IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Higham, of the City of Manchester, Musical
Instrument Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVE
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS."
Sealed the 19th June 1857, and dated the 15th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Higham at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th January 1857.
I, JOSEPH HIGHAM, of the City of Manchester, Musical Instrument Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN VALVE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS," to be as follows:-
The nature of my Invention consists in so constructing valve musical
instruments that the valve notes shall be equal in tone to the open notes.
The valves I employ are those known as rotary valves; these valves are placed
in the instrument, so that the passages for the air shall be in the same direc-
tion for the valve notes as for the open notes, consequently no impediment is
offered to the current of air, whereas in valve musical instruments of the usual
construction an indirect passage is unavoidable.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Higham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
HIGHAM, of the City of Manchester, Musical Instrument Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Higham, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Higham, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Higham, my 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVE
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Joseph Higham, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Higham, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
:-
The nature of my Invention consists in so constructing valve musical
instruments that the valve notes shall be equal in tone to the open notes.
The valves I employ are those known as rotary valves; these valves are placed
in the instrument, so that the passages for the air shall be in the same direc-
tion for the valve notes as for the open notes, consequently no impediment
is offered to the current of air in passing through the instrument, whereas
in valve instruments of the usual construction an indirect passage is
unavoidable.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily

page_text: carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Fig. 1 represents a cornopean to which my improvements are applied;
Fig. 2 is a section through the valves and air passages leading to and from
the same, shewing all the valves closed; Fig. 3 is a detached section through
one of the valves; Fig. 4 is a section through the valves and air passages,
shewing all the valves open. a, b, and c, are three rotary valves; to the
spindle of each valve is fixed a lever marked a', 6', and c¹ respectively, and to
these levers are jointed the rods a², 3, and c²; each rod passes through one of
the pistons d, e, and f, which contain springs acting on the rods to raise them
up when they have been depressed by the fingers of the performer. The
valves a and bare supposed to be closed, as shewn in Fig. 1, and the valve c
is shewn open. By thus placing the valves and forming the passages in
communication therewith, the air is free to pass without impediment or
obstruction, as shewn by the arrows in Figs. 2 and 4, and the notes produced
are equal in tone, whether they be open notes or valve notes, whereas in instru-
ments of the usual construction the passage of the air is more or less inter-
rupted or impeded by the valves, and consequently the valve notes are not
equal in tone to the open notes. I wish it to be understood that the
improvements above described are equally applicable to all other valve musical
instruments.
Having thus particularly described the nature of my Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I wish to remark that I do not limit myself
to the details herein set forth, as the same may be varied without departing
from the peculiar character of my Invention; but what I claim is, the
mode of applying rotary valves to valve musical imstruments and the passages
in communication therewith, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Higham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
H. B. BARLOW,
Manchester.
JOSEPH HIGHAM. (L.S.)