Sound instrument

Abstract

A sound instrument (1) with a housing (2) at the opposite longitudinal ends of which support surfaces (4) are formed for resting on a base (5), characterized in that the interior of the housing (2) is divided into three chambers, wherein two outer chambers (7) are provided, between which an inner chamber (8) is provided, that free-flowing filling material consisting of particles (10) can be stored in each outer chamber (7) and in which pressure equalization means are provided, that a partition (6) with a passage opening (9) is provided between each outer chamber (7) and the inner chamber (8), wherein the diameter of the passage opening (9) is adapted to the outer diameters of the particles (10), that prefabricated comb structures (12) forming modules are fixed to the inner sides of side walls of the housing (2), which are oriented transversely to the longitudinal direction of the housing (2).and that, with the housing (2) standing on a base (5) with one of the support surfaces (4), filling material from the upper outer chamber (7) trickles through the passage opening (9) and over the comb structures (12) towards the lower outer chamber (7).

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a musical instrument.

[0002] Musical instruments to which the invention relates have a housing enclosing an interior space.

[0003] In principle, such instruments can be designed as cajóns or drums. Generally, such instruments can also have sound bodies inside, such as rattles, snares, or the like, which can be used to generate sound.

[0004] Furthermore, it is known that there are elements in the interior of a musical instrument's casing that can produce rain-like sounds.

[0005] The invention is based on the object of providing a sound instrument that can be produced efficiently and cost-effectively and with which rain-like sounds can be produced.

[0006] To achieve this object, the features of claim 1 are provided. Advantageous embodiments and expedient developments of the invention are described in the dependent claims.

[0007] The invention relates to a musical instrument with a housing on whose opposite longitudinal ends support surfaces are formed for resting on a base. The interior of the housing is divided into three chambers. There are two outer chambers, between which there is an inner chamber. A free-flowing filling material consisting of particles can be stored in each outer chamber. Furthermore, pressure equalization means are present in these. Between each outer chamber and the inner chamber there is a partition wall with a passage opening. The diameter of the passage opening is adapted to the outer diameter of the particles. Prefabricated comb structures forming modules are fixed to the inside of the side walls of the housing and are oriented transversely to the longitudinal direction of the housing.When the housing is standing with one of its support surfaces on a base, filling material trickles from the outer chamber above through the passage opening and over the comb structures towards the outer chamber below.

[0008] The inventive musical instrument comprises a housing whose interior is divided into three chambers arranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction, i.e., in the vertical direction of the housing. Two outer chambers are each advantageously connected to a front wall element, which forms a support surface with which the housing can be placed on a base. An inner chamber is arranged between the outer chambers and separated from each outer chamber by a partition wall that extends across the entire width of the interior of the housing. Each partition wall has a passage opening.

[0009] Each outer chamber forms a storage area in which free-flowing filling material in the form of particles is stored.

[0010] The operating principle of this instrument is essentially the same as that of an hourglass. The instrument is placed on a surface so that the outer chamber filled with filling material is on top, while the outer chamber below is at least approximately empty.

[0011] Due to gravity, the particles fall downwards through the opening in the partition wall that borders the outer chamber above.

[0012] The particles are guided through the comb structures on the inside of the housing's side wall. The particles trickling through the comb structures create a rain-like sound.

[0013] The particles finally pass through the opening of the further partition wall into the outer chamber below and are collected there.

[0014] The pressure equalization means in the respective outer chamber filled with filling material prevent the formation of a vacuum when the filling material is discharged through the passage opening.

[0015] The aperture is adjusted to the size of the particles, regulating the particle exit through the aperture. This allows the sound of the rain-like noise to be precisely controlled.

[0016] Amaranth is a particularly free-flowing material. The particles are advantageously in the form of small spheres.

[0017] Advantageously, the diameters of the passage opening are slightly larger than the outer diameters of the particles.

[0018] Since the particles are thus metered out through the passage opening and guided over a large number of comb structures, a slow trickling motion of the particles is achieved. This generates the rain-like sound over a relatively long period of time, typically in the range of several minutes.

[0019] Once the particles have collected in the outer chamber below, the instrument is placed with its lower support surface on the base—that is, the instrument is turned upside down. Then the sound generation can begin again.

