Patent GB-403758-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to gramophones
IPC: G11B17/16
Filed: 1932-07-27
Abstract: 403,758. Magazine gramophones. SLATER, G., 14, Rivelin Place, Old Brumby, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, and GILBERT & CO., Ltd., C., 75, Arundel Street, Sheffield. July 27, 932, Nos. 21132/32 and 10897/33. [Class 40 (ii).] Relates to magazine gramophones of the kind in which the record reversing and changing mechanism is automatically put into and out of operative association with the gramophone motor at the end of playing a record by means of a gear wheel 1 having a pivoted segment portion 2 which is adapted to be lowered into alignment with the gear wheel so that the latter may be driven by the gramophone motor in order to operate the said mechanism. According to the invention, the gear wheel 1 is adapted to operate two levers 10, 15 for effecting respectively the raising and swinging movements of the pick-up arm 7, and a horizontal shaft 21 driven by gearing from the gear wheel 1 is provided with a lever 22, 23 at each end for operating respectively a record reversing member and a record lifting and discharging member. Manual means are also provided for breaking the cycle of operations at will and putting the gear wheel into operative association with the gramophone motor, and the motor circuit is adapted to be opened when a record is not deposited on the turntable. The segment 2, which is retained in raised position by the coaction of a projection 3 on the segment with a cam 4 mounted loosely on the shaft 5 of the gear wheel 1, is adapted to be lowered when the cam 4 is slightly rotated so as to disengage it from the projection 3. This rotation of the cam 4 is effected when the pick-up enters the " run off " groove at the end of a record. During playing of a record, an arm 54 is moved gradually with the pick-up arm, and is intermittently returned by a finger 54a on the turntable spindle; at the end of the record, the increased movement of the lever 54 causes the latter to rotate a lever 56, and the consequent movement of a finger 58 carried by the lower end of the vertical shaft 57 of this lever effects the necessary rotation of the cam 4. In the lowered position of the segment 2, the gear wheel 1 is rotated by a gear wheel 6 driven by the gramophone motor, and such rotation effects raising of the pick-up arm 7 through the coaction of a cam 11 on the gear wheel 1 with the lever 10 which is pivoted to a stirrup 9 carrying the pillar 8 of the pick-up arm. The pick-up arm is simultaneously swung outwardly by the co-operation of a cam 16 on the shaft 5 with the lever 15 which either strikes against a finger on the pillar 8 or is connected by a cable 17 with a projection 18 on such pillar. When the pick-up has been swung outwardly, a crescent-shaped record-reversing member 27 of the kind described in Specification 383,341 is raised to lift the record, turned to reverse the record, and lowered to re-position the record on the turntable, such operations being effected by a pillar 25 which is moved vertically by the coaction of a projection 24 on such pillar with the lever 22 mounted on the shaft 21. A spring 8a on the shaft 8 then swings inwardly the pick-up arm 7 which is lowered on to the record by the action of the cam 11, and the cam 4 is caused to disengage the segment 2 from the gear wheel. After playing the record, the finger 58 is again actuated as described above to set the gear wheel 1 into operation so that the pick-up arm is raised and swung outwardly. A crescent-shaped record lifter 30 is then operated to lift the played record to an inclined position, from which it may slide into a receptacle 37. The lifter 30 is mounted at the top of a vertical pillar 29 which is adapted to be raised in order to lift the record by the coaction of a projection 28 on the pillar 29 with the lever 23 on the shaft 21, such lever 23 being disposed in diametricallyopposite relation to the lever 22. During the upward movement of the pillar 29, a notched lever 34 engages the projecting end 36 of the lifter 30 so that the latter is tilted to eject the record. A cam 38 on the shaft 21 then disengages the lever 34 so that the lifter 30 drops to a horizontal position. The lifter 30 then receives a rotary and rising movement to position it under a record magazine by the action of the screw-threaded part of a sleeve 33 surrounding the pillar 29. The shaft 21 is driven at half the speed of the gear wheel so that only one of the levers 22, 23 operates for each rotation of the gear wheel 1. In the magazine, the records are threaded upon a stepped vertical member 41, and the lowest record is adapted to be ejected on to the lifter 30 by a member 44 which is operated by a series of levers 45, 46 and links 45a connected to a trigger 47 actuated by a finger 48 on the shaft 5. After receiving a record, the lifter 30 is swung so as to deliver the record to the turntable, and the gear wheel 1 is again disengaged. Every second revolution of the shaft 5, corresponding to the record-reversing operation, the trigger 47 and links 45a are pushed into inoperative position against the action of a spring 50 by a lever 47a actuated by the cam 38. To prevent premature return of the pick-up arm, a hinged flap 61 is arranged so as to yield to the passage of a finger 60 on the pillar 8 as the arm is swung outwardly, but return of the arm is prevented until the latter is lowered by the cam 11 so that the finger 60 is opposite to the gap 62 in the flap 61. To enable a record to be reversed or returned to the record receiver at will, a lever 66, actuated manually by a rod 67 is adapted to engage a projection 68 on the cam 4 so as to allow the segment 2 to engage with the gear wheel. The motor circuit is adapted to be broken when no record is delivered to the turntable by arranging that the pick-up shall then be deposited on to a catch 65 so as to disengage the latter from a spring contact arm 64, which then operates a contact member 63 so as to open the motor circuit. The turntable is of smaller diameter than any record to be played, and the catch 65 is pivoted on the motor board at the position normally occupied by the initial groove of a record. The arm 64 and catch 65 are re-engaged by a hand lever 64b. The first Provisional Specification describes also (1) the provision of a one-way trip element on the motorboard for engaging a lever on the record lifting and discharge member during its outward swing with the played record so as to cause the record to be ejected ; (2) the use for releasing the segment 2 of a lever which during playing of a record is moved inwards with the pick-up arm and is intermittently returned by a cam on the turntable spindle ; at the end of playing the record, the pick-up arm ceases its inward movement, and a finger on the lever then contacts with a projection on the cam to effect release of the segment 2 ; and (3) the employment with the record reversing mechanism of a disc for lifting the record from the turntable as described in Specification 383,341, such disc being operated from a cam on the shaft of the gear wheel 1. The second Provisional Specification describes also the ejection of the record from the record lifting and discharge member 30 through a slot in the motorboard into a receptacle.