A clamping member for a violin shoulder rest

The present invention relates to a shoulder rest for bowed instruments such as violin or viola.

In particular, the invention relates to clamping members of a clamp system of a shoulder rest having a bridge between opposed clamping members. The bridge is rigid but may have some limited flexibility. It is provided at each end with an end member which is generally L-shaped where one arm of the L is fixedly secured to the top surface of the bridge, while the other arm of the L supports, directly or indirectly, the clamping member. The two opposed L-shaped members carry clamping members, but also provide additional flexibility which allows a limited spreading apart of the opposed clamping members so as to firmly but removably attach the shoulder rest to a violin. Typically, when the shoulder rest is secured to the instrument, the clamping members engage the back rim of the body of the instrument. The clamping members, when attached to an instrument, are strongly but resiliently urged to each other to firmly but releasably grip the rim of the bottom wall thus holding the bridge at a desired spacing from the bottom of the body of the instrument, ready to support the instrument on the shoulder of a player. The clamping members should support the instrument with a clamping force sufficient to prevent inadvertent displacement of the shoulder rest from the instrument. Such displacement might result in a damage to the surface of the bottom of the body of the instrument by projections or the like present on the upper surface of the bridge.

Many different clamping mechanisms for removably attaching a shoulder rest bridge to a violin are known. For instance, US Patent 2,747,452 (Goldberger) issued in 1954 or US Patent 6,278,044 (Ruan) issued in 2001, describe an attachment mechanism comprising a bridge which is supported, near the tail of a violin, at each end by a finger which contacts the respective side of the instrument but generally supports the instrument only in a ledge-like fashion, virtually free of any clamping engagement with the rim. The bridge further supports a relatively long clamping arm which is urged into a clamping state by a coil spring section at the respective side of the bridge. The two arms thus clamp the body independently of the clamping force, if any, at the first pair of the clamping fingers near the tail of the instrument.

The drawback of these arrangements is primarily in a cumbersome, complex way the spring-like coil elements have to be anchored to the bridge. The flexing force of the bridge is not transmitted to the clamping force of both clamping fingers. Such force is determined virtually solely by the force generated at the coil spring section of each arm.

The height adjustment cannot be effected in the Goldberger patent and can only be effected in a very limited and cumbersome way in the Ruan design. Since there is an independent clamping force developed at each of the two arms remote from the tail of the instrument, but not at the lower fingers near the tail end, the strength of the securement to an instrument is insufficient.

A large number of prior art patents describes this type of the clamp systems using freely pivotable, rigid U-shaped clamps. Reference may be had, for instance, to US Patent 6,031,163 (Cullum et al.) assigned to the Kun Shoulder Rest, Inc., US Patent 2,697,374 (Ungh) issued December 21, 1964 or US Patent 3,631,754 (Kun). As already mentioned, the U-shaped clamping members of these shoulder rest are preferably integrally formed elements. They are all pivotable about an axis which is located centrally between the clamping fingers. This arrangement secures a uniform pressure exerted at each finger engaging the instrument. This clamping system is satisfactory in many applications. Its advantage is in a simple structure easily adaptable for different sizes of a violin readily allowing for adjustment of the spacing between the bridge and the body of the instrument.

However, it is still desirable to further improve the comfort of the player of the instrument by moving the location of the bridge as close to the chin rest of the instrument as possible. This is difficult, if not impossible, with the existing type of rigid U-shaped clamp members.

It is an object of the present invention to alleviate the above problem and to fully utilize both the use of the freely pivoted U-shaped members but also to secure that, where the shoulder rest is required to be attached relatively close to the back end of the body of the instrument, the tendency of the shoulder rest to slip off the body is at least substantially limited and often eliminated.

It is another object of the invention to enable an inexpensive converting of an existing shoulder rest from a regular arrangement of the U-shaped members to a different type providing an increased stability.

The invention is as set out in independent device claim 1.

