Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax (French: [ɑ̃twan ʒozɛf adɔlf saks]; 6 November 1814 – 7 February 1894)[a] was a Belgian inventor and musician who invented the saxophone in the early 1840s, patenting it in 1846.

He also invented the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba, and redesigned the bass clarinet in a fashion still used to the present day.

[10] Sax also developed the saxotromba family, valved brass instruments with narrower bore than the saxhorns, in 1845, though they survived only briefly.

The advances made by Adolphe Sax were soon followed by the British brass band movement, which exclusively adopted the saxhorn family of instruments.

Composer Hector Berlioz wrote approvingly of the new instrument in 1842, but despite his support, saxophones did not become a standard part of the orchestra.

Their ability to play technical passages easily like woodwinds yet project loudly like brass instruments led to their inclusion in military bands in France and elsewhere.

[15] During the Crimean War (1853–1856), Sax made two more inventions, though neither was ever actually built: First, he designed the "Saxotonnerre", a massive, locomotive-powered organ which was supposed to be so loud as to be heard across all of Paris at once.

[16] The second was developed in response to the Crimean War's Siege of Sevastopol where the French military and its allies were locked in a destructive conflict.

As a potential solution to such lengthy sieges, Sax thus designed the "Saxocannon", a giant cannon whose half-ton round shots would be powerful enough to completely destroy an "average-sized city".