Thumb key for flutes and piccolos
OwnerKanichi Nagaharainventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An improved design for the thumb key assembly for flutes and piccolos. This design allows for longer tubing to be used in the assembly without requiring a larger space, resulting in a mechanism that is less prone to wear. The design also locates the thumb key and thumb lever further away from the "A" kicker tail, allowing for a more stable, standard sized kicker to be used. Additionally, the design also reduces the likelihood that a player will inadvertently depress the thumb lever when intending only to depress the thumb key. Finally, this design also provides a common configuration which can be adapted to both flutes and piccolos with the only change necessary being one of size.
Claims10
An improved thumb key assembly for flutes and piccolos wherein said improvement comprises:
- a thumb key, said thumb key further comprising an arm portion, a spatula portion and a fulcrum portion disposed therebetween, wherein said fulcrum portion comprises a short length of tubing integrally connected in perpendicular relation to said arm portion's longitudinal axis thereof, said tubing having an internal diameter;
- a thumb lever, said thumb lever further comprising an arm portion, a spatula portion and a fulcrum portion disposed therebetween, wherein said fulcrum portion comprises a short length of tubing integrally connected in perpendicular relation to said arm portion's longitudinal axis thereof, said tubing having an internal diameter, and
- a sleeve, said sleeve having an internal and an external diameter, said external diameter capable of slidingly engaging in stacked relation said thumb key tubing and said thumb lever tubing through said internal diameters of said thumb key and said thumb lever.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.