[0020] A key advantage of the inventive instrument is that the comb structures form prefabricated modular units. These can be efficiently manufactured and then simply mounted as modules in the housing.

[0021] For practical purposes, the comb structures are designed identically.

[0022] This results in a particularly high degree of rationalization, as only one type of comb structure needs to be manufactured. The comb structures are preferably made of wood. In principle, they can also be made of plastic or metal.

[0023] The comb structures are advantageously fixed by plug-in, clamp-in or snap-in connections in receptacles on the inside of the side walls of the housing.

[0024] If a good form fit is achieved, sound transmission from the comb structures to the housing is sufficiently good, so no fixing materials are necessary. The comb structures can therefore be installed without tools.

[0025] Particularly advantageous is the attachment of the comb structures to the enclosure by gluing, especially in addition to the aforementioned fixing options. This results in particularly good sound transmission from the comb structures to the enclosure.

[0026] The comb structures generally form flat elements with comb surfaces that preferably run in one plane.

[0027] In order to achieve an effective trickling movement of the particles, the comb structures are arranged transversely to the longitudinal axis of the housing, in particular perpendicular to it.

[0028] This ensures that the particles emerging from the outer chamber at the top through the passage opening hit the entire comb surfaces.

[0029] Advantageously, each comb structure has a base part from which several teeth extend parallel and spaced from one another.

[0030] The identically shaped prongs each run along a straight line. The distances between the prongs are larger than the diameters of the particles.

[0031] The distances between adjacent tines and their widths are coordinated in such a way that although several particles can pass through a gap at the same time, most of the falling particles first hit the tines and are reflected from there through the gaps, creating the rain-like sound.

[0032] Comb structures are advantageously present in all chambers of the housing.

[0033] This means that the particles are guided through comb structures over almost the entire height of the housing, which enables the generation of rain-like sounds for a particularly long time.

[0034] Particularly advantageous is that the comb structures form a spiral arrangement.

[0035] The spiral arrangement is advantageously obtained in that comb structures are arranged distributed over the height of the housing at predetermined, preferably equal distances, ie at different height levels, wherein adjacent comb structures are mounted in different angular positions so that the teeth of adjacent comb structures form crossed arrangements.

[0036] This spiral arrangement creates a slow trickling movement of the particles in the housing, as they bounce off the crossed teeth of the comb structure several times and are thus deflected transversely to the direction of fall.

[0037] A spiral arrangement of comb structures can be realized particularly well when the housing has a polygonal, for example, hexagonal, cross-section. In this case, the housing has several sidewall elements arranged at an angle to each other. The entirety of the sidewall elements forms a polygonal housing shape. Adjacent comb structures are then fixed to different sidewall elements.

[0038] Since adjacent side wall elements of the polygonal housing are arranged at an angle to each other, this also applies to the comb structures attached to this side wall element.

[0039] According to a geometrically advantageous embodiment, the cross-section of the housing is constant over its height.

[0040] Further advantageously, the chambers are designed mirror-symmetrically to an equatorial plane of the housing, with the outer chambers expediently being larger than the inner chamber. Finally, the wall elements forming the support surfaces and the partition walls run parallel to each other and perpendicular to the side walls of the housing.

[0041] The pressure equalization means of the outer chambers generally serve to ensure that no negative pressure is created when filling material is discharged from an outer chamber.

[0042] A particularly simple and cost-effective design provides for a hose to be provided in an outer chamber as a pressure equalization means, which extends through an opening in the partition wall into the inner chamber.

[0043] The invention is explained below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1: Perspective external view of an embodiment of the sound instrument according to the invention. Fig. 2: Schematic representation of the interior of the sound instrument according to Fig. 1 Fig. 3: Individual representation of a comb structure for the sound instrument according to the Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. Fig. 4: Cut-open case of the instrument according to the Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 with comb structures arranged in the interior.

[0044] Fig. 1 shows a schematic external view of the sound instrument 1 according to the invention.

[0045] The musical instrument 1 comprises a housing 2, preferably made of wood. The housing 2 has a polygonal cross-section that is constant across its entire height, in this case hexagonal. Accordingly, the housing 2 has a side wall consisting of six identical side wall elements 3, with adjacent side wall elements 3 being inclined by 120° relative to each other.

