At their largest valves, saxophones of this type have guards which protect the valves against impacts and which carry stops against which the valves, pressed open by springs, strike in their open position. This makes a disturbing sound. In order to reduce this disturbing sound the wind instrument according to the invention has the feature of claim 1.

The wind instrument preferably has the feature of claim 6. The more visible the large valves which form essential elements of the wind instrument, the more attractive the instrument becomes.

Mentioned and other features of the invention will become apparent from the description following hereinbe- low, wherein: Figure 1 shows a side view of a wind instrument according to the invention; Figure 2 shows on larger scale a schematic view of detail II of figure 1; Figure 3 shows a schematic cross-section along the line III-III of figure 2; Figure 4 shows the schematic perspective fraction IV of figure 1; Figure 5 shows a cross-section along the line V-V of figure 2; and Figure 6 shows a preferred embodiment of a cross- section along the line V-V of figure 2.

The invention can be applied to existing wind in- struments, for instance in all saxophones available commercially at the present time. The per se known con- struction and design of this instrument is deemed inter- polated herein. Only some of the guards and stops thereof are described, modified according to the invention as hereinbelow.

Wind instrument 1 comprises a hollow, elongate body consisting of a tube 2, a bend 3 and a bell 4 with a plurality of holes 6 which are arranged at different distances from a mouthpiece 5, are practically always formed as a round chimney and which can each be closed with a valve 13, while the wide open end 60 of bell 3 has no valve.

According to figures 2-4, a control element 14 of a valve 13 for diverse low holes 6 (also in the known wind instrument 1) consists in each case of a pivot shaft 9 mounted in bridges 8, a control lever 10 fixed rigidly to the shaft and having a finger key 11 and a valve arm 12 carrying a valve 13. Practically every low valve 13 is provided with a spring 44 urging it to the open position.

Above the valves 13 B flat, 13B, 13c and 13 E flat the known wind instrument has guards which cover the valves for a considerable part. These guards bear stops which determine the open position of these valves.

Figure 5 shows a round chimney 22 and its hole 6 with associated valve 13 consisting of a cover 23 which is fixed to valve arm 12 and in which a felt cushion 24 with a leather envelope 25 is fixed by means of a glue or other adhesive.

According to figure 4 the control element 14 B flat of valve 13 B flat is occasionally operated, as is usual, by control element 14B of valve 13B, for which purpose these are mutually coupled with interposing of a soft stop 45. In addition, control element 14 B flat has its own finger key.

According to the invention the control element 14 has a stop 15 which - as seen in the plane (of figure 2) of the associated valve 13 - is arranged outside the surface of this valve 13 which is hatched in figure 2.

The stop 15 preferably consists of a screw 16 with an adjusting knob 17 which is easy to adjust manually and which co-acts with a control lever 10, preferably via a cushion 18, for instance of cork.

A foot 19 of screw 16, formed for instance from two nuts, is preferably arranged adjustably on screw 16 to form an easily reproducible adjustable stop 15. The knob

17 can be used to close valve 13 after playing. Screw 16 is screwed into an angled stop support 21 which is fixed to the bell 4. The above described stop 15 according to the invention is preferably applied to all low open valves, namely the E flat valve 13, the B valve and the B flat valve. These low valves 13 are provided, as is the C sharp valve, with arcuate guards 20 which extend slightly higher from the bell 4 than the height of the associated valves 13. Arcuate guards 20 thus also extend slightly higher from the bend 3 than the associated valves 13.

In order to reduce the noise still further and to reduce the required operating force of the finger, par- ticularly of the little finger, valve 13 is preferably constructed according to the invention as in figure 6. A round metal valve support 28 is fixed to valve arm 12 centrally relative to hole 6. A mounting element 29 is glued to valve support 28, optionally with interposing of a selected filler plate 30. Valve 13 consists of a stiff, thin metal plate 31 having adhered thereon on the side facing toward the hole 6 a sealing layer 32 of foam material such as a thin layer of cellular rubber with a thickness in the order of magnitude of 0.5 to 2 mm. The edge 33 of chimney 22 is well-leveled so that the surface of the sealing material can make good sealing contact.

The thin layer of cellular rubber preferably consists of cellular rubber with small closed cells. The average cell diameter is smaller than 0.5 mm, for instance smaller than 0.3 mm and preferably smaller than 0.2 mm. This sealing material is optionally coated on the outside with a sealing film to prevent infiltration of moisture.

The plate 31 is preferably a levelled metal plate, so that it extends accurately at a constant distance from the edge 33 and the sealing surface is thus supported accurately in one plane. Depending on the type of metal and the diameter of hole 6 the plate 31 has a stiffness such that the deflection of the plate resulting from loud playing force (roughly 2 N) is preferably smaller than 0.3 mm, more preferably smaller than 0.2 mm, for instance in the order of magnitude of 0.1 mm. In the case of stainless steel (SS 430), the plate thicknesses are 0.1

to 1 mm, preferably 0.15 to 0.8 mm, most preferably in the order of magnitude of 0.3 to 0.5 mm.

The plate 31 is adhered centrally to the valve arm 12 with interposing of yielding means 35, which in figure 6 consist of a solid rubber core 34 (hardness 400-800 Shore) with a diameter of 2-7 mm and a height of 1-5 mm.

The plate 16 is preferably completely flat, but can be spherical, permanently or slightly under the influence of the closing force.

All given dimensions and values serve as example and as indication of the order of magnitude. The springs which tension the control means are adapted to the neces- sary impressions for closing the valves, i.e. tension considerably less than usual. The instrument according to the invention hereby plays very lightly. It is less tiring and it is possible to play faster and better. The tension of the springs of - in rest position - closed valves is preferably limp such that as a result of hard blowing they are only just not blown open by the then occurring air pressure; the tension of the springs of - in rest position - opened valves is preferably limp such that these valves move up and downward with just enough speed to adequately follow the fingers during fast play- ing. The spring tensions are herein chosen slightly higher for safety reasons.

The valve 13 comprises a mounting disc 28 fixed to valve arm 12 and having a small diameter which amounts to a maximum of half the diameter of hole 6 and is most preferably smaller than one third of this diameter. The mass of the valve is hereby reduced, so that this valve is lighter to play.

The inner edge of a flexible, substantially non- stretchable, thin membrane 46 is affixed round the rubber core 34 to a mounting element 29, while the outer edge thereof is affixed to the outer edge of the plate 31 of sealing layer 32 with a glue bead 88.

The following dimensions and material specifications are given by way of example.

The mounting element 29 consists of a metal plate with a diameter of 14 mm and a thickness of 0.5 mm. Prior

to its assembly, the mounting element 13 has on its top side a self-adhesive layer covered by pull-off paper. The filler plate 30 is of aluminium and then has on one side a self-adhesive layer covered with pull-off paper.

The membrane 46 consists for instance of rubber used for packaging jewellery (foam rubber) which is non-stret- chable, or hardly so. The thickness is 1 mm and the glue bead 88 has a width of 2-3 mm.