Saxophone Patent Information

French Patent #3226 for the Saxophone Family

Adolphe Sax's request for the Saxophone patent was in the form of a handwritten report which was signed but not written by him. It read as follows: Descriptive report deposited in support of a request for a fifteen year patent of invention. Mr. Antoine-Joseph (called Adolphe) Sax, musical instrument maker residing in Paris at rue neuve Saint-Georges No. 10 has presented his patent application at the office of Mr. Perigna, patent attorney, 10 rue neuve St. Augustin, for a new System of wind instruments called Saxophones.

Explanation - We know that in general, wind instruments are either too harsh or too weak in sonority; one or the other of these faults is most especially perceptible in the basses. The Ophicleide, for example, which reinforces the trombones, produces a sound so disagreeable that it must be kept out of resonant halls because of its inability to be played softly. The bassoon, to the contrary, has such a weak sound that it can be used only for accompanying and filling parts; yet for specific forte effects in orchestration it is absolutely useless. One should note that the bassoon is the only instrument of this type which blends well with string instruments. Only brass wind instruments produce a satisfying effect in outside performance. Bands comprised of these instruments are the only kind of ensembles which can be used in these circumstances. Everyone knows that for outside performance the effect of stringed instruments is null. Because of the weakness of their timbre, their use is almost impossible under such conditions. Struck by these different drawbacks, I have looked for a means of remedying these situations by creating an instrument, which by the character of its voice can be reconciled with the stringed instruments, but which possesses more force and intensity than the strings. This instrument is the Saxophone. The Saxophone is able to change the volume of its sounds better than any other instrument. I have made it of brass and in the form of a parabolic cone to produce the qualities which were just mentioned and to keep a perfect quality throughout its entire range. The Saxophone embouchure uses a mouthpiece with a single reed whose interior is very wide and which becomes narrower at the part which is fitted to the body of the instrument.

Description and nomenclature of the different members of the Saxophone family.

No. 1. Saxophone in Eb - tenor, fundamental note: B in written pitch is D in concert pitch. (This corresponds to the modern Baritone Saxophone.)
No. 2. Saxophone in C - descending to Bb in its key. The same instrument can also be made in the key of Bb - it consequently descends to concert Ab which is Bb in its written key. (This is the modern Bass Saxophone.)
No. 3. Contrabass saxophone in F - it can also be made in Eb.
No. 4. Bourdon saxophone in C, it can also be made in Bb (one tone lower). (The seldom seen Subcontrabass Saxophone.)
The saxophones No. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are in the same keys as the preceding instruments at the octave higher.

It should be noted that Sax also included a fingering chart for each of the saxophones described above, and provided drawings of two saxophones as well. These saxophones in their placement in the patent description show that Adolphe Sax was, at least initially, primarily concerned with the lower voices of the saxophone family.

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