Improvements in or relating to Stringed Musical Instruments.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Nov., 1899 -Accepted, 6th Jan., 1900
[Communicated from abroad by JAMES E. MAYNADIER, of Rooms 801, 802, and 803,
Sears Building, 199 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
of America, Attorney, and Counsellor at Law.]
Improvements in or relating to Stringed Musical Instruments.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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:-
one
This invention relates to stringed musical instruments and in
embodiment is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:-
Figure 1 is an end view of one of my improved instruments with a portion
of the shield broken away.
Figure 2 is a partial plan of one of my improved instruments broken away in
parts to better illustrate my invention, and
Fig. 3 is an edge view showing the perforated plate hereinafter described.
Heretofore in all instruments of this class, that is, made of a frame carrying a
sounding board, with a bridge at the lower end of the board and strings extending
over the bridge and bent over the lower end of the board, the hitch pins have been
driven in holes drilled in the cross piece at the lower end of the frame, and each
string has been looped on its hitch pin. This construction has been found
objectionable in many respects, such as the need of a jig for drilling the holes,
the tedious labour of inserting each pin in its holder and driving them uniformly,
me fact that the hitch pins will not yield uniformly under the strain of the
strings, the tendency of the loop in the end of the string to fly over the end
of the hitch pin while stringing the instrument, the tendency of the hitch pin
block to split, and the like, due to the great number of hitch pins, and the
fact that each must be properly inserted in a block of wood. The object of my
invention is to do away with these objections and my invention is a stringed
instrument made up of a frame, a sounding board on the frame and a bridge
at the lower end of the board, with the lower cross piece of the frame grooved or
cut away and reinforced by a plate of metal covering the recess in the cross
piece formed by grooving it and provided with holes so shaped as to receive and
retain the looped or otherwise enlarged ends of the strings.
In the drawings A is the lower cross piece of the frame, made as usual except
that it is grooved or recessed at that surface in which the hitch pins have hereto-
fore been driven, this recess or groove is covered by a metal plate B, which is
securely fastened over the said recess, preferably by a flange b, and nails or
screws as clearly shown in the drawings. The perforations 62 in plate B are
arranged to suit the arrangement of the strings W, and each is large enough at one
end to admit the enlarged end of its string, so that by simply inserting that
enlarged or looped end and giving a slight pull upon the string, the stringer can
almost instantly secure that end of the string to the recessed cross piece and its
covering plate, which together constitute the hitch block. The perforations 6ª

page_text: may be made at a single operation of a punch and be thus each arranged exactly
right relatively to all the others, and the exact and accurate adjustment of plate B
with relation to cross piece A is readily attained, as will be obvious. My com-
pound hitch block consisting of the recessed piece A and the perforated plate B
is wholly free from the objections above alluded to, and adds to the strength and
durability of the instrument and also causes it to remain in tune much longer.
D) is a shield much used in certain forms of instruments of this class; but it is
mainly a matter of finish for such instruments as are now commonly called harps or
zithers" and forms no part of my invention.
1.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is: --
The improved stringed instrument above described composed of a frame; a
sounding board on that frame; a bridge on the lower end of the sounding board;
a perforated plate covering a groove in the lower cross piece of the frame, and
strings each secured at one end to the grooved cross piece by its perforated plate.
Dated this 28th day of November 1899.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
"
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.