Abstract:
A musical movement in which a drum has a series of pins that engage the reeds of a vibration plate to play a tune. The movement includes a cam disk which rotates with the drum. A switch is activated by the cam to energize a circuit for flashing a plurality of lights in pseudo-synchronism with the music played by the musical movement. In that way, the distinctive sound of a mechanical musical movement is combined with efficient, computer controlled flashes from light emitting diodes or high intensity micro incandescents.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Mechanical music movements produce a distinctive sound and although originally they were expensive toys for aristocrats in Europe used to reproduce complex tunes, in modern days they normally play a short simplified tune and cost very little. The tune or tune fragment is produced by selectively plucking a plurality of reeds on a vibration plate. Modern musical movements pluck the reeds with pins which extend out of the side of a cylindrical drum which is rotated adjacent the vibration plate. 
     Various mechanical drivers are used to rotate the drum. For example, in very simple musical movements, the drum is rotated by means of a hand crank and a simple reduction gear. In other movements, a spring motor is included which may be wound by means of a key or a pull string. When a spring motor is provided, a transmission is included between the spring motor and the drum, which includes some sort speed regulator. The regulator can take the form of a fan whose drag increases exponentially with speed to compensate for the variations in forces applied by the spring motor between its fully wound position and its unwound position. Better speed regulation can be obtained through the use of centrifugal brake devices, which spin one or more brake shoes against a fixed drum and are arranged so that faster speeds increase the centrifugal force and cause the brake shoes to engage the drum with more force. In this way, high unwind speeds are avoided since at high speeds the braking device produces much more braking than at low speeds. However, because of cost constraints, neither of the described speed regulators are particularly accurate, they only acting to modulate unwind speed of the spring motor and not really completely control it. 
     Electronic musical circuits are now available at very low costs. However, such devices produce tones by electronically generating sound signals and then playing them through a speaker. In most applications, there is very little room for a speaker so that low volume and a particularly characteristic electronic sound is produced, which is not as pleasing as the sound produced by traditional mechanical musical movements. Also, mechanical musical movements can have power take off devices to actuate additional features. For example, when a mechanical musical movement is placed within a stuffed bear, a power take off can be provided to the bear&#39;s mouth. The result is a stuffed bear who appears to be singing along with the tune produced by the mechanical musical movement. 
     In recent times, bright multi-colored, light emitting diodes and high intensity micro incandescent lamps have become available. There are applications where it is desirable to provide light outputs at the time a mechanical musical movement is producing a tune. This is very simple to do when an electronic musical circuit is used as the required current outputs from such an electronic circuit are relatively easily implemented. However, as aforesaid, the music produced by such electronic devices is of inferior quality. 
     Therefore, there has been a need to provide mechanical music movements of normal mechanical configurations, which can control and actuate one or more light sources, especially for use in displays and toys. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In the present invention, a mechanical musical movement of generally conventional form is provided with a cam or similar mechanically timed actuation device attached to the drum of the mechanical musical movement. In this way, actuations caused by such timing means are generally in synchronism with the music produced by the mechanical musical movement. As aforesaid, since such movements tend to slow down gradually as their spring motor unwinds, or if hand cranked, to run at a speed controlled by the cranker, it can be important to the operation of the present invention that the turning on and turning off of the lights is related to the tune being played, and hence the position of the drum in relation to the vibration plate. 
     In a preferred embodiment, cam lobes are provided at the end of the drum opposite from its driving gear. The lobes are used to close a mechanical switch, which then in turn activates a light control circuit. The light control circuit may be relatively simple or include a central processing unit (CPU), a memory, and a light driver so that sophisticated patterns of light activation can be produced. In some instances, a single lobe is provided so that the switch activates the light circuit at or near the position of the drum where a tune commences. Thereafter, the light circuit is timed to produced flashes from its connected lights during the approximate time that the tune will be played. In more sophisticated arrangements, multi-lobe cams can be used to generally signal the correct time to change the sequence of flashing lights. This sequence change can be synchronized to the start of the tune by having two closely placed lobes which produce closely spaced signals to the CPU allowing it to determine the start of the tune and to reset for further operations. 
     Although cam lobes are a suitable activation means, other devices such as protrusions placed on the circular side plate of the drum can be used to activate a reed switch which in this instance would be turned 90°. Other suitable means include magnets in the drum to actuate a magnetic switch and even optical stripes on the end plate for reading by an optical sensor, when the expense the cost of such is justified by the wanted tune matching capability of the device. 
     Therefore is an object of the present invention to integrate mechanical musical movement technology with modern electronic light controls so that lights can be activated in pseudo-synchronism with the tune being played by the mechanical musical movement. 
     Another object is to provide means to activate lights in accordance with the progress of a tune being played by a mechanical musical movement. 
     Another object is to provide integration between a mechanical musical movement and an electronic light control in a very economical way, without requiring substantial modification to existing musical movements. 
     These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after considering the following detailed specification together with the accompanying drawings wherein: 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a prospective view of a mechanical musical movement incorporating a single lobe cam and an electronic control circuit attached thereto on a printed circuit board; 
     FIG. 2 is a side view similar to FIG. 1 showing an embodiment with multiple cam lobes; 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view similar to FIG. 2 showing how a cam lobe causes a simple reed switch to energize in a hand cranked version of the present invention; 
     FIG. 4 is an opposite side view of the musical movement of FIG. 1 showing the spring motor, a portion of the speed increasing transmission, a speed regulator in a string pull musical movement; 
     FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing the logic and electrical interconnection between the activation switch, a CPU, a prom memory, a light driver, and a plurality of lights; 
     FIG. 6 is a typical timing diagram of switch input versus light output for the device shown in FIG.  5 . 
