Patent Application
20180061379
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This relates to musical drums meant to be played with hands or sticks, and specifically a new variation, generally intended to be comprised of thin, light, flexible, strong, transparent/translucent, modern composite materials (Plastics, esp copolyesters such as lexan/tritan), and being comprised of multiple nestable rings, designed to lock into a fully and/or partially extended configuration for play at one or more different pitch levels, and collapse and lock into the outermost ring for easy portability and storage, and which may be playable in seated, reclining, or standing postures, when stationary or mobile, and may be conveniently carryable via integrated dual-purpose strap-attachment-point/finger-holds, and which may be marked by a new transparent/translucent visual aesthetic in both open and closed configurations.
Drums, a form of membranophone generally comprised of a hollow resonant chamber or “shell” covered at one or both ends with a taut vibrant film or “head”, traditionally animal skin, now increasingly, synthetics such as mylar, are widely known to be among mankind's earliest prehistoric inventions. Because, by their nature, drums must enclose a relatively large volume of internal air-space and, with the exception of toy versions, have thus far been solely constructed of either metal, pottery/ceramic/clay, wood, and recently, particulate wood-fiber composites, they have always been among the most cumbersome of musical instruments.
Since as early as 1914's U.S. Pat. No. 1,113,253 to Schreiner, inventors have attempted to address the twin problems of unwieldiness and storability by creating various stylet of drums featuring various forms of collapsibility. Perhaps the most common approach has been by fabricating a drum shell out of multiple annular bodies, each of lesser diameter than its predecessor, that can in some degree nest telescopically, and which can then, using various mechanisms, be extended and locked in an open configuration for play, as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 1,768,438 to Israel (SIL classified as an hourglass drum), U.S. Pat. No. 2,546,452 to Kmieliauskas (a hybrid of the cylindrical and conical styles) U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,913 to Willis (a conjoined triple Barrel Drum), and U.S. Pat. No. 7,786,364 to Natali (another cylindrical/conical hybrid). This telescoping approach has also been used to create drums capable of producing a multiplicity of pitches by playing them at different degrees of extension, such that the goals of portability/storability, and tonal versatility may be served by the same features of a single invention. This is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 8,829,320 to Tahour (an elongated hybrid of the Cylindrical and Conical styles) in which instance tonal range is perhaps treated as primary, portability/storability as secondary.
All known prior example use a purely cylindrical shape for the annular bodies that cooperatively form their respective drum shells. As a result, no structurally significant/stabilizing friction fitting exists between successive annular bodies. Rather, each of these embodiments must rely entirely, or nearly so, upon its mechanical locking systems to stay open for play. This inherently fails to maximize stability, vibratory/tonal conduction throughout the drum shell, and prevention of unwanted residual sounds such as buzzes and/or rattles. Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 8,829,320 suffers these additional shortcomings:
1. Perhaps in service to its goal of pitch versatility, and by an inherent limitation of it's collapsing/expanding mechanism's design, this drum remains playable in its collapsed form, and is far from being able to fit fully into the profile of its widest/topmost annular body, thus failing to maximize portability/compactness.
2. The markedly “stepped” shape of its uniformly cylindrical annular bodies give an unfamiliar acoustic dynamics/wave flow and tubular appearance quite unlike its highly contoured/smoothly tapered, non-collapsible ancestors.
In contrast, art embodied by Collapsible Camping Cups in 879,753 to Eckert, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,329 to Charbonneau, demonstrate the effectiveness of friction-fitted sloping/conical walls to create a highly stable, water and air tight interface between annular bodies when similarly enclosing a large volume. In the context of a drum, this contoured and steady taper also imparts acoustic and visual aesthetics more in the tradition of Middle-Eastern and African hand drums.
However, lacking any mechanism to secure them when collapsed, guide them smoothly through the opening/closing processes, and anchor them in place when open, such cups' annular bodies 1) rattle around within their outermost shell/housing when collapsed 2) have a sloppy/haphazard feel when carried and transitioned between open and closed configurations and 3) are easily inadvertently/prematurely collapsed. These flaws are reasonably acceptable in the use case of a camping cup. But given the rigors to which a drum is by its nature subjected, including the relentless impacts and vibrations of playing, and jostling when carried, a novel, convenient, reliable, locking and guidance system to operate in tandem with friction fitting is essential.
