US1423024A - roberts - Google Patents

Description

G. E. EGBERTS.

TOY PIANO.

APPLICATION EILED JULY 3l, 1919.

PatentedJuly 18, 1922.A

2 sHEEs-SHEET 1.

5.' 5f UeF/s NVENTO-R BY I MMM- H15 ATTORNEYS G. E. ROBERTS.

TOY PIANO.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31,1919.

Patented July 18, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

#I6 ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. ROBERTS, OF SPENCER, OHIO, ASSIG-NOR TO THE SPENCER METAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF SPENCER, OHIO, A CORPORATION 0F OHIO.

TOY i Primo.

Application led July 31,

To all whom if; may concern.'

Be it known that I, Gnonen E. ROBERTS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Spencer, in the county of Medina and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Toy Pianos; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to musical instruments and particularly to toy instruments. The toy piano and similar instruments on the market today are chiey made of wood and easily come apart. It is diliicult to make a wooden instrument of pleasing aspect without involving undue expense, and it is one of the objects of my invention to substitute metal in the working elements in a toypiano, organ, etc., to secure great rigidity, and at the same time to produce an instrument of moderate cost, with pleasing tone qualities.

Other objects will appear in the following specification, reference being had to the drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a front view of theimprovements in a toy piano assembled in working position.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the section to the left of the section line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of one of the keys of the piano.

Fig. l is a rear end view of the key shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a top view of thev key shown in Fig. 3, with part of the retaining elements therefor. l

Fig. 6 is a development oil the sheet metal frame of the movement.

Fig. 7 is a plan ol the hammer assembly.

Referring to the drawings, the frame for the support of the working elements of the movement is made of sheet metal and is stamped and cut like that shown in Fig. (i. In this figure, the cut portions, as well as the bounding lines are shown in full and the corner lines on which the metal is bent are shown dotted. The portion 1 is bent along the dotted line 2 at right angles to the portion 3, forming the front and top respecportion 1 is bent along" tively. The back the dottedline at right angles to the top Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July is, 1922.

1919. Serial No. 314,461.

Yportion 3, to form the back part of the frame. The end piece 5 is then bent upwardly along the dotted line 6 to serve as a connecting means between the sound-bar frame and the exterior case of the piano (not shown). The right-hand end piece T is similarly bent upwardly along the dotted line S. The portion 9 is bent along the dotted line 10 to serve as a retaining means :for the key arms (Fig. 2) and the portions 11 and 12 are bent in opposite directions at right angles to the part 4; to serve as stops for the keys, as more fully shown in Fig. 2.

The front portion 1 of the sheet metal has a series of ears 13 having holes 14 punched or otherwise formed therein. The end portions of these are twisted into planes at right angles to the front portion 10, shown more 'fully in Fig. 1, to serve as retaining means :tor the keys. The portions-15 and 16 of the front member 1 are bent at right angles thereto along the dotted lines 17 and 18, although these as well as other portions of the device may be omitted ormodified without departing from the spirit of the -invention. End members '19 and v2() of the front portion of the sheet metal stamping are adapted to abut against thevrod retains ing the keys, as later described.

Referring to Fig. 1, the keys are preferably Inade of sheet metal and they are stamped by cutting, as in the metal of Fig. 6, or by drawing, if desired, so as to have a top portion21 and front portion .22, side portions 23 and 24 extending around three of the sides of the key; The top portion 21 `preferably overhangs the front portion, as

shown at 25, so as to resemblethe ivory Akeys' of a ull-sized piano. The top portion :of the key is cut out at 2 6 to receive the ears 13 of the sheet metal 'frame of Fig. 6, and the rear part of the key 27 is reduced in width as shown more clearly in Fig. 5, so as to give ample clearance for the movement of the key.

4The rear part of the key has an upstanding arm 28 punched out at 29. The top por-v tion of this arm 28 is bent backward at right angles at 30 and has a piece of felt 31 glued or otherwise fastened thereto. The sides 23 and 24 of the key are pierced by holes 32 for the reception of a rod 33 (Fig. 2) when the ke s are assembled in position in the fra-ine.

he keys are all assembled on the rod 33,

which passes through all of the ears lf3, as more clearly shown in Fig. l. rlhe end pieces i9 and 20 spring into place against the ends of the rod and retain it in place. ln order to properly space the keys, it is desirable to place thin washers 34 of paperboard or similar material on the rod 33 between adjacent lreys. The bach portion of the liey is adapted to play between the limiting flanges lll and 12 (Fig. 2) and to prevent the transmission of sound to the supporting frame, these flanges are covered on the contaeting face with felt 35 and 36.

The hammer assembly, as shown more clearly in Fig. 7, preferably consists of a sheet of cardboard, fiber or other suitable material having a backing 37 of fabric or other flexible material glued or otherwise secured thereto. The sheet of :ardboard and fabric are cut with a plurality of arms 38 having hammers 39 secured to the free ends. To secure the hammer assembly in position, the portion l0 which joins all of the arms together is brel-:en along the dotted line -ll and secured between the member 9 and the bach Ll by pressing these two parts together, as shown more clearly in Fig. 2. The card-board portion of the hammer assembly is preferably eut or scored along the dotted line ell, so that the arms 3S are joined to the portion l0 only by the fabric. This gives a very flexible hinge that readily responds to the action of the keys'. If desired, the arms and bach portion Ll of the hammer assembh7 may be individually punched from cardboard and then glued in position on the fabric, which may be eut either before or after the parts are `glued te it.

