Patent GB-475731-A (GB)
Title: An automatically and continuously working gramophone
IPC: G11B17/02
Filed: 1936-03-24
Abstract: 475,731. Magazine gramophones. UEMURA, T. March 24, 1936, No. 8729. Convention date, March 25, 1935. [Class 40 (ii)] An automatic gramophone adapted to play both sides or one side only of a number of stacked records, comprises a shaft upon which two series of cams are axially slidable, one series controlling means for discharging a played record and placing an unplayed record on the turntable, and the other series effecting alternately the substitution of a played record for an unplayed record and the reversing and replacement of a played record to bring the other side into playing position on the turntable, further means being provided for moving the cams to bring the required series into operation. In the construction shown, the movements of the tone-arm and of the mechanism for placing, turning, and removing the records, are effected by a motor 27, Fig. 2, arranged in circuit with two switches 102 and 11, Fig. 1. The switch 11 is closed when a record has been played by means associated with the pick-up 28, said means comprising two two-armed levers 12, 14. The lever 12 has a pin-and-slot connection with the pick-up and is adapted to engage with the lever 14, which is controlled by a spring 22 and carries a spring-controlled toothed sliding element 18. In operation, as the record is being played, the lever 12 rotates anticlockwise first disengaging itself from a flange 16 on the lever 14, which then rotates until the element 18 contacts with an abutment 25, and subsequently rotating a pivoted lever 21 which releases the element 18 and thus frees the lever 14 which then closes the switch 11. The lever 14 is moved in the reverse direction when the pick-up moves outwardly by means of a projecting piece 24 on the lever 12. The closing of the switch 11 starts the motor 27 which drives a shaft 39 carrying at one end a grooved disc 101 associated with the other switch 102. This switch closes the circuit until the shaft has rotated through 180‹. At its other end the shaft carries a cam 41, Fig. 8, which engages with a projection 35 of a spring- controlled oscillatory shaft 34. The shaft is journalled in a bracket 32 and carries a ring 36 rolling over a cam disc 33 mounted on the bracket and a loosely mounted arm 31 carrying the support 29 of the tone-arm. Thus, a half turn of the shaft 39 causes the tone-arm first to be lifted and swung outwardly, the rotary movement being effected by coacting stops on the ring 36 and the tone-arm, and subsequently to be swung inwards and lowered, the rotary movement being produced by the frictional contact between the arm 31 and ring 36. The initial inward swinging movement is controlled by a stop 96 on a pivoted lever 97 which is loosely connected with another pivoted lever 94 carrying an upstanding pin 93 which is adapted to abut against the rim of the record. Thus, the needle 100 is correctly positioned for any sized record. The subsequent lowering movement of the arm 31 frees it from its engagement with the stop 96. The shaft 39 carries also three pairs of cams A, A<1>, B, B<1> and C, C<1>, Fig. 6, which are adapted to actuate the mechanism for delivering, turning, and removing the records. The cams A, B, C operate for double-sided records and the others for single-sided records, the selection of the particular set of cams required being provided for by means of a link 75, Fig. 1, controlled by a handle 77 and adapted to slide the cams axially along the shaft 39. The record turning and removing device comprises two arms 49, each of which, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, passes through the base-plate 1, through a groove in a block 52 arranged one at each end of a shaft 51 and into a curved forked member 55 arranged on axially slidable shafts 54. The axial movements of these shafts are produced by either of the cams B, B which actuate one end of a pivoted lever 67, the other end of which actuates a vertically sliding member 63 connected to the shafts by spring-controlled arms 64. Such outward movements of the shafts swing the arms 49 inwards and the record is held by members 48 mounted on the arms. When the record is thus held, the cams A or A<1> actuate one end of a pivoted lever 68, the other end of which is adapted to rotate the shaft 50 and thus lift the arms 49. The cams are so shaped that single-sided records are raised and placed upon an arm 7 of a column 3 for each half-revolution of the shaft 39, a similar action taking place for doublesided records at alternate half-revolutions of the shaft. The remaining half-revolutions of the shaft serve to lift the double-sided records only a short distance, to turn them over, and then to replace them on the turntable. The turning movement is effected by an arm 48 slidably mounted on one of the arms 49. One end of the arm carries a ball 57 which co-operates with a fixed cam surface 571, while the other end is provided with teeth which engage with a pinion 60 on the shaft of the member 48. The record delivering device is actuated by the cams C, C<1> and consists of a curved member 79, Fig. 1, having a downwardly extending projection 78, Fig. 6, with which the cam engages. The member 79 is slidably mounted on a block 91 pivoted at 81 to a support 80, Fig. 2, and is provided with two spring-controlled U-shaped pivoted members 86, the extremities 88, 89 of which project through slots and are adapted to press against the unplayed records R when the member is raised. These records are stacked on an arm 4 of a column 2 and are urged towards the free end of the arm by a spring 5. The cams C are so shaped that the pivoted members 86 are first pressed against the record, then lowered and subsequently raised so that the record is supported thereby ; the member then descends and places the record on the turntable.