IMPROVEMENTS IN PITCH PIPES OR TUNING PIPES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Eardley, of Woodville, in the County of
Leicester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PITCH PIPES OR
TUNING PIPES."
Sealed the 20th March 1868, and dated the 25th September 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Eardley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
September 1862.
I, JAMES EARDLEY, of Woodville, in the County of Leicester, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PITCH PIPES
OR TUNING PIPES," to be as follows:-
I construct my pitch pipes or tuning pipes by inserting in the usual tube or
the outer case of the same a sliding or moveable piece or frame which contains
the reed or tongue, so that when necessary the same may be easily removed to
clear the reed of dirt or obstructions. Also at the fixed end of the reed or
tongue I have another sliding or moveable piece, or regulator, which will grip
or hold the reed or tongue at the regulated points, so as to shorten or lengthėn
the free part of the said reed or tongue, and by consequence produce the note
or tone required to be sounded, and hence my pitch pipes or tuning pipes can
be made to sound any or every of the notes or tones of the chromatic scale.
And in order to ensure the correctness of the note I have a scale marked on
the said regulator, and for greater certainty I can use a separate taper scale-

page_text: piece, which being pushed between the end of the pipe and a groove or flange
on the end of the sliding regulator will regulate the note required with
exactness. I can also use a moving pointer in conjunction with this regulator,
so as to be enabled to flatten or sharpen the pitch of the pipe. I can, if
desired, use a fastener for temporarily fixing the sliding regulator.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Eardley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th March 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
EARDLEY, of Woodville, in the County of Leicester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the 25th day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Eardley, Her special licence that I, the said James Eardley, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Eardley, 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, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PITCH PIPES OR TUNING PIPES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said James Eardley, 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 James Eardley, 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:-
My Invention consists in constructing pitch pipes or tuning pipes by
inserting in the usual tube or the outer case of the same a sliding or-moveable
piece or frame which contains the sounding reed or tongue, so that when
necessary the same may be removed to clear the reed of dirt or obstructions.

page_text: At or near the fixed end of this reed or tongue I have a sliding or shifting
piece, hereafter termed "the regulator," which can be moved to and fro, so as
to nip or hold the reed or tongue at various points, and thus increase or
diminish the length of the free part of the said reed or tongue, and by the 'use
of scale marks insure the production of the note or tone required to be
sounded, hence my pitch pipes or tuning pipes can be made to sound any and
every one of the notes of the chromatic scale, whether full tones or semitones.
The aforesaid scale marks may be on the said regulator, but for greater
certainty and facility of use I adopt a scale piece, which may be a separate
taper piece, which being pushed between the end of the pipe and a groove or
flange on the end of the sliding or shifting regulator aforesaid, will regulate
with exactness the note to be sounded. The scale piece instead of being a
seperate taper piece, may (as hereafter described and illustrated by the
Drawings) be suitably curved, so as to have the same effect, and be secured
(free to turn) to. the regulator aforesaid, in order to be always in position
ready for use, and this arrangement I deem the most suitable for pitch pipes.
To the regulator I can affix a pointer centred thereto, by moving which
pointer to the one side or the other, the scale marks on the scale piece being
brought to the said pointer, the effect will be produced, that the free part of
the reed will be either somewhat shorter or somewhat longer than if the
pointer were in its proper right line position, from which flattening or

page_text: in order to form the other end, fix near the same two pieces a and b, for the
purpose of securing together the ends of the divided parts of the reed frame,
and for fastening the end of the tongue, leaving space for one part of the
regulator to slide between, as shewn. The reed frame has two pieces, whereon
are placed the letters B, B, in Fig. 2, to partially stop the ends of the pipe or
c and d denote the two parts of the regulator, the ends of which
act as nippers to nip the tongue or reed at different points, according as the
same may be moved to and fro. The outer ends of the pieces c and d being
secured by the cap e and rivets, as shewn; f, the pointer, herein-before
referred to, this being adopted only in the arrangement shewn at Fig. 1. In
using my pitch or tuning pipes, the marks on the scale require to be brought
exactly level with the pointer, and. when no pointer is used, as in the arrange-
ment shewn at Fig. 2, the marks on the scale piece must be brought exactly
opposite the mark on the end of the exterior of the pipe at *; 9, the flange
forming the groove for the sliding scale used in arrangement Fig. 1.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I claim, the
arrangement of pitch pipes or tuning pipes in which one and the same pipe,
reed, or tongue are used to produce any and every one of the notes, whether
full tones or semitones, of the chromatic scale.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Eardley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
JAMES EARDLEY. (L.S.)
Witness,
ARTHUR J. LOCKWOOD,
Clerk to the General Patent Company, Limited,
71, Fleet Street, E.C.