CERTAIN. IMPROVEMENTS IN FLUTES, CLARIONETS, AND OTHER SIMILAR WIND INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MITCHELL ROSE, of the firm of Rudall and Rose, late of Tavistock Street,
Covent Garden, but now of Southampton Street, Covent Garden, in the County
of Middlesex, Musical Instrument Makers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Sixth day of September, in the eleventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Mitchell Rose, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said John Mitchell Rose, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said John Mitchell Rose, my executors,
administrators, 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 mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention of "CERTAIN.
IMPROVEMENTS IN FLUTES, CLARIONETS, AND OTHER SIMILAR WIND INSTRUMENTS,"
being partly a communication from a foreigner residing abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said John Mitchell
Rose, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to.
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and

page_text: 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 Mitchell Rose, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
The Invention, for which I have obtained Her Majesty's Letters Patent, as
aforesaid, consists, firstly, in constructing flutes of all descriptions, clarionets,
and other similar wind instruments, of metal, instead of wood or other
materials; by so doing, the instruments may be kept in better tune than those
of the ordinary construction, and are less liable to split or crack from heat, as
is often the case with wooden instruments when exported to warm climates.
Various metals or alloys of metals may be employed for the purpose, but the
metals I prefer for the tubular part of the instrument are either silver, silver
gilt, alloys of gold or brass, gilt or silvered inside and out. I do not, however,
intend to confine myself to the above, as other metals or their alloys may
employed, and will be found to answer for ordinary purposes; however, a
drawn tube made of brass, and silvered inside and out by the electrotype
process, is perhaps the most desirable, as combining cheapness of cost with
great brilliancy of tone; but when expence is not a matter of importance, I
propose to employ silver or gold, or alloys of these metals, as the tone of the
instrument when made of these metals is much finer than those made of less
expensive substances.
be
The Invention consists, secondly, in making the body of flutes perfectly
cylindrical, instead of a long cone, as has heretofore been done; but the head
or mouth-piece of the instrument, instead of being cylindrical, as heretofore, I
make conical, or, rather, in the form of a parabola. By constructing a flute
internally in this manner, I am enabled to produce an instrument that may be
played with greater facility and give more perfect tones than the ordinary
instrument.
In the accompanying Drawings I have shewn at Figure 1 a sectional repre-
sentation of a Boehm flute, made of metal, and constructed according to the
improved plans above set forth, drawn to the natural size, but without the keys
as these latter are arranged and constructed in precisely the same manner as
in the ordinary Boehm flute. Figure 2 represents a wooden flute, constructed
in the ordinary manner, with a conical tube for the body, the head or mouth

page_text: piece being cylindrical; but upon examining Fig. 1 it will be found that
exactly the converse is the case in the improved instrument, the body being
cylindrical, and the head-piece formed internally conical, or the section of a
parabola. I would observe that I also construct flutes of wood or other
materials than metal, with a cylindrical body and conical or parabolic head-
piece, in the manner shewn in Fig. 1, and above described.
The third part of the Invention consists in a method of strengthening or
improving the note known as the middle C natural in ordinary flutes, which
note is always very defeak and defective. The method of effecting this object
is by making an additional small vent hole near the d, or first hole, as seen in
Fig. 2, and which additional hole is furnished with a key, which is opened by
the first finger of the left hand when the C natural is required.
Having now described the Invention, for which I have obtained Her
Majesty's Letters Patent, as aforesaid, I wish it to be understood that I claim,
as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before recited Letters Patent,-
First, constructing flutes, whether of the ordinary description of Boehm
flutes, or such as those described under the second head of the present Inven-
tion, also clarionets and other similar wind instruments, of metal or alloys of
metal.
Second, constructing flutes with the internal part of the body perfectly
cylindrical, and the head or mouth-piece conical, or the section of a parabola,
as above set forth and described.
Third, the method of strengthening or improving the note known as the
middle C natural by the addition of a small vent hole, as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Mitchell Rose, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fortweight