IMPROVEMENTS IN STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1884

page_text: I, HERBERT JOHN HADDAN, of the firm of Herbert and Company, Patent
Agents, of 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STRINGED MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS," a communication to me from abroad by J. M. Grob, of Leipzig,
and K. A. Gütter, of Markneukirchen, both in the German Empire, to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to stringed musical instruments and has for its object to
enable the player to produce harmonious chords by sounding the whole of the
strings simultaneously, so that the instrument can be played without requiring the
player to find the various notes belonging to a chord, whereby unskilled persons
are enabled to produce a piece of music or an accompaniment.
For this purpose I arrango across the strings of the instrument a series of
movable rails, each of which is secured at its ends to a pair of parallel levers pivoted
to the sides of the instrument, so that each rail may be moved towards and from
the strings independently of the other rails.
Each rail represents a chord and is provided with a series of projections or
dampers facing the strings and lined with cloth, felt, leather or other suitable
material.
The projections or dampers serve to put out of action those strings which do not
belong to the chord represented by the respectivo rail, by coming in contact with
the said strings and preventing the vibration of the same. Consequently there are
as many dampers attached to each rail as there are strings which do not belong to
the chord of that rail.
The dampers of each rail are placed over those strings which must be set out of
action in order to produce the chord represented by the respective rail.
When the instrument is played, the whole of the strings are sounded simul-
taneously, and any required chord is produced by pressing the respective rail

page_text: (either directly or by means of suitable mechanism) thereby calling into action
those dampers which suppress the notes not included in the chord to be produced.
The invention is applicable to zithers, pianos and similar stringed instruments.
In the case of pianos, the rail, provided on its underside with dampers, may be
suspended from a double-armed lever, the opposite end of which is hinged to
another double-armed lever extending to the outside of the frame of the piano,
so that the extremity of said lever is situated a short distance above the key board.
By depressing this extremity, the rail is lowered, so as to put its dampers into
contact with the strings of the piano. Or the extremity of the rail may be con-
nected with a string or rod extending vertically downward, so that by pulling 1
down the said string or rod the rail is caused to approach the strings.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I, HERBERT JOHN HADDAN, of the firm of Herbert and Company, Patent Agents,
of 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS,
a communication to me from abroad by J. M. Grob, of Leipzig, and K. A. Gütter,
of Markneukirchen, both in Germany, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained, in and by the following
statement:
This invention relates to string instruments and has for its object to enable the
player to produce harmonious chords whilst touching the whole of the strings
simultaneously, so that the instrument can be played without requiring the player
to find the various tones belonging to a harmonious chord, whereby persons
unskilled are enabled to produce a piece of music or an accompaniment.
These improvements are shown in the accompanying drawing, Figª 1 to 3, as
applied to a kind of zither.
For this purpose I arrange across the strings of the instrument a series of rails a,
having one ond in a slot of the bed b, and the other in a slot of the bed b¹, and
resting on spiral springs & which press these rails against the cap-pieces n and n¹
fixed on the beds 6 and b¹ over the slots and thus raise them automatically above
the strings.
Each of these rails a is provided at suitable points with dampers c covered with
felt, cloth, leather &, so that, on pressing the rail a, the dampers c are pressed
against those strings which do not harmonise, and render them mute.
By pressing one of the rails a, all or a portion of the strings can be struck, and
yet only harmonious tones will be produced.
The instrument shown in the drawing has 3 rails a, and the dampers a are so
arranged, that, according as one lever or the other is pressed down, a different
harmony or chord is produced by striking all the strings simultaneously.
The number of rails a depends upon the number of harmonious chords, to be
produced-A second kind of construction is shown in Figs 4–6, and by this instru-
ment also harmonious tones can be produced, without having first to find them out
singly. In this case, the movable rails a lie across the instrument, their ends
resting in the slots of the beds 6 and 6 which guide the rails when they are
moved.
.
At suitable points of these rails, and on the side towards the strings, are attached
projecting tongues of sufficient length and made of metal or other suitable
material.
The rails are moved by buttons k placed on their upper side, and, when one of
the rails a is thus moved, the tongues attached to it touch or grip the strings
which harmonise with each other and thus produce the tones belonging to a
melody.
As seen in Fig 4 and Fig 5, three rails a are also employed in this case for the
sake of example, and their tongues s are so arranged, that a different harmony is
produced according as one rail or the other is pressed.
The number of rails a depends upon the number of chords to be produced,

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. A contrivance for silencing any string at pleasure by means of any number of
rails a rosting on springs & and having dampers c arranged and so distributed that
when the strings are struck simultaneously, only those which harmonise with each
other emit a sound.
2. The application of any number of movable rails a lying obliquely over the
strings, and provided at suitable points with tongues 2 so that on moving either of
the rails a, these tongues touch or grip the strings and produce tones which
harmonise with each other.