EP1355291B1 - Dual module with a single reed, especially for an accordeon like instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

The Accordion duel reed module has a reed carrier for each note (32), with an aperture (34) and a blade (36). It has at least one reed tongue (42) to the right of the aperture and bars (44) attached to each side of the aperture. The bars are movable to gaps to the sides of the reed tongue and control flow with respect to it.

Description

The present invention relates to a dual single-reed module, in particular adapted to be arranged in a wind instrument operating in both directions of the wind such as an accordion.

The accordion is the instrument used to give all the explanations and provide all the information necessary for the operation, but it is understood that the reed according to the present invention can be mounted in all cases where a blade must vibrate, that the wind comes perpendicularly above or below the plane of the blade. Thus, for the rest of the description, we will talk about the two directions of the wind.

For the manufacture of accordions, a very large number of pieces is necessary.

Indeed, an accordion comprises two boxes connected by a bellows forming an enclosure. On each of these boxes in the enclosure, there are soundboards with openings, mechanisms for clearing and closing these openings. These tables of harmonies generally bear several sommiers which are supports of many modules also known as "music" in the field of the manufacturers of accordions. These modules are placed in front of the openings to be traversed or not by the air flows generated by the bellows, depending on the keys actuated.

Each module is actually the sound production element and includes a blade holder. A module comprises two windows each with a blade fixed by one of its ends provided with a heel on said blade holder. The blade is extended by its free part also called tongue in this window.

This tongue, vibrated by the flow of air passing through the window, makes it possible to produce sounds.

Depending on the nature, the thickness, the length / width dimensions and the cut of the tongue, we obtain sounds corresponding to the desired notes.

In the known accordions, each module has, for the same note, two windows and two blades for each of the two possible directions of the wind. One of the blades is riveted to one of the faces of the module facing the first window and the other blade is riveted to the other face opposite the other window.

Each window is provided, on the face of the module opposite to that which carries the blade of a valve, made generally of flexible material, more particularly leather.

Thus, for one of the wind directions, the corresponding blade is vibrated and produces the note while the valve on the other window limits air leakage through the other window.

For the other direction of the wind, it is the opposite.

In order to give this valve the desired stiffness, it is often added an elastic return element, such as a thin and narrow leaf spring.

This is disturbing because this arrangement with a valve is not conducive to a good development of the sound wave emitted by the blade vibration.

It is understandable then that for a note, it requires a module with a blade holder, at least two blades, two rivets, two valves, and often two elastic elements of return is 9 pieces, which leads to the slightest accordion to a very important number of elements.

Beyond the number, it is necessary to regulate each of the elements making a contribution. The play between the blade and the window, the curvature of the blade to create a gap, the elastic element of return of the valve, this in a symmetrical way to produce the same note.

We also know that for so-called "musette" accordions, the musicians wish to have the so-called right note but also of at least one note very slightly above and of at least one note very slightly below, it is ie three modules for a note with six blades. In some cases, up to four blades are required for the same note, eight blades for both directions of wind. Some accordions are equipped with over a thousand blades.

This results in a total number of pieces of several thousand for some instruments when the means of attachment of the blade holders and modules, the mechanisms of the keys, the means for fixing the bases, soundboards, in particular.

This makes long and very difficult the manufacture and especially complexifies the tuning which remains reserved for less and fewer specialists. The cost price is very high and the fragility grows proportionally to the complexity.

It is also a very important disadvantage, it is the weight generated by the nccumulation of the number of pieces.

The weight of an accordion, 23 kilos for heavier but 12 kilos fluently, prohibits the youngest to play by wearing the instrument. They must play sitting. The handling is made difficult for all musicians and this especially for small size.

The maintenance is complex and the instrument remains fragile because the shutters of the vents for example, leather, are subject to the aggression of molds in the presence of moisture. The mechanical characteristics also vary significantly depending on the temperature and aging is often premature except to provide for important maintenance by specialists who have also become rare. Accessibility remains delicate. Costs are high and delays are significant.

All this leads to a stagnation of the development of this instrument, even if some countries have important productions.

It would therefore be useful to have modules whose tongue can vibrate in both directions of the wind because the number of blades needed would be divided by two. In addition, the windows and associated parts such as valves being removed as unnecessary, the weight and size would be reduced significantly.

In addition, the suppression of the valves would allow a better propagation of the sound.

Trials have been conducted for many, many years without success.

There may be mentioned documents of the prior art such as the French patent application No. 1,350,800 in which the inventor makes a wish without indicating any embodiment.

German Patent No. 34 13 382 discloses a reed which can operate in both directions, the tongue remaining in the same position and the complete frame being moved on either side of the plane of the tongue to respect a certain dissymmetry.

