IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SHAW, of Glossop, in the County of Derby, Brass Worker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the First day of December, in the second year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Shaw, Her especial license, that I, the said John Shaw, my exors, adiňors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Shaw, my exors, admors,
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 THE ARRANGEMENT
AND CONSTRUCTION OF WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Shaw, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same 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 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 Shaw, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to consist in

page_text: such an arrangement and construction of wind musical instruments as
enables me to flatten or sharpen or otherwise alter the tone of wind instru-
ments, such as horns, trumpets, trombones, and the like, by adding to or
diminishing the length of the wind passage by means of a moveable plate
(which I call a swivel or pivot plate), into which various lengths of tubeing are
fastened, and which lengths are brought into correspondence with the main
wind passage of the instrument at pleasure by slight movements of the finger,
acting either directly or indirectly upon the said moveable plate. And in
further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said John Shaw, do hereby
describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed, by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing annexed, and
to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a perspective view of two curved tubes E and F, of
different lengths, soldered into a moveable plate A, which is perforated with
corresponding holes opposite each end of each tube. B is a corresponding
fixed plate soldered on to the main wind passage of the instrument (which, in
this instance, is supposed to be a trumpet), the parts C, D, representing the
said main wind passage; corresponding holes being made in this plate B,
opposite the end of C and D; the two plates B and A are fastened together in
the centre by a screw pivot G which passes through the plate A, and screwed
into the plate B, and when adjusted is fixed by screwing down the nut H, thus
forming a pivot for the plate A to turn on, as herein-after explained. The
dotted outline S is a boss for the finger to act upon, in order to turn the plate
A on the pivot when required. Figure 2 shows the plate A as it a
appears when
turned on its pivot by the finger being applied to it; I being a strong spring
fixed on the side of the fixed plate B by the screws J, K, in order to force the
plate A back to its former position when the pressure of the finger is removed.
Figures 3 and 4 show the two plates A and B separated; L being a stud acting
when the plates A and B are placed together in the recess M, and thereby
forming a stop to regulate the action of the plate A and to prevent the finger
drawing it too far, and to secure the correct correspondence of the additional
tubes E and F and the main wind passage C, D; and as similar letters are
used to denote similar parts in all the Figures, these will not require further
explanation. Figure 5 is a separate view of the spring I.
section of the plates A and B, and of the pivot G and nut H; and Figure 7
is a side view of a trumpet with two of my said moveable plates, with
Figure 6 is a

page_text: are only two in
additional tubes of different lengths fitted to it, shewing how the bosses S, S,
come into position for the first and second fingers of the right hand to act
upon them. The additional tubes (represented in Figure
number, one for the whole tone, and one for the half tone.
In playing the
instrument when the plates are held by the spring I, in the position shewn in
Figure 1, the wind will, of course, pass through the passage C, the plates
A, B, the tube E, and the passage D; but if the finger be pressed on the boss
S, and the plate A drawn into the position shewn at Figure 2, then the wind
will pass from the passage C through the plates A, B, into the tube F, and
out again through the passage D; the wind passage being thus lengthened by
as much as the length of the tube F exceeds that of the tube E, and thus
flattening the tone of the instrument accordingly; if, on the contrary, E was
made the longer tube, and F the shorter, the effect of this action of the finger
would, of course, be to sharpen the tone of the instrument. Now, whereas it
is evident that my said moveable and fixed plates A, B, may be made circular,
so as never to expose their internal surface to dust or other injury, or of any
other more fanciful and convenient shape; and whereas also my said addi-
tional tubes, which may be of any required length or curve or form, according
to the instrument to which they are to be applied, may, with their moveable
plate, be united by a fixed plate and pivot to any part of the main wind pas-
sage of the instrument which may be found most convenient, and in any number,
the number of plates required for any one instrument depending on how far down
the scale the instrument is intended to be rendered chromatic; and whereas
also the necessary action may be given to the plate A, either as here shewn by
a boss as at S, acted upon directly by the finger or indirectly by any inter-
mediate arrangement by which a perpendicular movement for the finger may
be obtained or otherwise; but whereas I claim as my Invention the sharpening
or flattening of or otherwise altering the tone of such wind instruments, as the
horn, trumpet, trombone, and the like, by bringing tubes of various lengths in
correspondence with the main wind passage of the instrument, by means of
swivel or pivot plates, as herein-before described, without restriction as to the
number or form of such tubes or of such plates.
And such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her said
Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare
this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my
said Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or