Piston valve

Valves are used in brass instruments used to change the tube length to enable a chromatic game. Upon actuation of the valve, the air is passed through an additional loop pipe of a certain length, thereby extending the air column of the instrument ( as a rule).

Very rarely, the reduction valve is to be found as the inverse of the operation described. Here, the air flows in the valve is not actuated by the valve loop so that the column of air is shortened at its actuation. Examples are the French design of the French horn and the B / C trumpet.

• 3.1 Conical valve engine
• 3.2 Special forms

• 4.1 Example calculation
• 4.2 solutions 4.2.1 Fourth valve ( Quartvalve )
• 4.2.2 Compensated valves, compensating system
• 4.2.3 Additional conventional valves
• 4.2.4 Additional valve grinding
• 4.2.5 Intonationszug (trigger)

Configurations

Classically, brass instruments are equipped with three valves ( the% duty cycle is approximately the tube extension in relation to the basic instrument length):

• The first valve lowers the natural tone by two semitones ( 12.5 %),
• The second valve lowers the natural tone by a semitone ( 6%),
• The third valve lowers the natural color by three semitones ( 20%),

Is there another valve is present, it is usually about a quart valve, which causes a Tonerniedrigung five semitones ( 33.5 %).

An effect of the fourth valve is the expansion of the gamut to a fourth downward so that the use of 1 2 3 4 neglecting intonation problems a major seventh downward possible ( for example, B → H). In the bottom of the scale, the " tritone " gap can thus be concluded directly above the Pedaltons.

Second effect of the fourth valve is in the solution of problems associated with the intonation valve combination 1 3 and 1 2 3. All other valves are used to further compensation.

The " stop valve " at the Waldhorn extended by approximately 10 %, which compensates for the Tonerhöhung that (Increase) "plug" of the horn - sound piece caused the entire hand. The actual " padding" effect is not produced by the actuation of the valve!

Construction

In use today are mainly two methods of construction: Pump valves ( also called Périnet valves ) and rotary valves (also called cylinder valves).

The valve tube loops are usually a cylindrical bore (inner diameter ), and - at sufficient length - a separate valve tuning slide for fine- tuning.

Pump valve ( Perinetventil )

The pump valve has a cylindrical valve body, which is operated directly against spring pressure by a finger cap. Two ducts in the valve body to direct the air flow via the valve upon actuation of the tube loop. This design is now most widely used and is especially found in the vast majority of trumpets.

Already the 1813 invented by Heinrich Stolzel valve followed this principle. In contrast to today's popular design here, the air still flowed but one at the bottom.

Another early form of the pump valve was the Berliner valve (also called " Berliner pump " ), developed in 1827 and Wilhelm Stolzel Wieprecht independently of him in 1833. It had lateral inlets for the valve loop on the same level as the inlets of the main pipe.

This modern pump valve goes back to the first time of François Périnet 1838 presented construction. It is characterized in that almost the entire pipe cross-section profile is cylindrical. Due to the design are the inlets of both the main pipe and the valve loop principle at a different level than their outlets. The spring is located either above or below the valve body.

In this construction, the valve travel is basically at least the tube diameter, which can pose technical problems with playing the tuba with holes up to about 20 mm. On the other hand perinet are considered easy to maintain because the valve body easily, quickly and can develop normally without tools from the valve body.

Rotary valve

The rotary valve having a valve body with two passages, however, which rotates upon actuation of the valve through 90 ° about its vertical axis. Valve open loop, and the main pipe at the same height in the housing.

Is generally used to actuate a spring-loaded lever which is connected either by means of mechanical joints or by a cord mechanism with the valve body. Another design is the lockable control valve, with the entire instrument or a particular valve can be switched to a different mood.

The rotary valve was developed in 1818, when Friedrich and Heinrich Blühmel Stolzel were asked to also include these in the design of them applied for a patent. Further developments, notably by Joseph Riedl in Vienna in 1835 and Leopold Uhlmann 1843, eventually led to the modern common form.

The valve body with its bearing pins is traditional for manufacturing reasons made ​​slightly conical (cone ratio approximately 1:40 ), through the use of more precise machines for some years with cylindrical roller bearing. The material used

• For the valve body: traditional brass, bronze is durable, plastic with stainless steel hinge pins.
• For the valve housing (trad. " Bank" ): brass or nickel silver

Rotary valves are particularly during French horn, as well as the German designs of popular wind instruments common as the German concert - trumpet and a fourth valve at the German concert trombone. In addition, you can find them on wind instruments of the continental European folk music, such as the tenor horn and baritone horn. As a result of leverage can be reduced at the expense of higher operating forces of the valve travel, why rotary valves are also widespread among tubes.

