MOLDED PLASTIC UKULELE

Abstract

A plastic ukulele has a sound board, a fretboard, a head plate and a lower half of the body integrated into a complete ukulele body. Attached to the bottom surface of the sound board are two paralleled outline reinforcing ribs which are in parallel with the outline of soundboard on the inside. The sound board has a sound hole in the upper middle part. Around the sound hole are two sets of lengthwise and widthwise paralleled reinforcing ribs. The part of sound board which is surrounded by the lower widthwise reinforcing ribs and the lower bout of outline reinforcing ribs is resonance section with a thickness of 1.0-1.4 mm only. Attached to the bottom surface of resonance section is a grid bracing structure in a one-piece molding with the sound board.

Claims

1. A molded plastic ukulele, comprising a sound board, a fretboard, a head plate and a lower half of the body which are injection molded parts. The sound board, fret board, head plate are integrated with the lower half of the body into a complete ukulele body through the way of the soundboard tongue, fretboard tongue, head plate tongue sequentially being mounted on to the corresponding grooves of the lower half of the body. Attached to the bottom surface of sound board are two paralleled outline reinforcing ribs which are in parallel with the outline of soundboard on the inside. The sound board has a sound hole in the upper middle part. Around the sound hole are two sets of lengthwise and widthwise paralleled reinforcing ribs. The part of sound board which is surrounded by the lower widthwise reinforcing ribs and the lower bout of outline reinforcing ribs is resonance section with a thickness of 1.0-1.4 mm only, while the part of sound board surrounded by the lower widthwise reinforcing ribs and the upper bout of outline reinforcing ribs has a thickness of at least 2.5 mm. Attached to the bottom surface of resonance section is a grid-bracing structure which is a one-piece molding with sound board. And particularly, the grid braces diagonally intersect in parallel and equal space.

2. The molded plastic ukulele as claimed in claim 1, wherein the amount of grid braces may range 5×5, 6×6, 7×7, 8×8, 9×9, or 10×10.

3. The molded plastic ukulele as claimed in claim 1, wherein the grid braces are all in bow-shape which have the highest tops in the center and slope downward to two ends, with the thickness ranging from 0.7 to 1.4 mm, and the height ranging from 1.0 to 6.0 mm.

4. The molded plastic ukulele as claimed in claim 3, wherein the intersecting points and the tops of grid braces form a cambered surface.

5. The molded plastic ukulele as claimed in claim 4, wherein two widthwise short braces are separately configured to the left and right side of the grid bracing structure, and particularly in line with the intersecting point of the two longest braces.

6. The molded plastic ukulele as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lower half of the body includes the round back, neck and bottom panel of head. The round back is a parabolic shape with the thickness of more than 3.1 mm.

7. The molded plastic ukulele as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sound board, fret board, head plate and the lower half of the body are made up of 10-30% glass fibre reinforced polycarbonate material.

8. The molded plastic ukulele as claimed in claim 1, on the bottom surface of the soundboard, fret board, head plate, close to the inside edges in parallel with the outlines are sound board tongue, fretboard tongue, head plate tongue, and the soundboard tongue is to the outside of the outline reinforcing ribs. Corresponding to the sound board tongue, fretboard tongue, head plate tongue are the concave-inward grooves on the upper edges of the lower half of the body. The sound board, fret board, head plate are integrated with the lower half of the body into a complete ukulele body through the way of the soundboard tongue, fretboard tongue, head plate tongue being sequentially mounted on to the corresponding grooves of the lower half of the body.

9. The molded plastic ukulele as claimed in claim 7, wherein the sound board tongue, fretboard tongue, head plate tongue are ultrasonic welding ribs, the tongue-and-groove joints are fused together by ultrasonic welding.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] The accompanying drawings are part of the description for the purpose of further illustration to the present invention with the incorporation of the embodiment, however, it should not be a limit to the present invention.

[0027] In the drawings:

[0028] FIG.1 is a front perspective view of the present invention.

[0029] FIG.2 is a back perspective view of the present invention.

[0030] FIG.3 is a front perspective view of the lower half of the body.

[0031] FIG.4 is an enlarged sectional detail view A of FIG.3.

[0032] FIG.5 is a back schematic view of the sound board.

