Patent ID: 7265286

Claim:
A harmonica comprising: a comb having a central wall with upper and lower wall surfaces, a plurality of upper cell walls which extend upwardly from said upper wall surface and which are displaced from one another in a longitudinal direction so as to define a plurality of upper cells, a plurality of lower cell walls which extend downwardly from said lower wall surface and which are displaced from one another in the longitudinal direction so as to define a plurality of lower cells, each of said lower cells being registered with a respective one of said upper cells to form a cell set, a plurality of airflow upper partition walls, each of which is formed in and divides a respective one of said upper cells into first and second upper subcells, and a plurality of airflow lower partition walls, each of which is formed in and divides a respective one of said lower cells into first and second lower subcells, a plurality of mouthpiece openings displaced from one another in the longitudinal direction, each of said mouthpiece openings being disposed upstream or downstream of a corresponding one of said cell sets in terms of flow of exhaled air or inhaled air, and being registered with the corresponding one of said cell sets in a first transverse direction relative to the longitudinal direction; and a reed vibrating member which has a plurality of upper air passageways, each of which is disposed downstream or upstream of and is registered with a corresponding one of said upper cells in a second transverse direction relative to both the longitudinal direction and the first transverse direction, a plurality of lower air passageways, each of which is disposed downstream or upstream of and is registered with a corresponding one of said lower cells in the second transverse direction, a plurality of pairs of first and second upper reeds which are displaced from one another in the longitudinal direction, said first and second upper reeds being alternate to each other, said first and second upper reeds in each of said pairs being registered with said first and second upper subcells of the corresponding one of said upper cells, and being vibratile in a corresponding one of said upper air passageways, and a plurality of pairs of first and second lower reeds which are displaced from one another in the longitudinal direction, said first and second lower reeds being alternate to each other, said first and second lower reeds in each of said pairs being registered with said first and second lower subcells of the corresponding one of said lower cells, and being vibratile in a corresponding one of said lower air passageways, whereby when an air flow is evenly introduced into said first and second upper subcells and said first and second lower subcells from a corresponding one of said mouth openings as a result of an inhaling or exhaling motion to vibrate said first and second upper reeds and said first and second lower reeds in a corresponding one of said cell sets, four substantially the same notes of diatonic scales are respectively produced.