Patent GB-149796-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to sound reproducing machines
IPC: G11B17/16
Filed: 1919-05-28
Abstract: 149,796. Wade, H., (Benjamin, J. H.). May 28, 1919. Sheet separators.-A multiple-record gramophone has a stack of record disks supported vertically above the turntable, the bottom record of the stack being dropped on to the previously played record upon the completion of the latter. The turntable is lowered a. distance equal to the thickness of a record as each additional record is dropped on to it. The record-feeding mechanism may be disconnected so as to permit a record to be repeated, and the part of the mechanism above the turntable may be removed if it is desired to use the machine as an ordinary machine. Fig. 2 shows the whole mechanism removed from the cabinet, Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2. The turntable 33 is driven by an electric motor 27 mounted in a frame 26, the whole being vertically movable by means of a screw 36. The threads of the screw are shaped like a ratchet tooth and are engaged by pawls 38 spring mounted in the hub of a spur-wheel 40. The turntable is lowered by anti-clockwise rotation of the spur-wheel 40 but may be lifted to any desired position by hand. The spur-wheel 40 is engaged by three pinions 51 arranged symmetrically at the lower ends of vertical shafts 47 each carrying at its upper end a pair of knife-edged disks 58, 60 spaced apart a distance equal to the thickness of a record. The stack of records to be played is placed on a spindle 62 secured to the turntable centre and the lowest record is engaged at its rim by the disks 58, 60. These disks have portions of their rims cut away so that in the course of one revolution they first permit the lowest record to fall, the rest of the stack being supported on the upper disks 58, then the whole stack is allowed to fall from disks 58 to disks 60 and finally the disks 58 enter between the lowest and the next record in the position shown in Fig. 2. The disks 58, 60 and shafts 47 are stationary during the playing of a record, but after a predetermined number of revolutions of the turntable are rotated through one revolution to place the new record in position. The intermediate gearing for this comprises a pinion 75 on the turntable spindle driving a wheel 72 through a double train of reducing-gear 74, 73. A pin 71 on the wheel 72 engages and gives a quarter-turn to a star-wheel 69 which by spur gearing 68, 63 gives one complete rotation to the shaft 47 carrying one pair of feeding-disks 58, 60, the other pairs being actuated through the gearing 40, 51. Other forms of intermittent gearing may be substituted. The part rotation of the spur wheel 40 lowers the turntable so that the surface of the new record is at the required level. After a pre-determined number of records have accumulated on the turntable, the frame 26 depresses an adjustable plunger 122 which opens a switch 118 in the motor circuit and stops the machine.- The upper parts 48 of the shafts 47 are disconnectible at the couplings 53, so that the record feed disks &c. can be removed. The record-feeding mechanism may be de-clutched by withdrawing a pin projecting through the hub of the pinion 63 from engagement with the shaft 47. This pin is carried by a spring 66 which is controlled by sliding a conical member 115 along the shaft, the conical member being actuated from a suitable press-button by flexible connexions.