Strings on Cithers.
Year: 1885

page_text: Strings on Cithers.
I EDWARD WYBURD, FURRELL, of Bank Buildings 124 Chancery Lane in the
County of Middlesex Member of the Institution, of Mechanical Engineers and
Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE ACCOMPANYMENT STRINGS ON CITHERS a communi-
cation to me by Carl Ferdinand Haupt, Dancing Master and Teacher of the Cither,
of Dresden, Saxony, Germany, to be as follows:-
:
:
My invention relates to improvements in the arrangement of the accompany-
ment strings on cithers the object of which is to so arrange the parts of the said
cithers that the hand in playing has an easy natural position and the fingers are in
no way hampered.
In all cithers known up to the present day the accompanyment strings run
or are strung parallel to the finger board or air strings so that the muscles of the
hand must be subjected to great tension in playing the strings which lay at a
considerable distance from the fingerboard which is especially difficult for beginners
and forces the hand to take up an entirely unnatural position.
According to my invention all these disadvantages are overcoine, the fingers can
be employed for playing the strings without leaving their natural position and
without having to fear that a cramp will be caused in the muscles of the band as
so frequently occurs in playing cithers constructed on the old principle.
C
I attain this object by stringing the accompanyment strings in inclined or acute
angular position to the finger board strings according to the structure of the hand,
whereby the requisite angle can be readily ascertained by spreading out the thumb
from the fingers,

page_text: In order to prevent having to increase the size of the instrument beyond what is
absolutely necessary the finger board is raised and the neighbouring two or more
accompanyment strings attached beneath the same.
This raising of the finger board corresponds entirely with the natural position as
the fingers occupy a lower position than the thumbs.
Strings on Citners.
I EDWARD WYBURD FURRELL of Bank Buildings, 124 Chancery Lane in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of my Invention
for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE ACCOMPANIMENT STRINGS ON 1
CITHERS a communication to me from abroad by Carl Ferdinand Haupt of
Dresden, Saxony, Germany, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
My invention relates to improvements in the arrangement of the accompaniment
strings on cithers the object of which is to so arrange the parts of the said cithers 2
that the hand in playing has an easy natural position and the fingers are in no
way hampered.
In all cithers known up to the present day the accompaniment strings run or
are strung parallel to the finger board or air strings so that the muscles of the
hand must be subjected to great tension in playing the strings which lay at a
considerable distance from the fingerboard which is especially difficult for beginners
and forces the hand to take up an entirely unnatural position.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is a top view, Figure 2 a side view and
Figure 3 an end view of my improved either.
According to my invention as represented in the accompanying drawings all
these disadvantages are overcome, the fingers can be employed for playing the
strings without leaving their natural position and without having to fear that a
cramp will be caused in the muscles of the hand as so frequently occurs in playing
cithers constructed on the old principle,

page_text: I attain this object by stringing the accompaniment strings a in inclined or
acute angular position to the finger board strings b according to the structure
of the band, whereby the requisite angle can be readily ascertained by spreading
out the thumb from the fingers.
In order to prevent having to increase the size of the instrument beyond what is
absolutely necessary the finger board e is raised and the neighbouring two or more
accompaniment strings a attached beneath the same.
This raising of the fingerboard c corresponds entirely with the natural position
as the fingers occupy a lower position than the thumb.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is
1. In cithers the arrangement of the accompaniment strings a, at an acute angle
to the finger board c and the air strings b substantially as described in the fore-
going specification and shown in the accompanying drawings.
2. In cithers the arrangement of the finger board c in higher position than the
accompaniment strings and the attachment of the accompaniment strings nearest
the finger board strings lower than or beneath the same substantially as described
in the foregoing specification and shown in the accompanying drawings.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London,
Agent for Applicant.