PERCUSSION INSTUMENT

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to percussion instruments and is specifically concerned with percussion instruments in the form of a drum.

The Inventive Concept

Percussion drums are conventionally designed to produce their sound by striking the drum's playing surface with drumsticks or, in some cases, with the fingers and palm of the player. Such conventional drums are also designed either to be mounted on a stand or to be held between the player's knees. In each case, they are therefore relatively formal items and, whilst they can be carried from site to site, they are not designed or adapted to be readily manipulated during play.

The well known need of many people nowadays to have something to manipulate is taken care of conventionally by flexible and relatively small multi-limbed and/or differentially shaped finger-handled objects - often given the generic name "executive toys" - which can be twisted, turned, and otherwise played with to give some repeated measure of relief to the user. These act as an effective outlet for excess energy as well as, or instead of, pent-up frustration on the part of the user.

A third category of equipment is the so-called washboard or (to an older generation) skiffle board whose generally planar surface is sequentially ridged so that a musician holding the board within the embrace of one arm can strum the ridged surface with the fingernails of the hand of his other arm. Performers using this instrument reached a brief heyday in the United Kingdom in the early and middle 1950s but the craze is long past and whist scattered remnants of the species still survive, virtually no regard is paid nowadays to the instrument as such.

None of these disparate objects provides any outlet at all for the natural and indeed overwhelming urge in many people to have something on which to tap out a rhythm, repetitively, for sheer enjoyment and which is large enough to give a pleasingly reverberating sound whilst being sufficiently compact and relatively light weight to be picked up, carried around, and manipulated and swivelled between the player's outstretched hands as the rhythmic striking of the object gathers pace.

The invention seeks to overcome this long-felt and unfulfilled need.

Summary of the Invention

In its broadest aspect the invention is embodied in a percussion instrument in the form of a drum having at least one striking face whose periphery is bounded by a wall, characterised in that the wall is divided into peripherally successive regions each separated by an actual or a notional transition region and the presence of at least one - or of the - transition region can be sensed by a user of the drum if he feels his way around the drum wall.

In a presently preferred practical embodiment of the invention, the drum is a cube-shaped drum with a side length lying within the range 12 inches to 18 inches (approximately 30cm to 45cm) and preferably a side length of approximately 15 inches (say 40cm) and its faces are perforated, slotted, ridged, meshed and/or otherwise so treated as to give, to a user of the drum, a pleasingly varied reverberative sound output as he taps, slaps, strikes with the heel of his palm, and otherwise assaults the drum manually in an extempore and usually spontaneous manner.

Such a drum therefore combines features of each of the known objects reviewed when outlining the concept of the invention above, to give a usable result which none of them could attain, and yet with no connection at all between them that would lead to the invention.

Other aspects of the invention will become apparent from reading the description which now follows with reference to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification. The scope of the invention as such is defined in the numbered claims at the end of the description text.

The Accompanying Drawings

The four successive Figures of the accompanying drawings show forms which a drum embodying the invention might take. Each shows its respective drum in diagrammatic perspective. These drums will now be described with reference to the drawings.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments of the Invention

In Figure 1 a percussion drum is cube-shaped and has a side length of approximately 15 inches (say 40cm). Each of its square faces is made of Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) and, as shown, each face is perforated and slotted so that sounds produced by striking any face will cause the face to reverberate and will be reflected internally and then out via the holes and slots formed in the face.

One of the faces is also ridged in the manner of a so-called washboard so that, when that face is strummed by the user's fingernails or fingertips, the sound so produced will be transmitted directly from the face to the user's listening ears.

A top (as illustrated) face of the drum incorporates a removable central region which is a tight fit in the rest of the drum face and incorporates a thumbnail undercut region to allow it to be prised out of its surrounding face area when the user desires to remove it. This gives access to the interior of the drum and enables a powered microphone, for example, to be installed so as to amplify the sound generated within the drum in use before it is transmitted out through the holes and slots in the drum faces.

Each edge of the cube-shaped drum will of course inevitably make its presence felt to a user of the drum who will sense the presence of the drum edge if and as he feels his way around the drum wall. In that context each edge region constitutes a transition region separating peripherally successive regions of the drum wall.

As shown in Figure 1 each corner of the drum is faced with respective plastics corner protectors and these may be of the kind described and illustrated in published European Patent Specification number EP1483172 with modifications which will occur without the need for inventive thought to the intended skilled addressee of this specification.

