Inventions, new ideas...

[kidcoux]

Though a conguero first, I am an attorney in the field of intellectual property (patents, trademarks and copyrights).

The "poor man's patent" technique of mailing yourself stuff works only for copyrights, not patents. If you compose a song, go ahead and mail it to yourself. If you invent a new conga improvement or related device, forget it.

applying for a patent is no joke and expensive, so here's some street smarts:

* make sure it's actually never been done - check http://www.uspto.gov and search the internet for a quick and cheap "knockout" search. do not limit your looksee to just congas because similar inventions for other drums or musical instruments or even in seemingly unrelated machinery may have been claimed in the past.

* expenses start with a lawyer hired to "prosecute" the patent application, a mind blowingly complex administrative maze. for a mechanical application (how congas work), think $5,000. as you know, that could finance a lot of prime barrels for your private collection. and there's no guarantee a patent will be granted.

* getting a patent is nice and all but it needs to make money. in the conga world, this means inventing something that people who make congas will feel they MUST use. you can sell the patent to a company for a lump $um and walk away or you can license fees to multiple manufacturers and hold the patent until it expires (20 yrs after the date you file the app). most patents do not make it this far and the conga biz is not as lucrative as the cell phone biz so even great ideas that can't translate into $$$ won't be worth it.

* if you invent a winner and get it patented and conga makers want to use it, you face a new, nightmare expense. suppose you discover a manufacturer incorporating your invention into a new line of barrels and you write them nice letters saying to recognize it. Their lawyers might advise to ignore you! the system does not penalize them for ignoring you. they make you sue them because if you sue and win they probably won't pay a dime more for misbehaving. in other words, their is no incentive for them to recognize you and your patent! patent litigation is the most expensive of all and legions of goodhearted inventors have been broken by the fight. a legal system that leans this hard on the little guy is a broken system: that's why i quit my job to teach yoga.

the foam invention is so ingenious and simple you could probably start manufacturing and selling the first run for low money and sell out just to us denizens of this congaplace digital tribe! i'm in for a few!

good luck and i'll meet you on the One, son!
kidcoux

[BMac]

I prefer "www.google.com/patents" when searching for U.S. patents and patent applications. It's Google for patents. The searching function works familiarly if you are familiar with Google.

Just type in some key words like "conga tuning" and hit the "Search Patents" button. You'll see search results (patents found in the search) in a list style format. Now look along the upper right side of the page and click on "Cover view" to see the search results as thumbnail views of the front covers of the patents (drawings of the inventions). Click on one of the thumbnails to see details about your selection.

I think the searching at www.uspto.gov isn't as convenient as Google. Of course, the PTO's website has some clear advantages like online file histories and arguably better delineated search functions, but Google is just darn easy to use and you don't need to download any special software to see the pretty pictures.

Cheers,
BMac

[goingquinto]

I have some Patato fibergloass LP's, and this thread got me to thinking, what else could I use that I already have here at home? I came up with some pipe insulation. The stuff I have is for 3/4 inch pipe. I just cut a piece that fits across the inside of the drum, and stuck each end over a conga nut so it stays in place. It kills a lot of the ringing. I might try a couple of different sizes. I was worried about the foam touching the sides, but it doesen't seem to make any difference to my ear, on my drums.

[emveeone]

I found this vid on youtube.. with a similar idea. your item is more professional looking but i guess this is the poor mans solution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYQujazV ... re=related

[Joseph]

I’ve got a set of fiberglass Patatos as my beater drums.
I've never been able to tune the ringy-ness out of them to my satisfaction, so....

I made a overtone dampening device based on the Evans GMAD drum head overtone damping ring, which is inserted under the playing surface of a drum head. The GMAD is meant to be inserted under floor bass drum. It is essentially a ring with a rubber contact surface around perimeter of drum head to dampen continued resonance of drum head…and resulting overtones.

This was a spur of the moment experiment, using a foam cushion I found on the side of the road. I simply cut the foam in the shape of a donut and made a 1/2” contact surface to lightly touch drum head from underneath.

