1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the reed used in a wind musical instrument and, more particularly, to the shaping of the reed either prior to initial use of the reed or after some deterioration at the end of the reed has occurred as a result of use.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known in the related art to provide a cutting instrument that includes a base or die member and a punching member for shaping the end of a (cane) reed. The reed is placed between the surface of the base (die) member and the punching member and force is applied to bring the punching member into the plane of the base member, thereby trimming or cutting the portion of the reed disposed between the two members of the cutting instrument. A device for accomplishing this reed cutting or trimming operation can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,723,674 by Beard. A similar cutting instrument is found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,635,004 by Majeski. However, this latter patent is embellished by having an additional structure attached to the punching member that has the function of both applying pressure to the cutting operation as well as the function of defining the position of the reed in the cutting instrument. Yet another similar apparatus is found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,574,420 by Finder, wherein a lever is coupled to the base member of the cutting instrument to provide additional force for trimming the end of the reed. Because the reed used with each type of wind musical instruments can have a different size, a cutting instrument with a plurality of punching members is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,467,806 by Naujoks et al. and in U.S. Pat. No. 2,110,052 by Miller. In each patent, the particular punching member determines the size of the reed that can be shaped thereby, each size of reed used by an associated wind musical instrument. Another variation of a reed trimming device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,669,778 by Cordier. In this patent, the cutting instrument has a general structure similar to other cutting instruments of the related art except that the cutting instrument can be coupled by means of screws to a frame structure. Also coupled to the frame structure is a level mechanism and has the additional feature of an adjustable mechanism at one end of the frame structure to engage the reed and to position the reed in a controllable manner.
In the foregoing patents, a plurality of reed sizes can be accommodated only by having individual reed trimming structures for the reeds associated with different types of reed instruments. Those references that described cutting instruments that can accommodate a plurality of reed sizes, such as the patent by Naujoks and the patent by Miller, are generally more bulky than the normal reed cutting device. In addition, if one of the cutting edges is compromised, then the entire reed cutting device must be replaced. The reference by Cordier can permit a plurality of sizes. However, the reed trimmer is heavy and additional time and effort must be expanded to first unscrew and remove one cutting member from the frame structure and then attach a second cutting member into the frame structure.
A need has therefore been felt for a reed trimming device that can accommodate a plurality of cutting instruments without unnecessary bulk and without unnecessary delay in changing from one cutting instrument to a different cutting instrument.