Patent Application
20120227567
The tuba is arguably the most eye catching instrument of a marching band. With the large circle of a sousaphone bell floating over the musician's head, it is hard to miss the tuba section even from the highest and farthest seats in the stadium. While the marching band is still a block or more away, the drum line maybe the first thing heard by the crowd of spectators lining the streets to see a parade, but the Sousaphones are the first instruments spotted due to their bell's prominent position high in the air above the musicians.
Musicians, especially those of marching bands, need to be both visually and audibly entertaining to the crowd. Horn players contribute to the visual aspect of their performance by using a move called the ‘horn flash’. By changing the angle of the instrument, the musician can pan a reflection of light across a crowd. To a spectator it may appear as if the player just flashed a light. This move has been expanded to the level where all the musicians, depending on their instrument, will perform a predetermined choreographed movement thus animating the entire instrument section, and maybe the entire band.
Another visual effect usually limited to the tuba section is the use of bell socks. Bell socks are tight fitting cloth covers which are often silk-screened or printed in other manners with emblems or logos representing the group. In some larger bands letters are used to spell out the name of the school or organization. Some musicians even paint directly onto the tuba's bell.
All of the above work well for visual effects if the musician is performing in the day light, on a lighted stage, or under stadium lights. However, the effects will have minimal effect when the musician is performing in a darkened area, such as a night parade such as those often found in New Orleans during the Mardi Gras season.
Previous attempts have been made to light up instruments such has Juan Novo's patent granted Aug. 11, 1987 which discussed a flute which was formed from a light transmitting material with an illumination means mounted in the crown portion, or the recorder patented by Edward Sueta, et al., issued Aug. 2, 2005 with a body fabricated from a clear or translucent light-transmitting material. These instruments have some particular draw backs. Most translucent light-transmitting material has a poor tonal quality. Thus plastic instruments sound plastic. They do not have the rich tonal qualities of a brass or wood instruments and therefore are rejected by most serious players as toys. Instrument makers and players realize that it is far more than the look of an instrument that contributes to the performance. The instrument must have a rich pleasing tonal quality before cosmetic changes can be tolerated.
The sousaphone is a unique instrument in that, although used in many situations, it is made especially for marching bands. Because of its unique shape and design to encircle the body of the musician and position the bell up above the head of the musician, the tuba is often manufactured in sections which are easily separated for transport. The main body of the instrument is usually separable from the bell.
The tuba is the largest member of the brass instrument family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by buzzing the lips into a mouthpiece. That vibrating air is shaped by the tubular body of the instrument which is varied in length by rerouting through ancillary tubing with valves or pistons, and finally directed out through the bell. The sousaphone, often called a marching tuba, is a unique instrument in that it was designed especially for marching bands. Because of its unique shape and design to encircle the body of the musician and position the bell up above the head of the musician, the tuba is often manufactured in sections which are easily separated for transport and storage. Most sousaphones are manufactured from sheet brass with silver or gold plating, or a lacquer finish. However some are made from reinforced fiberglass resulting in a significant weight reduction, which is often necessary for the instrument to be manageable for smaller musicians, e.g. young players. More serious players refer to these as white trash or Tupperware tubas due to their inferior tonal qualities. Whether made from brass or fiberglass, the main body of the instrument is usually separable from the bell. While most concert tubas do not have detachable bells, some tubas, especially those with front facing bells may be separable. The term tuba and sousaphone is used interchangeably throughout the rest of this discussion.
With the BBb tuba being comprised of approximately 18 feet of tubing, and the bell being only a foot to a foot and a half of that length, the bell is less than 10% of the total instrument length. Being less than 10% of the total instrument length, the bell may be made of a different material from that used in the body with only minimal impact to the tonal qualities of the instrument. Further, any effect on tonal qualities can be minimized with varying thicknesses and reinforcement through ribbing of the instrument's bell.
When a sousaphone is played in the stands at a sports event, the unfortunate fans seated behind the tuba(s) have an obstructed view of the play arena. By manufacturing the tuba's bell from a clear transparent material such as an acrylic or plastic material, the bell is no longer opaque. Thus, the bell is less of a hindrance to spectators who can, at least, follow the action from one side of the field to the other with minimal distortion or obstruction of their view. The curve of the bell, even when manufactured from a purely transparent material, will still yield a distortion to the view. So, while sitting behind a transparent tuba bell may not be like watching the movement through a window, it is certainly less like watching through a solid wall.
A bell manufactured from a transparent or translucent material can be tinted with different colors. In one embodiment, a combination of colors can be used to obtain different shades or a mixing of colors in patterns or swirls which are decorative and add to the visual effect. A single player could have two colors intermixing. An example would be a tuba player from the “Golden Band from Tigerland” having a bell with a swirled pattern made up of the purple and gold of the LSU Tigers from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A plurality of single color bells could be intermixed within the instrument section. As an example, the Gator Marching Band of the University of Florida could have alternating tubas with blue and orange bells. In another example a single colored bell could be used for emphasis. As an example, it is traditional, when the Ohio State University Marching Band performs the script Ohio formation, that a fourth- or fifth- year sousaphone player is given the privilege of dotting the “i.” That one sousaphone player could swap their regular sliver bell with a scarlet one just before going on the field to dot the ‘i’ thus adding an additional emphasis on the position.
