US1595764A - Drum-snare tightener - Google Patents

Description

-Aug. 10 ,1926. 1,595,764

J. M. ELLIOTT DRUM SNARE TIGHTENER Filed June 16 1924 lit/77107 Jamaal [MW Patented Aug. 10, 1926.

JAMES M. ELLIOTT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DRUM-SNARE TIGHTENER.

Application filed June 16, 1924. Serial No. 720,212.

This invention relates to devices for tightening the snares on snare drums.

Generally stated, the object of the invention is to combine a plurality of adjusting or tightening devices in one unitary structure,'so that the snares can be individually tightened, when necessary, and whereby all of the snares can be tightened in unison, and whereby all the snares can be quickly relaxed or made loose, when occasion requires, whereby they may beas quickly restored to normal position against the drum head.

It is also an object to provide certain details and features of construction and com binations tending to increase the general efiicienc and the desirability of a combination rum snare tightening device of this particular character.

To the foregoing and other useful ends the invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a snare drum equipped with a combination snare tightening device embodying the principles of the invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front elevation of said device.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 33 of Fi 2. v

1 ig. 4 is a perspective of the adjustable means to which the ends of the snares are connected.

Fig. 5 is a perspective of one of the elements of the individualsnare tighteners.

As thus illustrated, thesnare drum 1 is provided with a bracket 2 fixed on the side thereof, this bracket having a pivot 3 and a slot 4 in the outer wall thereof. A cam member Shaving a cam slot 6 therein is mounted on said pivot, and is provided with a handle 7 for the operation thereof. A vertical movable slide 8 is movable up and down in the provided wit a small roller 10 which engages the edges of said cam slot 6, whereby operation of this cam about its pivot will movev the slide 8 up and down. The member 11 to which the snares 12 are hitched is movable u and down on the outer surface of the sli e 8, in said guides 9, and is provided with a rigid portion 13 having a threaded socket 14 therein for the vertically disposed screw 15, which latter is swiveled inthe horizontal upper portion 16 of the glide 8 previously mentior ed, The screw 15 guides 9 of the bracket, and is has a handle 17 at its upper end, and by rotating this screw the member 11 is moved up and down to give the snares the proper degree of tension. By 0 erating the handle 7 the snares can then be t rown quickly from the drum head, or brought into engagement therewith, in the manner necessary or desirable in the useo f the drum for certain purposes. In addition, the member 11 is provided with vertically disposed slots 18 in which the small slides 19 are movable up and down, each slide having a reduced p0rt1on 20 to engage any one of said slots, and having its other end provided with an opening 21 inwhich the snare is attached. Each slide 19 has a vertically disposed and threaded opening 22, and screws 23 are inserted downwardly through the member 11, as shown, to engage the threaded openings 22 in the said slides. By adjusting any screw 23, it is obvious that the particular snare attached to the slide 19 of such screw may be tightened or loosened individually. When the snares all have the individual tension necessary, they can then be tightened or loosened in unison by the screw 15. Then, during the use of the drum, for certain kinds of musical effects, the handle 7 can be thrown downward to quickly relax or loosen the snares, and can be thrown up again to restore the snares to operative engagement with the drum head.

Thus three adjusting or tightening devices are combined in one unitary structure, so that themeans for causing individual adjustment or tightening or tensioning of the snares serves also as a art of the means whereby the snares may e all tightened or loosened in unison, while in engagement with the drum head, and also a part of the means whereby the snares may be quickly thrown out of engagement with the drum head, or restored to engagement therewith.

It will be seen that the screws 23 have their upper ends provided with heads adapted for engagement with an ordinary screw driver, so that these screws are not liable to be turned or displaced from their proper adjustment. The screws and the elements 19 occupy a protected position between the member 11 and the side of the drum, said member being bent to extend horizontally and then downwardly, inthe manner shown, thus partially enclosing the devices for individually tensioning the snares. The member 11 is movable bodily up and down, either by the screw 15, or by the cam mechanism, as previously explained. The screws 23 are arranged parallel with each other, and extend downwardly at the side of the drum,so that the pull on the snares is directly upward, and whereby the snares are only once deflected from their straight direction across the head of the drum. In other words, the snares extend across the head of the drum, and are then deflected upward, and the upper ends of the upx'vardly deflected portions of the snares are connected directly to the controlling mechanism, so that the one up ward deflection of the snares is suiiicient to enable them to connect with the controlling mechanism. in effect, therefore, the screws form a part of the device for quickly throwing the snares out of action, 0 into action. These screws also in effect form a part of the means for tensio'ning the snares in unison.

