The Bocarina® Pro - Part I : A new star is born !

In 2011, we attended the launch of the Bocarina^®, designed in ABS plastic by Mr. Chris Schuermans, Pretoria, South Africa. This was a real excitement for us to see a new (and great) mass produced nose flute reaching the market. It took quite a while for the new instrument to take its place between other plastic competitors, but henceforth, there was no real nose flute player to dispute the Bocarina^® superiority over the Schwan or the Humanatone.

Today, Mr. Schuermans and his company Clarytone^® are launching the Bocarina^® Pro ! And, as you will notice, this instrument is absolutely not a simple upgrade to the regular « Boc'», not a « Bocarina n°2 », but a totally new nose flute, featuring several pure innovations !

Please note that the instruments shown in this article are still prototypes : some flaws are still present (notably flashings and a rather ugly injection point) which will be corrected on the regular production. According to Mr. Schuermans, the injection point and the mould itself will be modified. Also, the colours will be different (see below).



Bocarina^® Pro - Part I : The Instrument


A - The Shape

The shape of the new baby is very different of any known plastic nose flute, including the regular Bocarina^® itself. It is rather flat, broad and stocky, but the little « mouth and moustache » (read "the fipple") adds a touch of delicate elegance. When you compare it to the standard Bocarina^®, you immediately understand why this is not a version 2, but the design of a totally new inspiration. The new Boc is 6.4cm wide (6.0 for the standard model) and 6.6 tall (8.3 for the std one!!). The airway has even been shortened, providing a faster playing as we'll see (1.8cm compared to the 2.1cm). The baby weighs 15.7g, while the regular Bocarina^® hits 20g. So, we have here a smaller, shorter and lighter flute.

The Bocarina^® Pro sports (finally!) the Clarytone^® logo. It's a nice thing, since the Bocarina^® displays no recognition sign. Let's guess however that people will call the new instrument « the Clarytone^® » and not « the Bocarina^® Pro"), and will carry « Boccies and Claries » in their nose flute bags...

B - The Plastics

The plastics used here are another big surprise! While the « technical part » (read "the airway and the fipple") are injected in a hard plastic, providing a stiff labium, and thus a precise and quick sound, the body of this two-tones nose flute is soft. In fact, since the central part includes the hard airway and also is thicker than the edges of the shield, only the edges of the flutes are soft. Anyway, the look is different for the plastics, the hard one is shiny, and the soft one has a satin finish. The idea behind the soft plastic is to be able to better adapt to different face morphologies, and also get an easier hermeticity.

C - The Fipple and Other features

The fipple insert is the most stunning innovation, not only on the Bocarina^® Pro, but, let's say it clearly and simply, in the flute world! As many of us knows it, one can build a nose flute rather oriented to a sharp tessitura by narrowing the height of fipple, with the risk of getting a flute that squawks at a certain point. Contrarywise, a wide (tall) mouth hole provide a medium/bass oriented nose flute, with a more and more windy and blank sound when you trespass the max dimension. All in all, you can adjust the tessitura of a nose flute by changing the size of the fipple, but, by doing this, you cannot improve the range (increase the tessitura) of your instrument.
The wavy fipple designed by Chris Schuermans aims this goal: having a fipple partly narrow and partly wide, in order to cover a larger spectrum.



The air entry is very narrow, as on the standard Bocarina^®, much longer (almost the double width) and the soft nose hood is much flatter than the « rounded equilateral triangle » found on the regular model.



The Bocarina^® Pro features a funny and vintage (obsolete?) lip rest! To be true, this is just a lip rest embryo. Some people may be annoyed by it (a scalpel would fix the problem) and some (Mr. Maikel Mei ?) will love it.




D - Colours

The specimens in my possession are from a first production batch, kind of a definitive test (and as said before, there will be more modifications on the mould in order to correct little flaws), and were injected with quickly available colored plastics. This first batch is composed of three colour flutes: blue, red and violet.



But Mr. Schuermans chose a « fruit theme » to create a beautiful color chart for the nose flutes that will be commercialized :




E - Questions

And how do they play ??

Well, stay tuned! Our presentation of the brand new Bocarina^® Pro is not over! This was only the Part I. We certainly will provide a qualitative review in the next future. But in one word : YES, they are very good players!

When will they be available ?

It should be very soon. Time for the ressellers to order and receive them.



