Patent GB-254503-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in disc talking machines
IPC: G11B17/02
Filed: 1925-06-24
Abstract: 254,503. Gramophone Co., Ltd., (Victor Talking Machine Co.). June 24, 1925. Multiple record machines. - An automatic multiple record machine is constructed with means to take records of different sizes arranged in any desired order in a magazine, carry each record to position for and support it during playing, and then discharge it, the operations being initiated by a reverse movement of the reproducer at the finish of playing acting to release detent mechanism which also controls means for returning the reproducer to starting position. Provision is also made for stopping the machine when the record transfer device fails to bring a record into playing position and for increasing the effective power of the motor during the record transferring action. As shown, the records, of different sizes and in any order, are mounted centrally on a horizontal spindle surrounded by a spring-pressed sleeve 16, Fig. 2, carrying a disc 19 which presses the records against a movable eccentric head 41 on the spindle, and are transferred successively to playing position by a table 65 freely carried by arms 77 turning on a pivot spindle 78. As the table swings from horizontal to vertical position a record thereon is raised from the central stud 66 by a pivoted lever 113 rocked by a fixed abutment 119, and passed by gravity through a felt-lined shoot 110 into a lined chamber 111. On reaching the front record in the magazine, the bellmouthed stud 66 takes over the conical surface of the eccentric head 41 and a conical pin 69 in the stud 66 raises a pivoted arm within the snnporting pin for the records, whereby the front record is raised so that its central hole registers with the eccentric head 41, when it is forced bv the spring sleeve 16 on to the stud 66 of the table 65. The table 65 is now swung down to horizontal position to engage the turntable spindle 84 and bring a lug on its under side into the path of driving lugs on a disc secured bv ball clutches on the. turntable spindle, which is driven through worm gear from an electric motor 285 controlled by the usual governor 290 and an auxiliary governor 291 comprising spring-controlled friction pads engaging within a stationary drum. The record is now played, and. on completion the stylus passes into an eccentric grooved. which reverses the travel of the tone-arm slightly, whereby pivoted pawls at the lower end of a post 130. Fig. 3. fixed to a bracket 157 secured to the tonearm 125 engage and move a toothed rack 234. Fig. 12, pivoted to a trip arm 236 mounted on pivot 237 and having a finger 238 normally holding detents 244, 245 clear of staggered toothed wheels 241 fixed on a continuously driven shaft 240 on which is mounted a sleeve 239 carrying eccentrics for controlling the various movements. The detents 244,245 are carried bv a pivot 243 supported from the sleeve and when released b the trip finger engage the wheels 241 whereby the sleeve and eccentrics are driven through one revolution. One eccentric, 197. Fig. 3, now acts through its strap and arm 195, Fig. 14, to slide a guided plate 174 so that a projection 176 at one edge engages a cam lug 172 on a pivoted lever 171 whose upper curved edge 170 engages the stepped end of a bar 165 pivoted in a channeled bracket fixed to a rod 156, Fig. 3, slidably carried from the bracket 157 on the tone-arm, whereby the rod 156 acts through a bail 155 to tilt the swan neck and lift the stylus. Another eccentric 147. Fig. 12, rocks a pivoted lever 131 whose upper end 134 engages the post 130, Fig. 3, to effect, by the shaped edge 135, a quick outward movement of the tone-arm, the post then passing into a slotway in the lever to allow time for changing a record after which, and on the return movement of the lever, a cam surface 140 on the lever acts on the post to move the tone-arm inwards to starting position for the new record. This lever 131 normally supports, through an arm 261, the pivoted rack 234 in operative position but allows it to descend clear of the pawls during outward movement of the tone-arm. A third eccentric 105 acts through a lost motion connection to swing a lever linked to a lever on the pivot 78, Fig. 2, for swinging the record table during transferring; and during the lifting part of this transfer movement the driving power of the motor it temporarily increased by cutting out a part of a resistance normally in the motor circuit by the action of arms 295, Fig. 3, carried by the eccentric sleeve, on a switch lever 293. The machine is stopped when a record is not received by the table by an unbalanced lever pivoted on the swinging arm 77 carrying the record table failing to be tilted by the pressure of a record bearing thereon at one end and consequently permit:- ting a. link at the other end to actuate a rock lever and sliding bar which then acts through a bell-crank to release a stop mechanism. The shaft 240, Fig. 3, for driving the eccentrics may be coupled to its driving gear 289 by a spring- pressed clutch 351 which may be disengaged by a manually operated clutch fork 356 on a lever 354, Fig. 2. actuated by an arm 358 on a spindle passing up through the top board of the machine and carrying a hand lever 360, whereby the parts for automatically controlling the various movements may be rendered inoperative and the machine used in the ordinary manner. The lowering of the reproducer to engage the record when moving inwardly to starting position under the action of the part 138, Fig. 12, of the lever 131 is controlled by the curved top edge 170, Fig. 14. of the lever 171 until a notch 179 in the plate 174 comes opposite the cam 172 on the lever 171 which enables the pivoted bar 165 and rod 156. Fig. 3, to move so that the stylus descends into engagement with a large diameter record, the edge 170 passing clear of the bar 165 which then drops on a support 215 pivoted to the lever 171. If, however, the record is of smaller diameter, the reproducer is supported by the edge 170 of the lever 171 through a further period during which the rod 156 moves to protrude its rear end 212, Fig. 3, through, and into frictional rocking engagement with, the post 130 opposite to the edge 138 of the lever 131 whereby this lever imparts further inward movement to the reproducer before another notch 178 on the plate 174 comes opposite to the cam 172 on the lever 171 to permit descent of the reproducer on to the record. A plate 175 having frictional engagement and limited sliding connection with the plate 174 is controlled by a fixed pin engaging a notch 187 in its edge to effect relative displacement of the cam edges thereon at each end of the travel of the plate 174. The protruding end 212 of the rod 156 is pressed back .within the post 130 by the edge 138 on the lever 131 when this again operates to return the reproducer after playing, the lower end 142, Fig. 12. of this lever also operating a pivoted lever 224 and plunger 221 to lift the pivoted support 215, Fig. 14, so that the lever 171 can again pass under the stepped end of the bar 165. The reproducer can be supported when turned on its goose neck into out of use position on a pivoted lever 373, Fig. 3, which lever engages the channelled bracket on the rod 156 and prevents displacement thereof. Manually operated means for setting the automatic devices into operation for changing a record at any period of playing of the record comprise a plunger 270, Fig. 12, which on depression acts by a cam part 273 thereon to actuate a rod 274 and rock lever 276 to move the trip arm 236 clear of the detents 244, 245.