Multitone wooden drum

Claim 2

A multitone wooden drum comprising: a resonant cavity having a bottom wall and joined upright side walls forming a top opening; a drum head fixed to the side walls substantially enclosing the top opening; said drum head having a plurality of elongated solid wooden bars of varying lengths; and support means for independently supporting one end of each wooden bar adjacent the side walls with a free end extending unsupported into the top opening over the bottom wall so that the tone pitch produced by each wooden bar when struck is determined by the distance from the support means to the free end.

Claim 3

The multitone drum as defined in claim 1 wherein the support means includes a fret transversely to each bar adjacent said one end and means for pressuring the one end firmly against the fret to limit the vibrational characteristics of the bar from the fret to the free end to create a distinctive tone when the bar is sTruck.

Claim 4

The multitone drum as defined in claim 1 wherein the support means has adjustment means for enabling the distance from the fret to the free end to be readily adjusted.

Claim 5

The multitone drum as defined in claim 1 wherein the support means includes a three-point support arrangement engaging one end of each bar in which the support means has two longitudinally spaced support means engaging one side of each bar adjacent said one end and a third support means engaging the other side of each bar longitudinally spaced intermediate the two support members and a tightening means for tightening one of the support means against the bar to force the bar firmly against the support members to limit the vibration of the bar to that portion of the bar from the free end to the support member closest to the free end.

Claim 6

The multitone drum as defined in claim 1 wherein the support means supports the one end of the bars along opposite side walls with the free end of each bar extending into the cavity opening opposing the free end of another bar to define a complementary pair of bars.

Claim 7

The multitone drum as defined in claim 5 wherein the drum head has a wooden strip extending between opposite side walls separating adjacent pairs of bars to decrease the vibrational transmission between adjacent pairs.

Claim 8

The multitone drum as defined in claim 1 wherein the wooden bars are positioned in substantially the same plane to provide a rather flush top surface on the drum head.