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 US007563970B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 7,563,970 B2 Laukat et al. (45) Date of Patent: *Jul. 21, 2009 (54) WOODWIND INSTRUMENT 2,151,337 A 3/1939 Selmer 2,501,388 A * 3/1950 Holland ....................... 84/400 (75) Inventors: Sheryl Laukat, Sandy, UT (US); Tevis 2,555,980 A 6/1951 Loney Laukat, Sandy, UT (US) 2,846,917 A 8/1958 Lefevre-Selmer 3,136,200 A 6/1964 Levblanc (73) Assignee: Cannonball Musical Instruments, 3,443,018 A 5/1969 Krebs Sandy, UT (US) ( *) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this (Continued) patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.c. 154(b) by 278 days. OTHER PUBLICATIONS "Selmer Balanced Action Saxophone." Don Mackrills Music Stop. This patent is subject to a terminal dis- 2004. <http://www.donmack.comiSelmer/SeimerBalancedAction. claimer. htm>. (21) Appl. No.: 11/306,146 (Continued) (22) Filed: Dec. 16, 2005 Primary Examiner-Jeffrey Donels Assistant Examiner-Jianchun Qin (65) Prior Publication Data (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Advantia Law Group; Michael W. Starkweather; Jason P. Webb US 2007/0277 666 Al Dec. 6,2007 (57) ABSTRACT Related U.S. Application Data (60) Provisional application No. 60/636,560, filed on Dec. 16,2004. A method of improving the tonal characteristics of a wood- wind instrument. The method includes identifying a position (51) Int. Cl. on the woodwind instrument, wherein placement of a tonal GIOD 9104 (2006.01) material thereto causes a lowering of overtone amplitude (52) U.S. Cl. ................................... 84/385 R; 84/380 R during play, by observing overtone characteristics during play; positioning the tonal material to the woodwind instru- (58) Field of Classification Search ............... 84/385 R, ment; measuring the overtone amplitude; playing the wood- 84/380 R, 382, 383 R, 387 R wind instrument; and repositioning the tonal material to opti- See application file for complete search history. mal overtone amplitude position; and attaching the tonal (56) References Cited material to the woodwind instrument, at the optimal overtone amplitude position. The tonal material comprises one of the U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS group consisting of: gamet, jasper, agate, aventurine, carne- 59,204 A 1011866 Fiske lian, citrine, fluorite, hematite, malachite, obsidian, onyx, 1,024,771 A 411912 Glass tiger's eye, turquoise, unakite, moonstone, peridot, jade, 1,632,008 A 611927 Lemm alexandrite, amethyst, chalcedony, quartz, aquamarine, lolite, 1,716,929 A 611929 Packan rhodolite, opal, topaz, tourmaline, tanzanite, diamond, emer- 1,828,389 A 1011931 Calvani ald, sapphire, ceylon sapphire, ruby, woodwind, other metals, 1,873,184 A 811932 Calvani and combinations thereof. 2,033,774 A 311936 Loomis 2,055,382 A 911936 Loomis 17 Claims, 8 Drawing Sheets US 7,563,970 B2 Page 2 u.s. PATENT DOCUMENTS "Dave Guardala Saxophones." Sax.Co.UK. 2005. <http://www.saxo- phones.co.uklindex2.html>. 3,635,117 A 111972 Nagao "Conn." A Brief Outline of the Origins of Orchestral Saxophones in 3,657,464 A 411972 Pascucci F & c. 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Yamaha Deutschland. <http://www. 7,335,831 B2 * 212008 Laukat et al. .... ... ... ... 84/387 R yamaha_europe.comlyamaha_europelgermanyl 200210166434 Al 1112002 Liu 10_musical_instruments/20_orchestral 10 _woodwind! 200210178892 Al * 1212002 Lim ............................ 84/384 60 _saxophonesl 50 _saxophones._necks/G llindex.htmI/G>. "The Collection of H.N. White Instruments", H.N. White. <http:// OTHER PUBLICATIONS www.hnwhite.comiInstruments.htm>. "King Liberty Trumpet No. 1050: Picture 3 With Mini", H.N. White. "Welcome to Carl's Professional Band Instrument Repair." Carl's <http://www.hnwhite.comiKinglMy%20Trumpets/ Professional Band Instrument Repair. 2005. <http://www. Liberty%20Trumpet%20With%20Mini%20Trumpet%20Gold. carlsproband.coml serviceslindex. php>. jpg>. "iStockphoto.com : saxophone2." iStock International, Inc. 2005. "Trumpets and Cornets from Dave Ballard, Isle of Wight." 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"Ferguson Music at Hornguys.com-Fine Musical Instruments." prowinds.comlprowinds_web _2000linstruments/saxophonesl Hornguys.com. <http://www.hornguys.comlhornsinstock.htm>. index_baritone.htm>. "Zephyr and Zephyr Special." Zephyr and Zephyr Special Models. "Saxophones-Band and Musical Instruments." Dominic's <http://www.saxpics.comlking/zephyr.htm> . Music-Band and Musical Instruments. <http://www. dominicsmusic.comisearchResult.php?group_id~>. * cited by examiner US 7,563,970 B2 u.s. Patent Jut 21,2009 Sheet 1 of8 100 ,/ FIG. 1 ~_112 104 ...... ......... ___ .Attt--_112 u.s. Patent Jul. 21, 2009 Sheet 2 of 8 US 7,563,970 B2 206 204 208-- ~ Figure 2 u.s. Patent Jul. 21, 2009 Sheet 3 of 8 US 7,563,970 B2 FIG. 3 100 ) 112 ~ __J u.s. Patent Jul. 21, 2009 Sheet 4 of 8 US 7,563,970 B2 206--~ 210 102 / / 212 Figure 4 u.s. Patent Jul. 21, 2009 Sheet 5 of 8 US 7,563,970 B2 110 102 502 ~ Figure 5 u.s. Patent Jul. 21, 2009 Sheet 6 of 8 US 7,563,970 B2 (0 0-____ (0\ V I/o ) to r-- r-- . 0 I I . Cl ~ Cl .- CO .- LL I LL I CD \ /~ I (l) / ~ L- L ,.,,- I (0 // ~ I ::J (0 C) I -- a/ I LL ~ ~ I I I u.s. Patent Jul. 21, 2009 Sheet 7 of8 US 7,563,970 B2 g ,Fi ,6 110 610'-~ 606 ~ '616 '£04 -608 Figure 7 u.s. Patent Jul. 21, 2009 Sheet 8 of8 US 7,563,970 B2 6 i Fig.