In addition to the foregoing, drums have historically been played either while seated, standing, walking/marching, or dancing, depending on their construction, playing techniques, and cultural role. Western marching band and Latin drums, especially Snares, Tomtoms, mini-congas, and Bass drums, have been designed to accept a wide array of integrated and attachable strap and harness devices in order to allow them to be carried while in use. However, though rope-tuned drums like Africa's Dundun and Djembe are commonly outfitted with a tied-on strap or harness, and an aftermarket strap is available from Remo for use with a Doumbek, all previous incarnations of conical, hourglass, and goblet-style drums lack shell-integrated, convenient, dedicated attachment-points for this purpose. To my knowledge, the same lack is true of all previous collapsible drum designs.
Finally, all previous collapsible drums have lacked a way to thoroughly and attractively encapsulate their inner workings when closed, and to achieve quick and easy assembly/disassembly for efficient industrial fabrication and cleaning/troubleshooting/repair. This at once makes them vulnerable to malfunction through the infiltration of foreign matter into their mechanical elements, and precludes their easy and efficient restoration from same.
In conclusion, to my knowledge, no telescopically collapsible/expansible musical drum formerly developed provides maximal stability and/or portability, and/or aesthetic value, and/or dedicated in-built means to attach a strap for convenient playability and/or transport during any form of ambulation, and/or an easy means for assembly/disassembly/access for thorough cleaning and/or efficient repair and/or replacement of any of its constituent elements.
1) Several new collapsible Drums, each having a shell comprised of several nesting annular bodies (in preferred embodiments an odd number ≧5, shown herein with embodiments of 5 and 7) whose interior and/or exterior walls are varyingly or uniformly sloped (ideally at 2-3%) along some or all of their heights/Z Axis] such that there may occur a stabilizing frictive interference between the bottom inner and top outer edges of pairs of annular bodies when the drum is extended.
Each embodiment of this drum further may have one or more of several locking mechanism, which may support and/or stabilizes it's friction fittings when fully and/or partially open, and/or serve to keep the drum reliably locked closed.
The preferred embodiment of these may function via a system of “Locking channels” positioned vertically along the inner edges of all annular bodies save the bottom-most. These may be designed to contain and guide “locking pegs” which may protrude at corresponding regular intervals along the outer upper edge of all annular bodies save the topmost.
These locking mechanisms may include a safeguard structure to prevent drum head damage in the event that the user attempts to collapse the drum while one or more annular bodies remain locked together in an “open” configuration.
The locking mechanism of the prefered embodiment may include an opening at the top of each locking channel to allow the insertion and egress of its housed locking pegs and the annular bodies to which they're attached, for initial construction, cleaning, lubrication, repair, and/or replacement of parts.
This drum's shell may be comprised of modern, preferably transparent/translucent materials novel to/unconventional in, the field of musical drums, such as Copolyester, Polycarbonate, Acrylic, carbon-fiber, fiber-glass etc., giving countless unique appearance and design possibilities, both when expanded and collapsed [note: need a separate design patent for this and all of it's potential iterations?] as well as unique tonal possibilities.
The drum also may include integrated attachment points on the exterior edges of its top/outermost and bottom/innermost annular bodies, and/or elsewhere, to receive single and/or double shoulder and/or waist/hip strap(s)/harnesses, for easy and convenient carrying and/or playing in either a fully open, closed, or intermediate (higher pitched) configuration.
Further, in some embodiments, including the prefered, and all others detailed herein, this drum may have a flare at the bottom of its lowermost annular body which may seal over all interior annular bodies and locking mechanisms of the collapsed drum to block the entry of debris and/or stabilize all inner annular bodies, and/or, provide an intriguing, neat, self-contained appearance when collapsed, and/or harbor the above-mentioned lower set of strap attachment-points, and/or, in cooperation with same, provide an effective manual interface whereby a user may introduce torsion and/or compression and/or expansive force, in order to transfer the drum into and out of its locked, open, closed, and intermediate configurations, and/or a stand, and/or an integration and/or attachment point for an iBeacon and/or other complementary and/or similar technology (such technology being also potentially attached at other places instead of, or in addition to, said flare.) In all embodiments, this flare may be detachable to allow for easy partial and/or total assembly/disassembly of the drum, which in the preferred embodiment, may be accomplished via the aforementioned locking-mechanism openings.
