Such contraptions were pipes, and the reed was cut out of the tube itself. We are speaking abouta rather simple device here. They are no candidates as direct ancestor of the clarinet. But there's one:The Chalumeau spoken: Shaloomoh was spread widely in all places Europe. The name comes from Greek/Latin,where "Calumus" means pipe. The Chalumeau always was considered a shepherd's instrument, that needed to be playedsolo. Unfortunately no Chalumeau has survived one assumes that it should have looked very like a recorderand sounded like the lower octave of present day clarinet. It was difficult to play in tune. Therefore it was uninterestingfor most composers and critical musicians, and was hardly utilized in compositions apart from some shepherd scenes. The problem developing gadgets similar to clarinets like the Chalumeau becomes clear for those who concentrate on whathappens if you play an upward scale on an instrument like the recorder: There are seven or eight tone holes for the lower octaveas you have got 10 hands and there's an octave hole. "Overblowing" or opening an octave hole makes woodwind devices sound precisely one octave higher than the note would sound with out overblowing other than the clarinet, as I will show below.