Previously on Are You Sure You Invented That?, we saw a patent that was granted to Stephen Haweis for something that strongly resembled a traditional African lamellophone, although the patent claimed it to be his own invention. He was not the first to be granted a patent for such an instrument. A decade previously, a Scottish gentleman named Richard Douglas Grahame was granted British patent 135810 for a similar design, shown above. As with the Haweis patent, no mention is made of any African antecedents, although he does describe his instrument as being "designed more specifically for the amusement of children and coloured people".
In his article La sanza du Congo belge, published in Congo; Revue générale de la Colonie belge/Algemeen tijdschrift van de Belgische Kolonie (Volume 2, Issue 1, January 1921), Dr. Joseph Maes described the various types of lamellophone from the Congo region, including what he called "sanza du type fluvial", with the following illustration:
The other styles of lamellophone that are described in the article are associated with specific locations and tribal groups, but this one was given the adjective "fluvial" as this type of instrument was commonly found near major waterways, the author suggesting that its distribution might be due to the movements of indigenous people employed by Europeans. The style of construction is basically the same as that specified in the Grahame patent, right down to the holes in the resonating chamber, the only really significant difference being that the latter lacks the additional "buzzers" common to African instruments.
I have been unable to find much information about Mr. Grahame, but if he is the same person as Richard Douglas Blinden Grahame who died in 1925, then the parenthetical comment in his obituary is rather intriguing:
Of course, this could all be entirely coincidental, so once again, I shall let you, dear reader, draw your own conclusions.
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