Re: Ball Bearing?

Hi, Sean.  Patent applications must list the inventor properly or the paten=
t is unenforceable during its lifetime (17 years from the issue date at tha=
t time)      If Mr. Loar had invented it he would have been listed as such =
on the application regardless of his whereabouts at the time of filing.  Ge=
orge Altermatt deserves credit for his fine invention or to be posthumously=
 jailed for fraud. =20

 I just bought one of these at a local auction (1926 tb-4) and am trying to=
 decide how it will sound with a new 5 string neck.  I strung it up as a te=
nor and it sounds hollow and weak.  Head is tight (91 on the drum dial).  A=
nyone have any insight?


On Friday, July 6, 2001 at 8:04:34 PM UTC-4, Sean Barry wrote:
> All here can save a lot of confusion and disagreement if they would check=
=20
> out the original patent application, which is available at the=20
> US Patent Office website:
> http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html
> or at the Banjo Patent Archives:
>=20
> http://banjopatents.com=20
> The patent number is 1678456
> The patent application states that the springs and ball bearings function
> to center and support the "resonance ring throughout its length" and leav=
e
> it free to vibrate with the head, instead of being damped by contact with
> the wood rim. Nowhere does it suggest that the springs are intended to
> compensate for head flexibility changes. As Peter and others have stated,
> if the tone ring moved under those circumstances, so would the bridge and
> therefore so would the action. BTW, the ball-bearing ring was a Lloyd
> Loar design, but Loar was long gone from Gibson by the time the patent
> application was filed. It was also the best-made of any tone ring that
> Gibson has ever produced, and note that the design changed a little every
> year that it was used (1924-26). The various rings are not
> interchangeable, and neither is the 1926-specific ball-bearing replacemen=
t
> flathead ring made by First Quality Music Supply.
> Sean Barry