Did You Know...
...that Robert Adler has the dubious distinction of being the Father of the Couch Potato? Back in 1955 Adler was employed by what was then Zenith Radio Corp., where he was charged to invent something that would allow viewers to turn down the TV volume without leaving their chairs. After a series of flops (such as a wired contraption that people tripped over), Adler hit on the idea of using sound waves. Thus the Remote Control was born...
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7402738 | Wind musical instrument equipped with slide and supporting system for assisting player in performance A player changes the pitch of tones produced through a trombone by controlling the breath and a slide, and the control of slide is not easy for children, handicapped persons and old players; a supporting system is combined with the trombone, and includes a manipulat... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7161077 | Gradually progressive bore BB-flat, CC, E-flat, F, or B-flat valved musical wind instrument and valved B-flat/F inverted double musical wind instrument The present invention is for valved musical wind instruments in the musical keys of BB-flat, CC, E-flat, and F with progressive cylindrical mid-section bore or gradual conical mid-section bore expansion or a combination, not to exceed 0.85 inch bore within the first... | 01/09/2007 |
| 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 |
| 6765138 | Register system for contrabassoon A contrabassoon has a body, a tuning slide, a bocal pipe and a novel register system. The body, tuning slide and bocal pipe form a tube having a continuous bore. The register system comprises 5 vent holes formed in the tube. Key mechanisms for selectively opening an... | 07/20/2004 |
| 6717041 | Tuning adjustment retaining mechanism Disclosed is a mechanism for attaching a tuning bell of a musical instrument to the musical instrument. The mechanism includes a rail attached to the tuning bell and a hollow channel attached to a part of the musical instrument such as, for example, to a valve clust... | 04/06/2004 |
| 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 |
| 6162975 | Method and apparatus for making trombone slide positions An apparatus for marking slide positions on a conventional trombone having an inner hollow slide slidingly journalled in an outer hollow slide includes a magnet sensor mountable on the outer hollow slide for sensing proximity of a magnet mounted within th... | 12/19/2000 |
| 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 |
| 5965832 | Brass instrument improvement An improvement to the tone and responsiveness of brass instruments is achieved by holding preshaped pieces of damping material, preferably a waxy, hot-melt adhesive, pressed against surfaces of the instrument tubing sections such as valve casings and tubi... | 10/12/1999 |
| 5834666 | Wind instrument having a compact slide configuration A brass wind instrument which changes pitch by varying the tube lengths thereof which includes a slide portion which is substantially half the physical length of a conventional slide. The slide assembly comprises two substantially U-shaped tubes which sli... | 11/10/1998 |
| 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 |
| 5796022 | Helical air path induction in wind instruments A wind instrument is described which includes an elongated tubular body and a helical member in the tubular body extending longitudinally therein for inducing a helical airflow in the tubular body from air blown into the mouthpiece. A helical member is al... | 08/18/1998 |
| 5656788 | Trombone guide The trombone guide of the present invention provides a novel guide for positioning the first and second finger and thumb of the trombonist to ensure proper slide technique.... | 08/12/1997 |
| 5644095 | Brass instrument improvement An improvement to the tone and responsiveness of brass instruments is achieved by holding preshaped pieces of damping material, preferably a waxy, hot-melt adhesive, pressed against surfaces of the instrument tubing sections such as valve casings and tubi... | 07/01/1997 |
| 5503055 | Wind instrument fabricated from metallic tubular parts with inwardly rounded ends A plurality of tubular members are incorporated in a wind instrument for forming an air passage, and each of the tubular members has a tubular portion and a guide portion larger in diameter than the tubular portion and rounding therefrom for forming a hol... | 04/02/1996 |
| 5375499 | Single trigger perfect fifth slide bass trombone A slide trombone is provided which has an attachment that is activated by a single thumb trigger to lower the basic pitch of the trombone by a perfect fifth. This attachment configuration permits the player to play all the chromatic tones between the teno... | 12/27/1994 |
| 5365823 | In-line double attachment slide trombone A slide trombone is provided having a complete chromatic range extending from the tenor range to the pedal notes of the basic B.music-flat. windpath. The trombone of the present invention includes two trigger activated attachments which are "in... | 11/22/1994 |
| 5287785 | Musical brass instrument slide apparatus A slide housing having a plurality of rows of side wall ports directed into the side walls of the housing is arranged to receive a slide block within the housing, wherein the slide block includes through-extending bores arranged for alignment with the sid... | 02/22/1994 |
| 5149904 | Pitch data output apparatus for electronic musical instrument having movable members for varying instrument pitch An apparatus for outputting a pitch data corresponding to a relative distance between a pair of movable members or a position of a second movable member relative to a first movable member. Data indicating the output relative distance or data indicating th... | 09/22/1992 |
| 4977809 | Trombones and the like A bracket assembly for mounting on a trombone to provide an alternative and more comfortable holding position for the instrument comprising a framework of connected tubular members including a pair of spaced side frame members and at least two spaced cros... | 12/18/1990 |
| 4860629 | Graphite trombone slide A trombone has an other slide member fabricated from graphite tube. The graphite tube is 60-66% graphite and 40-34% expoxy resin and has a wall thickness in the range between 0.023 and 0.029 inches. The resulting trombone is lightweight and durable, resis... | 08/29/1989 |
| 4831911 | Wind instrument having a compact slide configuration A brass wind instrument incorporating a compact slide configuration comprising two U-shaped slide tube members, each having two tube lengths which are proximate to each other and which are coupled together with a minimum length crook. The two U-shaped sli... | 05/23/1989 |
| 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 |
| 3937116 | Tenor trombone construction The embodiment of the invention disclosed herein is directed to a novel tenor trombone construction. The tenor trombone is capable of performing as a standard slide trombone and/or as a piston valve trombone. The trombone can be operated in these two mode... | 02/10/1976 |
| 3933079 | Musical wind instrument The embodiment of the invention disclosed herein is directed to a wind instrument made of tubular metal and having an initial straight portion beginning at a mouthpiece receiving end and terminating in a sound-emanating bell portion. The wind instrument i... | 01/20/1976 |
