IMPROVEMENTS IN FLUTES
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CLINTON, of Greek Street, Soho Square, in the County of Middlesex, Professor
of Music, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of
December, One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the twelfth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Clinton, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial license,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Clinton, my
exors, adiňors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Clinton, my
exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN FLUTES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said John Clinton, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Clinton, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and.

page_text: ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say):
:-
My Invention consists,-
First, of giving motion to a distant key by the application of a bar placed
in a line with the edges of the finger holes, and in such manner that when a
finger is placed on any of those holes the bar will be depressed, and the key to
which it is connected will be closed over its hole. And,
Secondly, my Invention consists of so arranging the mechanism of a flute
that the closing of the C sharp and the B natural holes may be simultaneous
by the action of the second finger of the left hand upon the B natural hole,
directly or indirectly, at the same time leaving open the C natural hole if
required.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING:
The Drawing Fig. 1 shews part of a flute laid open. a is a bar connected
to a key, as shewn, and it lies near the edges of three holes; hence when either
of these holes are closed by a finger the key will be closed also. I have
shewn this bar as being connected with a key a' and passing three holes, but
this may be varied so long as a bar is similarly used. The bar here shewn is
intended as an example of the application of this part of my Invention, and
this improvement may be applied to other holes than those shewn in the
Drawing.
I will now describe the means I prefer for carrying out the second part of
my Invention. It has long been considered a great desideratum to obtain the
fingering of the following notes similar to that of the
ordinary flute, but with a proper arrangement of the
holes as regards their size and distance apart, and
0
affording the means of shutting the C sharp hole, at the same time leaving
open (or opening) the C natural hole, so that a full tone may be obtained.
When C natural is fingered thus | O × O | × × × 9 on the ordinary
flute, the C sharp hole is open and the C natural hole shut, whereas it should
be just the reverse in order to produce a good sound, viz, the C sharp. hole
ought to be shut and the C natural hole open. The mode of doing this ac-
cording to my Invention may be varied, but I believe the two following will be
found to be the best:-I arrange the mechanism so that the first finger of the
left hand shall act upon the C natural hole instead of the C sharp, as formerly.

page_text: The C sharp hole I place at the side of the flute with an open key over it,
upon which the thumb rests in the usual manner of holding the flute, which
shuts the C sharp hole; hence I obtain the fingering in the manner above
mentioned. I have placed the C sharp key between the same centres which
carries the B flat key, so that the latter key may be opened by the least action
of the thumb, and without opening the C sharp hole, as is shewn at Fig. f.
This system of mechanism, however, involves a slight departure from the
usual mode of fingering D on the fourth line and its octave higher, therefore
to retain those fingerings with the advantages before recited for C natural, I
employ the following means:-I apply open keys over the C sharp and the
B natural holes with a clutch to each, so that whenever the second finger of
the left hand is down it will shut the C sharp hole simultaneously by the
clutch of the B natural key acting on the C sharp key, and as the C sharp
hole is required to open for D natural (the second finger being also down for
that note), I have applied a duplicate hole for C sharp, over which there is an
open key acted upon by the third finger of the left hand thus: I place a
key cover the A natural hole upon the extremity of the bar c' (which is
placed on the flute from that hole to the highest or C sharp hole). At the
extremity of the bar c¹ I have applied a small arm d working upon the opposite
side of the centre, so that whenever the A natural hole is open the duplicate
C sharp hole is shut by means of the small arm falling upon the C sharp Key,
and when the A natural hole is shut the C sharp duplicate hole is open.
order to shut the duplicate C sharp hole whilst the third finger remains down,
I have applied a dumb key e under the first finger, so that when that key is
acted upon the tail of it will elevate the tail of the C sharp duplicate key and
close it simultaneously. This dumb key also acts upon (or closes) the first-
named C sharp key, likewise the C natural key immediately below and in a
line with it. The open key over the C natural hole has a clutch affixed to
receive the action of another clutch fixed to the tube which carries the A
natural key, so that when the third finger is down it closes the C natural hole
simultaneously. The long C natural key (formerly a straight key), I have
removed to the opposite side of the flute, bringing the ear of it within reach
of the first finger (of the right hand) by means of an arm crossing at the
extremity of the G sharp key, working both of those keys on the same rod
and between the same centres, all which will readily be understood by
examining the Drawing. I would remark in respect to this part of my In-
vention that I do not confine myself to the arrangement of mechanism shewn,
so long as the parts are so arranged that when any of the following combi-
nations of the fingers (termed "fingerings "), are employed for C natural:-
In