Patent GB-823361-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to apparatus for indicating or recording the listening or viewing habits of the users of radio receivers
IPC: H04H60/32
Filed: 1955-11-21
Abstract: 823,361. Recording apparatus. NIELSEN CO. Ltd., A. C. (Nielsen Co., A. C.) Nov. 21, 1955, No. 33317/55. Class 106 (4). [Also in Groups XX and XL (c)] Apparatus for recording the information concerning the selected stations to which a radio receiver is tuned at different times comprises a receiver attachment, a position switch having a plurality of contacts associated with receiver attachment, means for connecting the position switch with the receiver to render a different one of the contacts effective for each different transmitting station to which the receiver may be tuned, means for converting electrical signals from the position switch characteristic of the individual stations into binary code signals and means for recording the coded signals. As shown, to record the times of operation and the stations received over a period of time by a radio and/or television set 25, a receiver attachment 30 is linked with the receiver 25 and is connected at 31 to a recording device 32 (Fig. 1). ). The receiver 25 contains a tuning unit 40 comprising a knob 41 for actuating a frequency varying device 42, and a pulley 56 is mounted on a common axis such that rotation of the knob 41 causes corresponding rotation of a rotary conducting shaft 48 of a position switch 34 in the receiver attachment 30 by means of a pulley wire 55 and gear-wheels 57, 59 and 60. The shaft 48 carries regularly spaced contact cams 49, 50 for A.M. stations and 51, 52 for F.M. stations, each with a raised surface adapted to make electrical contact with its associated contact 54 at a predetermined angular position of the shaft such that for each station to which the receiver is tuned, a specific cam contacts its contact member 54. The receiver attachment 30 and the recorder 32 are powered through cables 64a-64e of which 64a, 64b supply the recorder 32 through a fuse 65, and lead through the link 31 to a terminal strip 67. To indicate when the receiver 25 is used in connection with a gramophone, the switch 66 (Fig. 1c), is opened, and the conductor 64e which is connected to the set switch 47 carries a signal indicating the " on or off condition of the receiver. For A.M., F.M. indication, the contacts 62a, 62b of the switch 62 which is connected to the supply 44 are respectively connected through 64d, 64c to the contacts 54 associated with cams 49, 51 so that the switch 62 which is dependent upon a band switch (not shown) renders effective the appropriate section of the shaft 48 which carries an insulator at its centre to isolate the upper (A.M.) half from the lower (F.M.) half. The cams 49, 51 make continuous contact with their followers and the signal so produced gives rise to impulses from the code commutator switch 35 which provide recorded indications of whether the set is tuned to F.M. or A.M. Conductors 72a-72p from each of the contacts 54 pass through a multi conductor plug 70 and lead to similar contacts 73 on the code commutator switch 35, the conductors from corresponding contacts from the F.M. and A.M. side of the insulator 53 being joined together. The code commutator switch comprises a series of cams 74a-74u, one associated with each of the contacts 73 (Fig. 1c), and mounted on a shaft 77 having an insulated portion 77a to isolate the two parts thereof; the shaft 77 is mounted to rotate at one revolution per minute by means of a synchronous motor 78 (Fig. 1b). The tuning information is recorded on 16 mm. cinematographic film (Fig. 21) in binary code so that four angular positions of the shaft 77 are necessary to code the fifteen separate tuning channels for each frequency range; the cams 74 are therefore each provided with raised contact portions from one to four in number and at positions corresponding to the four angular positions of the shaft 77 (Fig. 1c). A coded pulse signal is therefore transmitted from the code commutator switch to the recording device during each revolution of the shaft 77 and the cam 74 which is in continuous contact with its follower 73 completes the circuit. When recording information from more than one receiver on the same film strip, the cam 74 has a single contact which engages its follower just in advance of the first of the four angular positions to produce one pulse per minute indicating that the particular set is on. The cam 74s which produces an indication that F.M. signals are being received is mounted on the upper part of the shaft 77 and is connected through its follower 73 by the leads 69 and 64c to the follower of cam 51 on the switch 34, and a pulse signal is produced after the last of the four angular positions. The switch 35 is rotated at all times whether the receiver 25 is on or off, and a " time mark " radio 39 (Fig. 1a) is provided in association with the recording device and tuned to a single nearby station to provide time information upon the film enabling the record