United States Patent This PDF file contains a digital copy of a United States patent that relates to the Native American Flute. It is part of a collection of Native American Flute resources available at the web site http://www.Flutopedia.com/. As part of the Flutopedia effort, extensive metadata information has been encoded into this file (see File/Properties for title, author, citation, right management, etc.). You can use text search on this document, based on the OCR facility in Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro. Also, all fonts have been embedded, so this file should display identically on various systems. Based on our best efforts, we believe that providing this material from Flutopedia.com to users in the United States does not violate any legal rights. However, please do not assume that it is legal to use this material outside the United States or for any use other than for your own personal use for research and self-enrichment. Also, we cannot offer guidance as to whether any specific use of any particular material is allowed. If you have any questions about this document or issues with its distribution, please visit http://www.Flutopedia.com/, which has information on how to contact us. Contributing Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office - http://www.uspto.gov/ Digitizing Sponsor: Patent Fetcher - http://www.PatentFetcher.com/ Digitized by: Stroke of Color, Inc. Document downloaded: December 5, 2009 Updated: May 31, 2010 by Clint Goss [[email protected]] 111111 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 US006872876B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 6,872,876 B2 Ahrens (45) Date of Patent: Mar. 29,2005 (54) OCARINAS WITH AN INNER LINER AND 3,835,748 A * 9/1974 Olson .......................... 84/388 AN OUTER SHELL 4,893,541 A 1/1990 Fowler et al. ................ 84/380 6,348,647 B1 2/2002 Ahrens (75) Inventor: Karl P. Ahrens, Bloomfield, CT (US) OTHER PUBLICATIONS (73) Assignee: Mountain Ocarinas Inc., Bloomfield, http://www.ne.jp/asahi/suimin/japan/doublet_e.htm. CT (US) * cited by examiner ( *) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this Primary Examiner-Shih-Yung Hsieh patent is extended or adjusted under 35 (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm-McCormick Paulding & U.S.c. 154(b) by 52 days. Huber LLP (57) ABSTRACT (21) Appl. No.: 10/413,950 One embodiment of an ocarina has an inner liner that (22) Filed: Apr. 15, 2003 includes a plurality of apertures and an outer shell disposed (65) Prior Publication Data substantially completely around the inner liner. In one exemplary embodiment of such an ocarina, the plurality of US 2003/0192421 A1 Oct. 16, 2003 apertures in the inner liner facilitates the airflow communi- cation through the inner liner to produce a tone when the Related U.S. Application Data ocarina is played, whereas the outer shell provides a pro- (60) Provisional application No. 60/372,486, filed on Apr. 15, 2002. tective or ornamental envelope for the inner liner and includes a plurality of openings that register with the aper- (51) Int. CI? .................................................. G10D 7/00 tures in the inner liner. In another exemplary embodiment, (52) U.S. CI. ......................... 84/380 R; 84/382; 84/384; an ocarina has a body having a plurality of apertures 84/386; 84/402 disposed therein. The body is formed by an inner liner (58) Field of Search ............................... 84/380 R, 382, defined by at least one sound chamber and a first cooperating 84/384, 386, 402 cover and an outer shell disposed substantially completely around the inner liner. The outer shell is defined by a vessel (56) References Cited and a second cooperating cover, and some of the inner surfaces of the outer shell engage some of the outer surfaces U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS of the inner liner to retain the inner liner in the outer shell 968,694 A 8/1910 Rubright in an interference fit. 2,145,605 A 1/1939 Mausolf .... ... ... ... ... ...... 84/380 3,815,466 A 6/1974 Johnson ....................... 84/380 9 Claims, 2 Drawing Sheets 42 10 ) u.s. Patent Mar. 29,2005 Sheet 1 of 2 US 6,872,876 B2 10 18 ; - ----,,, - I \ I \ I \ I \ r--- 16 I \ \~ ~~ \\D O----@----o \ \ 14 \ '\------------ ---~----, ,---\ , ___ ------ \ I __ ---- \ I _--------- \ J ~-- .12." : \ I \ I \ I \ } ----------- -> ----~------~------------- ~:=-=:=---------- FIG. 1 20 14 54 58~2 62 66 20 ~o:WL~frM 48 46 r 50 56 60 52 64 68 22 20 FIG. 4 u.s. Patent Mar. 29,2005 Sheet 2 of 2 US 6,872,876 B2 42 10 ) 34 FIG. 2 30 30 \ 26 32 26 FIG. 3 US 6,872,876 B2 1 2 OCARINAS WITH AN INNER LINER AND causes the fading of notes, especially the notes at the higher AN OUTER SHELL end of the octave. In the case of quality ocarinas molded entirely of some CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT type of plastic resin, there are esthetic design challenges that APPLICATION 5 stem from practical