Integrally Formed Elastomeric Key Member for Recorder Tone Hole
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Solution Overview
Problem
Children's fingers struggle to accurately cover and seal tone holes on musical instruments like the recorder, leading to unpleasant sounds and compromised musical learning experiences, while reducing tone hole size to aid coverage results in muted tones and ergonomic issues.
Innovation Solution
Integrally formed key members with a closure and attachment portion, made from elastomeric materials like silicone, that are configured to bias towards an open configuration, allowing for easy and accurate operation of tone holes, maintaining tone quality and ergonomics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If tone hole size is reduced to enable child's finger coverage, then ease of operation is improved, but tone quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
A key member is introduced as an intermediary mechanism between the child's finger and the tone hole. The key member includes a closure portion that seals the tone hole and is operable by the child's finger, while the actual tone hole remains at its original, acoustically optimal size. This mediator allows the child to easily operate the instrument without compromising tone quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The key member is divided into distinct functional portions: a closure portion for sealing the tone hole and an attachment portion for mounting to the instrument body. This segmentation allows the closure portion to be sized for easy finger operation while the tone hole itself maintains its acoustically correct dimensions.
2Ease of operation
If tone hole size is reduced to enable child's finger coverage, then ease of operation is improved, but ergonomic positioning deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The key member serves as an intermediary that decouples the finger operation requirement from the tone hole positioning. The closure portion of the key member can be sized for easy finger coverage, while the attachment portion positions it at the correct ergonomic location on the instrument body, preserving natural finger positioning.
3Manufacturing precision
If traditional key members are used with separate components, then manufacturing precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The closure portion and attachment portion are integrally formed as a single key member, eliminating the need for separate components and assembly steps. This merging simplifies the device structure while maintaining precise positioning through the integral design, reducing both complexity and assembly requirements.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The key members provide improved responsiveness and accuracy for children, maintaining tone resonance and projection while being durable and cost-effective, with customizable options for user-specific needs.
Implementation Method 1
the integrally formed attachment portion and closure portion are configured to bias the closure portion towards the opened configuration
Data Source
AI summary
A keyed wind musical instrument (100, 101, 102) including an elongate tubular body (200) having a plurality of tone holes (201) extending through a surface of the elongate tubular body (200); at least one key member (202) attached to the elongate tubular body (200) adjacent at least one of said plurality of tone holes (201), the at least one key member (202) including: a closure portion (202B) movable between at least one of a closed configuration in which the closure portion (202B) substantially seals the tone hole (201), and, an opened configuration in which the closure portion (202B) is spaced apart from the tone hole (201) wherein the tone hole (201) is opened; and an attachment portion (202A) integrally formed with the closure portion (202B), the attachment portion (202A) being configured for attaching the key member (202) to the elongate tubular body (200); and wherein the integrally formed attachment portion (202A) and closure portion (202B) are configured to bias the closure portion (202B) towards the opened configuration.