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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in a drum practice pad. More particularly, the practice pad is for use for a marching percussionist/drummer with a shoulder or mobile mounted carrier. The practice pad emulates a portion of the drum without the weight of the entire drum. The practice pad incorporates a pad that is struck with a standard drum stick and a portion of the drum rim to allow rim shots with the drum stick. The height, location and position of the drum pad are adjustable to closely simulate the playing surface of an actual drum
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98:
Most drum practice pads are designed for use to improve technique, drumming accuracy and speed. Practice pads often consist of flat surface that a drummer strikes with a drum stick, in some cases the practice pad has a raised edge that extends around the outside of the practice pad to simulate the rim of a drum. In a marching band a drummer practices standing, turning, walking, marching moving and possibly running while they continue to play a drum. In this form of practice a drummer must carry the entire weight of a drum while they are practicing both field drills and performance. The load of the drum places a load on the performer that can result in fatigue that will shorten the amount of time that a musician can practice without becoming fatigued. Practice drum pads provide a static playing surface, but none are specifically intended for use by a shoulder supported carrier. Some exemplary examples of flat practice pads are identified herein.
Examples of flat practice pads are found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,929,354 issued Jul. 27, 1999 to Jimmy C. Davis, U.S. Pat. No. D465,510 issued Nov. 12, 2002 to Jason S. Edwards et al, and U.S. Pat. No. D320,035 issued Sep. 17, 1991 to Thomas O. Magruder. These practice pads all disclose a pad that is thin, smaller in size than a drum head and give a use the ability to practice striking that surface of the practice pad. These patents all lack a drum rim to practice rim shots, and are further not mountable onto a stand or shoulder mounted carrier.
Examples of drum practice pads that are worn by a user include U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,207 issued Sep. 27, 1983 to John J. Criscione and U.S. Pat. No. 2,338,816 issued Jan. 11, 1944 to L. M. Lockhart. Both of these two patents disclose securing systems to mount the practice pad onto the leg of a user. In operation these pads are strapped around the leg of the user in a location that is just above the knee. While these practice pads allow a user to practice drumming while they are seated, the practice pad can't be accurately played while the person is walking. The practice pad does not have a rim for practicing rim shots and further does not include provisions for mounting on a stand or shoulder mounted instrument carrier.
Examples of drum practice pads that are mounted on an erected stand include U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,823 issued Aug. 3, 1999 to Malcolm W. Jacobs, U.S. Pat. No. D386,780 issued Nov. 25, 1997 to Masaharm Ohno and U.S. Pat. No. D348,476 issued Jul. 5, 1994 to David O'Conner. These three patents each disclose a practice pad on a fixed erected platform. Some of these patents further disclose a raised rim. While these patents disclose a stand mounted practice pad they are not usable in a mobile environment, and they do not disclose a method for mounting to a mobile or shoulder supported instrument carrier.
What is needed is a practice pad that is designed for use on a mobile or shoulder mounted instrument carrier. The drum pad should simulate the physical features that are addressed by a user including the drum rim and mounting structure for use on the instrument carrier. The practice pad should also be adjustable to simulate drums of different diameters. The proposed application satisfies there requirements with a practice pad that provides these entire user features without the weight of an actual drum.
It is an object of the marching band practice pad with a portion of the rim attached to the practice pad. The rim is a portion of the actual counter hoop of a drum, and can range from the entire circular rim to only a sector of the rim. The inclusion of the rim portion allows a user to practice rim shots on the practice pad without the weight of the drum or the circumference geometry of the drum while practicing technique and marching formation.
It is an object of the marching band practice pad to include a practice pad that allows a user to practice striking the center of the drum while they are marching without the benefit of looking down at the practice pad/drum. The practice pad may exist concentric with the rim and occupies only a portion of the center of the drum. The practice pad can exist as small as a few inches in diameter to the full interior size of the rim. The position of the practice pad is also adjustable within the rim to simulate drums of different diameter.
It is an object of the structure that emulates a drum is to accommodate a practice pad from a third party. The user may have a practice pad that they prefer due to sound, responsiveness or feel, and the user can mount their preferred practice pad to the structure, adjust the position and height of the pad to the desired location to emulate the geometry of the drum. These third party practice pads can also include electronic practice pads that a user may have.
