Patent GB-347569-A (GB)
IPC: G11B17/02
Filed: 1930-10-09
Abstract: 347,569. Gramophones. V I C TOR TALKING MACHINE CO., Front Street, Camden, New Jersey, U.S.A. Oct. 9, 1930, No. 30310. Convention date, Oct. 10, 1929. [Class 40 (ii).] The turntable of a gramophone supports a pile of records, adapted to be played in succession, and is arranged to receive a downward movement to effect disengagement of the stylus of the reproducer from the played record and an upward movement, after removal of the played record, to bring the next record in the pile into engagement with the stylus. The various vertical movements of the turntable, the outward movement of the reproducer, and the ejection of the played record are effected under the control of a cam shaft 20, Figs. 2 and 3, which is driyen by gearing from a spring motor 3, also adapted to drive the turntable shaft 17. A clutch wheel 22, which rotates with the shaft 20, is adapted to be engaged by a spring- pressed clutch lever 23 pivoted on a disc 25. The cams K, K<1> are carried on the disc 25. The turntable 44 rests upon a disc 45 having two concentric depending sleeves 45a, 45d which form a housing for a helical spring 46 supported by a member 47 on the shaft 17. The shaft 17 extends upwardly within the sleeve 45a and has a laterally-extending pin 17a disposed within an axial slot 45b in the sleeve 45a, Fig. 5. Rotation imparted to the shaft 17 is transmitted to the member 47, spring 46, disc 45, and turntable 44. The cam K is adapted to impart an oscillatory movement to a shaft 54 by means of a lever 49 engaging the cam under spring action and connected by a link 52 and lever 53 with the shaft 54. Rollers 58b on arms 58a carried by the shaft 54 are thereby caused to coact with a flange 45e of the sleeve 45d so as to depress the turntable against the spring 46. The cam K is so shaped that the sections a<2>, a<6> serve to lower the turntable, sections a<4>, a<8> allow the turntable to rise, and sections a<3>, a<5>, a<7> maintain the turntable at the level provided by the preceding section. During playing of a record, an angular section 29c of a lever 29 holds the clutch lever 23 out of engagement with the clutch wheel 22, and at the same time a pawl 36 pivoted on an arm 38 fixed to the tone arm T moves over a rack 35 disposed on a spring-controlled lever 33 which is pivoted coaxially with the lever 29. When, at the end of playing a record, the stylus receives a reverse movement, the pawl 36 swings the rack 35 and lever 33 clockwise and causes a vertically-movable lever 40 on the lever 33 to engage a screw 32 on the lever 29 so as to move the latter out of engagement with the clutch lever 23, which then engages, under spring action, the clutch wheel 22 to set the cams K, K<1> and disc 25 into operation. The inner face of the cam K<1> engages an arm 73a of a lever 73 so as to rotate the latter and to move, by means of link and lever mechanism 73b, 76, 77, 78, a pad 82 co-operating with the governor mechanism 83 in order to increase the speed of the spring drum 3 and therefore of the shaft 20. The disc 25 moves the lever 29 so as to disengage the rack 35 from the pawl 36 and to position the lever 29 so that at the termination of the automatic cycle it functions to disengage the clutch lever 23 and wheel 22. As the cam section a<2> lowers the turntable, a stop-member 134 on the goose-neck g, Fig. 1, engages a stop 135 on the tone arm T so that the goose-neck is supported. During the action of a cam section a2, the end wall of a slot 71a in a lever 71, pivoted on a pin 59 on the cam K, engages a post 72 connected with the tone arm T so as to swing the latter outside the periphery of the turntable. The cam section a4 then raises the turntable for operation of a pair of record-ejecting members 67, 68, which are pivoted on a rod 66 carried in supports 64 mounted on a spring-controlled lever 63 adapted to be operated by a slotted member 61 connected with the pin 59 of cam K. When the cam K moves the lever 63, the levers 67, 68 swing in counterclockwise direction out of contact with a post 126 so that the angular seat 67a of lever 67 drops on to the rotary record and the bevelled edge of lever 68 is positioned between the two uppermost records. Continued movement of the cam K causes the member 68 to be inserted to a greater extent between the records so as to tilt the uppermost record to clear the end of the shaft 17. This record is then ejected under the influence of its rotary motion. The cam section a<6> then acts to lower the turntable and while it is in this position the end wall of the slot 71a of lever 71 engages the post 72 to swing the tone arm T clockwise so as to position the stylus vertically above a point between the spiral sound groove on the record and the outer edge of the record. The cam section a<8> raises the turntable so that the uppermost record engages the stylus and lifts slightly the goose-neck g. Just prior to the conclusion of the cycle of the cam shaft 20, an arm 73c of lever 73 effects movement, through a link 122 and lever 123, of a spring 125 to cause the stylus to be fed into the spiral sound groove of the uppermost record. A stopping lever 91, pivoted on a disc 84, is provided with a nose 91b which is coactable by means of a spring 94 with an arm 93a of a lever 93. When the lever 91 is turned so as to disengage the nose 91b from the arm 93a, the spring 94 turns the disc 84 so that a lever 87, which engages a notch 84c in the disc 84, moves a pad 82 into engagement with the governor mechanism. To stop the machine when the last record is being ejected, the lower end of a lever 103, pivoted in the supports 64, contacts with a projection 99b on a slotted lever 99 so as to cause the connected lever 98 to swing clockwise. A screw 108 on this lever engages a spring 97 on an arm 93b of lever 93 so that the latter frees the lever 91 and allows the disc 84 to stop the machine. When there are any records on the turntable the lever 103 contacts with them and is prevented from falling to the extent necessary to engage the projection 99b. To allow repetition from the same record, mechanism may be provided to latch the levers 67, 68 together in inoperative position. To discontinue reproduction from one record and initiate reproduction from the next record, the angular end 120b of a rod 120 may be actuated bv a knob 119 so as to coact with a finger 33b on the lever 33 and move the latter clockwise in order to set the cam shaft 20 into operation. For non-automatic operation a lever 115 on the motor-board m may be swung so as to actuate a link 110 and move the lever 98 in anticlockwise direction. This causes a depending member 109 on an arm 98c of lever 98 to coact with a cam surface 40c on lever 40 and thereby moves the latter out of contact with the screw 32 and into a position in which a screw 43 is level with an arm 93c of lever 93. The clutch mechanism is therefore inoperative and at the conclusion of playing a record the lever 40 actuates the arm 93c to allow the disc 84 to stop the machine. The lever 115 is pivoted in trunnions 116a, Fig. 3, and is provided with a rod coacting with a spring-pressed rod 117 carried in a pivoted U-shaped member 112 which coacts with a nut 111 on the link 110. The gramophone is of portable type and the horn H is arranged beneath the motor-board m and discharges sound through an aperture p in the motorboard as shown in Fig. 1. The tone arm T is arranged to swing in an horizontal plane in a supporting structure A. The cover C, to which records are adapted to be ejected from the turntable, has a pivoted carrier D for records. The motor-board carries a receptacle 133 of rubber &c. for supporting, when out of use, the sound box. A compartment 133b of this receptacle 133 may serve as a container for used needles. The reproducer may be of sound box or electric pick-up type, and in the latter case a loud speaker may be disposed in the gramophone casing or in a separate case.