Patent GB-206917-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in apparatus for the accompaniment of film projections by means of mechanical musical instruments
Filed: 1922-08-15
Abstract: 206,917. Hennig, G. K.., and Hupfeld Akt.-Ges., L. Aug. 15, 1922. Combined with kinematographs; winding-mechanism.-In an automatic musical instrument comprising a rotary drum magazine which carries a number of records for accompanying the projection of kinematographic films, the drum is readily removable for replacement by another loaded magazine. The drum 1 is mounted in forked bearings in a rocking-frame 11 pivoted at 10 and having three positions, (i) with a tune-sheet 4 in contact with the tracker-bar 6 for playing, (ii) as shown in the diagram Fig. 2, slightly withdrawn against the action of spring-hooks 14 or the like and clear of a locking-roller 16, in which position the drum can be rotated by a motor 19 to bring a succeeding tunesheet opposite the tracker-bar, and (iii) drawn outwards and downwards for insertion of a fresh drum. The takeup roll 3 is driven from an ordinary pneumatic motor 24 by a chain 31, Fig. 6, bevel-wheels 34, 35 and a clutch 37, Fig. 7<A>. When another tune-sheet in the drum is to be played, a switch 49, Fig. 7, is closed by hand or, as shown, by an adjustable contact 48 on a disc 45 rotated by the kinematograph. By electropneumatic means 43, 40 a bellows 39 is exhausted rocking a lever 52 about a pivot 51. An arm 55 on the lever 52 depresses a pin 56 on a lever 59 pivoted at 57 which closes contacts 60, 61 and starts the motor 19 carried, as seen in Fig. 6, on the oscillating frame 11. The drum has already been tilted by hand, or electropneumatically fnom the kinematograph, into the position indicated in Fig. 2, so that the motor rotates the drum by gearing 26, 27, 28, 17, the drive of the take-up roll 3 being declutched at 38 by a lug 69 acting on a cone 71, the lug 69 being carried by a lever 68 raised by the upper end of the lever 52. To the arm 68 is also pivoted an arm 79 with a shoulder 81 which takes over a pin on the lever 59 to maintain the contacts 60, 61 closed. When the drum is tilted back on its frame into playing position, it strikes a spring-controlled thrust-bar 83, releasing the arm 79 by means of a lever 86 and thus breaking the drum-rotating motorcircuit at 60, 61. A clutch at 27, Fig. 6, is also operated by the lever 86 acting on a lever 107 so that the driving-gear of the drum is disconnected from the motor 19. The played tunesheet is re-wound in its new position by the motor 19 and friction and chain driving-means 87 - - 95, Fig. 10. The motor-circuit for this purpose is closed between two springs 97, 98 by a lever 101 pivoted at 99 on a spring-controlled lever 118 pivoted at 119 and engaged at 121 by the drum when pushed back. The lever 101 carries an arm 102 engaged by an arm 104 on the roll 3, the arm 104 rising and breaking the circuit when the tune-sheet is completely rewound on the roll 2. Brakes 116, 117, Fig. 6, of known type are removed from discs 38, 2<1> on the spool-shafts by means of star-wheels 110 acting on arms 111, a star-wheel being rotated by an arm on a shaft carrying a roller which, when the drum is rotated to bring the tune-sheet into playing position, drops into a notch, as E, on the edge thereof. The brakes are applied by a spring 115 on the further turning of the starwheel by means of another arm which comes into operation at the next rotation of the drum following the rewinding of the roll. The starwheel 110 may also be manually rotated to apply the brakes when a partly-played roll is shifted out of playing position, and the playing is intended to be completed subsequently. A skipfeed, of known type, for feeding forward a part of a roll not required to be played, may also be provided.