limitations as to how thickly a particular resin can be molded without the occurrence of sagging and The present application claims the benefits of U.S. Pro- shrinking. visional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/372,486, filed Apr. 15,2002, entitled Ocarinas With an Inner Liner and an Outer SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION Shell, which is incorporated herein by reference in its 10 The present invention is directed to an ocarina having an entirety. inner liner that includes a plurality of apertures and an outer shell disposed substantially completely around the inner FIELD OF THE PRESENT INVENTION liner. In one exemplary embodiment of such an ocarina, the inner liner protects the ocarina shell from the adverse effects The present invention relates generally to musical wind of moisture while the plurality of apertures in the inner liner instruments, and is more specifically directed to ocarinas 15 facilitates the airflow communication through the inner liner having a protective inner liner disposed within an attractive to produce a tone when the ocarina is played by a musician. outer shell. The outer shell provides a protective or ornamental envelope for the inner liner and includes a plurality of openings that BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT register with the apertures in the inner liner. Preferably, at INVENTION 20 least some of the outer surfaces of the inner liner engage the A flute is a type of wind instrument in which the impinge- inner surfaces of the outer shell in an interference fit to ment of air on an edge as the air passes into a sound chamber facilitate the retaining of the inner liner in the outer shell. causes the air to oscillate to produce an audible tone. One In another exemplary embodiment, an ocarina has a body type of flute is a whistle flute or fipple flute, which employs having a plurality of apertures disposed therein. The body is a whistle-type mouthpiece and is among the most ancient of 25 formed by an inner liner defined by at least one sound all musical instruments. In this family are the recorder (also chamber and a first cooperating cover and an outer shell known as the fipple flute or English flute), the flageolet, and disposed substantially completely around the inner liner. the ocarina (also known as the globular flute or the vessel The outer shell is defined by a vessel and a second cooper- flute). The ocarina dates back to antiquity and is reported to ating cover, and the inner surfaces of the outer shell engage be of South American or Central American descent, though 30 the outer surfaces of the inner liner to retain the inner liner there are indications of its use in other parts of the ancient in the outer shell in an interference fit. The apertures are world. configured to facilitate the airflow communication through the body. Most types of wind instruments employ an open-ended In any embodiment, the inner liners are manufactured tubular- or conical-shaped cavity to produce sound, whereas 35 ocarinas utilize an enclosed sound chamber or cavity. Oca- with airways, fipple edges, sound chambers, and toneholes rinas have at least one airway that directs an airstream across so that they can function as ocarinas before they are encased a fipple window to impinge upon a fipple edge, at least one in outer shells. The advantages of this inner liner/outer shell sound chamber, and a plurality of toneholes that penetrate design are several. First, the inner liners, which are prefer- ably formed of an easily-manufactured, water resistant, into the enclosed chamber and that are used to control the 40 pitch sounded by the instrument. relatively poor heat conducting material, serve to protect wood- or metal-shelled ocarinas (or ocarinas fabricated of Ocarinas may be fabricated from a variety of materials, similar materials) from the adverse effects of moisture. such as ceramics, wood, metal, plastics, and the like. Many Second, the liners help to prevent excessive condensation in ocarinas sold commercially are not manufactured to the the airways of ocarinas clad with metal or with other strict dimensional tolerances necessary to consistently pro- 45 materials that are highly heat conductive. Third, the inner duce acoustically excellent instruments. Nevertheless, major liner/outer shell design greatly facilitates the manufacture challenges are faced by manufacturers who do attempt to of, ocarinas out of materials that enjoy high status such as craft concert-worthy ocarinas from wood, metal, or other wood, metal, and the like. Because precise airways, fipple quality machinable materials. The tremendously precise and edge assemblies, sound chambers, and tone holes can be detailed handwork needed to produce musically superior 50 mass produced in the molding of the inner liner, precision ocarinas out of these materials requires skilled artisans and wood- or metal ocarinas can be produced by less skilled is very time consuming.