The woodwind musical instruments generate sound through an air vibration usually passing through an internal bore of the instrument, without the use of chords or vibrating membranes and without being the instrument itself to vibrate.

The air is blown into the instrument by the musician through a mouthpiece and comes out through an opening opposite to the mouthpiece. The vibration is performed by an elastic blade (reed) , made of cane, bamboo (arundo donax) or plastic which is fastened to said mouthpiece over a hole in which the air is blown. The vibrating blade (reed) interrupts periodically (in the wave sequence of the vibration) the flow of the blown air, generating the sound.

In double reed instruments such as the oboe,- the English horn, the bassoon and the like, there are two reeds, constituted by two shaped blades, supported each other and engaged in a terminal small pipe which is put to the musician's mouth.

The principle of the performance of such an instrument is similar to the one with a single reed, but in this case there is not the support provided by the assembly of the reed against the mouthpiece (like in single reed instruments) , so the musician has to obtain an oscillating fulcrum for the blades by holding them simultaneously between his lips, this requires a bigger tension of the muscles of the lips and makes the emission of the sound and its right pitch very difficult.

Along the tubular path of the internal bore (the internal channel) there are holes which connect such bore with the external and through which vibrating air passes; said holes are placed according to a predetermined map which is different according to the instrument and they are closed or opened by a series of corresponding pads operated by key mechanisms which, used individually or in combination, allow the closure or the opening of the holes. To achieve the full closure of the holes, the pads have suitable swabbing means.

The length of the air column (and thus the pitch of the sound produced) is thus modified through the holes, which are controlled by keys, on the body of the instrument.

In all the woodwind instruments, there are suitable octave holes which, if opened, break the air column so to bring the corresponding sound to one octave upper to the note which the musician is playing through the fingering of the keys.

The emission holes of the air of the octave in the oboes family (in the oboe there are two octave holes) and the saxophones family have a very small diameter, approximately of few tenths of a millimetre, consequently when the musician blows the air through the mouthpiece, he enters in the bore of the instrument particles of atomized spittle which generate moisture, which finds a natural escape through the channel of the octave hole, until to cause its complete obstruction, this causing the consequent impossibility to change to the upper octave.

Said octave holes are also called simply octaves or octave vents and anyone of such words having the same meaning will be used in this description .

The octave holes are provided with a small body, usually made of metal, provided properly with a vent channel which engages into the thickness of the solid section qf the bore, without intercepting

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directly the hollow section in which the air column passes .

It should be noted that for generating the sound, the musician blows warm air having a high degree of moisture, which becomes cooler inside the bore and forms a condensed moisture in the internal bore of the corresponding section where the octave hole is placed (in the oboe the octave vents are placed in the first portion of the instrument below the reed) . The moisture not only runs down along the internal body of the instrument but it also obstructs the octave vent, thus preventing the emission of the upper octave note.

This causes a first serious inconvenience due to the fact that the musician playing the instrument, periodically - even during a single performance - is obliged to adjust the octave holes, by blowing repeatedly, operating in such a way the bleeding of the vent channel of the small metallic body, but this is not always an easy action to perform.

A second inconvenience arises from the fact that once the hole is obstructed, the resulting moisture accumulates in the central bore where the air column passes, so that the musician must periodically disassemble the whole instrument for cleaning the bore with mechanical means, and moreover he must blow air from the external of the octave hole in order to free the obstruction.

Further inconveniences arise from the repeated action of removing the metallic body provided with the vent engaged into the instrument, because this causes a wear of the device and a modification of the perfect fitting of the device into the octave well.

In the prior art it is known a device, usually made of metal, constituted by a central body, usually a screw body, which engages in a well obtained in the body of the instrument.

The well which receives the metallic device is transversely connected to the central column of the instrument, so that in the hollow space between the entry of the metallic vent and the central bore there is a space where the accumulation of the moisture of the liquid particles of spittle takes place.

