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US 5,861,566 AGranted
Automatic player piano having frame structure self-aligned with keyboard for exactly positioning key actuators arranged in staggered manner
AssigneeYamaha Corporation
InventorsYasutoshi Kaneko, Kiyoshi Kawamura
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Abstract
An automatic player piano has solenoid-operated key actuator units under a keyboard mounted on a wooden key bed, and the solenoid-operated key actuator units are supported by a frame structure inserted into a slot formed in the wooden key bed and bolted to metallic bracket members screwed to the wooden key bed; when the frame structure is taken out for a repairing work, the bracket members are never removed from the wooden key bed, and the bolt holes of the wooden key bed are never undesirably enlarged.
Claims6
An automatic player piano comprising
- an acoustic piano including a keyboard having a plurality of turnable keys arranged in a lateral direction for generating acoustic piano sounds and provided over an upper surface of a wooden key bed formed with a slot under said plurality of turnable keys;
- and
- an automatic playing system including
- a bracket member formed of metal and fixed to a lower surface of said wooden key bed,
- a supporting structure including a center plate partially inserted into said slot and having a plurality of bolt holes arranged at intervals in said lateral direction and elongated in said lateral direction,
- means for regulating a distance between said wooden key bed and said supporting structure, said regulating means including movably mounted bolts screwed through said supporting structure to said bracket member, and
- a plurality of solenoid-operated key actuator units connected to said center plate by means of bolts passing through said plurality of bolt holes in a staggered manner on a virtual plane substantially in parallel to said lower surface of said wooden key bed so that said plurality of solenoid-operated key actuator units are laterally regulable and having respective plungers respectively aligned with said plurality of keys so as to push said plurality of keys when said plurality of solenoid-operated key actuator units are energized.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.