"Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical and insignificant, if not utterly impossible."
Simon Newcomb, astronomer ; Said in 1902, less than two years before the first flight at Kitty Hawk
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8138402 | Keyboard musical instrument and solenoid drive mechanism A keyboard musical instrument has a solenoid including a plunger and a coil into which the plunger is inserted, a drive unit for applying voltage to the solenoid, and a key which moves together with the plunger, and on which a force generated by the solenoid is exer... | 03/20/2012 |
| 7692078 | Key actuating apparatus and key actuation control system In order to realize a small and light key actuating apparatus for actuating a key which is rotatably supported with respect to a frame, a key actuating apparatus (7) is provided which includes a polymer transducer (9) for rotatably moving the key (3... | 04/06/2010 |
| 7687691 | System and method for driving actuators in reproducing piano A method and system for controlling actuators in a mechanical reproducing piano or other instrument. In one implementation, a single finite state machine is provided to control all the actuators. The finite state machine may be or include a shift register or a toggl... | 03/30/2010 |
| 7435895 | Automatic playing system used for musical instruments and computer program used therein for self-teaching An automatic playing system is independent of acoustic pianos, and is designed to perform music tunes expressed by sets of MIDI music data codes on the acoustic pianos; since the acoustic pianos have their own individualities, control parameter table, which were pre... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7034215 | Performance apparatus There is provided a performance apparatus that can reduce energy consumption while allowing sounding elements to appropriately generate sound. A CPU supplies driving energy to an actuator to drivingly control the same based on pulse width modulation. A rotary pick i... | 04/25/2006 |
| 6525257 | Arrangement pressure point generation in keyboards for piano-like keyboard instruments The invention relates to an arrangement, with which pressure point characteristics can be simulated, such that a key stroke typical of a cembalo, as well as the key characteristics of an organ can be as near as possible approached and permits the replicat... | 02/25/2003 |
| 5652399 | Automatic player piano and estimator for acceleration of depressed key incorporated in the automatic player piano An automatic player piano controls keys to be rotated by solenoid-operated actuator units in such a manner as to pass a reference point on a trajectory of the key at a reference velocity in a playback mode, and a hammer driven by the depressed key strikes... | 07/29/1997 |
| 5600521 | Automatic performing apparatus with power supply controller An automatic performing apparatus that executes recording and reproduction of a performance includes a diagnostic signal generator for sending a power supply control circuit at least one of normal and abnormal diagnostic signals indicating whether a contr... | 02/04/1997 |
| 5530198 | Piano-like keyboard musical instrument for automatically playing music through feedback control with key acceleration and key velocity An automatic player piano is implemented by a combination of an acoustic piano and an automatic playing system, and a velocity feedback loop and an acceleration feedback loop control solenoid-operated key actuator units for reproducing a performance so th... | 06/25/1996 |
| 5276270 | Solenoid drive system for an automatic performing apparatus A solenoid drive system enabling an automatic performing apparatus to control the intensity of key depression with respect to individual keys. Voltage waveform data is provided for each of the solenoids to drive an associated keys. One cycle of the voltag... | 01/04/1994 |
| 5210367 | Automatic performance device for a keyboard instrument An automatic performance device for a keyboard instrument such as piano, organ, cembalo and celesta includes operators such as keys and a pedal provided in a keyboard instrument for producing sounds, a target performance state designation unit for produci... | 05/11/1993 |
| 4169401 | Circuit for reducing solenoid hold-in power in electronic player pianos and similar keyboard operated instruments There is disclosed a method and apparatus for reducing the power required to activate the soft and playing mechanism of an electronic player piano and similar instruments. In accordance with the invention, full voltage on the solenoid is maintained for a ... | 10/02/1979 |