Technique differences

Upon depression of a valve of the air current is passed for a short time through the valve extension and the valve connection. The result is a not precisely defined pipe length, so the to-play tone is highly variable in height. The sound thus does not sound clean, but nasally, suppressed, dull and subdued quiet. Beginners it happens sometimes that they accidentally the valve only half or too slow off or due to lack of lubrication depends on the valve, and if and effect is a "squeezing " into being undesirable.

Mostly for trumpets with piston valves sometimes this effect is deliberately used the awkward in traditional classical music, jazz, salsa, pop music or in the so-called New Music Classical may be ( after 1950 ) but strongly encouraged: The Squeezer by half-pressing valve and related phrasing means to slow valves connected (eg the jazz trumpeter Chet Baker). By this way of playing a glissando effect is possible even when the valve instruments. This play is on trumpets with rotary valves harder possible: Due to the design are the rotary valves on an acoustic point where predominantly a antinode ( pressure maximum ) of the vibrating air column is located, creating a cleft lip and oral cavity influence is complicated by the fan. In conventional Perinettrompeten the valves are structurally positioned in the acoustic half of the tube length, where there are often relatively vibration node ( pressure minima ). Furthermore, a difference through the printing path of the valve is given: When trumpets with piston valves, it is about 17 mm, with rotary valves about 8 mm. The position control of the valve position is better for longer print path.

This design differences arose by chance or forcibly in the design of instruments and can not be associated with the actual mechanical valve design instrument structurally. One particular use or preference for one or other valve design is mainly seen in the historical context of the concrete music history and music styles.

Another interpretive, thus especially often in pump valves audible playing technique is the " tremolo ". There are very many special attacks (in English educational reading false fingerings called ), which are basically used for intonation reasons either not or only for real trill in exceptional cases, as so-called auxiliary handles. To special attacks include, for example, the G (0 or 1 3 ), b ( 1 or 1 2 3 ), c ( 0 or 2 3), cis (1 2, 3 or 1 2 3 ) d (1 or 1 3), it (2 or 2 3 ), etc. the alternative or special handles, due to the increasingly close -lying overtones, more numerous, the higher the tones are selected. The tremolo is produced by passing a standard grip is being replaced in the fastest possible way of an alternative or special handle in exchange and as a timbre trill is produced on the same pitch. Also this way of playing is in jazz and its related parties stylistics long been established and is sometimes explicitly required by contemporary classical composers.

Due to the musical stylistic traditions, mechanically simpler mass production and also the " Squeezer " and " tremolo " technique, the piston valve trumpet has established worldwide with pump valves opposite the rotary valve trumpet in jazz.

Conical valve engine

With high-quality instruments with further scale (eg: baritone horn or tuba) quart valve and any other valves with very long pipe loops have sometimes a larger bore than the other valves. The reason for this construction is that the timbre of these instruments is determined by their strongly flared hole. In use, the valves but a more or less long distance therebetween is connected with cylindrical bore. The longer the cylindrical passage, the more the tone and approach changed from the "open" instrument (ie: there is no valve used ), which is usually undesirable.

Special shapes

Other rotary valves:

• Thayer valve. By design, it is only used for the F-attachment trombone.

More pumping valves:

• Double slide valve at the Vienna Horn: Two simultaneously moving valve tubes to switch between straight-line and 90 ° radial air passage. The construction requires a relatively large minimum length of the extension pipe of the valve.

Intonation problems

If two or more valves are used in combination, the intonation of the sounding tone does not match the calculated sum of its intervals, but at too high a tone. This is because the addition of each valve connected to the resonator tube length is only calculated on respectively to reduce the air column of the open instrument by a particular interval, but does not consider the already extended by another column of air valve.

( For the same reason meet the train positions no longer on the trombone with actuated Quartvalve those on the open instrument, but are each progressively further behind - the whole length of the train is now only sufficient for a total of six positions, the last of which with the seventh position coincides with an open instrument. )

Example calculation

In order to lower the tone by a semitone, the tube length has to be extended by about six percent. For an instrument with an open pipe length of 100 cm, the train of the second valve thus has a tube length of six centimeters.

In order to lower the tone by two semitones, again six percent must be added. The entries are six per cent of new base value 106 cm, ie 6.36 cm, so that one comes to a total of necessary pipe length of 112.36 cm. Therefore, the tube length of the first valve train in this example is 12.36 cm.

To reduce the sound to another semitone, six percent is added back - from the basic value 112.36 cm, ie 6.74 cm. Therefore, the required total length of 119.1 cm, the third valve slide must be 19.1 cm long.

Now the problems start: To lower the tone by four semitones, another six percent pipe length are required - the new fundamental value of 119.1 cm. The correct value would be 7.15 cm. The first valve is much longer, but the second is a little shorter than the required value. The combination valve (2 3 ) is used in practice and is the required tube length very close but is actually a little too high.