It is known the teaching of the patent US 5.241.890 Galper, which provides a speaker vent with the purpose pf improving the pitch of the notes of the upper- octave in a clarinet; Galper achieves this aim by the insertion in the body of the instrument of a vent tube placed in any orthogonal or diagonal position to the body of the instrument; said vent tube is an intercepting channel of the blown air and of the resulting moisture from the internal bore of the instrument. Such result could be achieved by a volume of the intercepting element (the tube) comprised between 200 and 285 mm ³ ' All that does not ensure the perfect pitch of the instrument, causes a manufacture difficulty and an action limited only to the particles of spittle (drops) and not to the moisture which, due to the path of air circulation, can go up inside said intercepting vent tube causing its obstruction.

An other attempt to solve the problem was made by De Lancie in the patent US 6.124.537 which also cites the Galper' s teaching; in an octave bowl to carry out the octave vent and consequently corresponding to the relative octave key, De Lancie extends the octave bowl channel up to intercept the internal bore of the instrument, thus promising to canalize inside it the moisture which was formed in said channel, basing upon the extension of the intercepting pipe beyond the internal plane of the body of the instrument towards its bore where air circulates .

It is obvious that this is an assumption only theoretical because in the intercepting pipe the De Lancie invention can work only with particles of spittle having relevant size and does not intercept the moisture which goes up along the pipe from its lower opening and quickly saturates the internal volume (which is much smaller with respect to Galper, about 80 mm ³ ) , thus causing a variation of the tone of the octave note and a sure obstruction of the vent channel.

To overcome such inconveniences, the present invention achieves an important technical progress by providing around the intercepting channel, an annular vent chamber which collects the moisture coming from the internal bore of the instrument, both from the lower opening of the channel itself and through intercepting vents transverse to the channel which form a containment and elimination path of the moisture without causing a relevant modification of the tone of the octave note.

In a first embodiment of Castellani's teaching (embodiment A) it is provided a moisture- proof octave device for a woodwind musical instrument, particularly for the oboe, constituted by a small metallic body inserted into a bush framed in the thickness of the instrument to connect with the internal bore; the metallic body is provided with a vent channel passing in an internal chamber having three portions: the first one - the head - constituted by an annular projection having preferably a hexagonal shape, from which a second internal cylindrical portion originates, from which further a truncated conical appendix - the third portion - originates and communicates with the longitudinal bore of the instrument .

Said second cylindrical portion is non- coincident longitudinally with the opening of the hollow part of the bush bearing the metallic body, thus it leaves an annular hollow space free which forms, a vent chamber for collecting the atomized spittle and/or the resulting moisture.

The longitudinal vent channel has two sections of different diameter, the first going through the first portion of the head and part of the second central portion and the second section passing through the terminal portion of the central portion and inside the truncated conical appendix.

The truncated conical portion has transversely a pierced part which forms a vent channel for the filtering of the spittle and of the moisture .

Consequently to the above, the moisture which originates inside the central chamber due to the atomization of the spittle, instead of obstructing the central channel of the octave vent (octave hole) , enters into the longitudinal channel of the truncated conical portion and goes out through the transversal channel of the same portion, into the annular hollow portion placed at the base of the bush.

In a second embodiment of this invention (embodiment B) , it is achieved an increase of the amount of moisture collected by the chamber, but more important it is achieved a different distribution of the vent flows which generate a virtuous path which allows a plurality of escapes by subdividing the pressure among several spaces and better exploiting the Venturi effect; in this case the internal annular chamber has greater size and it is divided into two further portions.

Consequently, a great advantage arises from an octave hole provided with means which prevent accumulation of spittle below the vent hole and consequently make the vent channel free to allow the emission of the air coming from the central bore which determines the octave vent.

A further advantage arises from the possibility not to have to remove frequently the metallic body placed into the octave well.

A further advantage arises from the longer life of the device which maintains the perfect fitting engagement of the metallic body.

Last but not less important aim is to obtain the above mentioned advantages by an economic and simple manufacturing process, by using simple technologies and with a cost not higher than the usual technologies used for manufacturing the prior art device.

