Patent GB-363234-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to dictation machines
Filed: 1931-02-27
Abstract: 363,234. Dictating-machines. JAMES, R. W., 11, Queen Victoria Street, London.- (Dictaphone Corporation; Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.A.) Feb. 27, 1931, No. 6189. [Class 40 (ii).] A dictation machine comprises a record-support or mandrel 17, Fig. 2, a start and stop control for said support, a sound-box carriage 21 slidably mounted adjacent said support, a sound-box control having recording, neutral and reproducing positions, and movable means responsive to movement of the sound-box control to either neutral or reproducing position to render a warning device effective prior to rotation of the record support. The carriage 21 is longitudinally movable upon upper and lower rods 22, 23 and has a casing 24 for a slide 25 carrying a pivotally-mounted ball- and-socket junction 27 for a telescoping tube 28 and tone-tube 29. The sound-box 30, provided with recording and reproducing styli 31, 311, is arranged at the rear end of the tube 29. The sound-box control comprises a lever 32 which is pivotally mounted on the carriage rod 22 and is connected by a link 33 with the slide 25 so as to move the sound-box to recording, neutral or reproducing positions. The raising or lowering of the sound-box in its movement from one position to another is accomplished by the coaction of a lug 41 with a guide 42. When the control lever is in neutral position a cam 37 thereon engages a surface on a spring-mounted feed-nut 38 so that the latter is moved downwardly out of engagement with a carriage-feeding screw 39. Clutch mechanism, controlling rotation of the mandrel 17 and carriage feed, comprises a toothed disc 44, Fig. 5, adapted to be moved into or out of engagement with a toothed member 43 on a driving pulley 19 which is loosely mounted on the mandrel shaft 16. A clutch-operating yoke 48 pivoted on a stud 49 has lugs engaging a collar 46 connected by a rod 45 disposed internally of the shaft 16 with the member 44. The clutch parts are held out of engagement by a spring connected to the yoke 48 and are adapted to be engaged by an arm 63 operable by a bell-crank lever 60 through the medium of a Bowden wire 54 which extends to the handle portion 56 of the speaking tube 57 where it may be controlled by a button 58. The effect of removing the mouthpiece of the speaking tube from a hook 65 is to close by means of a link 100 an axially movable switch 102 in the circuit of the motor 20 which drives the mandrel shaft 16 when the clutch parts 43, 44 are engaged by action of the button 58. An electric buzzer 66 is arranged in shunt connection across the commutator brushes 70, 73 of the motor 20 and a switch 67 is included in circuit with the buzzer. The switch 67 is closed when the sound-box control lever 32 is in either neutral or reproducing position by a spring 92, Fig. 4, acting on a pivoted arm 89 carrying the movab1e contact 76 of the switch. When the control lever 32 is moved to recording position, the switch 67 is closed by the action on the pivoted arm 89 of a lever system comprising a link 87 having a pin-and-slot connection with a bell-crank lever 83 which has an upstanding arm 82 in engagement with a pivotally-mounted link 81, Fig. 5, contacting with a lever 79 connected with the control lever 32. When the clutch yoke 48 is rotated to set the mandrel shaft 16 into operation, the lower end of the yoke engages an ear 93 projecting from the pivoted arm 89 of the switch 67 so as to disengage the switch contacts and open the buzzer circuit. Thus, whenever the mouthpiece of the speaking tube is removed from the hook 65 with the control lever 32 in neutral or reproducing positions a warning will be sounded. Subsequent manipulation of the button 58, with the control lever in reproducing position, discontinues the warning and engages the clutch parts for reproduction purposes. A lamp 126 mounted on the handle of the speaking tube may be used instead of the buzzer, a switch arm 131 being movable to employ either of such devices. Records, ejecting.-A record ejector comprises a plunger 96, Fig. 5, at the end of a plunger 95 which is fixed to an upstanding arm 97 on a link 98 pivotally attached to an operating lever 99. When the control lever 32 is in recording or reproducing position, a pin 106 on the bell-crank lever 83 is disposed at either end of a V-shaped slot 107 in a latch lever 108 so that the end of the latter engages a pin 111 on the lever 99 and renders the record ejector inoperable. With the control lever in neutral position, the latch lever 108 is disengaged from the lever 99 and the record may be ejected.