Patent GB-119239-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Automatic Talking Machines.
Inventor: SQUIBB LLOYD YONKER
IPC: G11B17/00
Filed: 1918-09-14
Abstract: 119,239. Squibb, L. Y. Sept. 15, 1917, [Convention date]. Multiple - record machines.-A gramophone is arranged to play a series of records taken from and returned to a magazine automatically, and the sound-reproducing mechanism and the recordchanging mechanism are interdependent so that each, on completing its operation, initiates the operation of the other. On the completion of a record the sound-box is raised, and the approach of the next record returns the sound-box to starting position. The record magazine is preferably in the form of a series of horizontal shelves, and it is raised or lowered either automatically or manually to bring the required record opposite the turntable. Figs. 1, 2, and 3 are respectively a plan, elevation, and bottom plan of the machine, Fig. 4 is an elevation of the mechanism below the plate 1 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 13 shows the switch mechanism diagrammatically. The frame comprises a horizontal plate 1, a series of uprights 2, and an upper cross member 3 forming a housing for the record magazine which slides vertically therein on guide-rods 4, 5. The motor 10 and turntable 8 of the sound-reproducing machine are supported on brackets 7 projecting upwardly from the base 1. The magazine comprises a series of horizontal shelves 23 sliding bodily on the vertical rods 4, 5 and actuated by a central vertical rack 21 gearing with a pinion 50 on a shaft 49 which is driven by a spring motor 48 or by a handle 53. Between each pair of shelves is mounted a semi-circular frame 24 carrying a record by means of a spring clip 26 supported on a diametral member 25. All the record-carriers 24 are threaded on the rod 5 which has a projection or short key 30, Fig. 1<a>, at about the height of the turntable, engaging a keyway in the selected record carrier, which has previously been brought to the required level by vertical adjustment of the magazine. Thus when the rod 5 is rotated through 90 degrees, the selected record and its carrier are swung on to the turntable. The remaining carriers are locked by the engagement of a vertical bar 31 with notches 32, the bar 31 having a slot 33 to allow the selected carrier to he moved. The sound-box 13 is mounted on a gooseneck 15 and is connected by a vertical pin 13<1> to a horizontal arm 90 mounted on a vertical tube 92. The arm 90 accompanies the sound-box in its motion across the record. As the new record-carrier approaches the turntable, an adjustable tappet 28 engages the arm 90 and returns the raised sound-box to correct starting- position. When the record is completed, a latch 105 carried on the arm 90 strikes a second adjustable tappet 27, thus setting mechanism into operation for arresting the turntable motor 10, raising the sound-box, and removing the played record. The complete cycle of operations comprises four divisions :-(1) the transference of a record from the magazine to the turntable, (2) the playing of the record, (3) the return of the played record to the magazine, (4) the adjustment of the magazine for selecting the next record. (1) This is effected by a motor 35 driving through worm gear 37, 38 and spur gear 42, a disk 45 carrying a crank-pin 46 universally-jointed to an arm 47, which is pivoted at its other end by a horizontal pin to the vertical rod 5. The disk 45 is driven half a revolution at a time, and turns the rod 5 through about 90 degrees about its own axis, thus carrying the selected record on to the turntable. When over the turntable, the carrier is supported by ledges 24<11>, and the record rests on the table. Moving with the disk 45 is a cam 94 which at the end of the movement allows a roller 98 on an arm 97 to fall, thereby lowering the tube 92 and its attached arm 90 and allowing the soundbox stylus to engage the record. Simultaneously a tappet 75 moving with the disk 45 engages the curved end 74 of a lever 71 which is pivoted at 72, and carries a lug engaging a stop or tooth 68 on a disk 68 on the shaft 61, Fig. 13. This shaft carries a forked switch arm 62 which is resting on contacts in the circuit of the motor 35. The raising of the lever 71 allows a coiled spring to rotate the switch arm 62 through a right-angle, thereby stopping the motor 35 and starting the turntable motor 10 by engaging contacts 152, 153. After a quarter turn, the switch arm 62 is arrested by the engagement of a tooth 69a with an arm 77. (2) During the playing of the record, the tone-arm and sound box, and the arm 90 move inwards across the record until the latch lever 105, pivoted on a vertical pin on the arm 90, engages the tappet 27. The other end of the lever 105 is thus withdrawn from a notch in a vertical rod 107 which thereupon slides downwards through the tube 92 and tilts the arm 79 of the lever 77, thus releasing the switch shaft 61 and allowing it to make another quarter turn, bringing the tooth 68<a> into engagement with the lever 71 and moving the switch arm 62 off the turntable motor contacts and on to a second pair of contacts 156, 157 in the circuit of the motor 35. (3) The motor 35 again turns the disk 45 through half a revolution and. through the crank 47 and vertical shaft 5, swings the record and carrier back to the magazine. During the first part of this movement, the cam 94 lifts the sound-box by the lever 97 and tube 92 and also re-sets the latch 105. Towards the end of the movement, a tappet 76, further from the shaft 45<1> than the tappet 75, engages and raises the lever 71, thus allowing the switch shaft to rotate another quarter turn, stopping the motor 35 and moving the switch arm 62 to the quadrant without contacts. The switch shaft is held by an arm 80 engaging a stop 70<a>. (4) The lever. 71 pivoted on a pin 72 has a vertical arm 73 connected by a pin and slot 6 to a horizontally-movable lock-bar 120, which normally locks a disk 51 on the shaft 49 of the magazine-adjusting mechanism by engaging lugs 52 thereon. When, however, the lever 71 is raised by the tappet 76, the lock-bar 120 is moved until a slot allows the lug 52 to pass. The disk 51 and shaft 49 are thereupon turned through half a revolution by the spring motor 48, until a second lug 52, diametrically opposite the former, engages the lock-bar 120 which has taken up its original position. The magazine is thus raised sufficiently to bring the next lower record-carrier into engagement with the key 30 on the shaft 5. A wedge-shaped lug 82 on the disk 51 engages a projection on the arm 80 and releases the switch shaft 61, which, by making a quarter turn, again energizes the motor 35 for transferring the new record. If it is desired to select any particular record from the magazine, the shaft 49 is moved axially by pushing the handle 53, thus disconnecting the shaft from the locking-disk 51. The handle may then be turned so as to raise or lower the magazine until the selected record is in position, an indicating pointer 140 being geared to the shaft by a toothed sector 146, and pinions 144', 143, 142. Before the handle 53 and shaft 49 can be pressed in, it is necessary to remove an arm 132 from behind a disk 133 on the shaft. The arm 132 is mounted on a shaft 130 controlled by a handle 135, and in withdrawing the arm 132, a detent 131 is placed in engagement with a stop to hold the switch shaft 61 stationary. After the shaft 49 has again been placed in engagement with the locking-disk 51, the arm 132 can be replaced behind the disk 133, thereby withdrawing the stop 131 and allowing the switch to be moved into position to start the motor 35. The motor 35 is arranged to re-tension the switch-actuating spring.