In general terms, the invention provides a rigid U-shaped clamp member for a violin or the like instrument shoulder rest adapted to engage a back rim of the body at one side of the body, comprising a first arm and a second arm. The arms are rigidly connected, preferably integrally formed, with each other. The arms adjoin each other for a free pivotal movement in common at a pivot section, about a pivot axis generally perpendicular to elongation of said arms. A first clamp finger is disposed at a free end of said first arm, and a second clamp finger at a free end of said second arm. The clamp fingers are provided for engaging a side portion of a violin or the like body. The first and second clamp fingers project each in a direction generally parallel with said pivot axis. The arms are of uneven length, whereby said pivot axis is offset to a location distal from the clamp finger of said first arm and proximal to the clamp finger of said second arm. The length of said first arm is at least about twice that of the second arm. The first clamp finger is adapted to engage a side portion of a violin or the like body at a location proximal to the waist of an associate violin or the like, and the second clamp finger is adapted to engage the same side portion at a location distal from the waist and proximate to the tail of an associated instrument.

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying simplified, diagrammatic, not-to-scale drawings, wherein <dl id="dl0001" compact="compact"><dt>Figure 1</dt><dd>is a perspective view of the shoulder rest incorporating the features of the present invention, with one of the clamping members shown detached;</dd><dt>Figure 2</dt><dd>is a top plan view showing a pair of inventive clamping members of a shoulder rest;</dd><dt>Figure 3</dt><dd>is a side view, partly in section of the clamping member, taken in the direction III-III of Figure 2;</dd><dt>Figure 4</dt><dd>is a side view of the clamping member, taken in the direction IV of Figure 2; and</dd><dt>Figure 5</dt><dd>is a diagrammatic bottom plan view of the shoulder rest incorporating the clamping members of the present invention attached to the body of a violin.</dd></dl>

The shoulder rest 10 of Fig. 1 is intended for use with a violin, viola or other similar bowed instruments. Therefore, whenever reference is made to a violin, it is to be understood that other similar instruments are included in such term. For simplicity, certain parts normally present in a shoulder rest but not associated with the present invention, are not shown in the drawings.

The shoulder rest 10 includes an elongated bridge 12 comprised of an upper portion 14 and of a soft padding 16, usually adhesively secured to the underside of the upper portion 14. As is known, the upper portion is made from a suitable stiff material, for instance, a glass fibre reinforced plastic material. The upper portion 14 is stiff but does have a limited resiliency so that some resilient flexing of the bridge is possible. The upper portion 14 defines an upper surface 18 of the bridge 12, and the padding 16 the lower surface 20 which, in use, rests on the shoulder of the player of the instrument.

The bridge has a first end 22 and a second end 24. A usually generally L-shaped first base 26, has a horizontal arm 28 which is fixedly secured to the upper surface 18 of the bridge at a predetermined location adjacent to the first end 22. As is well known, the position of the arm 28, is adjustable along the elongation of the bridge. The upright of the L-shaped first base 26 forms an upwardly projecting support 30 which carries a base portion 32 with a vertical threaded bore 34. The bore 34 receives a threaded stem 36. The upper end of the stem 36 is fixedly secured to a rigid, generally U-shaped first clamp member 38. The clamp member 38 is disposed at a predetermined spacing from the upper surface 18 which is adjustable by simply threading the stem 36 into or out of the bore 34, depending on the physique of the user. The stem 36 and its associated bore permit a free pivotal movement of the clamp member 38 about the pivot axis 40 defining a pivot section of the clamp member 38. The axis 40 is normally generally perpendicular to the upper surface 18 of the bridge. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the reference to the L-shaped first base 26 is meant solely as an exemplary embodiment since many mechanical substitutes of such member, including an upwardly projecting support integrally molded with the bridge and many other embodiments well known from prior art.