to be " located " in respect of time ; for this purpose the contact 73 associated with the cam 74t is connected by the conductor 84 to the "time mark" radio 39 ; and for providing a time graduation the cam 74u engages its contact 73 to provide a signal every minute. The pulses proceeding from the code commutator switch 35 energize a lamp 95 (Fig. 1b), connected by conductors 64b and 79 to the terminal strip 79 and from this point the circuit is completed according to which of the cams 74 are making contact, and to the disposition of the switch 30, (e.g.) when the receiver 25 is switched on and tuned to A.M. station 4, the cam 50d on the switch 30 contacts its follower 54, and the switch 62 contacts 62a; current flows from the source through conductor 64b to the filament of the lamp 95, through the resistor 96, conductor 79, contact 73, cam 74r, the conducting lower part of the shaft 77, the cam 74d and its contact 73, the conductor 72d, the contact 54 and the associated cam 50d, the conducting shaft 48 above the insulator 53, the cam 49 and contact 54, the conductor 64d, and through switches 62 and 66 to the other side of the power source. Thus the lamp 95 will be energized once per minute at the instant the contact portion of the cam 74d contacts its follower member; this will continue as long as the receiver remains so tuned, and the lamp will also be energized at other epochs of the motion of the shaft 77 through further circuits in parallel with that described above. The circuits through cams 74t and 74u are independent of the set switch so that the " time mark " radio and " minute " signals may be recorded continuously. An optical system for causing the lamp 95 to expose portions of the film 38 in the correct transverse positions comprises a condensing lens 102 (Fig. 5), a rotating disc 103, a fixed slit member 104 and a further lens 105 followed by the film 38. The disc 103 which is rotated by a synchronous motor at one revolution per minute has a plurality of elongated slits of which 106a-106x are arranged in a spiral to cause the light to move successively across the film which moves a distance equal to the width of the slit 104a during one revolution of the disc, To ensure that the correct slit appears at the exposure position to correspond to a specific position of the code consulator switch, a second set of circumferential slits 112a-112x each corresponding to a member of the first set are provided to allow manual alignment through a window in the apparatus. For moving the film 38, a motor 120 (Fig. 1b), is drivingly connected by a shaft 121 to a friction drive roller 122 which rotates at half a revolution per hour, and in a preferred embodiment a cam switch 124 is actuated when the follower member 125 enters the recess in the cam wheel 126 to render the " time mark " radio 39 operative for a few minutes in every hour. The time mark radio 39 is permanently tuned to a local station and includes the basic components shown in Fig. 1a, the construction of the receiver forms no part of the present invention. When the receiver 39 is on and the station to which it is tuned is transmitting, the carrier signal is rectified by the detector 134 and appears across resistor 134; this voltage is applied as a negative bias to the grid of the triode 136; the anode circuit of which is connected a source B through the winding of a relay 100. The power supply 141 for the receiver 39 comprises a primary winding 144 of a transformer 143 connected by leads 145, 146 to the power source, and power is supplied to the primary winding 144 by one of three following circuits : (a) through conductor 149, thermal relay 150, conductor 152, conductor 153, conductor 99, the fuse 98, conductor 64a; (b) through conductor 146, cover switch 160, conductor 154, conductor 153, and thence by the circuit of (a) to the conductor 64 and (c) through conductor 146, conductor 161, cam switch 124, conductor 162, conductor 154 and thence to conductor 64a. To record the " sign on " time of.the transmitter of thr receiver 39, a relay 100 has contacts 100b which are open when the relay is de-energized (i.e.) when the set 39 is off or when no carrier is received. If during the short interval per hour when the set 39 is switched on due to the cam 126 no carrier is received, no negative bias is applied to the grid of 136 so that the relay 100 is energized to open the contacts 100a and close the contacts 100b; when the contacts 100b are closed a resistor 170 receives current. to actuate a thermal switch 150 after a short interval of warming up time, this closes contacts 150a and completes the circuit (a) above. This state of affairs will continue and the set remains on until a carrier signal arrives to de-energize the relay 100. The transformer is also actuated by a switch operable on replacing a cover of the housing. A switch 172 is actuated in dependence upon whether a film receiving magazine is inserted into the apparatus and controls the film feeding motor 120. After exposure, the film enters a light, tight detachable magazine 36 (Fig.