Such an arrangement can not be satisfactory if only by the inertia that the frame presents and by the spurious noise generated by such movements of large parts in dimensions.

The object of the present invention is to provide a musical module with a single dual reed, according to claim 1, that is to say that operates in both directions of the wind. This module as presented in the description which follows, can be produced industrially. This module is free from the constraints of maintenance, considerably reduces the number of parts because in addition to dividing by two the number of blades, the valves are removed and the associated elements of fixing and / or elastic return.

These modules allow the realization of simpler instruments, more reliable without sacrificing the musical quality which remains at least as good or better because the space released can be used to increase the sound output openings out of the box. 'instrument. It turns out that reproducibility is also improved, limiting the interventions related to the know-how of the manufacturer more than constructive industrial considerations.

• figure 1, une vue d'un sommier de l'art antérieur portant des modules de l'art antérieur,
• figure 2, une vue en perspective d'un module selon la présente invention,
• figures 3A à 3D, des vues en coupe transversales selon les lignes de coupe indiquées sur la figure 2,
• figure 3E, une vue en coupe suivant la même ligne D-D de la figure 3D mais avec un sens du vent opposé,
• figures 4A et 4B, des représentations en perspective et de dessus de l'agencement de la languette par rapport à la fenêtre ménagée dans le module de l'invention,
• figures 5A à 5D, des vues de variantes de réalisation des volets,
• figure 6, une vue en coupe d'une variante de réalisation dans laquelle la languette est dans le plan du talon avec une fixation des axes des volets en surépaisseur, et
• figure 7, une vue d'une seconde variante de réalisation des axes des volets.

The invention is now described in detail according to a particular and preferential embodiment, not limiting, with reference to the accompanying drawings which show through the different figures:

• FIG. 1, a view of a bed base of the prior art carrying modules of the prior art,
• FIG. 2, a perspective view of a module according to the present invention,
• FIGS. 3A to 3D, cross-sectional views along the section lines indicated in FIG. 2,
• FIG. 3E, a sectional view along the same line DD of FIG. 3D but with a direction of the opposite wind,
• FIGS. 4A and 4B, perspective and top representations of the arrangement of the tongue with respect to the window formed in the module of the invention,
• FIGS. 5A to 5D, views of alternative embodiments of the shutters,
• FIG. 6 is a sectional view of an alternative embodiment in which the tongue is in the plane of the heel with a fixing of the axes of the flaps in excess thickness, and
• Figure 7, a view of a second embodiment of the axes of the flaps.

FIG. 1 shows a bed base 10 of the prior art supporting a plurality of modules 12. Each module comprises a blade holder 14 with two windows 16 formed through said blade holder, a blade 18 fixed on each side of the door -lames, opposite the corresponding window, each blade having a heel 20 and a tongue 22 capable of vibrating freely in the associated window 16.

Each bead 20 is fixed to the blade holder preferably by a rivet 24 which has the advantage of not being unscrewed under the effects of vibration.

Between the blade and the window, over the entire periphery, there is a light of very small dimensions and each blade is bent outwardly of the blade holder, so as to provide a gap i between the plane of said blade and the blade. plane of the blade holder.

Thus, when the airflow is directed towards the blade, it is deflected on the edges of the tongue and passes into this gap. It is during the forced passage of this flow in the interstice that the tongue starts to vibrate, almost instantaneously for the small blades of low inertia and in a few tenths of seconds for the largest corresponding to the bass.

The dimensions of the blade holders are 18 to 50 mm long for 2 to 5 mm wide and 2 to 5 mm thick to give orders of ideas. The tongues are a few tenths of a millimeter thick.

In the drawings, the scales are not respected to allow a better reading.

In the case of the prior art, if the air flow is in the opposite direction, the blade bends and deviates from the blade holder without vibrating. This is the reason for the presence of the valves 26, each carrying a resilient return member 28, these valves preventing inadvertent air leakage as explained above. Thus, it is found that it is absolutely necessary to arrange the entire module with an asymmetry capable of initiating the vibration, which explains the impossibility of producing a unique dual reed with the design of the prior art.

The module 30 according to the present invention is shown schematically in FIG.

This module 30 comprises a blade holder 32 with a window 34. A blade 36 having a heel 38 is fixed with a rivet 40 on said blade holder and a tongue 42 which is free to vibrate in the window 34.

On both sides of the longitudinal edges of the tongue 42, movable flaps 44 are provided.

These shutters are part of window 34.

The description which follows is made indifferently with respect to the series of FIGS. 3A to 3E and 4A, 4B.