                                                       TO BE CONTINUED…




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Related links :

- The Bocarina® Pro - Part I : A new star is born !
- The Bocarina® Pro - Part IIa : Reviews
- The Bocarina® Pro - Part IIb : Reviews
- The Bocarina® Pro - Part III : Prototypes
- The Bocarina® Pro - Part IV : Interview
- The Bocarina® Pro - Part V : Ceramics

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The Magic Flute

I recently had the great opportunity to purchase an old tin nose flute from Scott B., a gentleman living in North Carolina. There was no difficulty at all in identifying the instrument, since it has a very perculiar shape and is stamped with... its name. Many thanks to Scott for having helped me building the collection: the Magic Flute is a real milestone in nose flute history.

This nose flute is easily recognizable by the right angle formed by the top of its air duct. Another typical feature of this instrument is the vertical rectangle shape that has had been cut for the air entrance (remember that this cut is an horizontal oval on a metal Humanatone). Also, and due to its construction, the two nose wings are convex into the nose shield, while they are concave on other models where they form a nose cup.

So, let's say that the Magic Flute is very different from an early Humanatone, but only for the top half, since the mouth shields are very comparable. It is interesting to see both intruments together to make obvious the differences:



But most peculiar characteristic of the Magic Flute is that it was made with only one piece of tin plate. As far as I know, it is the only manufactured metal nose flute that has ever been made from only one piece at the stamping press. I designed for you the template of the flat instrument :



The Magic Flute production was frugal in metal plate, since the pattern interlocking is nicely efficient:



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The Magic Flute appeared (for the 1st time?) in the music instruments Howe catalog, in Chicago, 1903 issue (which means a probable 1902 printing), meaning its production is prior to the Stivers' Humanatone [July 1903] (but the brand "Humanatone" is earlier: 1893-94).



On the other hand, the Magic Flute is stamped on the air duct cover:



Now, the patent dates appearing here refer to... Garrett J. Couchois' patents

Since we know that the Couchois' whistle was really produced, the Magic Flute was the third model of nose flute ever manufactured (afaik), just before the Humanatone. We may state that the order of appearance was:

1- The Nasalette, by W. Carter, in 1892-93 (probably launched at Chicago World Fair, maybe under the name Humanatone)
2- The nose flute by G. J. Couchois, in ±1900.
3- The Magic Flute by ??, in ±1902.
4- The Humanatone by J.J. Stivers in july 1903.

And according to this, we are able to specify that the Magic Flute was the first nose flute with a mouth shield, invention that became typical of any metal or plastic nose flute (metal Humanatone, Wunderflöte, plastic Humanatone, Schwann, Bocarina...). It was also the very first model proposing a lip rest (that is still in use on the Schwann model).

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My hypothesis - but whether I already possess "sparse pieces of evidence", I built no real "historical proof" yet - is that William Carter launched his nose flute under the name Humanatone (the patent name was "Nasalette") at the Chicago Columbus fair in 1893 (there is a 1894 record of the Brand Humanatone, plus a late testimony in a 1922 journal of the presence of the Humanatone at the fair). Chicago Fair is where Couchois (piano seller) discovered the instrument, then built his own in New York, which clearly is an improvement derivating from the original Nasalette. Did he buy/use the brand Humanatone? It is likely, because a 1905 testimony state that Couchois , as a "fakir", was playing and selling Humanatones "4 or 5 years ago", that is, in 1900-1901. This is the moment when Couchois' nose flutes are manufactured. Can we imagine that Garrett Couchois would have produced his own nose flute but sold another one? Certainly not. So his own should have been named "Humanatone".
Then, in 1902, the Magic Flute is issued, stamped with Couchois' patents numbers. (Was it produced by Couchois too? I have no idea on that point). What is sure is that the next year, the Stivers bought the rights from Carter's and Couchois' patents, and registered the trademark Humanatone. But that's not all: they also bought the brand Magic Flute (check my evidence here). It is more than likely that the shape of the Humanatone was an improvement of the Magic Flute model (but the Humanatone is stamped with Carter's and Couchois' pat. numbers). Then, both the brands Humanatone and Magic (Nose) Flute were used to sell the same instrument, depending on the "sales target" (Humanatone as an instrument, Magic Flute as a toy), and finally with no regards on the type of public anymore. In 1943, Fred Gretsch bought the name Humanatone and associated it to another model of nose flute, the plastic injected one, patented by Ernest W. Davis in 1940.


