Abstract: A chromatic chorded zither is provided with at least one auxiliary damper comprising a rigid bar having string-engaging damping pads for converting the instrument for play in a diatonic scale. In one version of the instrument, retainers are provided on the chord bar housing for removably mounting the auxiliary damper alongside one of said chord bars, with the damping pads held in engagement with predetermined strings. In another version, the auxiliary damper bar has a tongue which fits into an opening of the chord bar housing. The damping pads of the auxiliary damper are arranged in a pattern to mute all strings of the instrument other than those corresponding to the diatonic scale for a particular key. With a set of several auxiliary dampers, the chromatic instrument can be converted to play in any one of several diatonic keys. The damper bars can be readily installed or removed with one hand, and take up very little room.

Abstract: An auxiliary draft device for a fireplace to produce a curtain of air discharged upwardly in front of the fireplace opening and comprising a horizontal sheet metal air-distributing shell having fixed walls and decreasing in width from one end to the other to effect a substantially even discharge of air across said fireplace opening by air discharge openings in the top wall of the shell, said shell being supported solely by a floor adjacent the hearth of the fireplace and which, at the wider end thereof, is connected to an extension shell of sheet metal which is a plenum chamber at one side of the fireplace which communicates with a horizontal conduit extending along one side of the fireplace, transversely to said chamber and extending through the exterior wall of room in which the fireplace is located and communicating with outdoor air, inlet of which is controlled by an adjustable exterior damper operable by manual adjustment of mechanism extending from said damper to the interior of said room.