It is another object of the marching band practice pad is to make the practice pad adjustable to simulate drums of different diameters. This adjustment allows one practice pad to be used by a variety of different performers with some simple adjustment. The adjustments include the height of the playing surface and distance from the rim. In addition the height of the practice pad below the rim is adjustable to emulate the distance from the playing surface to the rim as it would exist on a complete drum.
It is another object of the marching band practice pad is to have an extruded anvil portion that where the practice pad is mounted. The extruded anvil portion is movable on the shank of the structure to move the practice pad closer or further from the user. The extruded anvil can be rotated on the shank to provide several different densities of the practice pad playing surfaces.
It is another object of the marching band practice pad to provide connection means for mounting the practice pad onto a musical instrument carrier. The mounting mechanism allows quick loading and unloading of the practice pad onto the carrier. The connection mechanism mimics the connection mechanism for an actual drum and allows a user to easily switch between the practice pad and an actual drum without the use of tools and without deviating from the height, angle or position of an actual drum.
It is another object of the marching band practice pad to provide a practice pad that is configurable to an array of drums and to an upright bass drum.
It is another object of the marching band practice pad to provide a practice pad that is transferrable from a mobile or shoulder mounted carrier to a ground mounted stand or stadium hardware.
It is still another object of the marching band practice pad to provide a practice pad without the weight of the remainder of the drum. The reduced weight relieves the user from carrying the cantilevered weight of a drum while they practice movement and technique.
Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components.
The shoulder members 11 may be identified with various names such as shoulder straps, shoulder hooks, shoulder bars or other names but all include rigid or semi-rigid components that transfers the load of the carrier, and any mounted instrument, to the user. The shoulder supporting members may be considered in a number of configurations. Four contemplated configurations of the shoulder supporting members include first, two separate straps that connect to a back member and a separate front member. Second, as a combination of shoulder straps combined with the front member in a U, V, T or yoke as a single unit configuration as is shown and described in the inventors patent application US-2005-0183565. Third as a combination of the shoulder straps combined with the back member as a single unit. Fourth as a combination of the shoulder straps, front member and back member as a single unit. Obvious variations to these four combinations are also contemplated that include combinations of one shoulder strap with the back member, one shoulder strap with the front member, and one shoulder strap with the back and the front member. In addition, splitting the shoulder strap, back member and or the front member into numerous pieces are also contemplated.
In
The shoulder straps 11 are connected in the front of the carrier with hardware that connects the shoulder straps to drum securing hardware. In the embodiment shown, tubular members 18 join with tubular member 12 where they are further secured to a hinging or pivoting mechanism 14. The hinging or pivoting mechanism is described in a prior issued patent by the inventor and is herein identified by U.S. Pat. No. 7,166,790. From the hinging or pivoting mechanism 14 tubular members 15 connect with the abdomen or belly plate 13.
The abdomen or belly plate 13 rests against the abdomen, belly or stomach of a user. The abdomen or belly plate can be padded to cushion the plate to aid in comfort. A bifurcated structure 21 is connected to the abdomen or belly plate 13. The bifurcated structure 21 is connected to a single or mono post 22 with a dovetail connection that allows the post 22 to slide on the bifurcated structure 21 and drum securing hardware 23 in a bypass arrangement. The drum securing hardware allows interchangeability of a percussion instrument (drum) or a practice pad. An exploded view of the components that secure the drum or practice pad are shown and described in more detail in
For a basic understanding of the practice pad,
The carrier shown in most of the figures is made from tubular material. This is only one contemplated type of carrier, and other types of percussion instrument carrier construction methods are contemplated including but not limited to T-Bar, vest, monolithic and others. Some examples of these types of percussion instrument carriers are shown in
From the hinging or pivoting mechanism 14 tubular members 15 join into the abdomen or belly plate 13 with tube clamps 152 that clamp and secure the tubes 15. A second set of tube clamps secures the J-Rod/tubes 16. Screws 154 have a head configured to equate to a drum adjusting bolt to minimize the number of tools required to adjust the instrument carrier 10. In this figure a practice pad 20 is shown mounted to the anvil extrusion 31. The practice pad 20 can be supplied by the manufacturer or the anvil extrusion can accept practice pads that a user may currently be using. The practice pad 20 may also be an electric drum pad and include a power supply and speaker to simulate a drum sound when it is struck. The counter hoop 25 is shown with the practice pad. The counter hoop is shown as an arc segment instead of a complete counter hoop. The inclusion of the counter hoop 25 allows a performer to perform rim shots that they may be required to perform. In the preferred embodiment the counter hoop 25 is an arc segment of between 90 and 180 degrees and in the configuration shown the arc angle is 120 degrees. It is also contemplated that a complete counter hoop 25 could be used as well as two separate sections of counter hoops located on each side of the hardware that secures the practice pad to the instrument carrier.