Thus it will be seen' that the individual tightening means comprising the screws 23 form the medium of connection between the snares and the quick throw out or adjuster formed by the cam and the parts cooperating therewith. Moreover, the tensioning screw 15 forms a part of the connection intermediate ot the snares and the quick on or olt device, whereby the device embodies the three things in onethat is to say, the unitary device has the individual adjust ment or tensioning means for the snares, the simultaneous tensioning means for tightening the snares inunison, and the quick on and oil adjustment. The cam 5 and cooperating members constituting the quick on and oil device have nothing to do with the correct tensioning of the snares, of course, as the screw 15 and the screws 23 constitute the means for obtaining the desired tension of the snares. Having once obtained the correct individual tension for each snare, and the correct tei'ision of the snares in unison, the shares can then be quickly thrown on or off by means of the handle 7 in the manner explained. But the quick on and off device is dependent on the screws 23 for the quick on or oil adjustment of the snares, as these screws 23 form the medium or connection between the snares and the quick on or off device. Similarly, the screw 15 is something upon which the 011 or off device is dependent, inasmuch as this screw fer-ins a part of the medium of connection between the snares and the said quick on or oil device.

In accordance with the invention, therefore, a unitary device is provided, having a plurality of adjustments, or a plurality of d'iti'erent ways of adjusting or tensioniug the snares. As shown and described, the device is a thr'e'e-in-one proposition, so to speak, inasim'i'ch as it provides a handle 7 for the quick t1lSlOI1i11gfl11d nontensioning of the snares, a screw 17 for tensioning the snares in unison, and screws 23 for tensioning the snares individually. Thus only one device needs to be attached to the drum in order to provide any or all of these adjustments, and the adjusting and tensioning is all done at the same side of the drum, and at the same ends ot the snares, whereby no ten.- sioning or adjustment is necessary at the other side of the drum.

hat I claim as my invention is:-

1. In mechanism for tightening the snares of snare drums, the combination of a device for quickly relaxing or' throwing all the snares out of action, and to quickly bring the snares into engagement with the drum head again, and meansto connect said device to the snares and having adjusting means for individually tightening the snares and forming a medium of individual adjustment connection between said device and the snares.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1, comprising means of screw adjustment on said device for t'ensioning the snares in unison, said screw forming the medium of connection between said device-and said individual tigl'itening means, said means for individually tensioning the snares being in effect a part of the means for quickly throwing the snares out of action, being also in eil'e'ct a part of said means for tensioning the snares in unison.

3. A structure as specified in chim 1, having a screw carried on said device to tension the snares in unison,- sai'd screw forming the medium of connection between said device and said individual tightening means.

4:. A structure as specified in claim 1',

said means for individually tensioning the snares comprising an adjusting screw for each snare. each screw being parallel with the side of the drum.

5. A structure as specified in claim 1, said means for individually tensioning the snares comprising a member having slots therein, a slide for each slot, each slide'bcing hitched to one of the snares, and adjustinv screws extending through said member an engaging said slides, whereby each snare has an adjusting screw allotted thereto, and all snare adjusting means of the drum are embodied in one unitary structure at one side of the drum.

6. In mechanism for controlling the snares of a snare drum, the combination 0'1": 2. slid able member, guidesfor said member, means including a screw for adjusting said menr ber bodily, and instrun'ientalities for hitching the snares tosaid member, said instrumentalities comprising means for individually tensioni'ng the diiferent snares, whereby said individual tightening means forms the medium of connection between saidadjustable member and the snares.

7. A structure as specified in claim 6, said instrumentalities comprising an adj usting screw and a slide for each snare, carried by said member.

8. A structure as specified in claim 6, in combination with cam mechanism for moving said screw endwise to uickly throw the snares out of action, as wel as into action, whereby said cam has control over said individual tightening means to quickly relax or tighten all'the snares.

9. A structure as specified in claim 6, in combination with mechanism for quickl moving said screw endwise, thereb to shi t said member, for the pur o quickly throwing the snares out 0 action, as well as into action.

10. In mechanism for controllin the snares of snare drums, the combination of a member which is movable bodily to control the snares in unison, and means on said member to control the snares individually, whereby said individual means form the medium of connection between the snares and said unison control.

11. A structure as specified in claim 10, in combination with guides for said member, and a screw for moving said member bodily, forming means to thereby control said individual means in unison.

12. A structure as specified in claim 10, in combination with guides for said members, and means including a pivoted cam for moving said member bodily, forming means to thereby control said individual means in llIllSOIl.

13. In mechanism for controlling the snares of snare drums, the combination of a member at the side of the drum, rotatable adjusting screws extending through said member, parallel with the side of the drum, elements to which the snares are connected, having threaded engagements with said screws, and means on said member to engage said elements and hold them against rotation, whereby adjustment of any screw will tension only the particular snare allotted thereto, in combination with means for adjusting said member bodily to control the snares in unison, so that the individual control forms the medium of connection between the snares and the unison control.

JAMES M. ELLIOTT.

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