TubeNet

from reading some recent posts there seems to be a wide range of opinion on the origin of popular tuba models.
My personal experience is mostly 3+1 compensated top action tubas and when I meet or see other tuba players I can not identify their tuba until I see the name on the bell. Obviously from a distance I can see that it is an Eb or Bb 15" or 19" bell.
A little googling seems to suggest that this homonogenous appearence stems from the lapsing of the Blaikley Compensating patent in 1974 after which a lot of makers added/copied that design to their range.

Can anbody posit a suggestion for the front action rotaries that all look the same at first glance.

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that they all (front action rotary tubas) look fairly similar because of the way the valves line up and the way the 1st and 2nd valve tubing is shaped.

Judging by some of the available images here (link below), this design has been used since the turn of the century by a variety of manufacturers.
http://www.tubaexchange.com/historic_co ... ?sort=Year
I'm sure there are other places with historical collections posted to the web, but this is a good starting point.

The more of them you see side-by-side, the more differences you'll be able to spot.

Edit - Clarifying that this is about the front action rotary tubas looking similar

Horn-u-Copia is probably a good source as well. I, too, am curious about the standard 3+1 setup; the design seems well thought out, and the ergonomics usually work pretty well over the 4-inline setup for euphonia. And, not to thread-jack, but why are we of the euphonium world relegated exclusively to pistons, and the aforementioned 3+1 compensating setup? It seems like it would be really handy to use a Hagman valve rather than a 4th piston valve, especially on horns with a stuffier compensating range.

NCSUSousa wrote:Judging by some of the available images here (link below), this design has been used since the turn of the century by a variety of manufacturers.

The Blaikley automatic compensating system, in both current 3-valve and 4-valve versions, was patented and used only by Boosey & Co. from 1874 until the patent ran out. Boosey, of course, merged with Hawkes & Sons in @ 1932, and later merged with Besson, and by that time, yes, others were using the compensating system.

iiipopes wrote:

NCSUSousa wrote:Judging by some of the available images here (link below), this design has been used since the turn of the century by a variety of manufacturers.

The Blaikley automatic compensating system, in both current 3-valve and 4-valve versions, was patented and used only by Boosey & Co. from 1874 until the patent ran out. Boosey, of course, merged with Hawkes & Sons in @ 1932, and later merged with Besson, and by that time, yes, others were using the compensating system.

Excellent that ties in to what google had lead me to believe.
Is there a similar point in time for when rotary tubas all started to look the same?

iiipopes wrote:

NCSUSousa wrote:Judging by some of the available images here (link below), this design has been used since the turn of the century by a variety of manufacturers.

The Blaikley automatic compensating system, in both current 3-valve and 4-valve versions, was patented and used only by Boosey & Co. from 1874 until the patent ran out. Boosey, of course, merged with Hawkes & Sons in @ 1932, and later merged with Besson, and by that time, yes, others were using the compensating system.

I was replying about the question on rotary tubas looking the same. I figured he's got the Blaikley system credited to Boosey until the Patent expired in 1974 (or copied in countries that didn't honor the British patent).

One I'm curious about - Why are Top action rotaries only found in turn of the century horns, but not anything recent?

NCSUSousa wrote:One I'm curious about - Why are Top action rotaries only found in turn of the century horns, but not anything recent?

I thought those were very rare to begin with, so I'm guessing it just never really caught on. Come to think of it, there are a lot of things from the early 1900s that don't exist anymore, and that's usually a good thing.

A little off topic and some of his dates appear to wrong but found this while looking for tuba patents
http://musiced.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/ ... t/tubahist" target="_blank" target="_blank

Never knew the Ophicleide was invented in Dublin

Bummer further idling lead me to other sites and what Dublin bugle maker Joesph Halliday made was a keyed bugle called a Kent Horn in honour of his patron/commander the Duke of Kent.
It gained popularity following the celebrations of the end of the Napoleonic wars.

Bump for week end warriors
Anybody have any theories or knowledge they would like to share

What Blaikley meant for the 3+1 compers, Cerveny meant for the rotorphones.