
keep the levers a proper distance apart and, moving round with them, prevent
their getting entangled with each other.
I sometimes arrange for the lever which releases the horizontal levers and leaves
as above described to be operated by the player's foot and this is particularly
applicable to music stands for performers on trumpets and other like instruments.
This I carry out by providing a treadle lever at the bottom of the music stand
which is connected, by a cord led over suitable pulleys, to the said releasing lever.
This may also be applied to pianofortes, organs and harmoniums by passing the cord
which is attached to the releasing lever down between the keys over suitable pulleys
to a pedal.
Instead of connecting the pedal or pedal lever to the releasing lever by a cord as
above described, levers and links or wires suitably arranged may be employed.
Dated this 7th day of Januar 1007
CHARLES BOSWORTH KETLEY,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Apparatus for Holding and for Turning Over
the Leaves of Books or Sheets of Music.
1, JAMES FREDRICK CROWTON, of 3, Bedford Terrace, Bellis Street, Monument
Road, Birmingham, Warwickshire, Jeweller, 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 :-
This invention has reference to a new or improved apparatus for holding and for
Lurning over the leaves of books or sheets of music which is constructed
substantially as hereinafter described and in order that the said invention may be
the better understood I will in describing the same refer to the accompanying sheets
of drawings of which Fig. 1 is a front elevation, Fig. 1* is a part back elevation,
Fig. 2 a plan and Fig. 3a side elevation of the said apparatus constructed according
to this invention; Fig. 4 is a sectional side elevation of the same and Figs. 5, 6, 7
and 8 illustrate on an enlarged scale the operation of part of the same as hereinafter
described and set forth.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the Figures.
I provide a frame preferably 1-shaped the central part being divided
longitudinally into two parts a', a² which are connected together by links b,
preferably two in number, at the back so that the part a can be opened out
parallel from the other at or be fixed tight against it so as to securely hold the
back of a piece of sheet music between them. The two parts a', a² of the vertical
piece are opened out from one another for the insertion of a piece of music or for
holding the same by means of a lever c at the back which is centred to one part a
at and has an eccentric slot c³ through which projects a pin d fixed to the other
part a. By moving this lever c partly around its centre either up as shewn in
Fig. 1 or down as shown in Fig. 1* the eccentric slot c³ acting as a cain on the pin d
opens the part out from the other part a¹ or closes them together as may be
required. In order that the apparatus will hold a thick book of hound music open
when required I fix near the base of the vertical part of the said frame two stout
wires e, e projecting upwards, their upper ends being free, between which and the
vertical part a, a² of the frame the cover of the book can be inserted, and a bent
wire e connected to the horizontal piece a² and to the vertical piece a' may also be used.
Fixed to the horizontal part a³ of the frame are two U-shaped holders/preferably
of wire situated one on either side of the vertical part which serve to hold the cover
of the book and those leaves which are not required to be turned over.
That part of the apparatus by which the leaves are turned over is constructed
as follows:-1 provide a number of L-shaped levers marked g, preferably about
eight, but a larger or smaller number may be used each made preferably of a piece of
steel wire hent to that form and about equal in height and length to the height and
half the width of the frame. The vertical arms g' of the levers g are placed in the
said division of the vertical part of the frame a groove a being provided in the

page_text: h
piece a¹ for them to lie in and their upper ends are fixed to the upper end of
the vertical piece a¹. In their normal state the said arms lie one in front of the
other their horizontal parts g extending along in front of the left hand half of the
horizontal part of the frame one of the arms is thus shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 2.
At the outer end g³ of each of the horizontal parts g of the said levers is a spring
clip consisting of a pair of vertical spring fingers h¹, h² capable of holding one of
the leaves of the music between them. The said spring fingers h', h may either be
formed of wire in a piece with the levers by bending the wire twice upwards and
downwards or otherwise into the required shape or they may be stamped from sheet
metal and fixed to the wire levers as represented by Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the
accompanying drawings, or the clips may be otherwise arranged so as to hold a leaf
of a book as their particular construction forms no part of this invention. The
vertical part g of each of the said wire levers forms a spring so that if its
horizontal part is moved round from its normal position on the left hand side of the
frame round its vertical part as a centre to the other side of the frame, as shewn
by Figs. 1, 2 and 3, its vertical part will be twisted and on the horizontal part g
being released will cause it to spring back to its normal position on the left hand
side of the apparatus. At the right hand side of the horizontal part a³ of the frame
I provide a forked bracket which projects therefrom and is so situated that one or
all of the spring levers will, when moved round to that side of the frame, as shewn
in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, fit therein. The levers g are held in the forked bracket i by
means of a hooked catchj near the extremity of the bracket i which is inclined at
in front so as to be pressed back when struck by the levers g in passing into the
slot but is caused by means of its spring shank to shoot across the slot
when the levers have passed into the slot so as to prevent their return, see
Fig. 5.