In Figure 2 another cube-shaped drum embodying the invention consists of a framework whose individual members are slotted to receive, and to allow the ready removal and replacement of, each face of the drum. The one illustrated is meshed in a diamond pattern and the remaining faces whilst normally perforated would not be of so open a construction. The means whereby the drum face panels slot into and out of the framework can be selected, again, without the need for inventive thought; but the concept is believed to be inherently inventive as such.

In Figure 3 a drum is shown to comprise three successive regions, namely a first region of pyramidal form; a second, main body, region of rectangular-face form; and a third, lowest, region of triangular base and trianglular wall.

In Figure 4 the drum again is of composite form and the major drum body region has a top face which as illustrated is curcular over approximately 230° circumferential swept-out arc. It then transitions to a linear edge and these two linear edges meet in an apex as shown. The drum wall accordingly takes a number of contour changes.

In each of Figures 3 and 4, no perforations are shown but it will be appreciated that appropriate perforations are provided in the context of the acoustic needs of any given drum form embodying the invention.

At Figure 1 is shown a percussion instrument in the form of a drum, indicated generally at 2. The drum 2 is of a cuboidal shape in this embodiment. The percussion instrument is

hollow with a central chamber 4 defined by a plurality of walls 6. Although in this embodiment chamber 4 is central, it need not be so. In other embodiments a plurality of chambers may be preferable.

The several walls 6 or drum faces are peripherally successive regions and each edge 8 where two walls 6 meet may be termed a transition region. The fact that the drum has these transition regions allows the user to orientate himself in relation to the drum by touch alone.

The drum may have one or more striking facesiO. Each striking face 10 may be a wall 6, merely a part of a wall 6 or a feature attached to a wall. A striking face 10 may be blank or it may have a variety of features to alter the timbre, pitch or some other musical or aesthetic aspect of the drum striking face 10 or the tone which the striking of the face produces. One of these striking faces 10 features a ridged area 12 which may be scraped or tapped by the user. The drum therefore has a built in guiro or scraper feature. The ridged 12 striking face 10 has a plurality of perforations 14. These can be used to adjust tonal characteristics of said striking face 10; or can be used as sound holes to amplify the drum 2. The skilled man will experiment with different numbers and configurations of perforations to find the best results. A type of perforation is present in the form of the mesh 16 which in this embodiment is shown on the upper striking face 10. In this embodiment the mesh 16 is mounted on a removable flap which forms a frictional fit with an aperture 18 which is itself defined by said striking face 10. The aperture 18 allows access into the chamber 4. Fittings such as a microphone or tonal generating implements may be secreted inside the chamber 4, and attached as necessary.

The mesh 16 comprises a frame 20 surrounding said middle mesh portion 22. On one side frame 20 has an opening catch 24 allowing the user to insert his finger, thumbnail or similar in order to remove said mesh 16. In other embodiments, this method is used for removal of the entire striking face 10.

This embodiment of drum 2 has a plurality of corner protectors 26. The corner protectors 26 may be located on some or all of the corners of the drum and may be made of hard plastics material and may be fixed to the corners of the drum 2 by means known to the skilled man.

Possible variants on figure 1 include the provision of a pyramidal supporting base of the sort shown in figure 3, a plurality of removable side portions of the type shown in figure 2 and the forming of part of a larger drum in the manner shown in figure 4.

At Figure 2 is shown a further embodiment of the drum 2. The drum is again cuboidal. It comprises a frame 40 and a plurality of panels 42 of which one is shown. The drum 2 may be made up of a mixture of panels 42. The drum may therefore be customised at any time in accordance with the wishes of the user. Panels 42 with different properties may be manufactured and sold separately to the drum frame 40. The panel 42 shown here is a mesh 16 with a frame 20. In a similar way to Figure 1, the panel 42 (which may be viewed as forming part of a drum wall) is readily removable and replaceable with another. Means of attachment between the panels 42 and the frame 40 will be left to the skilled man.

Additional features might include means for attachment to a pyramidal portion which may form a base portion to be added to figure 2. Further possible features include a striking face with multiple perforations, a ridged striking face, a striking face wherein the perforations comprise slots and an attachable pyramidal form, comprising an additional set of striking faces and/or a stand, complete with means of attachment and one or more corner protectors.