In the embodiment chosen, the heel 38 is arranged in superposition on the blade holder. The fastener must be perfectly rigid, which is the case with the rivet 40.

This is shown in Figure 3A, section along line 3A-3A.

If one moves along the longitudinal axis of the tongue, one places oneself in the plane of section of line 3B-3B.

At this level, we note the presence of the window 34 with the tab that is in this window.

For this embodiment, the tongue is deformed to be placed partly in its thickness in the window. The heel is indeed above the plane of the window by necessity and the tongue must be, at least partly in the thickness of the blade holder.

According to the present invention, unlike the prior art, it is advisable to keep the plane of the tongue perfectly intact so that this tongue is perfectly symmetrical. There is no longer any need for a gap permanent curve deformation of the tongue above the plane of the module, towards the outside. This can be seen on the different successive cuts. By placing along the section line 3C-3C, there are the presence of flaps 44. These flaps are in the form of portions of a piece of revolution. In this embodiment, it is a cylinder but one could also consider a cone or a more complex part. In this case, it is substantially a quarter cylinder, so that the faces of each cylinder portion is perpendicular to the plane of the tongue at rest.

Two ribs 46 extend along the entire length of each flap, in the plane of each face of the dihedron. These ribs are designed to respectively bear on the corresponding edge of the window 34, above and below.

These flaps are rotatable relative to the blade holder about an axis 48, parallel to the longitudinal edge of the tongue.

This axis must imperatively be placed in the median plane of the tongue, to ensure symmetry.

Note that the angular sector is approximately a quarter of a cylinder because it is necessary to be able to include the axis 48, which is at the geometric center of the curved part, except to deport the axis of rotation outside the section of the shutter.

If one is in the plane of section of the 3D-3D line, the elements are identical to those of the previous section plane, with the exception of the edge of the portion of cylinder along which is formed a Chamfer 50. This chamfer, advantageously, is increasingly marked as one moves away from the heel to the end of the tongue.

This makes it possible to generate a gap of variable dimensions between each of the flaps and the tongue, in the plane of the tongue. This chamfer is drawn plan but it can be hollow or more complex shape without modifying the present This is the subject of the variants of FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5D.

In the case of Figure 5A, the blade holder 32 and the flaps 44 are provided with means 52 dampers of the air flow. Such means take the form of a projecting wall 54, coming from manufacture with the blade holder.

This wall is in profile conjugated with the shape of each rib 46 to generate an air cushion 56 which is trapped in a controlled leakage volume. As shown in FIG. 5A, this air leaks, but this setting in slight temporary overpressure, for an extremely short time, nevertheless generates a cushion of damping air.

Any noise parasitic flap abutment is thus removed or at least sufficiently damped to no longer be disturbing.

The symmetrical arrangement allows damping in the two working positions of each shutter.

In Figure 5B, there is a variant of the damping means in the form of a groove 46-1 cooperating with the wall 52-1 projecting from the blade holder to produce an air cushion 56-1.

In this variant, there is in addition a decrease in the shutter inertia. This flap is made from a central core 58 and 60 radial fins.

Such shutters, whatever the embodiment, are easily manufactured by plastic extrusion, with excellent precision, as is commonly practiced in this field of industry.

Thus, we are assured of reproducibility.

Figure 5C shows an even lighter variant with a soul but only two radial fins. It is then necessary to increase the height of the projecting walls so that the fins provide a certain seal without leaving a free passage to the air.

This variant with two fins can also be provided with noise damping means. These are also recesses that generate the formation of an air cushion.

The fact of being able to make chamfers of the desired profile makes it possible to model the sound spectrum of the module.

Indeed, if we widen the chamfer to one third of the length of the tongue, from the heel, the air flow increases the aerodynamic driving force in this place, which promotes the production of the third harmonic, c that is, the triple frequency of the fundamental.

We can significantly improve the musical quality by controlling the manufacture, in a precise way.

The arrangement according to the present invention makes it possible to overcome the disadvantages of the modules of the prior art since it makes it possible to obtain a single dual reed. Many advantages arise from the introduction of such modules, especially for the manufacture of accordion-type instruments.

It can also be noted that, in addition to the gains in the number of parts and weights associated with the deletion, some other parts can be modified.

In the present invention, if the blade holder must be mass to the right of the attachment of the heel, for the part located at the periphery of the tongue and flaps, the volume of material required can be greatly reduced, by diverting around the elements mobiles, namely shutters.

Similarly, in the manufacture, the blade 42 has been deformed to be partially integrated in the window 34. This blade can be kept in the plane of the heel without any difficulty. It then suffices to provide bearings 62 for mounting the pins 48, on the upper face of the blade holder. Such bearings can be molded without any difficulty.