The same applies to all other valve combinations. The intonation when using several valves at the same time is, in principle, more or less unclean, if no compensation is in any form. Quintessence of this realization: the fewer valves must be used, the better the sound right.

Solutions

There are basically to use as few valves as possible.

With the small differences of the "short" valve combination (1 2 ), the compensation usually after hearing about the approach. The use of clean grip 3 would be desirable, in practice usually not possible, as the combination 1 2 is in the handle tables of instrumental methods and thus in training in the foreground.

For instruments rather short overall length as the trumpet, the difference in combinations with the third or first valve is usually by simply pulling out the valve train of the 3rd valve compensated Intonationszug (trigger).

In classic designs of the tuba as the Emperor of the main tuning bass is specially constructively designed to be pulled out during the game by the player with the left hand to compensate.

For tubes and other instruments with a large pipe length, however, the difference may be twelve inches and more. Therefore, the manufacturers are at high-quality models by structural means other possibilities:

Fourth valve ( Quartvalve )

When the trumpet are the sounds that are affected by the problem, required in the rare low register, a little above the second natural clay.

For instruments that are played more often in this position, is found as a cost-effective measure often a fourth valve that extends the length of pipe to the required amount for a fourth ( for example at Piccolo trumpets, baritone horns, euphoniums and simple tubes, rarely flugelhorns. )

It replaces the combination valve (1 3), so that the frequent demand perfect fourth can be intoned clean under the third natural clay. The rarely required augmented fourth among intones with the combination (2 4) in any case far better than on (1 2 3). You may also like the rare required diminished fourth on (2 3), can be compensated by tuning slide in an emergency.

Compensated valves, compensating system

The English instrument maker DJ Blaikely settled in 1878 patented an automatic compensation system. Here, get the first two valves of a dreiventiligen Instruments additional tube loops on the back; their valve body respectively have three instead of two channels.

In this system is the compensated third valve is actuated in combination with the other valves, the air is passed through the loop, and additionally normal valve through the compensation loops, so that the total tube length corresponds to the necessary amount.

Analog instruments have vierventilige compensation loops of the first three valves that are activated only in combination with the fourth valve.

As a result, such compensated instruments on all combinations with the compensated valve have at least approximately the correct length of pipe. Vierventilige compensated instruments even have the distinct advantage of a correct intonation over the entire octave between the fundamental and the second natural. This form of compensation is therefore particularly suitable for deep instruments such as the tuba and euphonium important.

For structural reasons, this solution is especially suitable for instruments with piston valves.

A disadvantage compensated valves may be that the instruments sound dull on them and respond less. The reasons for this are probably unfavorable pipelines used loops of the compensation system and the turbulence that arise in confined spaces, such as in the valves.

While thereof, in the early period of their development, all instruments were concerned, this is still the only common rotary valve instruments that are manufactured with compensation is now at best for compensated horns.

Additional conventional valves

To early to avoid the spread of sound and Ansprechprobleme compensation systems, some manufacturers have embarked on, instead incorporate additional valves, the pipe lengths are designed exclusively for use in combination with other valves.

This approach has been preserved in the tubes: Many high-quality bass tubes have a fifth valve, which is calculated to be used in place of the first valve in combination with the fourth valve ( " extended major second "). Bass tubas in F possess up to six valves.

Additional valve grinding

Another alternative is to give each valve two pipe loops. Between them can be switched with an additional valve, which also changes the mood to a certain interval. Obtained in this way virtually two instruments of different mood ( "Site") in one. For tones with problematic intonation on the one hand, this may be less problematic alternative handles found on the other side.

This approach is today mainly for French Horns important, since the design is usually rare as F/Bb- or Bb / F double horn, Eduard Kruspe and Bartholomew Geisig first time in Erfurt featured in the 19th century as F/Bb/f- triple horn are executed.

Comparable fully equipped dual tube in contrast, are now extremely rare.

Intonationszug (trigger)

Under a trigger (English for deduction ) refers to a compensation by a device that makes it easy to vary the length of a valve train or the main train Timm. This also intonation handle or bonding said device consists either of a connected to the tuning slide ring or U-shaped "saddle" which is moved with a finger, or a mechanical lever which is pushed by a finger, and generally a return spring possesses.

Triggers are an additional intonation help already often a standard feature trumpets, cornets, horns and wings of high quality tubes and Euphoniums. An inexpensive trumpets the trigger or Umstimmmechanismus for the first valve austerity measures are sometimes the victim. These instruments have instead on a longer pipe loop on the third valve, because the manufacturer assumes that a pitch correction is required only when using the third valve.