IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO BELL MUSICAL INSTRU- MENTS AND BELLS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Skaife, William Gillett, and Charles
Bland, all of Croydon, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO BELL MUSICAL INSTRU-
MENTS AND BELLS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Skaife, William
L
Gillett, and Charles Bland at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 17th December 1873.
WC, THOMAS SKAIFE, WILLIAM GILLETT, and CHARLES BLAND, all of
Croydon, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO. BELL
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND BELLS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the construction of an apparatus for
damping and toning musical bells, whereby rapid music can be per-
formed on musical bells as effectually as it can be by the percussion of
wires in the ordinary pianoforte.

page_text: First. By the interposition according to our improvements of a series
of strips of vulcanised india-rubber combined with a textile substance
between the surfaces of bells required to be damped and the levers or
shafts of the bells' percussion hammers in such wise that when the
hammer shafts are operated upon by finger keys the corresponding
damping strips are removed from the bells' surfaces at the will of the
musical performer.
Secondly. By the interposition according to our improvements of a
toner made of cloth, leather, india-rubber, or other like substance
between the percussion hammer and the bell on which it falls,
whereby the tone of the bell is deepened or softened at the will of the
performer.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Skaife, William Gillett, and Charles
Bland in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th June 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
SKAIFE, WILLIAM GILLET, and CHARLES BLAND, all of Croydon, in the
County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Thomas Skaife, William Gillett, and
Charles Bland, Her special license that we, the said Thomas Skaife,
William Gillett, and Charles Bland, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Skaife, William
Gillett, and Charles Bland, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and.
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO BELL MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS AND BELLS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,

page_text: the said Thomas Skaife, William Gillett, and Charles Bland, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or
their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them.
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Bland, on behalf of myself
and the said Thomas Skaife and William Gillett, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to the construction of an apparatus for
damping and toning musical bells, whereby rapid music can be per_
formed on musical bells as effectually as it can be by the percussion of
wires in the ordinary pianoforte, a keyboard and mechanical action being
arranged in combination with a series of bells for the purpose of striking
them in any order that may be desired.
First. By the interposition according to our improvements of a series
of strips of vulcanized india-rubber combined with a textile substance
between the surfaces of bells required to be damped and the levers or
shafts of the bells' percussion hammers in such wise that when the
hammer shafts are operated upon by finger keys the corresponding
damping strips are removed from the bells' surfaces at the will of the
musical performer.
Secondly. By the interposition according to our improvements of a
toner made of cloth, leather, india-rubber, or other like substance
between the percussion hammer and the bell on which it falls,
whereby the tone of the bell is deepened or softened at the will of the
performer.
Our improvements are applicable either to small bells, chimes, or
church bells.

page_text: Figure 1 represents a musical bell a, in contact with which the india-
rubber damper 6 is arranged in accordance with our improvements.
To the upper end of the damper a thread or cord is attached (made of
any suitable textile material), the lower extremity of which is fastened
to a brass or other flexible metallic wire g, the wire being attached to
the lower part of the shaft of the hammer c. The hammer c is caused
to strike the outer surface of the bell a, as shown in Figure 2, by the
finger key d being pressed upon with a finger at e. As soon as the
finger key is depressed at e the opposite end of the key presses upwards
against the butt o of the hammer shaft p, and brings the hammer c into
striking contact with the bell a, but not before the damper is removed
· from contact with the bell by the pulling of the thread line or cord ƒ
and the wire by the action of the hammer shaft p, as operated on by
the finger key d. So long as the finger key is pressed down at e so long
will the damper be kept from contact with the bell a. The whole
series of dampers are so arranged that they may be brought into or
thrown out of action at the will of the performer, and they are also so
arranged as to be capable of being moved out of position when required
to admit of the ringing of the bells.
I
The damper A, as shown at Figure 3, consists of a ring of wood or
other light structure with india-rubber, felt, or other pliable material on
its surface nearest the bell, being strengthened by cords, rods, or other-
wise, and attached to the hammer lever by an arm or spring B, which
can act as a counter spring for the hammer. The position of the
damper at the moment of contact of the hammer with the bell is clearly
shown in blue lines, and when the damper has dropped a short distance
from the bell it rests on supports c, c. The hammer is lifted by the
"carillon" or chiming machine immediately after contact, and the
damper being moved with it is pressed against the bell by the arm or
spring B.
+
Figure 4 represents a set of 8 musical bells a, a, fitted with a toner k, l,.
in accordance with our improvements. The toner may be made cither
of wool, mohair, alpaca, leather, singly or in combination with cach
other, or other similar suitable substances. The toner h, k, on being
interposed between the hammers c and the bells a, a, so alters the
tones of the bells when struck with their respective hammers as to please
the car with the change of tone effected thereby.

page_text: Figure 5 represents an end view of the bells in Figure 4. i, i, is a
frame, at the higher extremity of which one end of the bell toner h, h,
is fastened. The toner is represented as removed out of the way of the
hammer c as the latter strikes the bell a. The toner is placed in or out
of action by the action of a lever l, m, by the pressure of a finger at m or
the relaxing of a pedal cord at n, which operation relaxes the cord k, k,
and allows the weighted end j of the frame i, i, to elevate the toner h, h,
out of the reach of the hammer c whenever it is desirable to extract
from the bell its shrillest sound. The dampers and toners previously
described may be used in combination when desired.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing or carrying the same into practice, we would have it under-
stood that we do not confine ourselves to the exact details hercin-before
described, so long as the main features of our Invention are retained;
but what we claim is,-
First. The arrangement and application of dampers to bell musical
instruments and bells, substantially in the manner and for the purposes
hercin-before described and represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the
Drawings hereunto annexed.
Secondly. We claim the arrangement and application of toners / to
bell musical instruments and bells, substantially in the manner and for
the purposes herein-before described and represented in Figures 4 and 5
of the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Bland, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE,
Patent Agent,
CHARLES BLAND. (L.S.)
34, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane,
W.C.