Patent GB-308764-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in talking machines
IPC: G11B17/00
Filed: 1928-10-25
Abstract: 308,764. Victor Talking Machine Co., (Assignees of Zeruneith, R. E.). March 30, 1928, [Convention date]. Magazine gramophones; returning sound-box to starting point; starting and stopping.- Relates to magazine gramophones of the kind which play a series of records continuously in succession, the records constituting the magazine being centrally threaded on a pin 36 protruding from an upwardly extending arm 30 hinged at 28<b> to the motor board 16, means being provided to convey the records singly from the magazine to the turntable 23. According to the invention, the records are transferred from the magazine to the turntable by a member, such as a pivoted hoop 53, which operates first to raise all the records in the magazine and then to lower them, the member engaging beneath the lower edge of the outermost record to arrest the lowering movement of the said record and remove it from the magazine. The means on the hoop 53 for engaging and arresting the record are preferably in the form of pins 58, 59, Fig. 6, on the pivotal arms of the hoop, the pins being positioned to engage either ten-inch or twelve-inch records. The records have a limited angular movement on the pin 36 during their rising movement and are returned to normal position against a shoulder 35 on the pin, after the transfer of a record, by a roller 45 on a weighted arm 44 which presses against the innermost record. The arm 30 supporting the records is held in the normal position by a pivoted latch 37 engaging a pin 41, but the latch part 38 can also hold the arm in a retracted position with the pin 36 inclined upwardly for threading fresh records on the pin. This is effected by first placing the records on a loading handle (not shown) which has an eye engaging over the hookshaped end of the pin 36. The latch 37 can be released to permit the arm to be lowered over the turntable when out of use. The record transfer-hoop 53 is pivoted by arms to the motorplate 17 and is operated by a slotted link 62 engaged by a pin 64 on a spring-controlled slider 66, Fig. 4, which is reciprocated by a link 68 eccentrically pivoted to a gear wheel 71 rotated through a gear train from the electrically driven spindle 22 of the turntable through the medium of a pawl 91 engaging a wheel 90 fast with the spindle. The pawl 91, the release of which serves to clutch in the slide 66 that operates to raise and turn the tone-arm and to feed the records, is spring mounted on a disc 93 fast with a pinion 94 driving the gear wheel 71. The reverse movement of the tone-arm produced by an eccentric groove in the record is utilized through a ratchetpawl 117 engaging teeth 118 on a lever 119 to release the pawl 91 and start the movement of the slider 66. The slide has an incline at one end engaging a roller 129 on a lever 124, this lever serving through a post 114 to raise the tone arm and move the pawl 117 out of engagement with the rack 118. The pin 108 on the gooseneck 25a engages a stop 110 and the sound-box is thus raised. The tone-arm is swung aside by a lever 134 engaging the post 114, a pin 133 on the lever moving in an L-shaped slot 132 in the slider 66. The outward movement of the tone-arm is limited by the post 114 engaging a hook 136 on a bellcrank mounted on the lever 134, the arm 137 of the bell-crank striking a fixed post 139. During the return of the slider, the hook 136 acts to return the tone-arm and strikes an adjustable post 138 to release the hook. The lost motion provided by the slot 132 allows for the operation of the transfer-hoop. The pivotal axis of the tone-arm is slightly inclined so that the needle is gradually lowered by gravity on to the record as the end 130 of the lift-arm 124 moves away from the post- 114. A pin 140 on the lever 119 now engages a notch in the ring 71<a> and allows the pawl 91 to engage the lever to declutch the drive to the slider 66. After a record has been played, the slide 66 is again clutched in whereby the stylus is lifted, the tone-arm and sound-box swung clear, and the hoop 53 raised to remove the record and discharge it through opening 29 into a receptacle in the form of a drawer 85. A lift-pad 72, Fig. 6, controlled by a latch 76 is automatically raised to keep the record clear of the pins 58, 59 when it is being discharged. The continued movement of the hoop then detaches a record from the magazine and conveys it to the turntable, the slide 66 acting to return the tone-arm and lower the stylus. The electric driving-motor 19 is of the induction disc type and the load on it is equalized by a spring 148 acting on the slider 66. Adjustable means are provided to enable small or large records to be played or to render the automatic mechanism ineffective. To this end, a sector-shaped controllever 150 mounted on a post 151 has a projecting arm 152. The sector carries a post 138 engaging the arm 137 of the return-lever and has three notches engaged by a locking-pawl 154. The sector is adjusted by bevel gear 163 from a handle 164. In the inner position, Fig. 4, the pin 138 is set to return the tone-arm to suit ten-inch records, and in the middle position the pin 138 is set to suit twelve-inch records. In the outer position, the pin 138 moves the hook 136 out of engagement with the tone-arm and the projection 152 of the lever 150 then engages the pawl 117 to swing it away from the rack 118. The automatic mechanism is thus rendered ineffective. To reject a record, a lever 167 is operated by a knob 173 against the action of a spring 170 to release the lever 119 by engaging a pin 169 thereon. For starting and stopping the machine, an electric switch 176 is pivotally mounted on a plate 180, Fig. 10<b>, movable on an axis pin 181 and having a slot actuating a rotary contact arm 177 which engages stationary contacts 178. The movement of the switch 176 acts through a projection 189 to move the plate 180 and arm 177 to close the circuit through the motor, the switch being held closed by a spring-controlled latch 194. Movement of the switch 176 in the opposite direction releases the latch 194 and allows a spring 191 to restore the plate 180 and open the motor circuit. The switch is automatically operated by a triplever 200 on the transfer loop 53, Fig. 13, to stop the machine after the last record has been played and discharged. The trip-lever is controlled by gravity its heavy end having an adjustable screw 204 which engages a projection 206 to release the latch 194 when the trip-lever is in the position shown which occurs when the hoop returns to the horizontal position without a record thereon. At other times, the weight of a record holds the trip-lever inoperative.