Various glassy thermoplastics or resins and fibers can be used to create semi-transparent material with or without tinting. These acrylic like materials can transmit light through internal reflections. By coating an acrylic structure or applying various finishes, the reflective properties can be manipulated to allow more or less of the internal light to be reflected back in to the material, thus allowing the rest to escape from the surface and causing a luminescent affect. A bell constructed of an acrylic like material with a light source at one or more points would then transmit that light through internal reflection to all points of the construction. By coating different parts of the bell, such as the insides of the tube and the back of the bell, the luminescent effect can be directed in the same direction as the sound. Further, by creating clouded or opaque channels or points in the bell's material the light can be further directed or affected to produce interesting visual effects.
In one embodiment, a series of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), which may be Laser diodes or high intensity diodes, are positioned around the portion of the bell near where it connects to the main body. The lower end of the bell is then finished such that most of this light is reflected upwards toward the outer rim of the bell, which is polished to allow the light to escape. As the light is transmitted through the bell material it is disbursed evenly throughout the material so that the individual light sources are indistinguishable and instead a continuous glow is produced across the rim of the bell. In such a scenario the LEDs may be of different colors such that the final light emanating from the bell is a mixture of the colors into a single composite color. Thus by positioning reddish and bluish LEDs near the base of the bell, a purplish glow would be produced at the rim of the instrument; and by positioning yellowish and reddish LEDs near the base of the bell, a goldish color would be visible at the rim.
In another embodiment a series of opaque channels are cast into the bell so that the bell is divided into multiple different lighting compartments. In the first preferred embodiment this would be an even number of channels. In this embodiment all three color LEDs would be position in each compartment so that by alternating the colored LEDs turned on in each compartment, the colors in the bell's rim could alternate between both purple and gold. In the second preferred embodiment an odd number of channels are used and the LEDs in a series of 3 channels are alternated between the following states On-Off-Dim; Dim-On-Off, Off-Dim-On. When one or more groups of three channels are illuminated in this pattern the effect is a chasing light pattern. In this embodiment, the On, Dim and Off states could be replaced with three distinct colors thus producing a chasing colors pattern.
Light can be produced from a chemical source such as the combination of hydrogen peroxide and phenyl oxalate ester in the presence of a florescent dye. This is the type of chemical reaction referred to at chemiluminescence and is commonly found in lightsticks or glow sticks. In one embodiment one or more of these chemical lighting stick can be attached to the bell such that their light is transmitted into the bell material. On method of doing this would be to place the chemiluminescent device against a polished portion of the bell and covering it with an opaque material, which is preferably reflective. This causes the light to be transmitted into and through the bell material so that it comes from the rim of the bell.
In one embodiment the entire front face of the bell is polished such that the entire bell glows. In another embodiment a portion of the front face is polished so that only that portion glows. In one embodiment, the portion of the front face that is polished can be configured into designs, words, or logos which will then illuminate with the light escaping from the bell material. In another embodiment the reverse process is used such that portions of the bell are masked or coated to be opaque thus creating a shadow type of effect.
Different tuba manufacturers make the bell separable from the main body in different areas such that at the point of separation may result in different diameter's of tubing at the separation points. By use of an adapter collar with different sized mating diameters on the main body side of the collar, it would be possible for a single sized transparent bell to be used with instruments from different manufacturers. If the sizes are close enough, a single collar could be used with stepped seats for connecting to the main body allowing a single collar to be used for multiple instrument manufacturers.
Turning now to the drawings, one skilled in the art will appreciate the discussions as being illustrative of the general concept developed by the inventors and will realize the multitude of different options available for implementation in different embodiments. The descriptions included in this specification should be taken as such and not considered limited to the exact embodiments described.
Referring to
In one embodiment, the entire bell is transparent to allow spectators seated behind the instrument to see thorough the instrument's bell (150). In another embodiment only the flaired portion (225) of the bell is transparent. In another embodiment, the tapered portion (220) of the bell is finished such that the surface has an internal reflectivity causing it to channel light along the material. In this embodiment, the external surface of the instrument could be smooth, rough, semi-transparent, or opaque. The non-transparent surface could have an additional coating. This additional coating could serve as a protection to the surface or be decorative.
In one embodiment the front and rear of the flaired portion (225) can be finished in a manner similar to that described in the preceding paragraph. In another embodiment, both the front and rear of the flaired portion (225) are finished such that they allow light transmitted through the material to exit the surface only at the rim (210). In another embodiment, only one surface is finished in such a manner such, and the other surface is polished such that light transmitted through the material exits across the entire polished surface.
The above discussion is meant to be illustrative of the principles and various embodiments of the present invention. Numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.
