{"id":31405,"date":"2012-07-27T09:47:42","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T16:47:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=31405"},"modified":"2024-06-01T15:58:33","modified_gmt":"2024-06-01T22:58:33","slug":"bis-bb-patent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2012\/bis-bb-patent\/","title":{"rendered":"A Little Bit Of Saxophone Trivia For You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you know when the bis Bb key was invented? Do you know who invented it?<\/p>\n

\"Selmer,<\/a><\/p>\n

     Selmer Mark VI Soprano, Serial # 266XXX<\/h6>\n

If you said the bis key was invented circa 1930s, you would be correct. If you said that Selmer, Keilwerth, or some other European, saxophone house employee invented it, you would be incorrect. (I just faked out with the Selmer photo. Sorry ’bout that.) \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

The inventor of the bis Bb key was a man from Arlington, Massachusetts, by the name of Edward V. Powell. Now if that name sounds familiar to you, it might be because of Powell flutes\u2014and yes there is a connection. Edward V. was the son of Verne Q. Powell, the founder of Powell Flutes.<\/p>\n

On August 21, 1929, Edward V. Powell applied for a patent<\/a> for what he described, as “a novel B and B flat mechanism for saxophones.” He goes on to say:<\/p>\n

There are five ways of getting B flat on a saxophone, all of them requiring the use of two fingers engaging two keys or one finger engaging two keys. That with which this invention is concerned is the one which is accomplished by the forefinger of the left hand operating the C and B stoppers.<\/p>\n

Source: Google Patents<\/a><\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A couple of the diagrams the he provided in his patent application, look very familiar to us now…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

     Source: Google Patents<\/a><\/h6>\n

Notice that Powell didn’t include a front F key in his drawings. I’ll have to do some more research and find out exactly who patented that key, and in what year.<\/p>\n

As far as the bis Bb key that is shown in the above patent, it was incorporated into the Buffet-Powell saxophones that were built from approximately 1930-1939. <\/p>\n

\n
…this is just my blog<\/em>. <\/span> My \u201creal\u201d <\/b> website is<\/span> www.bassic-sax.info.<\/a> If you\u2019re looking for <\/span> sax info<\/strong>,<\/span> you should check it out too.<\/span>There\u2019s lots<\/em> there! <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you know when the bis Bb key was invented? Do you know who invented it?      Selmer Mark VI Soprano, Serial # 266XXX If …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[383],"tags":[150,149,683,644,455,29,631,643,31,136],"class_list":["post-31405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-patents","tag-american-saxophones","tag-french-saxophones","tag-patents","tag-photos","tag-powell","tag-selmer-mark-vi","tag-soprano-saxophone","tag-vintage-horns","tag-vintage-sax","tag-vintage-sax-resources"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t