US 20150243265A1 (19) United States (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2015/0243265 A1 Laukat et al. (43) Pub. Date: Aug. 27, 2015 (54) MUSICAL INSTRUMENT VIBRATIONAL Publication Classification ENERGY MODIFICATION APPARATUS AND SYSTEM (51) Int. Cl. GOD 9/02 (2006.01) (71) Applicant: Cannonball Musical Instruments, GOD 9/00 (2006.01) Sandy, UT (US) (52) U.S. Cl. CPC. G10D 9/02 (2013.01); G10D 9/00 (2013.01) (72) Inventors: Sheryl Laukat, Sandy, UT (US); Tevis (57) ABSTRACT Laukat, Sandy, UT (US); Ryan Laukat, A musical wind instrument, comprising a mouthpiece, key Cottonwood Heights, UT (US); Ryan mechanism, body, and an alternative material bridge that is Lilywhite, Sandy, UT (US); Randal couple a first and second opposite facing tube. There is in an Clark, Herriman, UT (US); Howard alternative embodiment at least one coupling mechanism Summers, Lehi, UT (US) affixed to at least one of the opposite facing tubes designed to releasably hold the wood based material bridge against the (21) Appl. No.: 14/631,605 first and second tubes. Alternatively there is a musical wind instrument made of a predominantly first material, compris ing a mouthpiece, key mechanism, and body; at least a first (22) Filed: Feb. 25, 2015 and second tube having a portion thereof being spatially opposite to each other respectively, and a bridge, having a first and second end that are coupled to the first and second tube Related U.S. Application Data respectively, wherein the bridge is made of an alternative (60) Provisional application No. 61/944,423, filed on Feb. material that is different from the predominantly first material 25, 2014. of the instrument. Patent Application Publication Aug. 27, 2015 Sheet 1 of 7 US 2015/0243265 A1 FIG. 1 Patent Application Publication Aug. 27, 2015 Sheet 2 of 7 US 2015/0243265 A1 108 Patent Application Publication Aug. 27, 2015 Sheet 3 of 7 US 2015/0243265 A1 104 108 152 FIG. 4 Patent Application Publication Aug. 27, 2015 Sheet 4 of 7 US 2015/0243265 A1 104 108 Patent Application Publication Aug. 27, 2015 Sheet 5 of 7 US 2015/0243265 A1 FIG. 6 Patent Application Publication Aug. 27, 2015 Sheet 6 of 7 US 2015/0243265 A1 104 140 122 1OO 108 n FIG. 7 Patent Application Publication Aug. 27, 2015 Sheet 7 of 7 US 2015/0243265 A1 g 3 US 2015/0243265 A1 Aug. 27, 2015 MUSICAL INSTRUMENT VIBRATIONAL 0012 U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,686, to Lewis, issued Mar. 23, ENERGY MODIFICATION APPARATUS AND 1982, is a wind instrument having a mouthpiece connected to SYSTEM the inner end of a tube forming an elongated resonating cham ber. CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED 0013 U.S. Pat. No. 1,555,986, to Keefer, issued Oct. 6, APPLICATIONS 1925, teaches of a tuning device for musical wind instrument. 0014 U.S. Pat. No. 2,033,774, to Loomis, issued 1936, 0001. This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional teaches of new saxophone design. Patent Application entitled “MUSICAL INSTRUMENT (0015 U.S. Pat. No. 2,474,336, to Gillespy, issued in 1945, VIBRATIONAL ENERGY MODIFICATIONAPPARATUS teaches of a new saxophone design. AND SYSTEM, Ser. No. 61/944,423, filed Feb. 25, 2014, 0016 U.S. Pat. No. 2.971,423, to LaBlanc, issued in 1961, now pending, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated teaches of a new saxophone bridge design. entirely herein by reference. 0017 U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,095, to Davidson, issued in 1997, teaches of a new dampening wedge material made of a BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION polymeric material used in wind musical instruments to 0002 1. Technical Field dampen the vibrational energy in the instrument by placing 0003. The present disclosure is directed to a musical the polymeric material between opposing tubes of the instru instrument and method for a personal to create music. More ment. specifically, there is an apparatus and method for modifying 0018 None of these prior art patents or applications the Sounds or Sound energy on known instruments, like a teaches the disclosed invention either singly or in combina saxophone, by replacing the Support connecting struts with tion. What is needed in the art of musical instruments is an different material, like wood, stone, plastic, polymers or any instrument or technique to modify, affect, alter, impact or other material not making up the majority of the Subject adjusta wind instrument's vibrational energy or sound energy instrument, in the instrument as disclosed in the specification for certain tones that are created by the instrument at the of the invention and related claims. manufacturing stage, after the initial manufacturing stage, by the musician, or in a time other than during the active playing 0004 2. State of the Art of the instrument, which is typically only controlled