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One last word, and maybe the most important. The Magic Flute was a good instrument, with a precise and powerful sound! Here is a short sound sample:




And big thanks again to Scott B. !

An early metal nose flute

Gift from Mr. Mei, who traded it off with Mr. Piet Visser, here is an american or a german tin flute from the 1920s. The red painting has been restaured by Mr. Visser, as it was originally.

Besides its color, the other particularity of this flute is its square mouth shield, leading to a very typical design, and to a look misleadingly tinier than the tin Humanatone. Following the same "shape spirit", the two wings of the "nose fender" show the same kind of cutting, comparing to the round endings of a Humanatone.



The "technical parts" are quite the same as the Humanatone, and the red flute has a lip rest, as almost all its contemporaries.

It is stamped with no brand or patent numbers, which is singular since the model uses all prior inventions, but it is yet possible that fine stampings have disappeared with time, rust, gentle sanding and red paint coating.

Carl J. Aarlaht : an Estonian-Canadian nose flute

Carl Johannes Aarlaht was born in Vaivara, Estonia on 5th of May, 1924 (†04/25/1989). He emigrated to Canada and settled down in Hamilton. He was a Master Scout, member of the Estonian Society of Friends of Scout Canada (Hamiltoni Eesti Skaudisõprade Selts) and decorated of the Northern Star.

Carl J. Aarlaht registered two patents. The first one, in 1958 (US2989719), was for « Convertible Attachment Plugs » and was referenced later by numerous patents regarding similar devices.

The second one, of a better interest for us, is a nose flute. The patent (CA684140) for a « Musical Whistle » was registered on 14th of April, 1964.

« Generally the present invention consists of a simple musical instrument of the wind type which may be simply made of flat material such as metal, plastic material or the like. »

Apart of a nice angular shape design, the nose flute offers no innovation in comparison to old metal Humanatones. The only difference regards the lip rest, which is surprinsingly under the mouth hole, thus providing a rest to the lower lip.

Alexander Roxburgh Grierson : a scottish flute

Alexander Roxburgh Grierson, citizen of Castle Douglas, Scotland, filed some "Improvements in Whistles" for a patent, Apr. 30, 1923 (GB214832, reg. May 1, 1924). The invention is a pure metal nose flute, enhanced with an amplification system, formed by a "chamber" covering all the front side of the instrument.

« Referring to the drawings the whistle or instrument consists essentially of two parts, a wind chamber 1, and an amplifying chamber 2. »

« The straight-down back 4 of the instrument and the upwaedly and outwardly bent lower portion 11 of the the amplifying chamber 2 constitute a pit or recess 12 into which the stream of air from the wind chamber orifice 13 rushes. The stream of air above-mentionned immediately proceeds to set up vibrations in the air contained within the amplifying chamber 2, and the opening-out formation of the said chamber amplifies the sound so that the notes originated in the wind chamber orifice or mouth 13 are made richer and fuller. »

The flute is clearly a hand-free instrument, and has been designed to be made in metal, and détails of construction are forecast.

« The pit 12 made by bending the material to the form above described may conveniently be held inside the lower lip 14 and the lower end 15 of the mouth of the amplifying chamber 2 rests upon the chin. »

« The whole instrument may be formed of three sheet-metal stampings, one constituting the front of the wind chamber 1, the back plate 4 and the bent nortions 12, 15, the other two being identical and each comprising a side plate 16 and a slightly-curved nostril plate 6 which directs the air to the aperture 3. »

Ernest W. Klein : West Coast design

Ernest W. Klein, citizen of Los ANgeles, invented a new nose flute design in 1921 (application filed Apr. 23, and patent US1437317 registered nov. 28, 1922).
The shape was rather compact, even stocky, and had an interesting feature : the mouth part was shaped like a horn, in order to operate as an amplificator, and with two lip rests.
The upper lip rest is quite conventional : it's a flap coming from the mouth hole cutting out. The lower lip rest, on the other side, is a small protrusion stamped in the metal sheet.

Thus, the nose flute is absolutely hand free.

« This invention is a toy forming a whistle adapted to be held in the mouth and blown through the nose, the improved construction providing in a device of this character, improved means for properly positioning the whistle without necessitating employment of the hands, and also affording a construction in which the volume of sound produced will be amplified. »

« It will be noted that the construction, as thus set forth, provides positive means for properly positioning the horn 3 within the mouth, since the upper teeth bear against the front lip 10, while the lower teeth impinge against the rear of bead 12, and as a consequence the horn is held in the mouth by a binding engagement adapted to prevent displacement thereof, and also affording means for properly positioning the upper portion of the device over the nostrils.»

