Conn Perfected Conn-queror in Bb and A
Date: 1907. Owner unknown
Notice the unusual tubing arrangement with the leadpipe entering the 2nd valve, and the "skip-over" tube from the 3rd valve to the 1st valve. The Perfected Conn-queror came in at least two different bore sizes, a 0.415" bore and a 0.445" bore. The valves are top spring. The date of the patent application below would suggest a start date of 1902.
Patent for an instrument that matches the Perfected Conn-queror exactly was applied for by C.G. Conn (himself, believing the patent application) on April 5, 1902, patent number 745,788. The application reads, in part: "The object of this invention is to construct a cornet or similar instrument so that the air vibrations set in use by the performer when the instrument is in use shall be conducted through the valve system without increasing the number of turns or crooks and without changing the general direction of the wind - passage." The patent goes on to explain: "Musical instrument makers have long attempted to manufacture a cornet with an equalized scale, so that both valve and open tones shall have the same freedom, volume and quality. Heretofore they have been unable to do this because there have been more turns or crooks in the wind - passage when the valves are depressed then there were when the valves were not in use. As a result of this faulty wind-passage through the valve system the valve tones were more or less muffled, while the open tones were comparatively open and sonorous."