Patent Application
20160260419
The present invention generally relates to a system for tuning of a piano and more specifically relates to a fine tuning pin used for accurate tuning to identify the correct pitch of sound.
Tuning of stringed instruments such as piano is often needed to achieve a desired pitch of sound. Musical instruments like piano are subject to go out of tune due to different factors including temperature, humidity, frequent movement of the instrument from one place to another, repeated and hard usage of the instrument. Therefore, it is inevitable to maintain stringed instruments in tune, especially piano needs to be tuned every two months or twice a week depending upon the usage conditions.
Typically a piano string is coiled around a tuning pin in such a way that the tension of the string can be adjusted by rotating the pin about its central axis with a suitable tool such as a tuning wrench. Tuning a piano accurately needs expertise of an experienced tuner. Generally, it's a tedious and difficult work to tune a piano accurately and fixing the correct pitch with the use of current tuning pins due to very short twisting range of the existing tuning pins that are adjustable using the tuning wrench.
Conventional tuning pins involves a threaded metal pin driven into a tuning pin block usually made of wood. The grip of the pin in the wooden block depends on the thread present around the tuning pin. Repeated usage of tuning pin or climatic changes may result in sagging or splitting of tuning pin block. In addition, tuning the piano very often can cause attrition around the hole of the tuning pins in course of time.
Numerous patents exists in the prior art, disclosing different design and operation mechanism of piano tuning pins. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,770 discloses a tuning pin for direct mounting on the string plates of mechano-acoustic pianos. U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,780 shows a tuning pin apparatus having an impediment function against rewinding. U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,902 shows a tuning system for piano comprising a tuning pin with an aperture for securing a tuning wire, retained in a metal assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 6,888,056 discloses an apparatus for lifting and setting a piano string coil is provided for improving tuning stability.
However, tuning pins existing in the art suffers from limitations including difficulty in accurate tuning of the pin due to its limited twisted range, when tuned with a tuning wrench. In addition, attrition around the hole of the tuning pins due to frequent or rough usage may result in loss of firm hold inside the tuning block in due course of time.
Accordingly there exists a need for an improved tuning pin for accurate fine tuning of piano to identify the correct pitch of sound.
The present invention relates to a piano tuning pin apparatus comprising: a primary tuning pin attached with a first end of a piano string and a secondary tuning pin comprises a conical body adapted to receive a second end of the string, wherein the conical body comprises spiral groove allowing smooth stretching of the string upon rotation of the secondary tuning pin, allowing fine tuning of the string.
The following detailed description of the preferred embodiments presents a description of certain specific embodiments to assist in understanding the claims. However, the present invention is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, in the following detailed description of the present invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be evident to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.
Referring to
The tuning pins of the apparatus allows adjustment of string tension by stretching the string in order to achieve a desired pitch of sound. In an embodiment, the secondary tuning pin 120 alone allows fine tuning of the string without the need to tune the primary tuning pin 110. In addition, the secondary tuning pin 120 provides extended twist range while tuning the string using a tuning wrench or similar tuning means.
Normally, as mentioned above, a tuning wrench has a very short and limited twisting range on the current tuning pins which causes the difficulty to find the correct pitch of the sound. The principle of fine tuning with secondary tuning pin is to allow smooth stretching of the string without using the primary tuning pin. The process of fine tuning is to facilitate to find the correct pitch of the sound by giving an extended twisting range to the tuning wrench. When the secondary tuning pin was twisted with the wrench in the extended range, it would smoothly and slowly affect the tension of the string by stretching it until finding an accurate pitch of sound.
One of the major limitation with conventional tuning pins is loosening of the tuning pin fitted in the tuning block in due course of time, whereas the presence of secondary tuning pin overcomes the above limitation by taking the pressure off the primary tuning pin during fine tuning. In addition, the secondary or supplementary tuning pin reduces tension of the string toward agraffe.
In an embodiment, the size of the secondary tuning pin 120 is smaller than the primary tuning pin 110 as shown in
In another embodiment, the primary tuning pin may comprise a hole or an aperture to receive and secure the first end of the piano tuning string or tuning wire prior to winding of the tuning wire around the neck region of the tuning pin.
The present invention has been described with a preferred embodiment thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications to the described embodiment can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.
