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This invention relates to percussion rhythm instruments and noisemakers,
particularly of the type held in one hand. More specifically, the present
invention relates to an easily operated rattling clapper device employing
a plurality of thin, flat blades preferably formed of plastic sheet
material, which are easily rustled and rattled in reciprocating clapping
motion to produce a wide variety of sounds.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In addition to conventional snare drums, tom-toms, bass drums and tympani,
percussion instruments include a conventional group of noisemakers, many
of which are derived from folk instruments of many cultures around the
world. In addition to cymbals from the Far East, there are castanets and
tambourines from Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, there are maracas
from Latin America, and there are several varieties of hollow wood blocks
to produce "clopping" noises.
Hissing, buzzing and zipping noises customarily require the expense of a
snare drum and wire brushes, or at least a back-country American
corrugated washboard. Inexpensive and easily operated, multiple-clapping
noisemakers have not been available prior to the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with this invention, a relatively inexpensive assembly of
juxtaposed flat, thin blades of flexible material are provided, with
handle portions which may be secured together by one or more fasteners,
and clapper portions extending from the user's hand. Flapping motion of
the device imparts flexible reciprocatory separation and multiple impacts
of these blades on each other.
Preferably these blades are all substantially the same elongated shape. A
central "drum" blade may be stiffer, thicker or more rigid than the outer
blades, and the outermost blades may be of intermediate thickness and
transversely scored to form a hinge line at which they swing away from the
central blades and back in pivoting, hinging fashion.
This clapper assembly is actuated by the operator in a wide variety of
different ways. Gentle flapping motion produces a swishing, brushing sound
composed of very mild impacts between the flexible blades. More brisk
flapping motion creates sharper clapping sounds. The assembly may be
impacted on the user's shoulder, his head or the heel of the hand, or upon
an identical assembly, or upon other percussion instruments. By this
means, it can be operated to produce sounds comparable to maracas,
castanets or brushes on a snare drum.
Accordingly, a principal object of the present invention is to provide an
inexpensive hand-held noisemaker providing a variety of different noises
and sounds.
Another object of the invention is to provide a multiple blade clapper
noisemaker useful as a percussion rhythm instrument to produce sounds
distinguishable from those made by conventional percussion instruments.
A further object of the invention is to provide an attractive assembly of
elongated clapper blades secured together at one end, which may be fanned
out angularly to provide a decorative fan assembly.
Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part
appear hereinafter.
The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction,
combinations of elements, and arrangements of parts which will be
exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of
the invention will be indicated in the claims.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention,
reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in
connection with the accompanying drawing in which:
FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of a clapper assembly forming a preferred
embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the clapper assembly of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a corresponding side elevation view of the same clapper assembly
showing its blades displaced through the user's vigorous flapping motion
of the device;
FIG. 4 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional elevation view,
taken along the plane 4 shown in FIG. 1, illustrating the relative
thickness of the different blades in the clapper assembly and the indented
score line formed in each of the outermost blades;
FIG. 5 is a similar enlarged cross-sectional elevation view of the same
portion of the clapper assembly shown in FIG. 4, with its blades shown
separated in dynamic clapping operation, showing a different operating
mode from that illustrated in FIG. 3; and
FIG. 6 is a front elevation view of the same clapper assembly, with its
blades pivotally offset to form an angularly spread fan.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
In the preferred form of the clapper assembly of this invention illustrated
in the drawings, the assembly 10 comprises a group of five juxtaposed
clapper blades. These include a relatively thick and rigid central drum
blade 11 flanked by a pair of thin, flexible clapper blades 12, which are
each sandwiched between the drum blade 11 and an outer cover blade 13 of
intermediate thickness, somewhat thicker than the flexible clapper blades
12, but thinner than the stiff drum blade 11. A plurality of two or more
thin, flexible clapper blades 12 may be employed on each side of the
device in this inter-sandwiched position, between the relatively rigid
drum blade 11 and each outer flexible cover blade 13. Larger groups of
assembled blades produce swishing or hissing noises, while a limited
number of flexible clapper blades 12, such as the single blades sandwiched
between drum blade 11 and cover blade 13 on each side of the device
illustrated in the drawings, produce a sharper staccato sound.
