 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: C. Ewen MacMillan
Date: 1999-02-25 23:15
In a seperate thread, Don Berger (hope I have
the name correct!) referred to an H. Bettony
patent number, that being:
1705634
By chance, this hints at a possible origin for
my "markless" silver instrument.
All of the apparently meaningful marks on my
instrument would be:
- The above mentioned patent number (without commas)
- "V360" above the register key.
- "360" slightly under the bell near the bell/body
demark
- The letter "A" near the barrel/body joint
(it is an A clarinet, apparently standard pitch.)
It has a threaded tuning barrel with a thumb-wheel.
It has 2 C# keys and LH/RH G# keys (I mention this
because two other metal instruments I have seen
have only some of these.)
As near as I can tell, without defacing the
instrument, it is silver all the way through or
silver over nickel (if there is such a thing.)
In the places where it has seen a lot of wear
(the tops of the patent numbers are worn off
for instance) there would be brass if it were
silver plated brass. The instrument tarnishes
nicely (a friend once polished it to gleaming
silver finish the day before a performance. I
was a little embarrassed to have such a clean
looking silver instrument.)
Is this then, simply an unlabled H. Bettony, or
was this patent loaned to someone else at some
time?
Oh... having just re-restored after seven years
of storage with a bit more knowledge of how to re-pad
it and clean it - it sounds very nice.
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Author: C. Ewen MacMillan
Date: 1999-02-25 23:45
Duh. Of course I meant two "D#/Eb" keys rather
than 2 C#s. I was looking to see if it had an
interlock and thus got C# on the brain.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 1999-02-26 20:00
Very interesting, likely a true museum piece. I had forgotten where the mention of H B's patent was, so I made a post on the "Onelist Early Clarinet" site since it was being discussed there also. If you can find it, fine, otherwise ask and I'll provide what detail I know. Rereading the above, it is possible your cl may have been made well before the pat's filing date 1/31/27 [issued 3/19/29] and the Silva-Bet name. Don
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