Improved Mechanism for Driving the Note Discs in Mechanically Played Accordions.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd May, 1896-Accepted, 10th Oct.. 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Mechanism for Driving the Note Discs in Mechanically
Played Accordions.
I, RUDOLF WÜNSCH, of No. 1 Johannisgasse Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony,.
Germany Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and"
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The present invention consists of a mechanism for driving the uote disc or sheet
in mechanically played accordions and in the construction of the same as hereinafter.
described and pointed out in the claims.
And in order to render the present specification more easily intelligible reference
is had to the accompanying drawings in which similar letters of reference denote
similar parts through the several views:
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section through an accordion provided with the present
device,
Fig. 2 a section on line M-M of Figure 1,
Fig. 3 a section on line N-N of Figure 1, showing the accordion in its extended
position in dotted lines,
Fig. 4 is a detail section on line 0-0 of Figure 2,
Figs. 5 and 7 detail views on a larger scale of the mechanism for driving
the ratchet wheel actuating the note shaft said mechanism being shown in two
positions.
Fig. 6 is a side elevation of Figure 5,
Fig. 8 shows a device for driving a horizontally' arranged note disc spindle,
Fig. 9 is a plan view of a modified form of Figure 8, drawn to a larger
scale,
Fig. 10 a side elevation of Figure 9,
Fig. 11 a section on line P-P of Figure 9 and
Fig. 12 a section on line Q-Q of Figure 9.
Referring to Figures 1 to 7:-The end casings A and B of the accordion are
joined as usual by the flexible bellows portion, the part A having arranged therein'
the note valves having valve rods'p extending out of the casing at o and adapted
to be actuated by a note disc N mounted at the end of a spindle k extending out
of the casing, and retained against the valve rod ends by suitable known pressure
device E. The arrangement of the valve rod arms and their operation by the note
disc N is known and forms no part of the present invention. Loose on the shaft k
is a ratchet wheel 1, having sleeve C carrying a spring m wound thereon and
having one end attached to a pin 'n of the ratchet wheel I and the opposite end to a
second pin n of a driving gear 1 fast on the shaft'k. This driving gear-D is
connected by suitable gearing of the known construction to a fan or fly, which
regulates the speed of the shaft k. The ratchet wheel is revolved by means of
pawls i and engaging the same, as may be clearly seen from Figures 5 to 7," said
pawls i and being mounted respectively on swinging arms cd both centred to awing
on the shaft k, said pawls engaging the ratchet wheel by means of suitable springs,
not shown. The ends of the two levers cd are pivoted to the euds of rock levers a
and 6 respectively, which latter are pivoted together at g and guided in a slot 4 of
a frame plate t. The other extremities of the rock levers a and b are pivoted to
the end levers of a series of pivoted levers s, which extend to the cover of the casing B
and will be extended and collapsed when the accordion is played. Thus when the
J

page_text: accordion is operated to play, the rock arms a and b with their pawls will both
operate to turn the ratchet wheel in one and the same direction being operative
during extension & i on closing the bellows. This motion of the ratchet wheel will
he transmitted by the spring m to the driving gear D of the shaft and turn the
latter as soon as the spring m has been stretched to a sufficient extent. At the
same time the fly will be set in motion, regulating the speed of the shaft, so that
any surplus power transmitted by the pawls i it to the ratchet wheel will be stored
in the spring and a regular speed only imparted to the shaft k irrespective of
irregularity in the operation of the pawls, which might be caused by the varying
extent to which the accordion is extended and closed, when being played.
As shown in Figure 8 the motion of the ratchet wheel I may be imparted to a
horizontal disc shaft k¹, by connecting the latter to the shaft k by means of bevel
wheels.
Figs. 9 to 12 show a further device by means of which motion may be trans-
mitted to a horizontal shaft without the aid of bevel gearing. In this case the two
end bars of the lever series s are pivoted to the plate f the next two having their
pivot guided in the slot h of the said plate. An arm s 2 is rigidly pivoted to one
of the end bars of the lever series, said arm being pivoted at its free end to a lever
arm & having its further extremity pivoted to a slide t adapted to slide in a slot u
of the frame E. To this slide t are pivotally attached two arms to (Figs. 11
and 12) which are in their turn pivoted to two levers c and d centred to swing on
the shaft and carrying the pawls i and operating the ratchet wheel as
previously described. The latter wheel being in this case mounted on the shaft k¹
instead of the vertical shaft k.
The above device may be easily adapted to operate the driving roll of a note
sheet instead of the spindle of a disc.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. A device for driving the note disc or sheet operating spindle in mechanically
played accordions consisting mainly of rock arms a and b carrying pawls to engage
a ratchet wheel loose on its spindle, a series of pivotally connected levers s
connecting said rock arms with the accordion end, and adapted to operate said rock
arms on the expansion and compression of the bellows of the instrument, spring
connection between the ratchet wheel and the spindle driven thereby, and suitable
gearing to connect said spindle to a regulating fly or fan substantially as
described.
2. A modified form of the device covered in Claim 1 which consists in arranging
the ratchet wheel and pawl carrying arms in a plane substantially at right angles
to that of the lever systems and connecting the same thereto by a lever
system ss2, slide t in guide slot u and swinging arms vw substantially as
described.
3. The spring connection of the ratchet wheel to its shaft by means of the
driving gear D fast on said shaft, interposed spring m and gearing the wheel D to
the fly mechanism substantially as described.
4. The driving device for the note disc shaft of mechanically played accordions
substantially as herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
DL:
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.