An eyelet or grommet 14 preferably joins the juxtaposed and stacked lower
ends of the assembled clapper blades which may be identified as the handle
portions 11A, 12A and 13A respectively. The central opening in the eyelet
14 permits these devices to be suspended and displayed on standard
merchandising wire racks, and facilitates their hanging display by the
user as wall decorations.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 6, a score line 16 is impressed into the
outer surface of each cover blade 13, extending transversely across its
width at a central location, and serves to demark the handle portion 13A,
leaving the cover clapper blade portion extending beyond the score line 16
to form the principal sound-producing portion of blade 13. Score line 16
is preferably formed closely below the midpoint of each cover blade 12 for
best results. Score line 16 allows for flat hinging of outer blade 13, as
compared to the flexible bending of the thinner inner blade 12, thereby
producing novel sounds and timing.
As shown in FIG. 6, the assembled juxtaposed blades of the clapper device
10 may be fanned angularly apart to form an assembly comparable to an
air-displacing fan and may be used by the user to fan himself. In
addition, this fanclapper assembly shown in FIG. 6 makes an attractive and
decorative device. The blades may be formed of different colors or of
different shapes and they may be die cut with decorative outer edges
forming birds, animals, or other attractive silhouettes. This
juxtaposition of color and outline shapes fanned out, in the assembly
shown in FIG. 6, makes an attractive decoration which may be displayed
horizontally and may be suspended vertically for viewing.
Several different modes of sound-producing operation of the device are
illustrated in the figures. In the enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional
view of FIG. 4, the assembled clapper blades are all shown in their
closely sandwiched juxtaposed stacked position, in which they are
originally assembled and packed for shipment. In use, the clapper assembly
normally appears at rest as illustrated in FIG. 2, with the outermost
scored cover blades 13 slightly spread away from the inner blades.
When the user's hand 17 grips the device, tightly holding the handle
portions 11A, 12A and 13A of the clapper blades in close juxtaposition
throughout their length, the sound producing portions of these blades
beyond the score line 16 clap briskly as the user's hand 17 imparts
flapping motion to the device, as illustrated in FIG. 3, producing brisk,
sharp staccato clapping reports.
As the user's hand 17 grips the handle portions of the clapper blades more
loosely, these may be moved in a flexible oscillating fashion, held
together only by the grommet 14. In this more loosely relaxed operating
mode, illustrated in FIG. 5, the handle portions of the blades are
separated at their upper ends near their score lines 16 during a large
part of the sound producing operating cycle of each flapping movement. As
a result, the clapping sound produced by the device is less staccato and
slower, and more relaxed clapping rhythms may be achieved in this manner.
When one of the outer cover blades 13 is impacted on the user's opposite
hand or on any other object, the rustling or flapping motion of the
assembly is sharply arrested, and the clapping sound of the device is thus
punctuated by pauses of silence.
The clapper blades of this invention are preferably formed of thin,
light-weight and durable plastic material, such as a "polyallomer" or
mixture of polyethylene and polypropylene, providing long-lived "living
hinge" operation at score lines 16. The following thicknesses have been
found suitable for the three different weights of blades:
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Standard Weight
Heavy Weight
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Drum blades 11
0.100" 0.120"
Clapper blades 12
0.023" 0.035"
Cover blades 13
0.055" 0.075"
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An additional advantage of the clapper assembly of the present invention is
the availability of the outer surfaces of the cover clapping blades 13 to
carry imprinted decorative indicia or advertising messages if desired,
making these assemblies attractive and useful as advertising give-aways
and premiums.
The clapper assemblies of the present invention thus provide a unique and
attractive hand-held device forming a decorative appearance both in their
fanned condition and in their closely stacked unfanned condition shown in
FIG. 1. These assemblies may be employed by the user to achieve a wide
variety of percussion sounds and rhythm noises, from gentle hissing and
buzzing sounds to a noise resembling the vigorous applause of a large
human audience. They may be employed in classical and popular music and in
folk music of all kinds, as party noisemakers, as children's toys and as
attention-getting sounding devices in sports stadiums. Between uses, they
may be fanned and displayed by the user as an attractive decoration.
It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made
apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and,
since certain changes may be made in the above construction without
departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter
contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing
shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover
all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein
described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a
matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.
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