Improvements in Note Sheets, Discs, or Rolls for Mechanical Musical Instruments."
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Aug., 1897-Accepted, 24th Dec., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
"Improvements in Note Sheets, Discs, or Rolls for Mechanical
Musical Instruments."
We MAX CLAUS and BRUNO PÜTTMANN, both of 20, Waldstrasse, Leipsic, in
the Empire of Germany, Manufacturers, 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:-
Mechanical musical instruments render musical compositions in a more or less
monotonous manner so that it has hitherto been impossible to regard them as
instruments which are capable of reproducing musical pieces in an artistic manner.
The inventors have discovered that the principal cause of this is in the circum-
stance, that the musical compositions are simply reproduced upon the discs or
rollers of the machines exactly as the composer has written them.
Hence only the value of each note is reproduced, that is its length within a
certain time interval, consequently there are hitherto eighth, fourth, half and whole
tones allowed simply to follow one another exactly as indicated by the notes
written by the musical composer. The artist is however unable to play the notes
in this manner one after the other as the composer has written them.
When he wishes to pass from one note to another this requires a certain
interval of time, and this interval will be longer or shorter according to the
individuality of the player and we may theretofore allude to it hereinafter as the
player's individuality pause"
66
.
We are accustomed to hear all musical works rendered by personal performers
only with these "pauses" and to consider such mode of representation as musical.
But if we on the other hand, omit these " pauses" and allow each note to continué
to sound until another note is audible, then the music will sound unmusical and
monotonous. This has hitherto been the case with all mechanical musical boxes;
we propose however to remove this monotonousness by effecting the reproduction
of the player's individuality pauses
+6
This we carry into effect by reducing the period of each note as originally
written by the composer, by shortening the note marks in the case of wind
instruments, without however altering its interval from the preceding or following
one, corresponding to its value, or in the case of stringed or steel voiced instru-
ments or the like, we allow the following dampers to act rather sooner than is
indicated by the composer with relation to the value of the note.
Figures 1 and 2 show four bars of a musical piece.
Figures 3 and 4 show the transfer of these notes to note discs for mechanical
musical boxes.
Figure 1 shows the composer's score; each bar is divided into four quarters
and is denoted in the wellknown manner.
Figure 2 shows the musician's rendering; here the pauses which the musician
must make, are roughly indicated by special signs.
The corresponding transfers to the note discs are shown in Figure 3.
The hitherto usual method, in which each note is sounded according to its

page_text: nominal value, as the musical composer has written it, causes note after note to
follow without interval and without reference to the shorter or longer player's
individuality pauses.
A note disc for wind instruments, in which the "pauses" are taken account of
is illustrated in Figure 4. The cutting short of the notes even before the
commencement of the fresh notes is represented by the spaces between the single
consecutive note marks.
For stringed instruments and the like Figures 5 and 6 illustrate the construc-
tion of our note discs.
For convenience of recognition the note marks are represented as quadrangular
holes, the damper marks as triangular holes, the values of the note marks
are hereby shortened in that the damper marks are brought into action
sooner than the composer has indicated, so that consequently the distances between
the note marks and damper marks are made smaller than required by the value
of the note as represented in the composition..
Figure 5 shows the application of the note marks and damper marks to the
musical box of usual construction whilst Figure 6 shows the application of the
same according to our method.
The note lines C, D, E, and so forth have beside them the damper lines c, d, e, etc.
and the note marks and the corresponding damper marks are indicated by like
letters.
In Figure 5 the damper marks are inserted exactly in accordance with the
directions of the composer; upon the corresponding stave with the damper for
the previous note is inserted the note mark for the fresh note.
In this manner all note marking for mechanical stringed and tongue voiced
instruments has hitherto been constructed as far as the lengths of the respective
notes are concerned. Where this is not the case, the separate notes sound one on
the top of the other.
Figure 6 illustrates the arrangement of the note marks of our new notation.
In this system the pauses aforesaid are taken into account, each note is stopped
off, before the new note is caused and consequently the damper mark of the one
note does not fall upon one line with the note mark of the following note.
An
exception to this is formed by the places of the music where the slurring of the
notes is prescribed as at the commencement of the third bar. Herein the effects
of the dampers d³, el and f¹ come into play together with the effects of the corre-
sponding note marks C F and E.
In our diagrammatic drawings the damper marks of each note are placed in
the direction of the motion of the note discs. This of course only occurs when
the mechanism conveying the motion permits that the corresponding damper mark
can lie closer to its corresponding note mark, than two consecutive note marks.
But in every case the damper marks for the pause" of a note are so arranged
that they come into play before the following note.
<<
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
we claim is: -
•
1. Note discs and note rollers for mechanical musical instruments characterised
by the arrangement that in the case of wind instruments the note marks and in
the case of string and reed instruments and the like the distances between the
note marks and the damper marks, which limit the length of the notes are made
shorter than is required by the value of the note as written by the composer,
and thereby the "player's individuality pause" is expressed and monotonousness
in the execution of the music is avoided.
2. The improved apparatus for reproducing musical pieces by mechanical
musical instruments substantially as described with reference to Figures 3 and 4
of the accompanying drawings.

page_text: 3. The improved apparatus for reproducing musical pieces by mechanical musical
instruments substantially as described with reference to Figures 5 and 6 of the
accompanying drawings.
Dated thin 95th day of Art 1897
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.
Patent Agents for the Applicants, 322, High Holborn, London, W.C.