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A muffler for raising the audible pitch of an internal combustion engine's exhaust note that includes an enclosed case having an inlet and an outlet, and a plurality of flow-directing components which are adapted to subdivide an inlet flow into a plurality of interior flows, including a first interi

A muffler for raising the audible pitch of an internal combustion engine's exhaust note that includes an enclosed case having an inlet and an outlet, and a plurality of flow-directing components which are adapted to subdivide an inlet flow into a plurality of interior flows, including a first interior flow providing the shortest flow length through the muffler between the inlet and the outlet, a second interior flow having a flow length at least about twice the length of the first interior flow, and one or more intermediate flows following by-pass passages to split off from the second interior flow between the inlet and the outlet and having flow lengths between the flow lengths of the first and second flows.

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1. A muffler for raising an audible pitch of an internal combustion engine's exhaust note, comprising: an enclosed case having an inlet and an outlet; anda plurality of flow-directing components adapted to subdivide an inlet flow into a plurality of interior flows comprising:a flowtube extending bet

1. A muffler for raising an audible pitch of an internal combustion engine's exhaust note, comprising: an enclosed case having an inlet and an outlet; anda plurality of flow-directing components adapted to subdivide an inlet flow into a plurality of interior flows comprising:a flowtube extending between the inlet and the outlet to form a first substantially-direct interior flow passage providing the shortest flow length through the enclosed case between the inlet and the outlet; andat least two deflector plates spanning a distance between a top and a bottom of the enclosed case and oriented transverse to a longitudinal center axis of the case, and supporting the flowtube therethrough,wherein adjacent deflector plates are laterally offset from a longitudinal center axis in opposite directions with wide gaps between each deflector plate and alternating far sidewalls forming a tortuous passage providing a second interior flow passage between the inlet and the outlet and having a flow length at least about twice the flow length of the first interior flow passage, andwherein narrow gaps between each deflector plate and alternating near sidewalls form by-pass shortcut flow passages to provide at least one intermediate interior flow passage which splits off from the second interior flow passage between the inlet and the outlet, and wherein at least one of the at least one intermediate flow passage recombines with the second interior flow passage between the inlet and the outlet. 2. The muffler of claim 1, wherein the flow-directing components further comprise at least one deflector wedge extending into a narrow gap from a near sidewall to further define at least one by-pass passage. 3. The muffler of claim 1, wherein a width of the narrow gaps increases from the inlet to the outlet to provided by-pass passages with increasing cross-sectional areas. 4. The muffler of claim 1, wherein a spacing between the at least two deflector plates increases from the inlet to the outlet to provided a tortuous passage with increasing cross-sectional area. 5. The muffler of claim 1, wherein the flowtube is a hollow cylinder. 6. The muffler of claim 1, wherein a flowrate through the first interior flow passage further comprises about one sixth a flowrate through the inlet. 7. The muffler of claim 1, wherein a flowrate through the second interior flow passage further comprises at least about one half a flowrate through the inlet. 8. The muffler of claim 1, wherein the inlet and a first deflector plate proximate the inlet are offset laterally from the longitudinal center axis in the same direction. 9. The muffler of claim 1, wherein the at least two deflector plates further comprises two deflector plates, and wherein the plurality of flow-directing components subdivide the inlet flow into a first interior flow passage, a second interior flow passage, and two shortcut flow passages that together provide at least four passages of different length between the inlet and the outlet. 10. The muffler of claim 1, wherein the at least two deflector plates further comprises three deflector plates, and wherein the plurality of flow-directing components subdivide the inlet flow into a first interior flow passage, a second interior flow passage, and three shortcut flow passages that together provide at least six flow passages of different length between the inlet and the outlet. 11. The muffler of claim 1, wherein the at least two deflector plates further comprises four deflector plates, and wherein the plurality of flow-directing components subdivide the inlet flow into a first interior flow passage, a second interior flow passage, and four shortcut flow passages that together provide at least nine flow passages of different length between the inlet and the outlet. 12. The muffler of claim 1, wherein each of the at least two deflector plates further comprise at least one rounded side edge defining a wide gap for smoothing the second interior flow passage. 13. The muffler of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the shortcut flow passages recombines with the first interior flow passage between the inlet and the outlet. 14. A muffler for raising an audible pitch of an internal combustion engine's exhaust note, comprising: an enclosed case having an inlet in an inlet end and an outlet in an outlet end; anda plurality of flow-directing components spanning a distance between a top and a bottom of the enclosed case and adapted to subdivide an inlet flow into a plurality of interior flows, the flow-directing components comprising: a flowtube extending between the inlet and the outlet to form a substantially-direct passage for a first interior flow; andat least two deflector plates oriented transverse to a longitudinal center axis of the case and supporting the flowtube therethrough,wherein adjacent deflector plates are laterally offset from the longitudinal center axis in opposite directions with wide gaps between each deflector plate and alternating far sidewalls forming a tortuous passage between the inlet and the outlet for a second interior flow having a length at least about twice a length of the substantially-direct passage, andwherein narrow gaps between the deflector plates and alternating near sidewalls form at least one by-pass passage for a shortcut flow splitting off from and recombining with the second interior flow between the inlet and the outlet. 15. The muffler of claim 14, further comprising at least one deflector wedge extending into a narrow gap from a near sidewall to further define the by-pass passage. 16. A method for raising an audible pitch of an internal combustion engine's exhaust note, comprising: obtaining an enclosed case having an inlet and an outlet and having a plurality of flow-directing components adapted to subdivide an inlet flow;directing a first interior flow through a flow tube supported by at least two deflector plates oriented transverse to a longitudinal central axis of the case and extending between the inlet and outlet to form a substantially-direct first discrete flow passage providing the shortest flow length between the inlet and the outlet;directing a second interior flow around the at least two deflector plates oriented in the case wherein adjacent deflector plates are laterally offset from the longitudinal center axis in opposite directions with wide gaps between each deflector plate and alternating far sidewalls to form a second discrete tortuous passage between the inlet and the outlet having a flow length at least about twice the flow length of the first passage; andsplitting off at least one intermediate flow from the second interior flow with at least one discrete by-pass passage between the inlet and the outlet formed by narrow gaps between the at least two deflector plates and alternating near sidewalls. 17. The method of claim 16, further comprising recombining the at least one intermediate flow with the second interior flow between the inlet and the outlet. 18. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one by-pass passage further comprises at least one deflector wedge extending from the near sidewall into the narrow gap between the near sidewall of the enclosed case and at least one of the at least two deflector plates. 19. The method of claim 16, further comprising recombining the at least one intermediate flow with the first interior flow between the inlet and the outlet.