Figure 3 shows a further embodiment of the drum 50. This drum is made up of three different shapes - a cuboid 52, a pyramid 54 and a further, elongated pyramid 56. Here all three shapes 52, 54, 56 are hollow and each presents a plurality of walls 6 which may be interfaced with by the user either in terms of their properties as a percussion instrument or in terms of their relationship to the body; for example elongated pyramid 56 presents itself in such a way as to encourage the user to support it with his or her legs. This has the advantage of allowing the bottom of the cuboid 52 to be free from the contact of the user after it has been hit thereby preserving the resonant properties of said cuboid 52 where otherwise said bottom would be in contact with the user's legs and would therefore be dampened.

The additional features may include readily removable drum striking faces, one or more faces with a multiplicity of perforations, one or more ridged striking face, one or more

perforated faces wherein the perforations comprise slots, perforations disposed asymmetrically about the striking face, one or more corner protectors, the option to incorporate the cuboidal structures of figures 1 and 2.

At Figure 4 is shown a further embodiment of the drum 100 comprising a cuboidal top portion 102 which may contain a microphone and a shaped body portion 104 described further in a previous part of the specification.

Additional features of figure 4 might include one or more readily removable drum striking faces, one or more striking faces with a multiplicity of perforations, one or more ridged striking faces, one or more faces where the perforation comprise slots, one or more faces where the perforations are arranged asymmetrically about the striking face and one or more edge region protectors. The embodiment of figure 4 may also comprise means of attaching the drums of figures 1 and 2 to it, to form an array.

Various shapes may be used in the production of this drum, notably these pyramids and dodecahedrons have been shown to produce good results.

In the case of a cuboidal or square embodiment of the drum 2 a side length of 12 to 18 inches is preferred in the case of a specific and particularly preferred square, a side length of 15 inches is particularly preferred.

The drum 2 is constructed of mixed materials, although a preferred material is medium density fibreboard. Different types of material will have different tonal properties, and the skilled man will exercise his judgement in assessing their desirability.

The features of the invention which are believed to be new and inherently inventive are:

1. A percussion instrument in the form of a drum having at least one striking face whose periphery is bounded by a wall, characterised in that the wall is divided into peripherally successive regions each separated by an actual or a notional transition region and the presence of at least one - or of the - transition region can be sensed by a user of the drum if he feels his way around the drum wall.

Z. A drum according to claim 1 with a plurality of striking faces.

3. A drum according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which at least one - or the - striking face is ridged.

4. A drum according to any preceding claim and in which at least one - or the - striking face is perforated.

5. A drum according to claim 4 and in which the perforations comprise slots.

6. A drum according to claim 4 or claim 5 and in which the perforations are of a mesh formation.

7. A drum according to any of claims 4, 5 and 6 in which the perforations are disposed asymmetrically about the striking face.

8. A drum according to any preceding claim and in which one at least of the drum faces and/or drum wall regions is readily removable and replaceable with another.

9. A drum according to claim 8 and in which the removable face or region is non- hinged to the rest of the drum.

10. A drum according to any preceding claim and in which at least one striking face or wall region is substantially rigid.

1 1. A drum according to any preceding claim and in which at least one - or the - striking face and/or at least one drum wall or region comprises or incorporates material which differs from that of another striking face and/or another drum wall region or - in the case where there is one striking face only - a drum wall region.

12. A drum according to any preceding claim and in which different portions of the drum have differing acoustic qualities.

13. A drum according to any preceding claim in which at least one region of the drum is stretched taut.

14. A drum according to any preceding claim incorporating corner protectors and/or edge region protectors.

15. A drum according to claim 14 and in which there are protectors on each of its corners and/or edge regions.

16. A drum according to any preceding claim with a substantially rectangular striking face and/or drum wall region.

17. A drum according to any preceding claim and in which a striking face and/or drum wall region is substantially triangular.

18. A drum according to any preceding claim and in which a striking face and/or drum wall region is substantially trapezoidal.

19. A drum according to any preceding claim and in which the drum is at least partly cube-shaped.

20. A drum according to any preceding claim and in which the drum is at least partly pyramidal.

21. A percussion instrument in the form of a drum substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in any appropriate combination of the accompanying text and/or drawings.

The scope of the invention is now formally defined in the numbered claims which follow.