Wind Instrument Tone Hole Caps for Pitch Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional wind instruments operated mainly by fingers face limitations in pitch adjustment and sound production due to restricted tone hole arrangement and diameter size, compromising both acoustic performance and operability.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a tube body with a main tube and auxiliary tube, featuring tone hole tubes with varying lengths and diameters, and a key mechanism to facilitate pitch adjustment and sound production, allowing for flexible arrangement and operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the tone holes are formed linearly penetrating the tube body in the radial direction, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the degree of freedom in the arrangement of the tone holes is low, limiting pitch adjustment and sound production
Solution Approach 1:
The tone hole is divided into two separate components: a tone hole formation portion formed in the tube body, and a tone hole cap that covers it. This segmentation allows independent optimization of each component, enabling complex three-dimensional arrangements while maintaining manufacturing simplicity through modular construction
Solution Approach 2:
The tone hole cap is inserted into and covers the tone hole formation portion, creating a nested structure. This nesting approach allows the tone hole to be formed by combining two simpler components rather than requiring complex single-piece machining, thereby increasing design freedom while maintaining ease of manufacture
2Device complexity
If the length dimension of the tone holes is limited by the thickness of the tube wall, then the tube structure remains simple, but pitch adjustment capability is severely restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The tone hole cap is designed to be movable relative to the tube body, allowing dynamic adjustment of the tone hole length dimension. The cap can be positioned at different depths within the tone hole formation portion, enabling precise pitch control without requiring complex internal tube structures or variable wall thicknesses
Solution Approach 2:
The tone hole cap acts as an intermediary element that mediates between the fixed tube body structure and the acoustic requirements for pitch adjustment. By moving the cap position, the effective length of the tone hole is controlled, providing precise pitch adjustment while keeping the tube body structure simple
3Device complexity
If pitch adjustment and tone hole arrangement are performed in a limited range, then the tube structure remains simple, but both acoustic performance and operability cannot be ensured simultaneously
Solution Approach 1:
The tone hole arrangement transitions from a simple linear radial configuration to a three-dimensional spatial arrangement. The tone hole caps can be positioned at various locations around the tube circumference and at different depths, creating multi-dimensional design space for optimizing both acoustic performance and player operability while maintaining relatively simple tube structures
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
A wind instrument includes: a tube body; and a plurality of tone hole tubes each having an outer open end formed at the outer periphery of the tube body and an inner open end formed through the outer opening end and opening to the inside of the tube body, wherein at least one of the tube body and the tone hole tube is curved such that the plurality of outer open ends of the plurality of tone hole tubes are disposed so as to be in positions corresponding to respective fingers of the performer, and the plurality of inner open ends are connected at positions that cause the tube body to produce a predetermined pitch.