Automatic record player

A phonograph record player mechanism is provided which includes a tone arm, means for mounting the tone arm for rotation about an axis, a cueing lever lift rod adapted to engage the tone arm at a point spaced from said axis, and a flat spring having one end thereof connected to said lift rod, means defining a fixed shoulder in engagement with one side of the spring and a cueing lever which is rotatable about a substantially horizontal axis and has a portion which engages the other side of the spring between the lift rod and the shoulder when the cueing lever is rotated about said horizontal axis. PAC AUTOMATIC RECORD PLAYER

The present invention relates to record changers, and more particularly, to 
automatic record changers which are arranged to play a series of 
phonograph records in the order in which the records are placed on the 
centering spindle of the record changer. 
It is an another object of the present invention to provide a simplified 
cueing lever arrangement for use in an automatic record changer which may 
be employed for manually raising and lowering the tone arm. 
The invention both as to its organization and method of operation, together 
with further objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood by 
reference to the following specification taken in connection with the 
accompanying drawings.

Considering the manner in which the cueing lever 26 functions to raise and 
lower the tone arm 14 manually, in accordance with an important aspect of 
the present invention a simple tone arm actuating mechanism is provided 
for relatively quickly lifting the tone arm 14 upwardly off of a record in 
response to movement of the cueing lever 26 to a generally horizontal 
position while at the same time providing a relatively gradual lowering of 
the tone arm when the cueing lever 26 is moved to the substantially 
vertical position shown in FIG. 2. More particularly, a flat spring 590 is 
provided with a bifurcated end portion 592 which is seated in a notch 594 
(FIG. 3) in a cue lever lift rod 596. The lift rod 596 is mounted in a 
vertically extending bore 598 formed in a housing portion 88 of the tone 
arm subassembly base 76. The lift rod 596 extends through the clearance 
slot 177 in the quadrant 124 and a washer 597 is positioned on the rod 596 
below the quadrant 124 and is held against a shoulder in the rod 596 by 
means of a coil spring 599 which is positioned between the washer 597 and 
the end portion 601 of the rod 596. 
The lift rod 596 is provided with transverse grooves 600 within which is 
positioned a viscous material and the fit between the lift rod 596 and the 
bore 598 is relatively close so that a dash pot type of action is produced 
in response to forces exerted on the post 596 by the spring 590. The flat 
spring 590 extends beneath a downwardly extending flange portion 602 of 
the base 76 and the horizontal portion 604 of the cueing lever 26 is 
provided with an offset central portion 606 which engages the underside of 
the spring 590 between the post 596 and the flange 602. A right angle end 
portion 605 of the lever 26 is retained in a suitable recess in the base 
76. The end of the spring 590 is secured to the tone arm subassembly base 
76 by any suitable means which provides adjustment of the flexure of this 
spring. In FIG. 1 an arrangement is shown wherein a screw 608 is threaded 
into a depending boss 610 on the member 76. The head of the screw 608 is 
adjustable from beneath the record changer and as the screw is tightened 
the spring 590 is flexed around the transverse partition 602. 
In the alternative arrangement shown in FIG. 2 a screw 612 is threaded 
through the boss 610 and is secured in any suitable manner to the end of 
the spring 590. The screw 612 is provided with a head portion 614 which is 
accessible from the top of the tone arm subassembly so that adjustment of 
the cueing lever setdown speed can be made without removing the changer 
from its housing. 
When the cueing lever 26 is moved from the tone arm down position shown in 
FIG. 2 to the tone arm up position shown in FIG. 1, the intermediate 
offset portion 606 of the lever 26 is rotated into engagement with the 
underside of the spring 590 and exerts an upward force on the lift rod 596 
so that this rod moves upwardly and the top end thereof engages the 
underside of the plate 94 on the tone arm so that the tone arm is lifted 
off of the record. The force exerted by the spring 590 in lifting the tone 
arm is relatively great as compared with the lowering force exerted by the 
spring 590 because the offset portion 606 of the cueing lever 26 acts as a 
temporary fulcrum to raise the tone arm and this fulcrum is relatively 
close to the lift rod 596. With this relatively short fulcrum the spring 
590 is relatively stiff and a relatively quick tone arm lifting action is 
provided. When the lift rod 596 is moved upwardly, the washer 597 engages 
the underside of the quadrant 124 as the spring 599 is depressed so that a 
frictional drag is exerted on the tone arm 14. This frictional drag is 
sufficient to prevent the tone arm 14 from moving outwardly under the 
force of a constant bias spring when the tone arm is lifted off of or 
lowered onto a record. In less expensive changer models, this constant 
bias spring may be eliminated. In such case, the spring 599 and washer 597 
may be eliminated. The viscous material in the grooves 600 may also be 
eliminated in such a low-cost changer so that the tone arm 14 is raised 
and lowered directly. This change is made possible in the arrangement of 
the present invention because separate lift rods are provided for 
automatic and manual operation, respectively. 
When it is desired to lower the tone arm onto the the record, the cueing 
lever 26 is moved from the tone arm up position shown in FIG. 1 to the 
tone arm down position shown in FIG. 2. When this occurs the offset 
portion 606 is removed from beneath the spring 590. As soon as the 
intermediate portion 606 ceases to engage the underside of the spring 590 
a new fulcrum point is established for the spring which is the transverse 
partition 602. Since the partition 602 is spaced a substantially greater 
distance from the lift rod 596 than the offset portion 606, a relatively 
smaller spring force is exerted on the lift rod 596 to move this rod 
downwardly within the bore 598 against the section of the viscous material 
in the grooves 600. Accordingly, the tone arm is very gently and smoothly 
lowered onto the record or into engagement with the rest post 22 when the 
cueing lever is moved to the tone arm down position. As discussed 
heretofore the screw 608, or the screw 612, can be adjusted so as to 
provide a desired degree of flexure of the spring 590 and hence an 
adjustment of the set down speed of the tone arm. 
While there been illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of the 
present invention, it will be apparent that various changes and 
modifications thereof will occur to those skilled in the art. It is 
intended in the appended claims to cover all such changes and 
modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the present 
invention.