Further, in some embodiments, additional channels, grooves, and/or integration points at any place or places on and/or in the drum may be included to allow the wired and/or wireless mounting and/or embedding of a camera or cameras, LED(s) and/or other light sources, smartphones and/or other personal technical devices, and/or recording devices, and/or acoustic and/or electronic amplification systems, and/or bells, chimes, rattles, etc.
Accordingly, several advantages may be to provide
2) An alternative version of the above, which may also be locked open and closed by friction fit, but instead of the described “locking channels” mechanism, may be supported in the open position by a system of tabs formed by vertical cuts along the bottom circumference of each but the last annular body. Each such “locking tab” may have a protrusion on its bottom inner edge which may fit into a corresponding groove or channel along the top outer edge of the adjacent inner ring. The protrusions and corresponding channels may get smaller/shallower on each successive ring proceeding from the top toward the bottom of the drum, so that it will take the least force to lock and release the bottom-most and incrementally more force to do so approaching the top. This is to ensure the rings unlock and collapse in proper sequence, from bottom to top, whenever compressive or expansive force is applied to the top and bottom of the drum. To lock the drum closed, there may be a similar system of locking tabs and ridges along the bottom outer edge of the top ring, and a specially designed lip of the bottom most. This version may also have simple vertical ridges or “fins” positioned similarly to the locking channels on the inside of each ring of the previous embodiment, to keep inner rings still and centered when in the closed position.
3) Another alternative version in which annular bodies are again held open by friction fitting of their sloped walls, but in this case that may be supported by screw threads on the bottom inner and top outer edges of each ring, save the top outer edge of the 1st ring, and the bottom inner edge of the last. This version may have a similar “lip” system to the 2nd embodiment, but with the screw-threads, rather than its locking tabs/grooves system. This version may also have simple vertical ridges positioned similarly to the locking channels of the first/preferred embodiment, on the outside and/or inside of each ring, to keep them still when in the closed position. This embodiment, and the 2nd/previous, will not have external locking protrusions as the 1st/preferred does, but will be uniformly relatively flat around their outer surfaces.
1 Drum Preferred Embodiment
2 Head Retention Ring
3 Drumhead (not shown)
4 Head Bolts
5 Head Anchor Wells
6 1st Annular Body
7 Locking Pegs
8 2nd Annular Body
9 Dis/Assembly Ports
10 Upper Retention Nodes (not shown)
11 Closed-Locking Grooves
12 3rd Annular Body
13 4th Annular Body
14 5th Annular Body
15 Closure, Leverage, and Stability Flare
16 Flare Receiving Slot
17 Inner Stability Teeth
18 Teeth Receiving Slots
19 Inner Flare Retention Bolt Holes
20 Lower Strap-Mount & Leverage Projections
21 Lateral Retention Nodes
22 Standard Closure Guards
23 Locking & Stability Channels
24 Interference Zones
25 Open Locking Channels
26 Open-Locking Valleys
27 Open-Locking Grooves
28 Flare Retention Bolts (not shown)
29 Locking Mechanism External Cover Protrusions
30 Preferred Wall Slope
31 2E Locking Channels
32 Modified Sloping Closure Guards
33 2E Drum Skin (Glued on to base/exterior of outermost ring)
34 2nd Embodiment Drum Variant
35 Locking Channel Projection Height Increases Proportional to Proximity to Top of Each Annular Body
36 2E Deepened 2nd Ring
37 2E Outer Ring
38 2E Open-Locking Nodes
39 Closure & Leverage Assembly (Comprises 14-20 & 28)
40 2E locking tabs/2E Interference Zones
41 2E Annular Body
42 Upper Strap Mounting Bars
43 Head Retention Ring Bolt Holes
44 Orientation Tooth
45 Orientation Tooth Receiving Slot
46 Drum Head Mounting Ridge
47 Outer Flare Retention Bolt Holes
48 Drumhead Receiving Groove
49 Drumhead-Integrated Tightening Lip 49 (Not Shown)
50 2E Drum Head Rim/Gluepoint
51 2E Skin-safe Flattened Annual Body Tops
52
21 Closed-Locking Node
53 2E Closed-Locking Lip
54 2E Closed-Locking Hook
55 2E Flared Inner/Closure/Standing Ring
56 2E Flare Closure Groove
57 2E Trumpeted-Flare
58 Finger-hold and Strap-Mounting Recesses
59 2E Locking Tab Interference Zones
60 Attachment Ridge
61 Ring Body Interference Zones
For transporting the drum in a compact non-playable configuration may be carried in a bag, by hand, or by user-installed, non-integrated strap(s). Versions that include integrated strap attachment points may also be be carried over one or both shoulders by a strap or straps attached thereto. To prepare for play, the drum may be unlocked, partially (if applicable—embodiments not shown, but may include additional Open-locking channel/valley/groove assemblies above, or above and opposite, the ones depicted) or fully expanded, and locked open by various means, depending upon the specific embodiment in question.