     FIG. 7 is a simplified side view showing a mechanical switch being activated by buttons formed on the side of the end of the drum; 
     FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 showing magnets embedded in the drum to open a normally closed switch; and 
     FIG. 9 is a similar side view similar to FIGS. 7 and 8 showing in a simplified way how a light sensor and a pattern on the side of the drum can be used to control the CPU. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to the drawings more particularly be reference numbers, number  10  in FIG. 1 refers to a mechanical musical movement with a light controller constructed according to the present invention. The device  10  includes a musical movement  12  having a base  14  which supports a vibration plate  16  having a plurality of reeds  18  formed therein. Generally each reed  18  producing a different tone when plucked by pins  20  extended hourly from the cylindrical surface  22  of a drum  24  which is rotated adjacent the vibration plate  16 . 
     The mechanical musical movement  12  of FIG. 1 includes a spring motor  26 , such as are wound by a key, not shown, which through a transmission  28  drives the drum  24  by means of a gear  30  at one end thereof. A cam plate  32  is included at the opposite end of the drum  24  and is shown including a lobe  34  positioned so that a reed switch  36  is closed thereby and then allowed to open as the lobe  34  rotates there past with the drum  24 . The device  10  also includes a printed circuit board  38  for feeding electrical power from a battery, not shown, to a light control circuit  40 , and distributing the outputs thereof along wires  42  to lights  44  as shown in FIG.  2 . 
     In FIG. 2, multiple lobes  34  are shown on the cam plate  32  for multiple actuations of the switch  36 . As shown, the switch  36  is a normally open switch which is closed by engagement with the cam lobe  34  there past as is shown in FIG. 3 by closing the opposite leafs  50  and  52  thereof. FIG. 3 also shows a movement  12  driven by a hand crank  54 . 
     Whether the movement  12  is hand cranked or driven by a spring motor  26  activated by a key or the pull string  56  shown in FIG. 4, the spring  58  of the spring motor  26  or cranking speed of the user of the hand crank  54 , normally varies. Therefore, a speed control mechanism or regulator such as the fan  60  and/or the centrifugal brake assembly  62  are provided in all but the most economical embodiments of the invention so that the tune played by the drum  24  and the vibration plate  16  is not played too fast after winding, nor too slow except at the very end of the unwinding of the spring  58 . Normally, such regulator mechanisms are driven by a step up gear shown as a spur gear  64  driving a high angle worm gear  66 . 
     In FIG. 5, a light control circuit  70  is shown with its typical components. When the switch  36  is closed and/or opened by a cam lobe  34 , a signal is sent to the central processing unit (CPU)  72 , which activates it into full operation. At that point, the CPU queries the memory  74 , shown as a programmable read only memory (PROM), to access the instructions for lighting the lights  44  and in what sequence. The CPU  72  having determined the proper sequence from the memory  74 , provides this information to a light driver  76 , which thereafter activates the lights  44  in accordance with the instructions provided. As shown in FIG. 5, two lobes  34  are positioned adjacent each other to produce two signals within a short time. When a suitable CPU  72  is provided, it can sense these two short pulses from the switch  36  and determine that the start of a tune has just occurred, to reset the driver  76  and initialize its sequence. Note that a third lobe  34  is positioned opposite the adjacent lobes  34 . This can be used to time a change in the light sequence to correspond, for example, with a dramatic change in the tune being played. 
     This can be understood easier with reference to FIG. 6 wherein the pulses produced by a switch (SW) are compared against the flashing sequence of lights L 1 , L 2 , L 3  and L 4  over time. Note that when the second pulse  80  starts, so does the sequence of L 4  and thereafter a pre-determined pattern of light activations of L 1 , L 2 , L 3  and L 4  occur as programmed in the memory  74 . When part way through the tune another pulse  82  is produced by the switch then the sequencing of L 1 , L 2 , L 3  and L 4  is changed until the CPU  72  is reinitialized by the two close together pulses  84  and  86 . Although the lights are shown as being activated in flashes, one may be turned on for most if not all of the tune while others may just occasionally flash, depending upon the effect desired by the designer and programmed into the PROM  74 . Note that even though the lobes  34  in FIG. 5 are almost exactly opposite each other, a longer time is present between pulse  82  and  84  indicating that spring motor  26  is slowing down. For that reason, it is convenient to have the pulses  84  and  86  reinitialize the CPU  72  to bring it back into pseudo-synchronism with the tune being played. 
     FIGS. 7,  8  and  9  show alternate CPU actuation methods. For example, in FIG. 7, the switch  36  has been turned on its side and is being activated by buttons  90  formed in the side surface  92  of the drum  24 . In FIG. 8, small magnets  94  are embedded in the end  96  of a drum  24  to open a normally closed magnetic switch  98 , whereas in FIG. 9, a light sensor  102  is used to read a pattern of stripes  104  placed on the end  106  of the drum  24 . The light sensor  102  is very rarely practical unless the movement  12  is powered by an AC line power source. 
     Thus, there has been shown and described mechanical musical movements with electronic light actuation means which fulfill all of the objects and advantages sought therefore. Many changes, alterations, modifications, and other uses and applications of the subject invention, become apparent to those skilled in the art after considering the specification together with the accompanying drawings. All such changes, alterations, and modifications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of invention are deemed to be covered by the invention, which is limited only by the claims that follow.