Improvements in the Manufacture of Reeds for Musical Instruments.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Oct., 1895-Accepted, 7th Mar., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Reeds for Musical Instruments.
I, JOSEPH WOJCIECHOWSKI of Kowno, in the Empic of Russia, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manuer the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
My invention has elation to the manufacture of reeds for musical instruments
such as melodeons, accordions, harmonicas, conceitions and the like
The pincipal objects of my invention are first, to provide a durable need of
simple constriction and adapted to mamtam its purity of tone, second, to provide
need, one end of which is moulded or soldered in a supporting frame and adapted
to vibrate in stable channels formed in said frame, thud, to provide a reed the
under sun face of which is concave and the upper sui face flat; and fourth, to provide
a teed formed from a stup of diawn metal coated with copper, bronze of the like
by electro-deposition or otherwise ou both sides and then punched out, bent and a
portion of the coating removed to constitute a frame and reed integial with each
other.
My invention stated in general terms, consists of a need for musical instruments
constructed and alanged in substantially the manner hereinafter described and
claimed.
The nature and scope of my invention will be more fully understood from the
following descriptiou taken in connection with the accompanying diawings forming
part hereof, and in which,
Figures 1 and 2 are respectively longitudinal section and top or plan views of
the usual need and frame;
Figure 3 represents a plan view of three ordinary reeds separated from the
frame;
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the unproved frame and reed, illustrating the
end of the reed soldered or moulded in the frame ;
Figure 5 13 a similar section of a modified form of the reed,
Figure 6 is a top or plan view of Figure 4,
Figure 6 is an end elevation of Figure 6,
Figure 7 represents in bottom plan two iceds formed with a concave under and a
Hat upper face, the ends of said reeds being united by moulding or soldering the
ame into the frame and illustrating a method of tuning such needs,
Figme 8 represents in top or plau view a complete octave, including sharps and
flats, of needs united to the flame according to my invention
Figure 9 epresents in side and plau views a punch for cutting out a need and
frame;
Figure 10 represents in cross-section, a modified form of my invention, in which
the reed and fame are integral, the reed and frame consisting mitially of a strip
of diawn metal coated on all sides with copper, bronze on the like, and
Figures 11, 12 and 13 illustrate in longitudinal sectious the different stages of
the manufactune of a reed illustrated in Figme 10.
Refening to Figures 1 and 2, the old style iced a was enlarged and apertured at
one end and united thereat to a fiame c by means of a pun o bolt b, the free end of
the need a being vibrated in a channel or slit c', in the frame c These reeds a
were rectangular in cross-section, both the upper and lower faces being flat. This
construction of reed was and is defective for the reason that the reed when vibrating
will slip at its apertuned end from under the pin or bolt. b, and hence such need
rapidly loses its clearness and purity of tone

page_text: Beside this defect, to change the pitch of the reed should the saine, in the course
of hand manufacture be incorrect, the reed must be filed on its edge as illustrated
at B and C, Figure 3, either at the point or base of the same. When the reed
is filed at the base its elasticity is impaired and the need readily breaks under too
olent agitation 01 vibration. If the reed be filed at the point, pieces of the
metal will, unless extraordinary care be exercised, cling to the point and the
reed in vibrating will lose its pure sound and will be baish and stungy
To remedy these defects is the principal object of my present invention.
Instead of uniting the reed a, to its frame c, by means of bolts, rivets or pins სა
use is made of means as shown in Figures, 4, 5, 6 and 8, in which the end of the
reed a is united to the frame c, either by casting or moulding the frame c, upon
the end of the seed, or by soldering or brazing the end of the reed duectly to oi
in the frame
Another way of uniting the frame and need to either is illustrated in Figures 9
to 13 of the diawings. In this form a strip of drawn metal a, is taken, such as is
ordinarily used for Leeds and encased on covered with a laver aº, of copper, bronze,
phospho-bronze or the like, either by electio-deposition or in any well known
manner
The strip thus formed is then punched out into the form illustrated in Figure 11,
by means of the ordinary metal punch illustrated in Figure 9, the said punch forming
at the same time the slit a*, which is slightly wider than the need tongue. The
punched out portion of the coated strip is then bent upwards at ught angles to the
main body of the stup, as illustrated in Figure 12, and the coating aº, is removed
from both sides of the drawn metal a, thus leaving the reed tongue a, which is
thereupon bent down above the slit ax, in a plane parallel with the strip as shown
in Figure 13. This form of reed is especially adapted for instruments manipulated
by hand, such as harmonicas, accordeons, concertinas and the like, whereas the
reed illustrated in Figures 4, 5, 6 and 8, which is soldered or moulded to the
frame C, is generally of lead and very heavy and is especially adapted for use in
melodeons or the like
To avoid the disadvantages heretofore existing in the tuning of the reed, it is
preferred to make the reed in the form illustrated in Figure 7, in which the upper
surface is flat and the under surface concaved To tune the reed, the coucave
portion is filed either at the point illustrated at B, in Figure 7, or at the base as
shown at C, in Figure 7, and this filing neither weakens the reed no impairs the
clearness or quality of its tone.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manuer the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim it
1
1. A reed for inusical instruments provided with a tongue united to the frame
without fastenings, substantially as described.
2. A need for musical instruments formed by securing the end directly in the
frame by moulding, casting or soldering, substantially as described.
3. A reed for musical instruments, consisting of a strip of drawn metal coated
with copper or the like, punched out in required form and the tongue of the reed
freed from its coating and bent to required form, substantially as described.
4. A reed for musical instruments, consisting of a strip of metal having a flat
upper surface and a concaved under surface, the end of the reed being united to
the fiame without fastenings, substantially as described
Dated this 16th day of October 1895.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6 Loid Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicant.