Patent GB-195760-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in record-changing mechanism for talking machines
IPC: G11B17/02
Filed: 1922-01-07
Abstract: 195,760. Coe, C. B. Jan. 7, 1922. Multiple record machines; raising and lowering sound-boxes; turntables; disc records. - The records in a magazine gramophone are supported in a pile on a table beneath the sound-box, and the top record is played by interposing between it and the other records a turntable mounted on a pivoted arm, the turntable being rotated by a motor when in this position. When the record has been played, the sound-box is automatically raised, the turntable is swung outwards, carrying away the record and discharging it into a receptacle, the table supporting the pile of records is elevated, and the turntable is brought back to the original position. to enable the next record in the series, now at the top of the pile, to be played. The tone-arm is moved to the starting position by the arm which carries the turntable, during its outward swinging movement. The operations described above are all effected by a single continuously-running motor 12, which drives a spindle 15 carrying a gear wheel 28 and a disc 16 having a single tooth 33 on its periphery and cams 17 on one face. The wheel 28 drives the turntable 23, when it is in the position shown in Fig. 1., through. an-intermediate wheel 27 and a pinion, not shown, the turntable and pinion being mounted on a pivoted arm 21. The cam-disc 16 serves to raise the record-supporting table 6 step by step by acting, through an intermittently interposed arm 19, on a lever 8 engaging with a rack 3 carrying the table. On the tone-arm is mounted a rod 40, which is adapted to rotate axially. The rod has one end portion 45 passing beneath the sound-box, and its other end carries a screw 47 which coacts with contacts 49, 50 in the circuit of an electromagnet 44; the armature of the magnet is carried by the rod 40. Starting with a record on the turntable 23, and the parts in playing position as shown, the arm 21 is locked by a catch 37 against the action of a spring 29. When the end of the record is reached, the screw 47 closes the contacts 49, 50, and the attraction of the armature by the magnet 44 rocks the rod 40, which thereupon lifts the sound-box from the record. At the same time, an offset 39 from the rod trips the catch 37, freeing the arm 21, which is then swung round by the spring 29. The turntable carries the played record with it until the arm is stopped by a dashpot 72, whereupon the record is thrown into a receptacle 76. This is padded and provided with a cushion 78 round its edge, and the record falls gently as the air in the receptacle escapes through the central hole in the record. During its outward movement, the arm 21 engages an arm 63 projecting from the tone-arm, and moves the latter back to the starting-position, the soundbox being meanwhile held raised by a projection 81 on the rod 40 riding over a bracket 83. When the part 81 clears the bracket, the sound-box falls into engagement with the starting-point of the next record. Towards the end of its outward movement, the arm 21 strikes an arm 57 which is linked to a spindle 18 carrying the arm 19. This arm is thereby moved so as to effect the lifting of the table 6 which supports the unplayed records, as previously described. To allow the lifting to occur, the gear-wheel 27, which is mounted on an arm 54, is swung aside by a link 52. A rod 31 projecting from the arm 21 has a hooked end 32, 35 which normally rests on a support 36, and when the arm 21 reaches the limit of its outward swing, the hook drops off its support into the path of the cam-wheel 16. The tooth 33 on the cam then engages the hook 32, drawing back the rod 31 and thereby returning the arm 21 with the turntable to the normal position. The hook 32 is disengaged from the cam-wheel 16 and again raised on to the support 36 by a fixed cam 34. The edge of the turntable is wedge-shaped, so that it passes under the top record on the pile, means being provided for slightly raising the arm 21 as the turntable passes beneath the record. The central portion of the face of the turntable and of the underside of each record are preferably corrugated to prevent slipping. The arm 19 is moved aside, as the turntable passes under the record, to allow the table 6 with the pile of records 7 to fall back a little until it is held by a pawl 11, and the gearwheel 27 is moved back into driving engagement with the turntable.