When the apparatus as above in part described is in use the book or sheet of
music is held as above described and the leaves which are required to be turned over
are severally placed in the spring fingers h³, h of the horizontal levers g which are
then held on the right hand side of the stand in the slot of the bracket by the
spring catch j. On the side of the forked bracket i opposite to the hooked catch j is
provided a releasing leverk for the purpose of releasing the horizontal levers g and
turning the leaves one at a time. One end of this releasing lever k projects from
the bracket i conveniently to the player's right hand and the lever is pivotted to
the bracket by a pin 7. When the end of the lever k is pressed downwards its
other end passes between the first and second horizontal levers, see Fig. 6, of
those which are being held and pressing back the hooked catch j releases the first
lever I which flies round with the leaf held by it to the left hand side of the stand
but holds back the second lever and its leaf. In Fig. 5 four levers g are
represented as being held in the bracket the other four being on the left hand side a
of the frame and in Fig. 6 one of these four levers has just been released and three
remain held in the bracket i. Directly the hand is released from this releasing
lever it springs upwards, see Fig. 5 and allows the second horizontal lever to
move a short distance forward to the spring catch j ready to be released when
required and the third lever held back by the releasing lever k and so on until all the
levers have similarly been released and the leaves held by them turned over one at a
time to the left hand side of the stand. Projecting from the horizontal part a² of
the stand is a semi-circular guide formed preferably of two pieces of wire m², m²
side by side one above the other bent into that form between which the horizontal
levers g move. On the guide m², m² and between each lever g is a loose washer n 5
which washers keep the levers a proper distance apart and, moving round with
them, prevent their getting entangled with each other.
I sometimes arrange for the lever which releases the horizontal levers g and the
leaves as above described to be operated by the player's foot and this is particularly
applicable to music stands for performers on trumpets and other like instruments. 5
This carry out by providing a treadle lever at the bottom of the music stand which
is connected, by a cord led over suitable pulleys, to the said releasing lever k. This

page_text: may also be applied to pianofortes, organs and harmoniums by passing the cord
which is attached to the releasing lever down between the keys over suitable pulleys
to a pedal.
Instead of connecting the pedal lever to the releasing lever by a cord as above
described, levers and links or wires suitably arranged may be employed as will be
readily understood.
In order to readily and securely attach the apparatus above described to the
music stand for instance of a pianoforte I provide two studs o³, o³ fixed to the
paris a', a respectively and on to which the ends of a folded elastic band p can
be sprung after having been passed round the central vertical strip of the music
stand.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :
1st. In an apparatus for holding and for turning over the leaves of books or
sheets of music the combination with the frame a', a³ of the loose clamping piece a
jointed to the upright a¹ and provided with means substantially as described by
which the loose piece a² can be opened out from the upright a or closed against
the upright a', the spring levers g having their vertical arms fixed in the upright a',
and the holding and releasing mechanism consisting of the bracket i, spring
catch j, the hooked releasing lever all substantially as and for the purposes
set forth.
2nd. In combination, the frame consisting of the cross piece a³, provided with
guides m³, m³ arranged side by side, and the vertical piece chambered on its inner
face to receive the stems g' of the turning lovers g, the clamp comprising the loose
piece a jointed to the vertical piece a of the frame, the L-shaped turning levers
having their vertical arms fixed in the vertical piece a of the frame, and a
holding and releasing lever, substantially as described and for the purpose
stated.
3rd. In combination with the frame of an apparatus for turning over the leaves of
books or music and the leaf turning levers thereof, a holding and releasing means
consisting of the bracket i, the spring catch), and the hooked spring lever & arranged
to operate substantially as described and set forth.
4th. In combination with the frame of an apparatus for turning over the leaves
of books or music, the leaf holding means herein described consisting of the
loose piece a jointed to the back of the frame substantially as described, and
the lever c jointed to the frame and having an eccentric slot e engaging with a
pind on the loose piece a² all substantially as and for the purposes herein
set forth.
1
& Criska 1807
CHARLES BOSWORTH KETLEY,
Agent for the Applicant.