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A drum having transparent shell and heads whereby the performer thereon can be completely viewed during his performance.
from: United States Patent 3,626,458 by William Zickos
Inventors: Zickos; William (Overland Park, KS)
Family ID: 22196260
Appl. No.: 05/860,990
Filed: November 2, 1970
Claims
I claim:
- A drum comprising a hollow elongated shell with opposing open ends of transparent and relatively rigid material, having at least one drum head of resilient and transparent material mounted on one of the said open ends and securing means for adjustably tensioning said head to said shell.
- A drum according to claim 1 wherein two said drum heads are mounted on said ends of said shell.
Description
This invention relates to drums, and particularly to drums of a novel type, whereby the drum shell is constructed of a rigid transparent material and the drum heads covering the shell ends are also constructed of a transparent but vibratable material.
Many diverse types of construction material have been used to form the drum shell and heads. Wood has been the preferred material of construction, usually consisting of wood laminates. Conventional drums made of wood laminates do not yield good sound properties but tend to distort the sound vibrations. Drums made from metal do not have a natural drum sound except for its use in snare drums. Drums made from fiberglas have not proved completely satisfactory because of nonuniform interior surface finishing and difficult methods of fabrication.
I have discovered that my intention provides a drum shell giving improved sounds over those heretofore employed, constructed of materials described above. My preferred material for shell construction is a rigid transparent polymeric material such as Lucite, Plexiglas, and other such polymerics capable of fabrication to a glasslike smooth finish free from surface imperfections. These materials have a density lighter than metal and greater shell wall thickness can be used to construct the shell without increasing the weight of the finished drum.
The shells thus made give purer tonal response compared with wood laminates and metal. They resist splitting, cracking, and warping with changes of temperature and humidity as usually occurs with wood laminate construction. Furthermore, the shells constructed according to my invention will not dent as is possible with the thin-walled conventional metal shells. My shells have superior dimensional stability free from shrinking and deterioration after long periods of use.
The preferred material of construction for my drum heads is polyester sheet (Mylar) being both transparent and vibratable to produce tom-tom, bass, and snare drum sounds.
Prior drum heads have been constructed of vellum, skins, rubber sheets, and the like. There was little similarity between the materials of construction of the shell made of laminated wood or metal and the vellum, skins, and rubber comprising the drum head. I have discovered that the materials I use for shells and heads, described above, work together to improve the drum sound resulting from the like materials, synthetic resin plastics, vibrating at the same tonality through total reflection of sound when the drum heads are struck.
A principal object of my invention is to provide an all-clear concept of drum construction. By this I mean that the shell and heads are transparent, thereby permitting for the first time a total viewing of the drum performer during his performance, such as the movement of his hands, feet, etc. This is true whether he is performing on stage in an orchestra, band, or emsemble, or participating in a marching band.
Another object is to provide for color changes being easily made through certain lighting techniques such as diffusion, edge lighting, etc. A multiplicity of such internal lighting techniques may be employed to allow for this unique coloring effect. Due to the transparency of the heads and shell, the light transmittance permits changing the color of the drums through the media of various colored light sources which can be easily mounted within the drum shell.