[0033] FIG.6 is an enlarged sectional detail view B of FIG.5.

[0034] FIG.7 is a side schematic view of the sound board.

[0035] FIG.8 is a back schematic view of the fretboard.

[0036] FIG.9 is a back schematic view of the head plate.

REFERENCE NUMBERS IN THE DRAWINGS

[0037] 1—lower half of the body

[0038] 11—grooves of the lower half of the body

[0039] 12—round back; 13—Neck; 14—bottom panel of head;

[0040] 2—sound board;

[0041] 21—tongue of sound board; 22—outline reinforcing ribs; 23—sound hole;

[0042] 241, 242—left, right lengthwise reinforcing ribs;

[0043] 251, 252—upper, lower widthwise reinforcing ribs;

[0044] 26—resonance section;

[0045] 3—fret board;

[0046] 31—tongue of fret board;

[0047] 4—head plate;

[0048] 41—tongue of head plate;

[0049] 5—grid braces;

[0050] 51—intersecting points of grid braces

[0051] 521,522—left, right widthwise short braces

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0052] Embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0053] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention (FIG.1-FIG.9), the molded plastic ukulele comprises a soundboard 2, a fretboard 3, a head plate 4 and a lower half of the body 1, which are made up of 10-30% glass fibre reinforced polycarbonate by injection molding. The lower half of the body includes a round back 12, a neck 13 and a bottom panel of head 14. The round back 12 is in a parabolic shape of thicker center and thinner sides with the thickness of 3.1 mm around the thinnest sides, and 3.9 mm in the thickest center part. Attached to the bottom surface of the soundboard 2 are two paralleled outline reinforcing ribs 22 which are in parallel with the outline of the soundboard on the inside. The sound board 2 has a sound hole 23 in the upper middle part. Around the sound hole 23 are two sets of left and right lengthwise paralleled reinforcing ribs 241, 242 and two sets of upper and lower widthwise paralleled reinforcing ribs 251, 252, their extending ends connect with the outline reinforcing ribs 22. The part of sound board which is surrounded by the lower widthwise reinforcing ribs and the lower bout of outline reinforcing ribs is resonance section 26 with a thickness of 1.2 mm, while the part of sound board surrounded by the lower widthwise reinforcing ribs and the upper bout of outline reinforcing ribs have a thickness of 2.6 mm. Attached to the bottom surface of the resonance section is a grid-bracing structure 5 comprising 6x6 diagonally intersected braces in parallel and equal space.

[0054] The grid braces 5 are all in bow-shape which have the highest tops in the center and slope downward to two ends. The thickness on the bottom of each brace is 1.1 mm, the height at the lowest two ends is 1.4 mm, and the intersecting point of the two longest braces has a height of 4.9 mm. Two widthwise short braces 521,522 are separately configured to the left and right side of the grid-bracing structure, and particularly in line with the intersecting point of the two longest braces.

[0055] All the intersecting points and the tops of grid braces 5 form a cambered surface. The grid braces 5 is a one-piece molding with the sound board 2.

[0056] On the bottom surface of the soundboard 2, fretboard 3, head plate 4, close to the inside edges in parallel with the outlines are sound board tongue 21, fretboard tongue 31, head plate tongue 41, the sound board tongue 21 is to the outside of the outline reinforcing ribs. Corresponding to the sound board tongue 21, fretboard tongue 31, head plate tongue 41 are the concave-inward grooves 11 on the upper edges of the lower half of the body 1. The sound board 2, fretboard 3, head plate 4 are integrated with the lower half of the body 1 into a complete ukulele body through the way of the soundboard tongue 21, fretboard tongue 31, head plate tongue 41 being sequentially mounted on to the grooves 11 of the lower half of the body. The sound board tongue 21, fretboard tongue 31, head plate tongue 41 are ultrasonic welding ribs. The tongue-and-groove joints are fused together by ultrasonic welding.

[0057] The preferred embodiment refers to soprano ukulele, although another three specifications of ukuleles including concert, tenor, baritone sizes with different dimensions and different grid braces permutations, they have similar shape and internal structure as the soprano ukulele of the present invention, so the details are not described herein.

[0058] Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described herein in detail, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of this invention. Such variations and modifications are considered to fall in with the scope of the appended claims.