The top portion of the sheet metal frame has an upstanding rim l2 punched around the opening 413. Posts lil integral with the rim l2 are bent to extend upwardly from the top. A plurality of sounding bars 4:5 are mounted one on each pair of posts Lll by having the latter' extend through holes punched in the bars To prevent metallic ring and give the proper quality of tone, strips of felt 4:6, i7 are placed over 'the posts lll and between the rim l2 and the sounding bars. Two or more posts of the series lf-l on each side of the opening i-fil are preferably made slightly longer than the remainder. Trough-shaped members It8, 19, preferably made of sheet metal, are adapted to receive the ends of the posts M and have holes to receive the protruding end of the longer posts just referred to. IThe protruding ends previously slitted in the stamping operation, if desired, are then deformed by spreading the prongs as at L9 and 50, or the ends may be riveted er peened over in 'any way to retain the prongs in place.

The end portions and i" of the top 3 are bent upwardly at substantially right angles and have a plurality of ears l, with holes to receive screws or other desired means for clamping the entire sound box assembly inside al suitable piano casing (not shown).

rlhe external portions of the keys of the piano may be painted or enameled to resemble ivory, and the portions of the adjacent keys may be colored black .in imitation of the sharps and flats.

iin instrument when made and assembled in this way has been found to be very rigid in construction, easy and free of operation, the sound qualities have been found to be equal or superior to the usual wood arrangement, and the strength and wearing qualities are far superior thereto. l2 he cost of manufacture of my improvement is low when the character of the resulting product is considered.

While l have described a particular embodiment of my invention, this is by way of example only, and it will be understood that various modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having described my inventiiin, what l claim is:

l. ln toy pianos, a sheet metal key' bent to forni a top, a front and two side portions, said front portion being bent baclnva-rdly and then downwardly to form an overhanging lip and an arm punched from the rear of said top and extending upwardly therefrom.

2. In toy pianos, a sheet metal key bent to form top, a front and two side portions, said front portion being bent baclrwardly and then downwardly to ferm an overhanging lip, the side portions having holes adapted to receive a pivotal rod for the key.

3. ln toy pianos, a sheet metal key bent to form a top, a front and two side portions, said front portion being bent backwardly and then downwardly to form an overhanging lip, said side portions being bent into closer spaced relation -from an intermediate point to the rear end and having holes adapted to receive a pivotal rod for the lrey.

-l-. ln toy pianos, a sheet metal key bent to form a top, a front and two side portions, said front portion being` bent backwardly and then downwardly to form an overhanging lip, said side portions being bent into closer spaced relation with each other from an intermediate point to the rear end, and

having holes adapted to receive a pivotal rod for the key and said top having a slot punched adjacent to said holes for the purpose described.

5. In toy pianos. a sheet metal key bent to form a top, a front and two side portions, said front portion being bent backwardly and then downwardly to form an overhanging lip, an arm punched from the rear of said top and extending upwardly therefrom,said

side portions having holes adapted to receive a pivotal rod for the key.

6. In toy pianos, a sheet metal key bent to form a top, a front and two side portions, said front portion being bent backwardly and then downwardly to form an overhanging lip, said side portions being bent into closer spaced relation with each other from an intermediate point to the rear end and having holes adapted to receive a pivotal rod for the key and said top having a slot punched adjacent to said holes, and an arm punched from the rear of s'zid top and eX- tending upwardly therefrom.

7. In toy pianos, a frame consisting of a continuous piece of sheet metal bent to Aform top, back and front portions, a plurality of spaced ears punched from said front portion and twisted to lie in a plane at right angles thereto, a plurality oiE posts punched from said top portion and hammer retaining means punched from said rear portion.

8. In toy pianos, a continuous piece of sheet metal bent to form top, back and front portions, a plurality of spaced ears punched from said front portion and twistedrto' lie in a plane at right angles thereto, a plurality of posts punched from said top portion and extending upwardly therefrom, lhammerretaii'iing means punched from said back portion and additional flanges integrally joined to certain of said portions for securing the sheet metal in position.

9. In toy pianos, a frame consisting of a continuous piece of sheet metal bent to form top, back and front portions, a plurality of spaced ears punched from said front portion and twisted to lie at right angles thereto, a rim punched from said top portion and extending upwardly therefrom, a plurality of posts on the front and rear sides of said rim, additional flanges punched from certain of said portions adapted to secure the sheet metal in position, and hammer-retaining means punched from said rear portion.

10. In toy pianos, a frame consisting of a continuous piece of sheet metal bent to form top, back and front portions, a plurality of spaced means punched from said front portion and twisted to lie in a plane at right angles thereto forming ears, a pair of spaced abutments punched inwardly from said back portion, a plurality of posts extending upwardly from said top portion, sound bars on said posts, a plurality of hammers secured to said back and keys pivoted to said ears and having their rear ends between said abutments and means on said keys for engaging said hammers.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name this 26th day of July, 1919.

GEO. E. ROBERTS.

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