The present invention relates to a piano hammer used for pianos and, especially to a piano hammer of a kind that comprises an elongated hammer base usually made of wood, an elastic striking head coupled to one longitudinal end portion of the wooden base and an outer protective covering that is disposed to the end of the wooden base while it is covering the striking head and more particularly the invention is directed to an improvement in the coupling construction of an elastic striking head with a wooden base of a piano hammer.
The piano hammer of the mentioned kind is particularly suitable for an electric piano and the particulars in design of the component elements thereof vary stepwise from the bass to the treble range of the notes. For a piano hammer that is used over the bass range, the length of the wooden base is long, the weight of the striking head is large, the hardness of the striking head is low and the protective covering is thick. For a piano hammer that is used over the treble range, the length of the wooden base is short, the weight of the striking head is small, the hardness of the striking head is high and the protective covering is thin.
In either case, the coupling between the striking head with the wooden base may be roughly classified into two major types. In one type of coupling, the striking head is disposed to cover a terminal projection having a round end and which is formed on one longitudinal end of the wooden base. In the other type of coupling construction, the striking head is partly received in a recess formed in one longitudinal end of the wooden base.
However, the conventional piano hammer of either type mentioned above has a drawback that the coupling construction affords no refuge for unexpected errors in the size of the striking head and/or of the head receiving portion of the wooden base. The absence of a refuge for unexpected errors in the size of these members easily induces deformation of the striking head which results in undesirable separation of the striking head from the wooden base during manufacturing of the piano hammer and causes the development of cracks in the wooden base when it strikes the respective string in a piano.
In the case of the second type coupling construction, high accuracy is required in the design and manufacturing of the striking head and of the wooden base in order to obtain highly snug coupling of the striking head within the end recess of the wooden base.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds