Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 12th May, 1886.
Complete Left, 10th Feb., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 11th Mar., 1887.
I, FRIEDRICH ERNST PAUL EHRLICH, manufacturer of musical instruments, residing
at Gohlis near Leipsic, in the Kingdom of Saxony, German Empire, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
My invention relates to mechanical musical instruments in which the notes are
produced by tongues or strings that are caused to vibrate by being pulled upon and
then suddenly released, and the improvements consist in the construction of
mechanisms adapted to be actuated by means of surfaces provided with perforations
or recesses, the said mechanisms operating upon the tongues or strings by fingers,
which during their motion in one direction, pull the tongues or strings, while during
their receding motion they pass by the same without touching them.
For this purpose the pin designed to cooperate with the perforations or recesses of
the said surface is fixed to a lever pressed towards the latter by a spring. To this
lever is pivoted a bar carrying the finger whose office it is to sound the tongue or
string. When the said lever rises on account, of its pin engaging with a hole or
recess, the bar first exercises by its finger a pull on the tongue or string, and is there-
upon caused to recede by means of an inclined shoulder and a stop arranged opposite
thereto, so that the finger slips away from under the tongue or string, which is then
free to vibrate. In this position the bar is caught by an offset formed upon an
auxiliary lever pivoted to an arm of the aforesaid lever and disposed to turn about a
greater angle than the latter. When the parts return to their position of repose, the
said auxiliary lever moving downward together with the bar and also receding, guides
the finger of the bar past the tongue or string, and then releases the bar, which is
thereupon swung back by a spring into the position for renewed action.
If the tongue or string is provided with a damper, the same may be raised by
another finger on the aforesaid bar which is so arranged as not to slip away from
under the damper when the bar recedes to release the tongue or string.
If the mechanism is to be applied to instruments with strings, the string-operating
finger is preferably formed on the end of a wire fixed to the bar and adapted to be
passed between two neighbouring strings. In case there are two or three strings to
any note, the corresponding bar is fitted with a wire and a finger for each of them.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Mechanical Musical Instruments.
I, FRIEDRICH ERNST PAUL EHRLICH, manufacturer of musical instruments, residing
at Gohlis near Leipsic, in the Kingdom of Saxony, German Empire, 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 :-
My invention relates to mechanical musical instruments in which the notes are
produced by tongues or strings that are caused to vibrate by being pulled upon and
then suddenly released, and the improvements consist in the construction of
mechanisms adapted to be actuated by means of surfaces provided with perforations
or recesses, the said mechanisms operating upon the tongues or strings by fingers,
which, during their motion in one direction, pull the tongues or strings, while during
their receding motion they pass around the same without touching them.
On the annexed sheet of drawings Fig. 1 represents an improved mechanism for
one of the notes of an instrument with tongues, the parts being in the position of
repose. Fig. 2 shows the same mechanism with the parts in the position they occupy
after the tongue has been sounded. Fig. 3 is a view of the mechanism slightly
modified so as to adapt it to a stringed instrument having a single string for each
note. Fig. 3 shows a part of the mechanism constructed to sound three strings
simultaneously.
In Fig. 1a is a section of a perforated surface constituting a music sheet, the pin
designed to engage with the corresponding perforations of the same, and the note-
producing tongue. The pin forms part of a lever c pressed upward by a spring v.
To this lever is pivoted a bar d carrying the finger i, whose office it is to sound the
tongue g, and an inclined shoulder d¹, cooperating with a fixed stop r. The bar d is
forced by a spring u towards the said tongue, and during its state of rest it bears
against the stop t. To the lever e is moreover fixed an arm e, carrying the lever f
which is provided with the said stop t and an offset f", the said lever being pressed
by a spring w against a stationary stop m. h is a damper arranged to be lifted by the
finger of the bar d. The stops r, and m are preferably made adjustable.
When a hole of the music-sheet is brought opposite to the pin b, the spring lifts
the lever e together with the bar d, which consequently raises the tongue g by its
finger, and the damper by the finger j. During the latter part of its upward motion
the said bar strikes with its inclined shoulder d against the stop r, and is thereby
caused to recede from the tongue by so much that the finger will relase the same,
while the finger j, made of suitable length, retains its hold upon the damper; see
Fig. 2.
The tongue will then vibrate. Simultaneously with this motion of the bar d,
the lever comes into the position of Fig. 2, so that its offset f¹ will be laterally opposite
to the end of the bar d. The lever e being thereupon pushed down again by
part of the sheet a acting against the pin b, the bar d will be caught by the offset f1;
the finger i being thereby guided past the tongue g while the parts return to their
normal position. Shortly before this position is attained, the offset 1 is withdrawn
a full

page_text: The
from the bar d on account of the lever oscillating about a greater angle than the
lever and the bar is returned into contact with the stop by the spring u.
C₁
parts are then ready for renewed action.
For lifting all the dampers at a time the instrument may be provided with a bar s
extending transversely through the instrument and fixed to arms of a shaft t adapted
to be turned by hand.
If the described mechanism is to be used for sounding a string, such as shown in
section at g', Fig. 3, the finger i is formed at the end of a wire, fixed laterally to,
and constituting a prolongation of the bar d, and which may easily be passed between
two neighbouring strings. The damper h is in this case arranged to be lifted by a
finger projecting sidewardly from the wire under the damper-lever. The music-
sheet represcated in Fig. 3, is provided with recesses instead of perforations; but in
either kind of instrument a perforated or a recessed sheet may be used.
In instruments having two or three strings to any note, the corresponding bar dis
fitted with a wire and finger i for each of the said strings, as shown by Fig. 4.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is:
1. The combination, with a sound-producing medium (such as a tongue g or a
string g) and a surface a provided with perforations or their equivalents, of the lever c
with pin b and arm e, the bar d pivoted to lever c and having the inclined shoulder d¹
and finger i, the lever pivoted to the arm e and provided with the offset f¹ and
stop t, the springs u, v and w, and the stops r and m, substantially as and for the
purpose described.
2. The combination, with the sound producing medium (such as & tongue g or a
string ) a damper h and a surface a provided with perforations or their equivalents,
of the lever with pin band arm e, the bar d pivoted to lever c and having the
inclined shoulder d' and fingers and j, the lever pivoted to the arm e and provided
with offset and stop t, the springs u, v and w, and the stops r and m, substantially
as and for the purpose described.