These and further advantages will more clearly arise from the description of a preferred embodiment of the invention according to the following drawings in which:

- figure 1 shows an oboe (ensemble) ;

- figure 2 shows a detail of the first portion of the instrument around the mouthpiece, when in use; - figure 3 shows a whole view of a first section of the instrument where the device is placed according to the first embodiment of the invention;

- figure 3a shows the invention according to the first embodiment in an exploded view;

- figure 4 shows a whole view of a first section of the instrument where the device is placed according to the second embodiment of the invention;

- figure 4a shows the invention according to the second embodiment in an exploded view;

- figure 5 shows, in detail, a cross section of an octave vent according to the invention, which engages into the thickness of the solid section of the tubular body of the instrument according to the first embodiment A;

- figure 6 shows, in detail, a cross section of an octave vent according to the invention, which engages into the thickness of the solid section of the tubular body of the instrument according to the second embodiment B.

In the attached figures it is illustrated, by way of example of the embodiments of the invention, a woodwind instrument such as an oboe (figure 1) in its ensemble when in use.

In figure 2 it is shown an octave hole in use w.ith its corresponding key mechanism; in figure 3 it is shown the seat where the octave device is housed and an octave device without the corresponding key mechanism, whereas in figure 3a it is shown the detail of the octave device taken out from the instrument, all the above according to a first embodiment.

In figures 4 and 4a it is shown a second embodiment with respect to figures 3 and 3a. In figures 5 and 6 two construction sections are shown in an enlarged view of two different embodiments of the octave device and of the chambers of the instrument .

The embodiments of the invention are described by way of example and are not limiting its equivalent embodiments, both with reference to the oboe and to the whole family of double reed woodwind instruments.

In the attached drawings, figure 1 shows an oboe with its three portions 10, 20, 30; the first portion 10 includes an onion 11, fit for receiving a reed 21; the second portion 20 is fit for being engaged over a third portion 30 constituted by a lower body ending in a bell 31; the three portions are jointed together by means known in the prior art and not showed in the figure.

In figure 1 it is also shown a series of pads 15 (there are indicated only some of them for reference) operated by mechanical linkages, said pads 15 integral to corresponding small rods 16, supported by pins (not shown in the figures) blocked on small studs 14, operated by a set of keys - indicated generically and indifferently by number 17 - placed properly to obtain notes distributed over more than an octave between low B flat and B flat 3 ^rd octave. It is not described each of the combinations of the ^' keys which operate the pads in a single way or in combination, in order to obtain the range of tones, because this is known and not necessary for the intelligence of the invention.

The so called octave vents are reproduced in figures 3 and 4 respectively with numbers 2 and 3 and 102 and 103, in particular with number 2 it is indicated the seat of the octave device according to the first embodiment (embodiment A) , with number 102 it is indicated the octave device according to the second embodiment B; with numbers 3 and 103 it is indicated the octave device in position when in use. The octave devices taken out from the instrument are shown in figures 3a and 4a with numbers 1 and 101. The octave holes are longitudinally aligned, near to the onion 11 and the octave devices are constituted by a metallic body 5 and 105 centrally pierced and which is housed in a bush 4 and 104 screwed into a corresponding seat 9 and 109 in the thickness of the body of the instrument.

More specifically, the seats 9 and 109 have both ^' two zones whose sections have different diameters; the first zone 19 and 119, towards the external part of the instrument, has a greater diameter which constitutes properly the well which houses the metallic bush and a second zone 29 and 129 towards the central chamber has a diameter and a height much more smaller than the first one.

In the first zone 19, a corresponding small hollow cylinder 4 and 104 is inserted, unremovably, constituting the metallic bush being the seat in which a metallic body 5 and 105 houses which is longitudinally holed and through which air passes from the chamber towards the external.

In the first embodiment (A) said metallic body 5 has three portions, the first portion 6 constituting the head is made by an annular projection having an hexagonal shape which projects above the second central cylindrical portion 7, from which, in the lower zone, a truncated conical appendix 8 originates (the third portion) , which ends approximately at the beginning of the second zone 29 of the passing hole 9, communicating with the central chamber of the instrument 40.

The lower annular base of the head 6 of the metallic body 5 screwed into the bush 4 is sealed against the upper annular face of said bush; the central portion 7 of the body 5 is non-coincident longitudinally with the opening of the hollow part of the bush 4 and thus leaves an annular hollow part 27 free to form a vent chamber.