Foam donut is cut to fit snugly into top of drum shell, so that it will not fall out under pressure of hand beating from above.
As donut is easy to place & remove, it was quite simple to compare sound of skin with or without damper.

There was to me a noticeable difference with donut install: a much drier sound, with some, but considerably less sustain. You would need a decibel meter to know for sure, but I could detect no loss of volume of tones.
I have a korg digital tuning device. A common complaint with those who try to tune to a specific note, is that the meter picks up overtones, and the meter reads all over the place.
With donut installed, digital tuner measured drum skin locked on one note, evidence of overtone attenuation.

As the top of the shell flares out immediately to form the belly of the shell, I cut the outside diameter of the foam donut on a bevel to contour snugly to shell shape. Cut it too loose and it could just fall down and out. Cut it too snug, and the ring will herniate, bulging inward & downward reducing contact on drum skin.

I have a bandsaw, which made it very easy to make a clean bevel cut around circumference. You could (almost) as easily cut shape with razor knife.The inside cut I just hacked out with the razor knife.

Donut tapers to a top surface of width of about ½”, which is the contact surface under drum skin. A guess on my part, ½” being the minmum manageable foam surface to deal with when hacking out shape with razor.

Donut shape puts contact area of dampener around edge of skin, near bearing edge.
All in all it took me about 30 minutes to hack it out, finagle the shape a bit, and install.

Considering cost & effort involved, I’m very pleased with results.

[congalou]

Hello !!

Goingquinto, Emveone : You know, I have try a lot of kind of foams and other materials to find the more efficient. I have try cloth and this kind of pipe foam. I think that the better is definitely acoustic foam, very smooth.

Joseph : Your donut seems good !!! But I think that touch the skin kill lot of soud, sustain, deep. It will better if it don't touch the skin.

Cheers,

Congalou.

I have an article on Batteur magazine, the French "modern drummer" with that system, nice !!!

[congalou]

Here is how it works :

SOOOOooooo simple and efficient !!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9RRShJkfHk

Congalou.

[Anonimo]

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

[congalou]

Hello leedy !

With this system, I can control shell overtones. And it don't kill the sound because it don't touch the skin and the foam is not glue with the shell. Of course I know rubber on inside plate to reduce ring (fiber glass AND wood shell too !) You know, before patent this, I have try a looooot of systems....... But, with rubber on side plates, for exemple, you can't choose easily the level of attenuation and you can't put in and leave easily.

The sound of my video is maybe not clear enough... I maybe have to record that on a good studio. But it's a cost !!

Galou.

[bongosnotbombs]

Here is how it works :

SOOOOooooo simple and efficient !!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9RRShJkfHk

Congalou.

PINK MAMA TUMBA!!!

[windhorse]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9RRShJkfHk
Congalou.

Nice, you can tell it works quite well, even without "great" sound recording.
I'd like to hear Joseph's version too.. Interesting stuff you guys are coming up with...
Dusty, how do your Potatos sound now?

[goingquinto]

They sound better, but still a fibergalss drum. The ringing sound is only noticable when I'm playing alone or with quieter drums. I am still trying different stuff. They are definitely loud, really loud. I wish I could hear those new bata you have, maybe I can make it out there sometime.

[goingquinto]

I forgot to thank congalou for giving me the idea of putting something in the center of the drum. It's a great idea and really works well. So, thank you congalou.

[Anonimo]

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

[goingquinto]

I have to disagree at least a bit. Fiberglass rings. It just does. No matter how you hit it. I have Patato's and a 13" mahogany gon bops. I can definitely say without a doubt that the fiberglass has a huge ring compared to the mahogany gon bops. I hit the fiberglass drum the same way as the mahogany, but it gives ring. No ring at all on gon bops. I think it can't be all in the technique.

Having said that, ... I do think everyone needs to try to keep their slaps flatter, and not cup so much. But there are other threads on this subject.