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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000037.txt from 2004/01
From: PhilFrei@-----.com
Subj: [DR-L] Researching Plastic Reeds
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 15:58:13 -0500
I just had a very interesting browsing session!
The Legere company (http://www.legere.com) listed its patent number. So I
went to the US Patent office website (just type US Patents in Google), and
discovered that any patent from the last 20 or 30 years is viewable online!
It seems that patents have a "Description" section and "Prior Art" section
which are generally pretty readable. They also list other patents that are
related. In browsing through these patents I discovered people have been very busy
trying to make successful synthetic reeds.
It seems the big problem is that in order to get a man-made material to
vibrate at a high enough frequency (necessary for high notes and overtones), it has
to be so massive that the air pressures we create with our breath are not
strong enough to move it sufficiently. Arundo Donax is unique in its high
strength and low density.
Some of the past patents describe ideas that attempt to layer stronger carbon
fibre with low density filler, even air pocket layers. Others refer to the
use of stainless steel, magnesium, or even titanium reeds. I've never seen any
of these come to market, though.
However, there has recently been advances made with polyethelene. I think the
research has been driven in part by the prosthetics industry, where a
stronger plastic would allow prosthetics of less bulk. According to the background on
one of the patents, polyethelene has carbon-to-carbon links, potentially very
strong. But these connections are not organized or layed out in a way that
realizes this potential strength. Recent research has had some success in
producing what is refered to as UHMWPE, or ultra high molecular weight polyethelene.
There are special extrusion and cooling processes that I can't begin to
understand or describe which somehow line up the carbon to carbon links in a way
that emphazes their strength.
Legere's patent refers to the use of such plastics in the making of reeds. I
don't know if this plastic is commercially available yet or not in a form we
could use ourselves. Legere's web site claims it is not, but perhaps it is just
a matter of time, as the high-strength plastics would certainly have a lot of
commercial uses.
Another entirely different line of investigation would be to try and find
shapes that would work for other materials, not try to focus so much on
duplicating arundo donax. I am a bit skeptical about this. If a "normal" plastic or
metal reed has to be shaped too much differently than existing reeds, it would
probably require an entirely different embouchure and set of muscles to control.
The existing reed shape fits the body quite well right now (assuming one has
a "great" reed).
If I find out anything else, I will pass it on. But I suspect the plastic
shops don't deal with the UHMWPE plastics yet. And theoretically, the existing
tube plastics on market just don't have the tensile strength to vibrate at the
higher frequencies needed for oboe playing--so I don't think I am going to try
that approach. I think it is clear there has been enough entrepreneurially
interest that if such an approach could work, we would already know about it.
Phil Freihofner
Oakland