The longitudinal piercing of the body 5 constitutes a channel 25 passing from the chamber towards the external, said channel presenting two sections of different diameter, the first 25a which crosses the first portion of the head 6 and part of the second central portion 7, has a smaller diameter than the diameter of the second section 25b, passing through the last part of the central portion 7 and inside the truncated conical appendix 8. At the joint of the second portion with the third portion of the metallic body 5, the truncated conical appendix 8, which originates in correspondence of the annular hollow 27, has a transverse piercing which forms a small vent channel 26 having a small diameter and which makes the longitudinal channel 25 communicate with said annular hollow 27.

The diameter of the terminal portion of the truncated conical appendix - considered at the level of the joining with the base of the bush - is smaller than the central hole 4a of said bush, so that an annular passage remains free and allows a sufficient vent towards the internal annular hollow 27 placed at the base of the bush.

As a consequence of such structure, the appendix of the metallic body is able to intercept the air blown into the chamber and thanks to its specific shape is able to make the particles of spittle flow out into the internal annular hollow 27.

Advantageously and to better understand the invention, the moisture which is formed inside the central chamber due to the atomized spittle, instead of obstructing the central channel 25 of the octave vent, enters the longitudinal internal channel of the truncated conical portion 25b and flows out through the transverse channel 26 of the same into the annular hollow 27 at the base of the bush 4 housed into the well, forming a tank for the moisture, thus overcoming the above mentioned inconveniences and achieving the aim of the invention.

In the second embodiment (B) the metallic bush 104 is split into two connectable bodies, respectively 104a and 104b, of which the body 104a has a first annular internal hollow 144, and a second hollow 144a, of smaller diameter, facing the transverse channel, which determines a connection zone with the central hollow 140.

The second body 104b has at the base an annular hollow 145 and at the opposite end an annular projection 146 which narrows its opening and allows the insertion of a further internal body.

The body 104b has further an annular partition 147, whose central hole has a smaller diameter than the entry opening. In the bush resulting from the combination of the two bodies, a metallic body 105 is inserted which is longitudinally holed and through which the air passes from the chamber towards the external.

Said metallic body 105 has a three-portion shape each portion having different sections and sizes; the first portion 106 (head) is made by an annular projection externally shaped, which projects upwards with respect to the second central cylindrical portion 107 from which a truncated conical appendix 108 (third portion) originates downwards and which ends approximately in coincidence of the middle part of the second zone 129 of the passing hole 109, communicating with the central chamber 140 of the instrument. The annular base of the central portion of the metallic body 105 is screwed into the body 104b of the bush 104; said central portion 107 of the body 105 is non coincident longitudinally with the opening of the hollow of the bush 104 and it leaves the annular hollow 145 free to form a vent chamber inside the two portions 104a and 104b of the bush.

The longitudinal truncated conical piercing of the body 105 forms a channel 125 passing from the chamber 140 towards the external; the third truncated conical portion 108 of the central body 105 has an upper transverse piercing which intercepts the longitudinal channel 125 forming a vent channel 126 of small diameter which makes the longitudinal channel 125 communicate with said annular hollow 145.

The diameter of the end portion of the truncated conical appendix facing the base of the bush - considered at the level of the joining with the base of the bush - is smaller than the central hole 154 of said bush, so that an annular passage is left free to allow a sufficient vent towards the annular internal hollow 145 of the bush itself.

As a consequence of said structure, the appendix of the metallic body 105 is able to intercept the air blown in the chamber 140 according to a first ascending path "A", a second intercepting flow "B" is further deviated into the chamber 145 of the second portion of the bush, a third intercepting flow "C" coming from the central chamber 140 is deviated into the annular chamber 144 of the first body of the bush 144a. The two annular chambers 144 and 145 compensate between each other the amount of the collected moisture received by the central chamber 140 through the annular opening 127, determined by the transverse partition 147 within which the truncated conical portion 108 of the body 105 passes .

It has been experimentally demonstrated that, according to a combined game of flows and outflows arising from the central chamber among the ascending central channel, the transverse channel and the two chambers of the bush, it is obtained the management and the elimination of an amount of moisture and atomized spittle suitable also for allowing a long performance of the instrument and thus achieving the aim of the present invention.