The condition is to respect a positioning of the axes 48 in the median plane of the blade at rest.

In Figure 6, an alternative positioning of the axes of the flaps above the blade holder as the blade itself. In this variant, the heel, the tongue, the axes of the flaps are in the same plane. The bearings 62 are then projecting. They can come from molding with the blade holder.

In Figure 7, there is provided a different arrangement which provides a reed whose heel 38 is provided with two cutouts 38-1 adapted to receive the axes 48 of the flaps.

A plate 38-2 is attached to the top of the heel, which allows to form a blind housing to receive the axes. This plate is taken and held by the rivet 40 with the heel.

In addition, the plate 38-2 ensures a better maintenance of the heel, it also allows to limit the movements of the reed because these movements are not necessarily symmetrical in both directions of the wind.

There is also a stiffening of each component because the axes are maintained in the blind housings at both ends. Even if the deformations are microscopic, the complementary stiffening further improves the quality of the realization.

Many other practical arrangements can be envisaged without departing from the outline of the present invention.

The proposed arrangement comprises flaps movable in rotation because pivoting about an axis is currently the simplest way and which generates the least friction and the least wear. These are important parameters for rapid changes without inertia of flap position when the wind direction is reversed and satisfactory durability for hundreds of thousands of cycles.

If, by means of suitable materials, the friction and the wear were able to be fought, a mounting of the shutters in translation instead of the rotation could quite agree. The invention would in no way be denatured and produce the same effects.

It is also a particularly sensitive zone which is the end of the tongue because it is at this end that the moment of the acting forces is the most important since it is the zone furthest away from the point of attachment, namely the rivet.

If one wishes to involve this area, the movable elements in this case the flaps 44 must have a shape that surrounds the tongue including its end.

The shape of the shutters is necessarily more complex and the industrial production must resort to molding rather than extrusion.

Indeed, in the case of flaps made according to the preferred embodiment, the flaps can easily be produced by extrusion, in different sizes depending on the dimensions of the blades and therefore the types of notes, then to cut to length these wired parts obtained .

The realization of the chamfers can easily be industrialized, just as the fixing of the axes.

The arrangement according to the present invention, in addition to the advantages indicated above, falls within the scope of a concrete industrial production and economically compatible with the product to market.

Claims (10)

1. A module with a single dual reed, in particular for an instrument of the accordion type using two directions of wind, characterised in that it comprises, for each note, a fixed single blade holder (32) with a window (34) and a blade (36) attached to said blade holder and comprising at least one tongue (42) disposed in line with this window, as well as at least one associated movable element (44), disposed laterally with respect to said tongue and able to adopt a first position for the first direction of wind, forming an interstice between this movable element and the edge of the tongue so that this tongue starts to vibrate in order to emit said note in this first direction of wind, and a second position symmetrical with the first with respect to the plane of the blade for the second direction of wind, also forming an interstice so that the tongue starts to vibrate in order to emit the same note in this second direction of wind.
2. A module with a single dual reed according to claim 1, characterised in that the interstice between each movable element (44) and the tongue (42) is variable.
3. A module with a single dual reed according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that each movable element is a movable flap (44) mounted so as to be free in rotation about an axis (48) disposed substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tongue (42) and in the immediate vicinity, said axis being disposed in the mid-plane of the tongue at rest.
4. A module with a single dual reed according to claim 3, characterised in that each flap (44) is a portion of a rotatable part, the axis (48) of rotation being close to the axis of said portion of a rotatable part, this flap being provided with driving and stop means (46) in the two positions corresponding to the two directions of wind.
5. A module with a single dual reed according to claim 4, characterised in that the portion (44) of the rotatable part is defined so that the faces are parallel to the flow of air circulating in the window (34), this in the first and second positions of the movable elements for each of the two directions of wind, the said portion of a rotatable part carrying a bevel (50) provided on the edge, with variable dimensions along the longitudinal axis.
6. A module with a single dual reed according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that it comprises damping means (52) for the stops of the elements (44) with respect to the blade holder.
7. A module with a single dual reed according to claim 6, characterised in that these damping means (52) comprise a part carried by the driving and stop means (46) and a part carried by the blade holder for generating an air cushion (56) trapped in a volume with controlled leakage.
8. A module with a single dual reed according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the blade (36) comprises a heel (38) fixed to the blade holder (32), preferably by rivet.
9. A module with a single dual reed according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that each movable element (44) has a shape which surrounds the tongue (42) including its end.
10. A module with a single dual reed according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the blade holder (32) has a shape detouring around the movable elements (44).

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