The Klein's invention has been referenced in 1992 by Ian K. Fowler, in a patent [US5165423] applied for a magnificient « Tooth Guard Whistle ».

Andrew W. Proctor : tremolo nose flue

On 25th of november, 1910, Andrew W. Proctor of New York, files a strange invention at the Patent Office. Registered July 25, 1911, the patent US998985 is simply entitled « Whistle », but refers to a certain "improvement" to nose flutes.

The base of Proctor's invention is a nose flute quite similar to the first Humanatone, but with a rounded upper lip rest.
But to the flute is added a curious device, a flat metal spring screwed on the nose bulb and ended with a revoluble damper : by pressing on the spring, the operator can mute the sound, and thus, create a tremolo.

« By pressing against the spring 15 so as to move the damper 17 toward and from the opening 11, as above described, the damper is brought partially into the path of travel of air escaping from the passage 10. The damper is thus caused to turn and in turning into different positions it offers different degrees of obstruction to the escape of air from the passage 10. The result is that the whistling sound is modified and gives a rapid and peculiar throbbing. »

I don't know if the invention was released to the public, but it works. Grab a flute, quickly clog and release the mouth hole with your index, and you'll get a perfect vibrato.

The Proctor's novelty was referenced by two later patents : a "warbling musical whistle" (US2996839) in 1961 and an "auto-pipe" (US3745871) in 1973.

Humanatone - Part I : the metallic era

In 1904, James Joseph Stivers, associated with George W. Stivers and John H. Dreyer, founded the Humanatone Introducing Novelty Co. in New York, with a $15.000 capital.
On the 1st of July 1904, Stivers files the trade-mark Humanatone (43264, reg. Aug. 30, 1904) designed with an uncial typo.
The brand was renewed on April 18, 1905 (45056, reg. Aug. 1, 1905), under the new denomination ("A nasal wind musical instrument") and with a new design, the name Humanatone floating over a lion rampant, grabbing a tuplet of semiquavers, like playing an harp.
The documents note "This trade-mark has been continuously used in my business since July 6th, 1903".

Under this brand, the Humanatone Company sells a boxed metal nose flute. Two pieces of stamped tin plate are assembled by pewter soldering, plus a pair of rivets on the base of nose cap.
The shape design is very new, comparing to Carter's or Couchois', in the way that the whistle part does not enter the mouth anymore. Moreover, Stivers invents the upper lip rest, a flap bent from the mouth-hole, and designed in order to help placing the flute in a good playing position. The circular base of the instrument is bent on the purpose to offer a lower lip rest.

Curiously, no patent was registered neither for this innovative design, nor for the whitle external to the mouth, nor for the lips rests. However, a first version of the flute was stamped with references to Carter and Couchois (477167 & 31876) plus the mention "Other patents pending". But in a later version, this last stamp has been replaced by Leech-Couchois mention (641025).

The Humanatone was really a cool instrument, easy to play, and it became popular. It has been sold from 1903 until the emergence of a new material in the 40's : plastics. The brand Humanatone was renewed in 1926 (fil. 5/3/1925, reg. 2/9/1926), then was sold by Stivers to the Fred Gretsch Mfg Co., and this will be the topic of a future post : « Humanatone - Part II ».

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About metal Humanatones, check :

- Humanatone - part I : the metallic era
- New Humanatone ads
- The Two metal Humanatones
- Another metal Humanatone
- Humanatone boxes
- Another Humanatone box
- Humanatone: A very early user manual
- The Magic (Nose) Flute: only questions... .
- A Humanatone and clones chronology
- A Humanatone in 1892 ?
- Humanatone: Early promotional demos
- Another Humanatone archive
- Huma... something
- Rectification: Humanatone appearance date
- Great paper from 1903
- Nose Flute Pioneers: The Stivers - Part I
- Nose Flute Pioneers: The Stivers - Part II
- Nose Flute Pioneers: The Stivers - Part III
- Nose Flute Pioneers: The Stivers - Part IV
- Nose Flute Pioneers: The Stivers - Part V
- A Humanatone as a scientific tool
- Two other Humanatone Ads

And on later Humanatones :

- Humanatone - Part II : the Gretsch plastic era
- Humanatone - Part III : the Gretsch metal era

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