Improvement in or relating to Clarionets.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvement in or relating to Clarionets.
A communication from JEAN BAPTISTE ALBERT, of 16 Rue du Chalet, Brussels, in the
Kingdom of Belgium, Musical Instrument Maker.
I, SAMUEL ARTHUR CHAPPELL of 52 New Bond Strect, in the County of London,
Musical Instrument Maker, 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 :--
The subject of this invention is a system of keys for facilitating the playing of
passages and trills of E flat to F natural, applicable to clarionets.
In order that the nature of this invention may be clearly understood it will now be
described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 is a view of the upper joint of a clarionet to which this invention is
applied, showing also various accessories.
Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating separately three of the keys shown in combination
in Figure 1.
Like letters indicate like parts throughout the drawings.
From the drawing it will be seen that the E flat (B flat) lever A is brought up
nearer to the front of the instrument than formerly, and in addition is provided with
an extension a which overlaps an extension c on the C natural (F natural) lever C
situated above it. The tail c¹ of the lever C is controlled by a ring key B operating
a barrel b pivotted between two pillars b¹ and provided with a lever 62 arranged so as
to be capable of closing the key C when necessary.
Springs of the construction usual in these instruments are employed with the
devices above described in such a manner that ordinarily the lever A keeps closed
the hole under its immediate control and by means of the extension a keeps the
lever C in position to close the hole controlled by the latter, although the spring with
which the lever C is provided has always a tendency to cause it to open the hole
beneath the cup c²; the spring of the lever A is sufficiently strong to overcome the
tendency of the spring supplied to the lever C.
A spring normally keeps the ring of the key B elevated and causes its lever 6² to
occupy its lowest position, that is to say a position in which it is beneath the tail c¹
but clear of the same.
If the lever A be operated against the resistance of its spring its cup a² and
extension a rise, and the extension permits the spring applied to the lever C to become
operative and move it to raise the cup c². But should it be desired at this time to
have the cup c² down it can be depressed by depressing the ring B, and thus causing
the lever 62 to operate on the tail c¹ to produce the desired result.
By pressing on the lever A and also simultaneously on the ring B, E flat is obtained;
in order to obtain F natural it will be sufficient to free the ring B thus enabling the
lever C to " open "under the action of its spring, the said lever not being held any
longer by the lever 62 of the ring B which as aforesaid is situated below the tail c¹ of
the lever C; therefore in order to obtain the passages and trills of E flat to F natural
or of F natural to E flat it will suffice to let go or to press on the ring B, keeping

page_text: the lever A "open." The "closing" of the lever C when the ring B is free is
effected by the extension a of the lever A pressing on the extension c of the lever C.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a clarionet the combination of three keys such as A B and C arranged and
operating substantially as and for the purpose described.
2. In a clarionet the combination of keys A B C constructed and arranged
substantially as and for the purpose described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
T.... 1005