Did You Know...
...that a workman who left the soap mixing machine on too long was responsible for making Ivory Soap? He was so embarrassed by his mistake that he threw the mess in a stream. Imagine his dismay when the evidence of his error floated to the surface! Result: Ivory soap, the soap that floats.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7335831 | Brass instrument A brass instrument with improved tonal characteristics that includes a tonal material attached to the brass instrument. The instrument may be a trumpet. The tonal material may have a Mohs hardness of greater than about 6, such as a semi-precious stone. Also disclose... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7112735 | Musical wind instrument, valves therefor, and methods of manufacturing same A valve for use in musical wind instruments, associated musical instruments, and methods of fabricating such valves and musical instruments are provided. An exemplary rotor valve includes a solid rotor body having a first, substantially straight passage defined ther... | 09/26/2006 |
| 6384306 | Wind instrument A wind instrument having a relative pure tone is disclosed. The wind instrument includes a tubular body, a secondary treble key, and a control shaft adapted to be rotated by the secondary treble key. The control shaft is pivotally connected to the tubular... | 05/07/2002 |
| 6297436 | Valve assembly for musical instruments A valve assembly including at least one valve body designed to be mounted on a musical instrument, such as but not limited to a trombone or like "brass" instrument and adapted to regulate air flow through the instrument, between at least a first path of a... | 10/02/2001 |
| 6255571 | Trombone stable in tone color and pitch and compact valve used therein A trombone has a rotary valve unit inserted between two parts of a main tube and further connected to a bypass tube, and a player manipulates the rotary valve unit for changing the length of vibrating air column, wherein the rotary valve unit has a cylind... | 07/03/2001 |
| 6018115 | Low friction vented rotary valve for brass wind instruments A low friction vented rotary valve for a brass instrument is disclosed comprising a partially circumferential member providing a low friction engagement with the rotary casing. The partially circumferential member has first, second and third apertures the... | 01/25/2000 |
| 6018114 | Rotary valve of brass instrument A rotary valve is provided for a brass instrument to produce brass sounds of different pitches by changing over a tube length of a resonance tube. Herein, a rotor is inserted in a valve casing. The valve casing has a cylindrical shape whose both ends are ... | 01/25/2000 |
| 5965833 | Rotary valve for a musical instrument A rotary valve for selectively inserting and removing a slide loop from the sound path of a musical instrument is disclosed. The valve includes a cylindrical rotor housed in a cylindrical casing coupled to the instrument's lead pipe, main bore and slide l... | 10/12/1999 |
| 5900563 | Compact rotary valve for brass instruments A rotary valve (10) for a brass wind instrument includes a rotor (12) rotatably disposed in a casing (30). Four tube connecters (50) are connected to the casing in fluid-tight connections. Each tube connecter (50) has a passageway (52) therethrough having... | 05/04/1999 |
| 5798471 | Rotary valve for musical instruments A rotary valve for musical instruments is provided. The valve is specially designed to have three internal passages with gentle curves and continuously circular passageways to provide true tonal qualities and a minimum of distortion. The valve passages ha... | 08/25/1998 |
| 5686678 | Rotary sound path selector valve for musical wind instruments A rotary valve for a musical instrument includes a cylindrical casing having a sidewall closed at opposite ends thereof, and a rotor mounted within the casing for rotation between unoperated position, in which the main tubing is connected to a further tub... | 11/11/1997 |
| 5396825 | Air flow valve for musical instrument An air flow valve positioned along the air flow path in a wind instrument. The valve includes three air conduits and is shiftable between a first position wherein the air flows substantially straight through the main air passage to the bell, and a second ... | 03/14/1995 |
| 5052261 | Compensating valve system for brass instruments Improved apparatus for providing a chromatic scale with accurate intonation for valved brass instruments is disclosed. Two embodimeents of the invention that compensate for the deficiencies of the valve systems of the prior art are described for both four... | 10/01/1991 |
