US2454113A - Violin bridge - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 16, 1948. W J, AK; 2,454,113

VIOLIN BRIDGE Filed Dec. 5, 1945 INVENTOR.

Patentedv Nov. 16, 19.48-`

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to 4improvement-s in bridges for violins and similar musical instruments. The principal object lof the present inventor is to improve the construction and formation of the bridge and .to provide, through this improved construction, a bridge which is thinner and lighter in weight and will therefore offer less resistance to vibrations passing through it and therefore giving more volume to the tone of the violin on which the bridge is used.

It is a further object of the present inventor to provide a violin bridge which is less likely to break if it should become tilted, and fall down under the tension of the strings.

Also, it has been an object of :the present inventor to provide a bridge of this character which is so constructed that the grain of the Wood is disposed vertically, that is, at right angles to the violin Itop which will greatly aid in transmitting the vibrations from the strings to the violin top.

A still further object is to provide a bridge which is made up of laminations of wood and in which the grain of the wood in one lamination is disposed at right angles to the grain in the adjacent lamination and in arranging these laminations to provide Ithat the vertically grained Wood is thicker vat the bottom, whereas the horizontally grained wood is thicker at the top whereby .there is less tendency for the violin strings to out into the material of the bridge along the upper edge. It can be seen from this arrangement that the vertically grained piece, being thick at the bot tom, will have added strength where the bridge engages the top of :the violin.

Other objects and certain advantages of the inventionl will be more fully apparent from a description of the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of one of the laminations of the bridge, in particular the lamination having the vertical grain structure.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of yanother lamination of the bridge showing the lamination which has the horizontal grain.

Figure 3 is a face view of the finished bridge showing the horizontally grained side.

Figure 4 is a face view of the bridge looking `at the Vopposite side to that of Figure 3 and showing the vertically grained side.

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5, Figure 3.

In the accompanying drawing-s, the bridge illustrated is designed for use on violins but it is obvious that the bridge may be made in various sizes and may be applied to other instruments of the violin family.

Referring to the drawing-s, the bridge shown is constructed of two pieces of wood, that is, two laminations. One of these, indicated at l0, is out from the wood stock so vas to provide a slightly wedge-shaped piece, the grain of which is vertical, that is, at right .angles to the upper `curved string contact edge I l and the violin top engaging lower edge l2. It will be noted that the lower edge is the thick edge in this lamination.

A second piece `of wood or a lamination I3 is provided in which the grain runs generally pa-rallel to the curved string engaging edge I4 and the lower violin top engaging edge I5. Thus, it will be observed that the upper edge of this piece is the thick edge. When these pieces are assembled and secured together by gluing as shown in Figure 5, the violin strings lie Ialong the thick upper edge of the piece I3 in which the grain is cross-wise to the contact of the strings.

It is not believed necessary to illustrate the position of the bridge on the violin or the strings, since this is a structure well-known and easily understood in the art. The finished bridge, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, is cut to provide feet I6, the provision of these feet being a conventional and well-recognized feature. Openings i7 of the usual shape are incorporated.

A convenient method of making this bridge is to glue a piece of maple wood about two inches square and one eighth or an inch thick onto the end of a piece of maple wood six inches or longer, two inches square, and one eighth of an inch thick. The respective pieces have their grains running at right angles to one another. The bridge is then fashioned into its nished shape except for its excessive thickness. It is then cut free from the longer piece of maple and reduced to its desired thickness by means of sanding paper. In the finished product, care must be taken that the vertically grained wood is left thick at the bottom and thin at the top while the horizontally grained Wood is left thick at the top and thin at the bottom. The iinished product may have some general taper toward the top if desired.

It will be apparent that the bridge is now of ply-wood construction, but the grain of the plies or laminations is advantageously disposed with the results above set forth. The bridge is not only extremely light because of its reduced thickness, but is of increased strength considering its relative thickness because of the disposition of the grain at right angles.

Lightness and tone transmitting characteristics, without sacrifice of strength, are of pr- 3 mary importance. These factors are present in a bridge of this invention.

Having described my invention, I claim:

l. A violin bridge consisting of, laminations oi wood glued together to provide a string supporting upper edge and a lower supporting edge for Contact with the top of the violin, one of said laminations being thin at the top and relatively thicker at the bottom and having its grain disposed at right angles to the string supporting edge and the other oi said laininations being thiol; at the top and thin at the bottom and having its grain disposed at right angles to the grain of the first lamination.

2. A violin bridge consisting of, laminations of Wood secured together to provide a string supf porting upper edge and a lower supporting edge for Contact with the top of the violin, one of said laminations being 'thin at the top and relatively thicker at the bottom and having its grain disi posed angularly relative to the string supporting edge and the other of said laminations having its grain disposed angularly relative to the grain of the iirst lamination.

3. A violin bridge consisting of lamina-tions of wood secured together to provide a string sup- REFERENCL 'IFED `The following references are o1' record in the le oi' this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 693,648 Hurley Feb. 18, 1902 1,356,439 Fitt Oct. 19, 1920 1,699,469 Hennessy Jan. 15, 1929 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 202,655 Great Britain June 5, 1924 239,804; Germany Oct.y 21, 1911 269,951 Germany Feb. 4, 1914

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