Improvements in the Manufacture, Adjustment, and Renovation of Violins, Violas, Violoncellos, Double Basses, and other Bowed Instruments.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 18th, Dec., 1890.
Complete Specification Left, 9th July, 1891-Accepted, 15th Aug., 1891
1
Improvements in the Manufacture, Adjustment, and Renovation of
Violins, Violas, Violoncellos, Double Basses, and other Bowed
Instruments.
We, GEORGE HUDSON, of No. 3 Pier Terrace, Skegness, in the County of.
Lincoln, Violin Maker, and PETER WRIGHT PICKUP, of Rishton Colliery,
Rishton, near Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Colliery. Proprietor,.do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to improvements in the manufacture, adjustment and
renovation of violins, violas, violoncellos, double basses and other bowed instruments
of the violin and viol type, and the object of our invention is to improve the tone
of old and new instruments of the ordinary construction.
We have discovered by experiment that in violins and other bowed instruments
of the comparatively inexpensive class the free vibration of the principal sounding
board or belly of the instrument is to a great extent checked by defects in the
construction and the resulting quality of tone is consequently impaired.
In a violin or other bowed instrument there are several small blocks of wood or
strengthening pieces placed between the. belly and back of the instrument; these
blocks are usually fitted one at each end of the instrument and two at each side.
not far from the bridge and these latter are usually called ""corner" blocks.
We have proved that, when the strings of the instrument are tightened say to
standard pitch the lines of compression on the belly extend from the side or
< corner. "blocks to their respective nearest end block. The lines thus described
form imperfect "nodes" when the strings are agitated. by the bow the result being
that the instrument does not produce the fullest and purest tone that it might be.
made capable of.
C
To remove this defect we propose to secure to the inside of the belly of the
instrument say four strips of wood or other suitable material each strip being placed
between one
66 corner" block and the end block nearest to such corner block,
such strips by absorbing the compression and by conducting the same to the
corner" blocks increase the power of the central portion of the belly to resist
the downward pressure of the bridge and at the same time give greater freedom.
for vibration to the upper and lower portions of the belly.
We prefer to shape the strips of wood flat and thin where they approach nearest
to the blocks and deeper and narrower between the ends or in the middle portion
and instead of using separate strips as described we might form them as ribs. or
projections in one piece with the belly or we might form them partly in one piece
with the belly, and partly by means of separate strips as described. The proper
length or lengths of the strips will vary with the amount of arch or curvature..on
the belly and will require to be made to suit each individual instrument or type of
instrument.
Dated this 17th day of December 1890.
H. B. BARLOW,
Agent for Applicants.
15

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture, Adjustment, and Renovation of
Violins, Violas, Violoncellos, Double Basses, and other Bowed
Instruments.
We, GEORGE HUDSON, of No. 3 Pier Terrace, Skegness, in the County of
Lincoln, Violin Maker, and PETER WRIGHT PICKUP, of Rishton Colliery,
Rishton, near Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Colliery Proprietor, 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:-
Our invention relates to improvements in the manufacture, adjustment and
renovation of violins, violas, violoncellos, double basses and other bowed instruments
of the violin and viol type, and the object of our invention is to improve the tone
of old and new instruments of the ordinary construction.
We have discovered by experiment that in violins and other bowed instruments
of the comparatively inexpensive class the free vibration of the principal sounding
board or belly of the instrument is to a great extent checked by defects in the con-
struction and the resulting quality of tone is consequently impaired.
In a violin or other bowed instrument there are several small blocks of wood or
strengthening pieces generally six in number placed between the belly and back of
the instrument; these blocks are usually fitted one at each end of the instrument
and two at each side not far from the bridge and these latter are usually called
corner blocks.
"
We have proved that when the strings of the instrument are tightened say to
standard pitch the lines of compression-on-the-belly-extend_between_the_side or
"corner blocks and their respective nearest-end-block. The lines thus described
form-imperfect" nodes" when-the strings are agitated by the bow the result being
that the instrument does not produce the fullest and purest tone that it might be
made capable of..
<<
To remove this defect we propose to secure to the inside of the belly of the
instrument say four strips of-wood-preferably-pine-or-other_suitable material each
strip being placed between one corner block and the end block nearest to such
"corner block, such strips by absorbing the compression. and by conducting the
same to the " corner blocks increase the power of the central portion-of-the-belly-
to resist the downward pressure of the bridge and at the same time give greater
freedom for vibration to the upper and lower portions of the belly.
33
And in order that our invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect we will describe the accompanying sheet of drawings reference being had to
the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a plan and Fig. 2 a side elevation of a violin to which our improve-
ments have been applied.
Fig. 3 is a plan of the inside of the belly.
Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation taken on the plane of the line A B, Fig. 3.
Fig. 5 is a transverse section of Fig. 4 and
Figs. 6 and 7 are detail views on a larger scale of one of the strips.
In these views a designates the back, the belly, c the strings, and d the bridge
of the violin which, so far as the exterior is concerned, is of the ordinary con-
struction as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.
We secure by glueing or otherwise to the inside of the belly b as shown in
Fig. 3 the four wooden strips along the nodal lines between the usual corner
blocks and end blocks as herein before described. In Fig. 3 of the drawings the
positions of the corner blocks are indicated by the letter and those of the end
blocks by the letter y; but the blocks are not shown as they are of the usual
_construction and form no part of our invention.

page_text: -
We prefer to shape the strips e as shown best in Figs. 6 and 7 namely flat and
thin at the ends where they approach nearest to the blocks and deeper and narrower
between the ends or in the middle portion and instead of using separate strips as
described we might form them as ribs or projections in one piece with the belly b;
or we might form them partly in one piece with the belly and partly by means of
separate strips as described. The proper dimensions of the strips will vary with
the amount of arch or curvature on the belly and will require to be made to suit
each individual instrument or type of instrument.
We prefer to make the bass bar shorter than is usual in modern instruments
and according to the proportions shown in Fig. 3.
We have described our improvements as applied to a violin but it will be readily
understood that the improvements are equally applicable to violas violoncellos
double basses and other bowed instruments of the violin and viol type.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is :-
The combination with the belly of a bowed instrument of the violin or viol type,
of the strips e whether formed in one piece with the belly or not applied sub-
stantially as and for the purposes herein described and as illustrated by the
accompanying drawing.
Dated this 8th day of July 1891
H. B. BARLOW,
17, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, Agent for Applicants.