| 5012714 | Brass instrument A brass instrument such as a trombone has a main tube member formed with a main air passage, a plurality of bypassing tube members respectively formed with bypassing air passages, and a plurality of valve units selectively coupling the main air passage to... | 05/07/1991 |
| 4996902 | Musical instrument with barrel A musical wind instrument, comprising a cylindrical barrel having an inlet hole (3) communicating with the mouthpiece (1) of the instrument, an outlet hole (5) communicating with the bell (12), a branch hole (6), a return hole (7), the branch hole (6) com... | 03/05/1991 |
| 4972751 | Rotary valves for brass wind instruments A rotary valve for brass wind instruments with improved lubricating and durability properties is provided. The valve body 2 or both the valve body 2 and casing 1 of the rotary valve comprise(s) a machinable ceramic-resin composite material. The rotary val... | 11/27/1990 |
| 4970932 | Structure of rotary valve assembly used in wind instrument A rotary valve assembly incorporated in a brass instrument for changing a pitch of a tone comprises a rotary valve housed in a valve casing having two groups of aeroports, and the rotary valve is provided with two air passages, one of which interconnects ... | 11/20/1990 |
| 4905564 | Rotary sound path selector valve with biased rotor A rotary valve coupled into the principal sound path of a musical wind instrument for selectively inserting and removing one or more acoustic pipe segments from the sound path is disclosed. The valve includes a tapered housing enclosing a tapered lightwei... | 03/06/1990 |
| 4718318 | Flow path selector valve for use in wind instruments made of metal This invention relates to a flow path selector valve for use in wind instruments made of metal, such as a trumpet or a French horn. The valve comprises at least one pair of valve members, which consist each of a solid of revolution and are rotatably mount... | 01/12/1988 |
| 4685372 | Valve unit for a brass musical instrument In construction of a single valve unit for a brass musical instrument having blow-in and blow-out tubes, and multiple resonant tubes, rotation and axial displacement of a piston in a cylinder switches communication between the blow-in and blow-out tubes a... | 08/11/1987 |
| 4469002 | Axial flow valve A rotary valve for selectively inserting and removing a slide loop from the sound path of a musical instrument is disclosed. The valve includes a rotor having an outer surface portion that is substantially conical and also includes a casing with a substan... | 09/04/1984 |
| 4336738 | Musical instrument A brass instrument having multiple tuning slide valve blocks is provided with a unique pair of directional air control valves for selecting one tuning slide valve block. The directional air control valves have rotating valve blocks that are disposed on a ... | 06/29/1982 |
| 4299156 | Axial flow valve A rotary valve for selectively inserting and removing a slide loop from the sound path of a musical instrument is disclosed. The valve includes a rotor having two sound passages entending therethrough, which are no more than slightly curved. These passage... | 11/10/1981 |
| 4213371 | Axial flow valve A rotary valve for selectively inserting and removing a slide loop from the sound path of a musical instrument is disclosed. The valve includes a rotor having two sound passages extending therethrough, one of the passages being straight and the other bein... | 07/22/1980 |
| 4127050 | Brass wind musical instrument A brass wind musical instrument comprises two main tubes along which a plurality of bypasses are arranged, the bypasses being inserted in series into the corresponding main tubes by the action of valve assemblies; an intermediate tube; a first changeover ... | 11/28/1978 |
| 4112806 | Axial flow valve A rotary valve for selectively inserting and removing a slide loop from the sound path of a musical instrument is disclosed. The valve includes a rotor having two sound passages extending therethrough, one of the passages being straight and the other bein... | 09/12/1978 |
| 4095504 | Rotary valve for brass wind instruments A rotary valve for a wind brass instrument comprises, as usual, a housing having a cylindrical wall with four duct connecting pieces fixed thereto about the circumference thereof. It also comprises a rotating member including a continuous metal shaft with... | 06/20/1978 |
| 4047459 | Valve tuning system for the brass musical instruments A valve tuning system for a brass musical instrument having a single valve housing, a single valve body, which may be in several parts, a basic pipe and a plurality of by-pass pipes connected to the housing. A plurality of air-pipes or passages are formed... | 09/13/1977 |
