"Vocalin" Violin Patent Model: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This “Vocalin” violin was patented (U.S. Patent number 824316) by Lewis Cass Smith in New York, New York in 1906. The instrument is original in all structural aspects, and retains the pegs, fingerboard, top-nut, soundpost, tailpiece, saddle, button and chinrest. In his patent application Lewis Smith claims: "This invention relates to stringed musical instruments: . . . and wherein the structure and proportions will be such that tones of high quality will be produced not withstanding the fact that the instruments may have been manufactured at a low cost and without the care to such details as are vital, especially in a violin, and which occasion much expense in the manufacture of violins . . . Tones of a high quality will be produced in such instruments (Vocalins) . . . immediately after they are finished, requiring not, as is common with violins, a certain age and years of practical use to produce tones of high qualities." While the original patent describes interior bars to produce sound amplification and improvement, this instrument has the interior construction of a traditional violin.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1905
• date made: 1906
• patent date: 1906-06-26
• patentee: Smith, Lewis Cass
• Object Name: violin
• Measurements: overall: 23 3/4 in x 8 3/4 in x 3 1/2 in; 60.325 cm x 22.225 cm x 8.89 cm
• Place Made: United States: New York, New York City
• ID Number: 1987.0263.02
• catalog number: 1987.0263.02
• accession number: 1987.0263
• patent number: 824316
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.