Various size practice pads 20 and bead pads (33 and 34 from
Tube clamps 100 and 110 are secured to the rotatable hinge with screws or the like and nut 58 holds the tube clamps in place on the rotatable hinge 120. Note that the rotatable hinge can have slots to allow for angular adjustment of the tube clamp(s) 100 and or 110. Rods or tubes 101 are secured to the counter hoop 25 and the rods or drum tubes 101 are clamped into the tube clamps 100 and 110. Vertical adjustment hardware 60 is secured to the counter hoop 25 with screws 53 or the like. The vertical adjustment hardware 60 has a slot 61 where the sliding collar 50 is secured with screws 54 or the like. The sliding collar 50 is configured with dovetail grooves and edges for engagement with the fluted adjustment tube 40.
The sliding collar is held in position with screws 54. The thumb screws 51 and 52 allow for quick and easy adjustment for the location of the fluted adjustment tube. An adjustable clamp 80 also has dovetail grooves and edges to secure the adjustable clamp on the fluted adjustment tube 40. The adjustable clamp 80 is secured in position on the fluted adjustment tube 40 with a T-bolt 91 that passes through a washer 90.
The practice pad 20 is shown with above the anvil extrusions 30, 31 as it would be mounted in
The position of the sliding collar 50, fluted adjustment tube 40, adjustable clamp 80, anvil extrusions 30, 31, and the practice pad 20 are all quickly and easily adjustable to set the location of the practice pad in a vertical and horizontal position relative to the instrument carrier and the counter hoop 25.
The underside of the acoustic platform 35 is formed with a tube connector 26 having engaging reverse turned dovetail teeth 62 that grip onto the fluted adjustable tube 40. To allow for liner temporal positioning of the acoustic platform 35 and the practice pad 20 on the fluted adjustable tube 40. The top outer ends of the acoustic platform 35 have a raised lip 73 for centering of the practice pad 20. In one embodiment the acoustic platform 35 or the practice pad 20 has an acoustical pickup. A recess(s) 81 are shown set into the acoustic platform 35 to provide clearance for the pickup(s). In the preferred embodiment the pickup is piezo electric, but other types of mechanical and or electrical pickups are contemplated. The top of the extrusion shows locations for three pickups, but as few as one to more than three are contemplated. The pickup(s) transducers or pressure sensors are wired 82 to a connection point 83 where they can be connected to a pre-amplifier, amplifier, speakers or the pickup(s) may be self-powered with a built-in sound processor and or sound card to allow for connection with headphones.
A sliding connector 59 allows the drum hoop or drum hoop sector 25 to be positionable on the fluted adjustable tube 40 to simulate drums of different diameter drum hoops. The height of the drum hoop 25 above the drum pad 20 can also be adjustable. The fluted adjustable tube 40 is connected to a fixed or rotatable hingel 20 that is securable onto a back bar or instrument carrier as shown in mounting arrangements shown in
Thus, specific embodiments of a marching band practice pad with structure that emulates a drum have been disclosed. It should be apparent, however, to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims.
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 12/358,717, filed on Jan. 23, 2009 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,812,235 issued on Oct. 12, 2010 which claims the benefit of Provisional 61/062,523 filed Jan. 25, 2008 the entire contents of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61062523 | Jan 2008 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12358717 | Jan 2009 | US |
Child | 12903103 | US |