UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE
HENRY C. MARX, OF BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE PHONOHARP COMPANY,
OF EAST BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE
PLAYING ATTACHMENT FOR STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
1,044,553. Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Nov. 19, 1912.
Application filed January 18, 1912. Serial No. 671875.
To whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, Henry C. Marx, a citizen of the United States and resident
of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented
certain new and useful Improvements in Playing Attachments for Stringed Instruments,
of which the following is a specification. ...
From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawings, it will be
seen that the attachment possesses features of advantage which are of
importance. In the practical manufacture and distribution of
instruments of this general character, it is essential that they
should be capable of being packed in as small a box or case as
possible. I have, as previously indicated, so devised my attachment
that its addition to the instrument does not necessitate a box or
case any, or materially, deeper than those employed for citherns of
the same size. When the instrument is packed, the spring hammers
are depressed into close proximity to the strings, by means of the
stop, which is itself mounted upon springs, and the stop is held
down by the cord k’ as previously described.
The stop itself is an added feature of my attachment, as it is
engaged immediately upon the release of each spring hammer to hold
the latter against vibration, and it also prevents the hammers
from vibrating when the instrument is being transported. I
regard the elongated finger-pieces as highly desirable in that
they define with accuracy the nodes of vibration of the spring
hammers, the importance of which will be recognized by those
skill in this art.
Further, the location and construction of the springs permit the
heads of the spring hammers to be struck against the strings with
the desired force, although the whole body of hammers may be
drawn toward the strings, so as to shorten the arc of movement and
thus effect a modulation which is often desirable. The finger-pieces
are relatively close to the fixed ends of the spring hammers, and
the spring strips are substantially straight, i.e., without return
bends, so called, so that there is substantially no lateral or
sidewise movements of the hammers, in consequence of which the
heads impinge accurately upon their respective strings.