The generally U-shaped clamp member 38 comprises a rigid first arm 42 which is integrally formed with a generally co-extensive rigid second arm 44. At the free end of the first arm 42, a first clamping finger 46 projects in a direction away from the bridge 1 2. Similarly, at the free end of the second arm 44, a second clamping finger 48 projects in the same direction. The fingers 46, 48 are adapted to engage the rim of a bottom of the body of an associated instrument on one side of the instrument. This is preferably achieved by the concave recesses 50, 52 of the respective fingers. Note that the recesses are open in a direction toward the opposite second end 24 of the bridge. Fig. 1 shows that the length of the first arm 42 is approximately twice the length of the shorter arm 44. In other words, the first clamping finger 46 is distal from the pivot axis 40 and the second clamping finger 48 is proximate to the pivot axis 40.

Thus, the fingers 46 and 48 form two uprights of the said U-shape, while the arms 42, 44 define a base thereof. The second clamp member 38' and its associated base at the opposite, second end 24 of the bridge 12 is, generally, a mirror image of the first clamp member 38 and therefore does not need to be described in detail.

It will be observed from the drawings that the arm portion of each clamp member is arcuately curved. The arc maintains the arm portion of each clamp member spaced from the surface of the back of the instrument. Accordingly, while the clamping fingers engage the rim of the bottom wall, the rest of the clamp member remains spaced from the surface of the back and does not inhibit the quality of the tone of the instrument.

Reference may now be had to Fig. 5 which shows a diagrammatic representation of the shoulder rest just described attached to the rim of a bottom of the instrument. The geometry of the contour of the lower part of the contour of the rim is indicated only in a diagrammatic way. The part of the rim shown includes a pair of two opposed waist portions 54, 54', a central tail portion 56 and an arc 58, 58' at each side of the body extending between the respective waist portion 54, 54' and the tail portion 56. A reference line 60, extends between a point W located at the waist portion 54 and point T coincident with the tail portion 56. The transverse line across the widest part of the rim is designated with letter A.

Points F1, F1' designate locations at which the first and second finger 46, 48 of the first clamp member engage one side of the rim. Points F2, F2' are locations at which the first and second finger 46', 48' of the second clamp member 38' engage the opposite side of the rim. While the geometry of the points of engagement of the fingers with the rim can be modified, it preferred that the fingers of each of the clamp members 38, 38' engage the rim at the opposed sides of the transverse line A. Furthermore, it is preferred, but not absolutely necessary, that the distance between the clamp fingers 46 - 48, 46' - 48' be greater than about one-half but less than about two-thirds of the length of the associated line W - T. This results, of course, in that the clamping force generated by the flexibility of the bridge 12 and of the bases 26, 26' at the respective pivot axes 40, 40' is unevenly distributed to the respective clamping fingers.

The clamping force at the fingers 46, 46' near the waist portions 54, 54' is smaller than that at clamping figures 48, 48'. However, there is sufficient clamping force at all four points, two to each side of the transverse line A. This provides exceptional stability which is superior to that of shoulder rests having independent spring coils associated with the clamping arms. The stability is even increased upon application of pressure on the bridge 12 as the instrument is being played. Compared with the known shoulder rests having rigid U-shaped clamping members, the invention secures the optimum location of the bridge 12 where the longitudinal centerline of the bridge is below the chin rest of the played instrument or very close to such position, thus enhancing the comfort of the player.

The accompanying drawings show that the clamping fingers 46, 48, 46', 48' and a portion of their arms 42, 44, 42', 44' are covered by a soft, protective coating sections 62, 64, 62', 64'. They prevent the scratching of the instrument by the clamping elements. The coating sections of the embodiment shown are produced by applying to a rigid core 66, 66' a rubber hose in a slip-on fashion. Many other types of the protective coating including an elastomeric layer moulded on the entire U-shaped member are known.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many embodiments of shoulder rest can be produced differing from the embodiment described but falling within the scope of the invention as set forth in the accompanying claims.