Remote control Page Turner For Music
For every one who thinks that tablets can do this, please read my pitch because tablets cannot do this. Especially not for $50.
It has been a long time since people began wanting a page turner, especially for music - and nothing has ever been available that is affordable, easy to set up, and simple to use.
Enter Cue Page Turners: take seconds to set up, are stable on a music stand or piano, use wireless remote control, are based on sound mechanics that won't break down with normal use, they are fun to use, and they are elegant.
They will be quite inexpensive and everyone should support this.
This project goes back almost fifty years, when I started participating in the public school music program. Not that I thought of a page turner at the time. It was the experience of contending with various instruments, music stands and sheet music all at once, which left a bit of mostly forgotten frustration lurking quietly in my memory.
Just a few decades later a suggestion from a friend that I design a wood music stand, got me thinking about a page turner to go with it.
The basic idea was simple; I wanted to emulate an arm and two fingers. From there it turned into a drawing on the blackboard. Now it just wanted a turning mechanism. I was obsessed by now, so, gathered whatever scraps of metal and plastic I could find around my shop, then ran to my favorite hardware store, spent an hour there and bought a bunch of generic stuff I could make comply with my plans.
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Arriving back to my shop, I spread out my horde on a work table. For a long while, I stared at my horde, then at my blackboard art and back and forth. Eventually the parts desired began to stick out from the crowd. With some alterations, I had what is called a dry assembled prototype. From there, it was easy to determine what was needed to make these parts cooperate in turning a page back and forth, (for repeat sections).
Ordinarily, when I finish with a design it gets built. In this case, that did not happen. The reason is that I could not afford the casts that are necessary for plastic injection. This is how the plastic components are made. There were no 3d printers at the time. I committed the project to a set of mechanical drawings and put it on the proverbial shelf.
Late this last spring, I went to the Amazon website, and got distracted by some comments under the kindle product. The one that caught my eye was from a customer who said that a reasonable mechanical page turner would be preferable to a computer screen. I agreed, especially for music.
Not needing a lot of encouragement, I made patent drawings, wrote a description and filed for a patent. Before filing I carried out a patent and prior art search.
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I need at least one 3d printer. Two is preferable for producing in plasticine and metal. Having the 3d printers and my 3d drawings, I could settle some details and produce a manufacturer prototype. The details include whether to use plastic or metal for the arms. The arms need to stay straight in order for the mechanism to work well. In addition, the fixed ends of the arms are connected together so they can rotate independently. This is something I can do in several ways and need to decide.
While the 3d printers are making parts I would want to finalize the options. This has to do with providing a vacuum drive, (no electricity), and electric drive. There will also be the issue of a foot controller for each type of drive. Rechargeable batteries need to be tested, and a wireless connection applied.
So it doesn't fall over, the turner will have a vacuum bottom. This is similar to the suction bottoms on pencil sharpeners that are engaged with a small lever.
At the end of this project, I expect to have a manufacturers prototype. The differences between that and my 3d modeling visually, would be actual finishes, rounded corners, all parts would be showing and it will be in a real environment. This is still patent pending so there is a limit to the details I can make public. Those details amount to options I still have in the design.
patent pending..
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Some comments regarding the various digital solutions being 'offered' lately.
1. i phones 2. i pods 3. tablets 4. laptops
You probably know the cost of these devices and maybe even the various foot operated controllers available to emulate pages turning. Add to that the cost of software, scores, etc...I think it adds up to at least $200 - $300 to get started.
What do you get for the investment?
A. The type of device that's infamous for its propensity to have its screen shattered
B. A type of device that displays a page of score so small, that if used on a stand or piano would cause eye strain in many people. Myself for one.
C. If you magnify a page you'll see part of it and will have to hand scroll on the screen to see the rest.
D. Reflection and glare.