In the case of the preferred embodiment, the top/outermost segment will be twisted relative to the bottom segment, causing the closed-locking mechanisms of all segments to loosen via the process described in the Detailed Description above. The drum is then pulled or shaken into an extended position, and further torque applied between the aforementioned sections, causing the open-locking mechanisms of all segments to activate.
In another embodiment, a similar process is followed, but without twisting, due to the use of straight locking channels.
In another embodiment, a similar process is followed, but with less or no twisting, due to the use of curved locking channels.
In another embodiment, a similar process is followed, but without twisting, as the drum is pulled directly open to release the “closed locking tabs” and activate the “open locking tabs”
In another embodiment, a similar process to the first is followed, but whereby the twisting motions release and engage threaded screw areas around the edges of the annular bodies. This may demand a greater degree of torque to achieve locking/unlocking.
In another embodiment of the closed-locking mechanism, projections may be located on the top edge of the bottom “flare” segment which may be received by channels along the bottom edge of the topmost segment. Once these projections are received by said channels, torsion may be applied to lock them in place, locking the drum closed, to be opened by a reversal of the process.
Other embodiments may employ any combination of these mechanism, and operate accordingly.
Once opened/extended, the drum may be played with hands or sticks in traditional/conventional postures; seated and held between or across the knees/a knee or crosslegged with the drum over one thigh. It may also be played suspended on one side of the user by its shoulder strap, or over the midline of the user's torso, held in place by a duel “backpack” style strap/harness. Play during suspension from the strap(s) may be accomplished while seated, standing, walking, running, dancing, or otherwise active.
To return the drum to a collapsed configuration, the steps previously outlined are applied in reverse.
*U.S. Pat. No. 7,786,364—Percussion Musical Instrument, Natali—2008
*U.S. Pat. No. 8,829,320—Collapsible musical Drum, Tahour—2014
U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,913—Collapsible Drum, Willis—1983
U.S. Pat. No. 1,768,438—Collapsible Drum, Israel—1930
U.S. Pat. No. 2,546,452—Telescoping Drum to Kmieliauskas—1949
U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,019—Adjustable Drum, Cordes—1976
U.S. Pat. No. 2,563,346—[collapsible] Drum—1948—Livingston
U.S. Pat. No. 3,215,021—[Variable Pitch] Drum—1965—Kester
U.S. Pat. No. 1,214,171—Collapsible Drum, King—1916
U.S. Pat. No. 8,525,010—Portable Drum, Saravis—2013
578,198—Drum, Boulanger—1897
U.S. Pat. No. 1,113,253 Collapsible Drum—to Schreiner—1913
U.S. Pat. No. 1,223,237—[Collapsible Bass] Percussion Drum—Barry—1917
U.S. Pat. No. 7,781,660—Expandable Drum—Paterson—2010
U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,437—Sectionalized Drum—Hinger—1981
U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,551—Adjustable pitch drum—Brookvich—1986
U.S. Pat. No. 7,781,659—Adjustable Modular Drum, Liao—2008
219474—Combined collapsible drinking cup and cover therefor—Gahm—1970
U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,021—
U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,551—
U.S. Pat. No. 7,114,676 B2 to Elliott, Knight, and Dey:
