แ for Use in Graphophones.
Year: 1887

page_text: แ
for Use in Graphophones.
I, JAMES YATE JOHNSON of 47 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this Invention which has been com-
municated to me from abroad by the Volta Graphophone Company a Corporation
organized under the Laws of the State of Virginia and having its principal place of
business in the City of Washington District of Columbia both in the United States of
America and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This Invention relates to Tablets or recording cylinders or medium for use in
instruments for recording and reproducing speech and other sounds, known as
Graphophones." As now generally constructed the said tablet or medium consists
of a base or foundation of paper, paste-board, or other suitable material, and a coating
or layer of wax, or a wax like composition, in which the record is cut or graven by a
cutting style. The form of the said tablet or medium is sometimes flat, and
sometimes cylindrical.
The present invention relates both to the construction of the base or foundation
and also to the coating in which the record is cut or graven and it consists
Firstly, in a special mode of constructing tubes or cylinders of paper or like material;
and Secondly in the use and preparation of particular kinds of wax or waxy
compositions for the surface coating or layer whether applied to cylinders or to
tablets or media of other form.
Paper or card board tubes are ordinarily made by rolling a sheet of the length of
the required tube on a mandril until the edges of the sheet meet or overlap, and
securing them by glue or other adhesive substance. Cylinders made in this way will
not preserve a truly cylindrical shape, but tend to assume an elliptical form. If,
after being coated with wax, such a cylinder loses its original shape, one result would
be to crack the wax coating and render it unsuitable for use for the purpose
aforesaid.
It is desirable moreover that the tube or cylindrical tablet while possessing

page_text: sufficient stiffness to be self-sustaining, should be as light as possible, so as to be
adapted for transmission through the mails. All these desirable objects are designed
to be secured by the present invention, according to which the Tube or cylinder is
made of strips of comparatively light paper wound helically on a mandril or former,
one strip above the other in such manner as that the joints of one strip break bond
with the joints of the next the strips being fastened to each other by glue or other
hardening cement. In this way cylinders or tubes can be cheaply made of any
desired length, and they will be light, stiff, and not liable to lose their shape.
Heretofore various waxes or wax like compositions have been used for the surface
coating of tubes cylinders or tablets but some difficulty or objection has attended the
use of all. In the recording medium there are certain properties which are essential,
and which, owing to their somewhat contradictory nature, are difficult to find
combined in one substance. The wax or waxy composition should be of just the
right degree of hardness, without being at all brittle. If too soft, a poor record is
made and feeble sounds are obtained in reproduction. If in the least degree brittle,
the wax instead of being cut exactly at the point of the cutting style, chips off more
or less below the said point, producing an inaccurate record. The wax or waxy
composition is applied to its base or foundation whilst in a melted condition and on
cooling some waxes contract to such an extent as to crack, and are therefore
unsuitable for the purpose.
"
It has been discovered after much experiment that a certain natural or earth wax,
known on the market as ozokerite," possesses in a high degree the characteristics
desirable for the aforesaid purpose, and its use constitutes a special feature of this
invention. This wax is tough and smooth in texture. In recording it cuts out in
a continuous shaving without breaking into short pieces or adhering to the tablet, or
other part of the machine, and it cuts off close to the point of the cutting style
without chipping off below the same, and therefore produces an accurate record. In
colour it is brownish black in its crude state, but after boiling becomes quite black,
has a glossy surface, and is opaque. This characteristic of colour is useful, as it
makes the lines of the record more distinct. On a light coloured surface the fine
lines are very difficult to recognise. Defects or irregularities in the paper base or
foundation which are discernible through a semi transparent wax are completely
hidden by the ozokerite.
"
"
The ozokerite is not susceptible to changes of ordinary or atmospheric
temperature, and does not crack on cooling after being applied to the paper base or
foundation.
In forming a tablet with ozokerite wax it is advantageous to boil down the crude
wax until it loses from ten to thirty per cent of its weight, which renders it much
more suitable for the purposes of the invention. It is then applied whilst in a melted
state in a thin layer or coating to the foundation of paper or other material and on
cooling is turned down until a perfectly smooth surface is obtained. The ozokerite
wax may be employed alone, and it is sufficiently cheap for the purpose. It may,
however, be combined with other waxes. It mixes readily with beeswax, Carnauba
wax and other waxes or waxy compositions and its use in such compositions or
mixtures is within the scope of the invention.
Another composition that possesses many of the advantages above set forth, and
which constitutes a part of this invention, is a mixture of beeswax and Carnauba wax.
In preparing this mixture from fifteen to forty per cent of Carnauba wax is mixed
with from eighty five to sixty per cent of white beeswax.
The waxes in the above proportions are melted together, being applied to the
foundation in the same manner as the ozokerite wax.
The accompanying drawing represents a cylindrical tablet constructed in accordance
with this invention.
A is the inner paper strip, and B the outer strip. Both are wound in such manner
that the edges of the successive convolutions meet, thus forming continuous
cylindrical surfaces. The joints of the two helices "break bond" the edge of the
inner strip being preferably under the middle of the outer strip. Before or during

page_text: the process of winding one side of one, or of both strips, is coated with a suitable
paste or glue, so that the two strips are firmly united.
The use of a hardening cement or adhesive substance applied over the entire
surface of the strips conduces to the stiffness of the cylinder and its permanence
of shape.
C represents the coating which may be of ozokerite wax, or of the mixture of
bees wax and Carnauba wax applied to form a recording medium for graphophones
In the drawing the coating C is partly removed so that the construction of the paper
cylinder can be more readily seen.
The tube or cylinder can of course, be composed of two strips as shewn or of three
or a greater number of strips wound in the same manner. While it is preferred to
wind the strips in the same direction it is obvious that the strips may not only break
joints but may be wound in opposite directions.
While paper is the material preferred on account of cheapness and other desirable
properties, and is that which is practically used in carrying out this invention, it is
obvious that other like material can be used, as for example, parchment, tracing linen,
and other fabrics or tissues.
It is not necessary to employ paper of the same quality and thickness for both or
all of the strips, and in some cases it may even be desirable to use for the outer strip,
a paper different in weight and quality from that used for the inner strip, or
other strips.
It is obvious that the tube or cylinder constructed as described could be used with
other waxes or compositions, and that ozokerite wax or the described mixture of
bees wax and Carnauba wax could be applied to a base or foundation of other form
than cylindrical, and of other material than paper without in either case departing
from the invention in its respective features.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :
First. A recording tablet or medium for graphophones consisting of or comprising
a cylinder formed of two or more superposed helically wound strips of paper or
equivalent material cemented together, and a coating of wax or a wax-like composition
substantially as hereinbefore described.
Second. A tablet or medium for graphophonic records, having a recording surface,
consisting essentially of "ozokerite " substantially as hereinbefore described.
Third. The manufacture or preparation of a tablet or medium for use in
graphophones by boiling crude "ozokerite" until it loses from ten to thirty per cent
of its weight, and then applying the said "ozokerite" to a suitable base or foundation
substantially as herein before described.
Fourth. A tablet or medium for graphophonic records consisting of a base or
foundation and a coating composed of beeswax and Carnauba wax, substantially as
hereinbefore described.
ليوم
1000