Other

Kaman Aerospace Corporation

Currier Piano Company, Inc.

Charles H Kaman

Bobby L Ulich

Robert J Mayerjak

R Norris Keeler

Silvio A Cardero

Robert S Manthy

George Schafer

C William Kaman, Ii

An underwater maneuverable vehicle is presented which carries an explosive charge and can be used for immediate removal or destruction of various menaces to navigation and other underwater hazards. The battery powered vehicle is air dropped from a platform which carries an imaging lidar system for detection and is operated and navigationally controlled in conjunction with an imaging lidar system. In accordance with an important feature of this invention, an optical lidar downlink is used to control the submerged underwater maneuverable vehicle from an airborne platform. The downlink is pulse spaced modulated. Command signals are secure, and are decoded aboard the vehicle. Control in speed, heading and depth, as well as command detonation are available using this technique.

Image lidar transmitter downlink for command guidance of underwater

An airborne imaging lidar (light detection and ranging) sensor is provided which employs multiple pulsed laser transmitters, multiple gated and intensified array camera receivers, an optical scanner for increased field of regard, and a computer for system control, automatic target detection and display generation. The laser transmitters and multiple camera receivers are optically boresighted to the optical scanner (e.g., oscillating flat mirror) for an increased swath width perpendicular to the aircraft heading. The several laser transmitters are coupled for increased power and system sensitivity.

Imaging lidar system

Guitar

A molded plastic guitar top has a sounding board with a circular sound hole located between its upper and lower ends. A plurality of integral circular reinforcing ribs concentrically arranged relative to the sound hole, project from the inner surface of the sounding board. Integral rectilinear ribs which intersect the circular ribs extend generally longitudinally of the guitar top and diverge from the circular ribs and relative to each other in the direction of the lower end of the guitar top. An integral liner projects from the inner surface of the sounding board and extends generally along the outer marginal portion of the sounding board. The guitar top is molded from thermosetting plastic sheet molding compound which comprises 40% glass and 60% resin. The sounding board portion of the top essentially comprises a mat of random glass fibers ranging in length from three inches to two feet. The reinforcing ribs or braces are formed by random chopped glass fibers not greater than one-half inch in length. The guitar top may include an integral bridge which projects from the outer surface of the sounding board and which comprises random chopped glass fibers approximately one inch in length.

Stringed musical instrument top

Guitar bowl

A soundboard assembly for use in a piano, harpsicord or similar stringed musical instrument comprises a thin, laminated soundboard consisting of a center sheet of wood and two outer layers of composite material. The center wooden sheet has a substantially unidirectional grain and the two outer layers of composite material are made of unidirectional carbon fibers embedded in a resin matrix. A plurality of ribs, which may also be made as laminations of wood and layers of composite material, are secured to one face of the soundboard, and the ribs, grain of the wood, and direction of the carbon fibers are so related to one another and to the associated bridge as to produce a desirable reaction from the soundboard in response to string vibrations transmitted to it through the bridge.

Soundboard assembly for pianos or the like

A guitar or similar stringed musical instrument has a neck reinforced by an elongated metal stiffener embedded in the main part or body of the neck which is made of wood, foamed plastic or other suitable material. The stiffener carries a tension rod and holds the rod in a bowed condition so that increasing the tension in the rod, as by tightening a tension nut, will bend the top of the stiffener and the associated top portion of the remainder of the neck rearwardly to compensate for bending due to string loads, and the stiffener material is strategically placed to enhance the stiffener's resistance to string load bending. The joint between the body and the neck is readily releasable for disassembly of the neck from the body, yet it provides a firm, rigid connection between the neck and body which is acoustically sound and prevents movement of the neck in any direction relative to the body. The joint design is also one enabling a close, neat appearing fit or joint line between the neck and body to be achieved with relative ease.

Stringed musical instrument neck and body structure

Guitar soundboard

In a stringed musical instrument body, such as for a guitar, the top plate or soundboard of the body is attached to the sidewall by an elongated mounting member extending along the marginal edge of the soundboard and between such marginal edge and the adjacent upper edge of the sidewall. The mounting member resiliently supports the top plate and influences its natural frequency. The rounded shape of the mounting member avoids the otherwise sharp corner occurring at the front edge of the instrument body, and the mounting member is preferably made of a molded plastic which may include a molded ornamental design on its outer visible surface.

Stringed musical instrument body

The hollow body of a guitar has two discrete zones for openings in the sound board, such openings being located on either side of the longitudinal center line defined by the neck and fret board. These openings are located adjacent the periphery of the upper or smaller bout, that is above the waist. The lower bout is slightly larger than the upper bout and is provided with a bridge located below the waist. The tension forces in the strings are reacted through a central portion of the bout in the region where the single conventional sound opening is normally provided. This construction allows for a thinner sound board than has been possible heretofore, which sound board can also be braced by longitudinally extending ribs located below the strings, and can be more conveniently braced to improve its acoustic response.

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Farmington, CT, United States of America

Charles H Kaman