Flexatone
{{Infobox instrument | name = Flexatone | names = | image = Flexatone 2005.jpg | image_capt = | background = Percussion | classification = Percussion | hornbostel_sachs = 112.12 | hornbostel_sachs_desc = Frame rattles | inventors = | developed = 1922 |range={{Plain image with caption|Range flexatone.png| E4–G5 / E5–E6 E2–G#4 / D#3–D#5|130px|center|bottom}} | pitch = medium | timbre = bright, metallic | volume = medium | attack = fast | decay = slow | related = musical saw, ondes Martenot, slide whistle, vibraphone, water gong | musicians = | builders = Playatone, Kolberg Percussion Steve Weiss Music | articles = }} The flexatone or fleximetal' is a modern percussion instrument (an indirectly struck idiophone) consisting of a small flexible metal sheet suspended in a wire frame ending in a handle. Used in classic cartoons for its glissando effect, its sound is comparable to the musical saw. History, construction and technique An invention for a flexatone occurs in the British Patent Records of 1922 and 1923. In 1924 the 'Flex-a-tone' was patented in the USA by the Playatone Company of New York. "An instrument called the 'Flex-a-tone' was patented in the U.S.A. in 1924 by the Playertone Company of New York.