by the 0005. It is well known to in the art how to create sounds on keys and mouthpiece of the instrument. Additionally, there is wind instruments, like saxophones and such. It is also well a need for an instrument that has a design or a method for a known in the art to provide a mouth piece and instrument person to be able to affect, alter, modify or impact the perma body, with keys coupled thereto that are used to modify the nent sound or vibrational characteristics of the whole instru Sound energy to create various tones. The following patents ment musical range, or selected portions thereof are provided as examples of Such known art, and are herein incorporated by reference for their supporting teachings to SUMMARY the disclosed invention, whereby: 0006 U.S. Pat. No. 7,335,831 B2, by Laukat, issued in 0019. The present invention has been developed in 2008, teaches of placing hard material on selected spots out response to the present state of the art, and in particular, in side the tubing of wind instruments to affect the vibrational response to the problems and needs in the art that have not yet energy of the musical instrument. been fully solved by currently available containers and lotions. Accordingly, the present invention has been devel 0007 U.S. Pat. No. 7,439,429, by Wood al., issued Oct. oped to provide a musical instrument and/or a manufacturing 21, 2008, is a wind instrument with improved tonal charac method or adjustment technique to modify, affect, alter, teristics by positioning an octave hole, an octave key mecha impact or adjust a wind instrument's vibrational energy or nism, and a water key on a surface of the wind instrument that Sound energy for certain tones that are created by the instru is not a tone rich region. mentator after the manufacturing stage or in a time other than 0008 US Patent App. 2004/0003702 to Ahrens, pub. Date during the active playing of the instrument, by the musician, of Jan. 8, 2004, is a flute comprising first and second cham which is typically only controlled by the keys and mouthpiece bers in which Sound is resonated and a tone hole disposed at of the instrument. Additionally, there is provided a device that and shared by the first and second chambers. has or method for a person to be able to affect, alter, modify or 0009 U.S. Pat. No. 4.341,146 to Massa, issued July 27, impact the permanent sound or vibrational characteristics of 1982, is a musical instrument combining a modified portion at least a portion of the instrument musical range. More of a tenor saxophone with a modified portion of a Soprano specifically, there is an apparatus and method for modifying saxophone joined together by means of a bracket whereby the Sounds or Sound energy on known instruments, like a one of the two instruments can be moved relative to the other saxophone, by replacing the Support connecting struts with to obtain proper alignment. different material, like wood, Stone, plastic, polymers or any 0010 U.S. Pat. No. 6,476,302, on Nov. 5, 2002, to Liu, is other material not making up the majority of the Subject a saxophone with a main body, a neck, a treble connection set, instrument, in the instrument as disclosed in the specification a connection rod, and a link set. of the invention. 0011 US Patent App. 2005/0217464, to Onozawa et al., 0020 Reference throughout this specification to features, pub. Data of Oct. 6, 2005, is a hybrid saxophone whit the advantages, or similar language does not imply that all of the combination of an acoustic saxophone and an electronic sys features advantages that may be realized with the present tem, and the electronic system includes key sensors for moni invention should be or are in any single embodiment or the toring the keys and a tonguing sensor for detecting the posi invention. Rather, language referring to the features and tion of the tongue together with a breath sensor and a lip advantages is understood to mean that a specific feature, SSO. advantage, or characteristic described in connection with an US 2015/0243265 A1 Aug. 27, 2015 embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the tube, the valve(s), the bell, the bow, and the like. For example, present invention. Thus, discussion of the features and advan if the woodwind instrument is a saxophone, the body of the tages, and similar language, throughout this specification instrument includes the reed, neck, body tube, bow, bridge/ may, but do not necessarily, refer to the same embodiment. brace, and bell. 0021. The foregoing and other features and advantages of 0035. As used herein, “key mechanism' includes the key the present invention will be apparent from the following and the pieces that are coupled to, or function with the key to more detailed description of the particular embodiments of facilitate the opening and/or closing of a tone hole.