[0046] The front sides of the housing 2 are closed with flat wall elements that form support surfaces 4, with which the instrument 1 can be placed on a base 5. The housing 2 is mirror-symmetrical to its equatorial plane.

[0047] As can be seen from the highly schematic representation of Fig. As can be seen in Figure 2, the interior is divided into two outer chambers 7 and one inner chamber 8 by two partition walls 6 running parallel to the support surfaces 4. The identically designed outer chambers 7 are slightly larger than the inner chamber 8. The partition walls 6, which are preferably made of wood, extend over the entire cross-sectional area of ​​the interior and are firmly connected to the side wall elements 3 by gluing. Each outer chamber 7 extends from a support surface 4 to the nearest partition wall 6. The inner chamber 8 is located between the partition walls 6.

[0048] In the center of each partition wall 6 there is a passage opening 9. The two passage openings 9 are identical.

[0049] Free-flowing contents can be stored in the outer chambers 7. The contents consist of small, particularly spherical particles 10. In this case, amaranth is used as the contents. Fig. Figure 2 shows the situation in which the upper outer chamber 7 is filled with product. The particles 10 are discharged from the upper outer chamber 7 via the passage opening 9 and then fall downwards. The diameters of the preferably circular passage opening 9 are adapted to the sizes of the particles 10. The diameters of the passage opening 9 are advantageously slightly larger than the outer diameters of the particles 10.

[0050] A hose 11 forming a pressure equalization medium is passed through an opening in each partition 6. Each hose 11 extends from the inner chamber 8 into an outer chamber 7. The open ends of the hoses 11 are closed with grid structures (not shown), through which air can pass, but not particles 10.

[0051] Comb structures 12 are attached to the inner sides of the side wall elements 3 of the housing 2. In the present case, all comb structures 12 of the instrument 1 are identical, although this is not mandatory.

[0052] Fig. Figure 3 shows a comb structure 12 in a single view. The comb structure 12, made of wood in this case, forms a flat, single-plane component that can be fixed as a prefabricated unit in the interior of the housing 2 of the musical instrument 1.

[0053] The comb structure 12 has a base part 13 extending along a straight line. Several identically shaped prongs 14, each extending along a straight line, terminate at one side of the base part 13. The prongs 14 extend parallel and spaced apart from one another, with their longitudinal axes perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the base part 13.

[0054] The prongs 14, particularly their widths, and the spaces between the prongs 14 are adapted to the particle sizes. The spaces are selected so that several particles 10 can pass through them simultaneously. At the same time, the comb structure 12 is dimensioned so that a stream of falling particles 10 primarily bounces off the prongs 14 and only then falls through the spaces.

[0055] Fig. 4 shows the housing 2 of the musical instrument 1 cut open in the longitudinal direction with the comb structures 12 mounted therein.

[0056] The comb structures 12 are inserted into notch-shaped receptacles 15 on the inside of the side wall of the housing 2 and then glued. This gluing not only ensures a firm hold of the comb structures 12 in the housing 2, but also ensures good sound transmission from the comb structures 12 to the housing 2.

[0057] The partition walls 6 are fixed in position in the housing 2 in the same way.

[0058] As from Fig. 4 and the schematic representation according to Fig. 2, the comb structures 12 extend over all chambers 7, 8 and are mounted at different heights of the housing 2 so that a spiral arrangement of the comb structures 12 results.

[0059] The arrangement and number of Fig. The arrangement of the comb structures 12 shown in Figure 4 is, of course, not mandatory. In particular, the comb structures 12 can be arranged equidistantly in the vertical direction.

[0060] For this purpose, adjacent comb structures 12 are always mounted on adjacent side wall elements 3, so that the comb structures 12 have an angular offset of 200 to each other. This results in an intersecting arrangement of the teeth 14 of the individual comb structures 12, as can be seen in particular from Fig. 4 can be seen.

[0061] The functioning of the sound instrument 1 is explained below using Fig. 2 explained.

[0062] The musical instrument 1 is placed on a base 5 so that the outer chamber 7 filled with filling material is on top, as shown in Fig.2. Due to gravity, particles 10 successively fall through the passage opening 9 and are then guided over the closely arranged, crossed comb structures 12 in the inner chamber 8, fall through the passage opening 9 of the lower outer chamber 7, and are also guided there over crossed comb structures 12. The pressure equalization means prevent a negative pressure from developing in the upper outer chamber 7 when the particles 10 are discharged there.

[0063] The falling particles 10 bounce off the teeth 14 of the comb structures 12 and then fall further down through the gaps. This creates a rain-like sound with the instrument 1. List of reference symbols 1 musical instrument 2 housings 3 side wall element 4 support surface 5 Base 6 Partition wall 7 outer chamber 8 inner chamber 9 Passage opening 10 particles 11 Hose 12 Comb structure 13 Base part 14 prongs 15 recording

Claims

[1] A sound instrument (1) having a housing (2) at the opposite longitudinal ends of which support surfaces (4) are formed for resting on a base (5), characterized bythat the interior of the housing (2) is divided into three chambers, wherein two outer chambers (7) are present, between which an inner chamber (8) is present, that in each outer chamber (7) free-flowing filling material consisting of particles (10) can be stored and in which pressure equalization means are present, that between each outer chamber (7) and the inner chamber (8) there is a partition wall (6) with a passage opening (9), wherein the diameter of the passage opening (9) is adapted to the outer diameter of the particles (10), that on the inside of side walls of the housing (2) prefabricated modules forming comb structures (12) are fixed, which are oriented transversely to the longitudinal direction of the housing (2),and that when the housing (2) is standing with one of the support surfaces (4) on a base (5), filling material trickles from the upper outer chamber (7) through the passage opening (9) and over the comb structures (12) in the direction of the lower outer chamber (7). [2] Sound instrument (1) according to claim 1, characterized by that the wall elements forming the support surfaces (4) and the partition walls (6) run parallel to each other and perpendicular to the side wall of the housing (2). [3] Sound instrument (1) according to claim 2, characterized by that the housing (2) has a polygonal cross-section. [4] Sound instrument (1) according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized by that the chambers (7, 8) are mirror-symmetrical to an equatorial plane of the housing (2). [5] Sound instrument (1) according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized bythat the outer chambers (7) are each delimited by a support surface (4) and a partition wall (6). [6] Sound instrument (1) according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized by that the particles (10) are at least approximately spherical. [7] Sound instrument (1) according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized by that the diameters of the passage openings (9) are slightly larger than the outer diameters of the particles (10). [8] Sound instrument (1) according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized by that the filling material is made of amaranth. [9] Sound instrument (1) according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized by that each comb structure (12) has a base part (13) from which several teeth (14) extend parallel and at a distance from one another. [10] Sound instrument (1) according to claim 9, characterized by that the distances between the tines (14) are larger than the diameters of the particles (10). [11] Sound instrument (1) according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized by that its comb structures (12) are identical. [12] Sound instrument (1) according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized by that the comb structures (12) are made of wood. [13] Sound instrument (1) according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterized by that the comb structures (12) are fixed by plug-in, clamping or snap-in connections in receptacles (15) on the inside of side walls of the housing (2). [14] Sound instrument (1) according to one of claims 1 to 13, characterized by that the comb structures (12) are fixed by gluing to the inside of the side wall of the housing (2). [15] Sound instrument (1) according to one of claims 1 to 14, characterized by that comb structures (12) are present in all chambers (7, 8) of the housing (2). [16] Sound instrument (1) according to one of claims 1 to 15, characterized bythat the comb structures (12) form a spiral arrangement. [17] Sound instrument (1) according to one of claims 3 and 16, characterized by that the housing (2) has a plurality of side wall elements (3) arranged at an angle to one another, wherein the entirety of the side wall elements (3) forms a polygonal housing shape, and that adjacent comb structures (12) are fixed to different side wall elements (3). [18] Sound instrument (1) according to one of claims 1 to 17, characterized by that a hose (11) is provided as a pressure equalization means in an outer chamber (7), which hose projects through an opening in the partition wall (6) into the inner chamber (8).

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