U.S. patent number 3,595,118 [Application Number 04/855,859] was granted by the patent office on 1971-07-27 for guitar pick.
Invention is credited to Ande Dale Paxton.
United States Patent |
3,595,118 |
Paxton |
July 27, 1971 |
GUITAR PICK
Abstract
A pick made of thin, flat, stiff but springy plastic sheet
material which is gripped between thumb and forefinger when picking
or strumming the strings of a guitar. A noncircular aperture is
located adjacent the butt end of the pick and acts as a female
spline to resist rotation of the pick between the thumb and finger
gripping the same. A slit or slot in the clip provides access to
said aperture for admitting a guitar string thereto and thus attach
the pick to the instrument and prevent separation of the pick and
the instrument when the latter is not being used. The invention
also provides means for storing a reserve supply of several picks
right on the guitar in a manner which does not interfere with
playing the latter.
Inventors: |
Paxton; Ande Dale (Yakima,
WA) |
Family
ID: |
25322265 |
Appl.
No.: |
04/855,859 |
Filed: |
September 8, 1969 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
84/322; D17/20;
84/329; 984/123 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G10D
3/173 (20200201) |
Current International
Class: |
G10D
3/00 (20060101); G10D 3/16 (20060101); G10d
003/16 () |
Field of
Search: |
;84/320,322,453 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Wilkinson; Richard B.
Assistant Examiner: Franklin; Lawrence R.
Claims
I claim:
1. A symmetrical guitar pick comprising:
a piece of thin, flat and stiff but springy sheet plastic material,
said pick having at one end of its axis of symmetry,
a pointed portion for picking a guitar string, and at its opposite
end a blunt portion providing a pick gripping area,
an aperture provided on said axis approximately in the middle of
said gripping area said aperture readily permitting the thumb and
forefinger to meet together within said aperture and expand against
the edges of the latter, when gripping said pick in said area, to
prevent said pick slipping from the player's grip, and an axial
passage connecting the middle of said blunt pick end portion with
said aperture,
said aperture being sufficiently large to permit flexing apart of
the edges of said passage to readily admit a guitar string through
said passage and into said aperture,
said passage being normally sufficiently narrow to trap said string
in said aperture when pressure on said pick is relaxed.
2. A guitar pick as recited in claim 1, wherein:
said aperture has a noncircular outline so as to function as a
female spline relative to the skin pressed into said aperture from
a thumb and forefinger between which said pick is gripped to
effectively resist inadvertent rotation of said pick in the plane
of the latter between said thumb and forefinger.
3. A guitar pick as recited in claim 2, wherein said aperture has
the approximate shape of a triangle.
4. A guitar pick as recited in claim 3, wherein:
said access passage is relatively short and connects at its outer
end with a relatively deep V-notch formed in the adjacent edge of
said pick, and wherein
said V-notch falls largely within said gripping area of said blunt
end portion of said pick, thereby contributing substantially to
preventing rotation of the pick between the thumb and forefinger
while said pick is in use.
Description
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is the universal practice in playing a guitar to use a pick made
of thin, flat, stiff but springy plastic sheet material which is
gripped between the thumb and forefinger of the player, this pick
having a pointed portion which is applied to the strings of the
guitar in picking or strumming the same. The pick is gripped so
that this pointed portion extends approximately one-half inch from
between the thumb and forefinger and flexes relative to the portion
gripped between the thumb and forefinger as the pick passes over a
string. One of the difficulties of using such a pick is the
tendency of the latter to rotate in the plane of the pick between
the thumb and forefinger. This is caused by the fact that the
friction between the thumb and forefinger and the pick is
frequently inadequate to prevent such slipping. A number of
expedients have been developed to prevent such rotation of the
pick, one of which is to provide the latter with a cork surface, at
least on one side of the pick, which will provide sufficient
friction between this and the thumb or the forefinger to prevent
rotation of the pick.
It is an important object of the present invention to provide a
guitar pick embodying an improved means for effectively retarding
the tendency of the pick to rotate between the thumb and forefinger
gripping the same.
Although a pick is as essential as the guitar itself when it comes
to playing the latter, it is a small and easily lost item and a
guitar player frequently finds the pick has been lost when he gets
ready to play his guitar.
It is another important object of the present invention to provide
a novel guitar pick embodying means for attaching the pick to the
guitar so that the pick will not become separated from the guitar
when the latter is not in use and thereby assure that a pick will
always be available when one takes up the guitar for playing the
same.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel
guitar pick embodying means for securing the pick to the guitar of
such a nature as to facilitate several picks being readily secured
to the guitar in a position on the latter in which said picks will
constitute a reserve supply of the same ready for use but, until
used, remaining in storage while incorporated with the guitar
itself in a position thereon in which said supply of picks does not
interfere in any way with the playing of the guitar.
A yet further object of the invention is to provide those
improvements in a guitar pick having the objects aforesaid all of
which are embodied in the pick itself comprising solely an entity
die cut from a strip of thin, flat, stiff but springy plastic sheet
material.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic fragmentary perspective view of the head
portion of an electronic guitar illustrating the manner in which
several guitar picks of the present invention may be stored on said
guitar to furnish an always available reserve supply of picks,
without interfering in any way with the playing of said guitar.
FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic perspective view in full scale of a
preferred embodiment of the invention applied to two strings of a
guitar, one of which strings is an outside string.
FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing a modified form of the
invention with the latter applied to a single outside string of a
guitar so as to cause said string to capture said pick and retain
the same assembled with the guitar when the latter is not in
use.
FIG. 4 is a full scale plan view of the pick shown in FIGS. 1 and
2.
FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view of the pick shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and
4 and illustrates how said pick is gripped in different areas
between the thumb and forefinger of the player for rendering the
pick more flexible or less flexible and how, when the pick is
gripped in each of two substantially different areas, a means is
embodied in the pick for resisting rotation of the latter between
the thumb and forefinger.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
A preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings as
comprising a guitar pick 10 which is preferably die cut from a
sheet of thin, stiff but springy plastic material, approximately
0.032 inches in thickness, and has a shape as clearly shown in the
enlarged view of FIG. 5. The pick 10 may vary in size but is
preferably about 1 3/16 inch in length and 7/8-inch wide. The pick
includes a butt end portion 11 and a pointed end portion 12, the
butt end portion being gripped between a thumb and forefinger for
applying the pointed end portion to a guitar string. It is a common
practice in playing a guitar to apply the thumb and forefinger to
an area of the butt end portion of the pick which is relatively
close to the pointed end portion of the pick for picking the
strings with a maximum force and to apply the thumb and forefinger
to an area relatively distant from the pointed end portion in order
to pick the strings relatively lightly. In FIG. 5 the areas to
which the thumb and forefinger are applied in these two positions
are indicated respectively by dotted line 13 and dash line 14.
The butt end portion 11 of the pick 10 of the present invention
preferably has an arcuate end edge 15 with a relatively deep
V-shaped notch 16 formed in the center thereof. The butt end
portion of the pick -0 is also provided with a centrally located
aperture 17 which is connected to the apex of the notch 16 by a
narrow slot 18. The aperture 17 is approximately triangular in
outline with straight converging side edges 19 and 20 and with its
upper edge on opposite sides of the slot 18 concavely arched to
form recesses 21 which terminate where they join with the lower end
of slot 18 in barbs 22.
While the preferred embodiment of the invention employs a slot 18
to connect the notch 16 with the aperture 17 in which opposite
sides of the slot do not contact each other, although very close
together, it is obvious that the invention is not limited to a slot
being employed in this portion of the invention as a normally
closed slit in the material of the pick 10, and corresponding in
location to the slot 18, will be equally effective for the purposes
of the invention.
The conformation of the pick 10 of the invention, as above
described, divides the material of the butt end portion 11 of the
pick on the longitudinal axis of the latter from the extremity of
the butt end of the pick to the bottom end of the aperture 17. The
barbs 22 are thus provided on opposed jaws 23 located on opposite
sides of the slot 18 which jaws normally lie in the plane of the
pick 10 but which are adapted to be flexed in opposite directions
from said plane by applying the pick 10 to a wire so that this wire
enters the V-notch 16 and presses against the jaws 23 so that a
slight twisting of the pick 10 will cause these jaws to be
deflected out of the plane of the pick and thereby admit said wire
through the slot 18 and into the pick aperture 17. This having been
done, the twisting pressure on the pick may be relaxed causing the
jaws 23 to return to their normal position in the flat plane of the
pick 10 thereby trapping the wire in the aperture 17 and preventing
the separation of the pick 10 from said wire until the pick is
again flexed relative to the wire so as to bring pressure of the
latter to bear in opposite directions on the side edges 19 and 20
of the aperture 17 thereby springing the jaws 23 apart and widening
the slot 18 so that the barbs 22 will pass on opposite sides of the
wire trapped in the aperture 17 as the pick 10 is withdrawn from
said wire. The wire is thus freed from being trapped in the
aperture 17 of the pick 10 and the pick 10 is readily removed from
said wire.
After the pick 10 has been applied to a single wire as above
described and while said wire is still trapped in aperture 17, the
pick may also be applied to a second guitar wire adjacent to the
first as shown in FIG. 2. Thus the pick 10 will be secured to the
guitar by two of the guitar wires being trapped in aperture 17 of
the pick. The pick 10 of the invention may be applied to almost any
one or two wires in the guitar at any portion of the guitar where
these wires are exposed for manipulating the pick into trapping
relation with such one wire or two wires of the guitar.
The present invention has the additional merit of permitting a
reserve supply of picks 10 to be thus applied to two wires of a
guitar in the head of the latter as shown in FIG. 1 so that this
group 25 of picks 10 is snugly held by said wires against
accidental displacement from the guitar. This is accomplished in an
area outside of the vibrating range of said wires so as not to
interfere in any way with the playing of the guitar. Removal of one
of the picks 10 from group 25 is readily effected by slipping the
outermost pick in the group endwise on the two wires trapping the
same and then rotating the pick thus separated from the group about
said two wires so as to permit a twisting of the pick to deflect
the jaws 23 apart and thus facilitate the removal of said pick from
said two wires.
Referring again to FIG. 5, it is to be noted that when the pick 10
is gripped between the thumb and forefinger with the area of
contact between the thumb and forefinger and the pick substantially
as indicated by dotted line 13, the skin of the thumb and
forefinger is pressed into the aperture 17 and into the area of the
V-notch 16 so that said aperture and notch individually and
collectively form a female spline interlocking with the skin of the
thumb and forefinger so as to effectively resist inadvertent
rotation of the pick in the plane of the latter between the thumb
and forefinger gripping said pick. It also is evident from this
view that when the area within which the pick 10 is gripped between
the thumb and forefinger is shifted to the position indicated by
dash line 14, a substantial portion of the aperture 17 plus all of
V-notch 16 are located within said area so that the resistance of
the pick 10 to rotation between the thumb and forefinger gripping
the same is still effective.
While the aperture 17 of the guitar pick 10 of the present
invention is preferably approximately triangular, the invention is
not to be understood as being limited to said aperture having
precisely this shape. A modified form of pick 30 is illustrated in
FIG. 3 having an aperture 17' which is heart-shaped, the pick 30
otherwise being identical with the pick 10. This view also
illustrates the manner in which the pick of the present invention
may be secured to a guitar merely by trapping a single wire of the
guitar in the wire trapping aperture thereof.
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