Improvements in Automatic or Mechanical Musical Instruments.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Sept., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 19th June, 1890-Accepted, 2nd Aug.. 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Automatic or Mechanical Musical Instruments.
I, FRIEDRICH ERNST PAUL EHRLICH of Gohlis near Leipsic, Germany, Managing
Director of the Company "Fabrick Leipziger Musikwerke vormals Paul Ehrlich
& Co." do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to musical boxes and mechanical or automatic stringed or
other like musical instruments (such as zithers for example) in which the playing
of any number of tunes pieces of music can be obtained by the employment exchange-
able music sheets, discs, tune bands or the like provided with suitable perforations
or means for controlling or operating the sound producing mechanism.
The music sheets employed according to the present Invention consist preferably
of sheets or discs of stiff card thin metal or other suitable material provided with
concentric rows of holes this form being well adapted to facilitate the exchange of
one sheet for another.
Now the present Invention relates more particularly to an improvement in the
actuating mechanism of the musical boxes or automatic stringed instruments of the
class hereinbefore referred to, the object of the said invention being to operate
the plucking devices which engage directly with or pluck the tongues or strings
without the intervention of separate motor mechanism (such for example as the
continuously rotating roller e or the excentric c* described in the Specification in
connection with the Letters Patent No. 1086 of 1888) the said plucking devices being
actuated by or deriving their motion solely from the power and movement of the
controlling music sheet or tune band itself.
This result can be obtained by pivotally suspending the plucking device by means
of a piece to which a circular or rectilinear motion or a circular motion combined
with a rectilinear motion is imparted by the agency of the pin or finger engaging
with the holes or their equivalents in or on the music sheet or tune band the plucking
device being so arranged relatively to the said pin or finger that the withdrawal of
the pin or finger from a hole or recess for example in the music sheet causes the
plucking device to oscillate or move in such a manner as to pluck or set in vibration
the tongues or other sound producing medium.
In order to render the action as accurate as possible and obtain the greatest
durability of the working parts, I prefer to combine the plucking device and the pin
or finger in one piece which is hinged or pivotally connected to a link or arm oscil-
lating on a fixed centre. This conibination is acted on by a spring exerting a certain
amount of traction in an inclined direction tending to press the pin or finger against
the music sheet and at the same time drawing the whole combination backwards or
in such a direction as to tend to maintain the plucking device out of reach of the
tongue or resonant body.
In certain cases it may be advantageous to provide the part carrying the pin or
finger and the plucking device with a safety arrangement which aids in controlling or
regulating the action by keeping the movements of the plucking device accurately
within the proper limits and prevents the tongue or string from being prematurely or
wrongly sounded by irregular action of the edges of the holes or recesses on the pin
or finger in the music sheet. This safety arrangement may consist of a suitable
projection on the part carrying the finger and plucking device and a catch or
retaining device attached to the case or frame so as to engage with the said projection
whenever the finger enters or engages with a hole or recess in the music sheet and
this catch does not release the said projection until the plucking device is brought
into the proper position to act upon the tongue. This safety or retaining device
can generally be dispensed with by taking the precaution of providing a spring of

page_text: suitable strength or resistance to act on the combination in an inclined direction as
herein before described.
When it is necessary to cause two or more tongues or strings to sound or speak
simultaneously the number of plucking devices is increased accordingly that is to
say two plucking devices are provided when two strings or tongues are to be
made to speak simultaneously or three plucking devices when three strings or
tongues are employed and so on. Of course care must be taken to make the
plucking devices always act together or simultaneously.
+.
This can be conveniently effected by connecting to the first plucking device a
link or arm suitably guided and carrying the supplementary plucking device or
devices. By suitably modifying the details of construction the improved arrange-
ments hereinbefore described can be combined with or applied to instruments
provided with strings in place of the vibrating tongues.
"Dated this 30th day of September 1980
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
· Improvements in Automatic or Mechanical Musical Instruments.
I, FRIEDRICH ERNST PAUL EHRLICH of Gohlis near Leipzig, Saxony, German
Empire, Managing Director of the Company "Fabrik Leipziger Musikwerke vormals
Paul Ehrlich & Co." 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:-
My Invention relates to mechanical musical instruments the sound-producing devices
whereof consist in tongues, tines or strings and in which the operations of the
mechanisms that cause the tongues tines or strings to vibrate is dependent upon an
exchangeable music sheet tune band or the like, having perforations or recesses
corresponding to the notes to be played.
In instruments of this kind the said operations have heretofore ordinarily been
produced by special driving devices connected to the crank or driving gear of the
instrument, the sole function of the music sheets being to control the action of the said
devices. Now the object of my invention is to obtain the said operations directly
by the action of the music-sheets tune bands or the like and thus to do away with the
said special driving devices.
The principal piece of mechanism which I employ for this purpose consists in an
oscillating piece having two tappets or fingers, one forming the plucking device that
serves to sound the tongue, tine or string, and another against which the edges of the
recesses or perforations of the music sheet act. The said oscillating piece (tappet
piece) turns on a pin or pivot guided to move parallel to the music-sheet, or nearly
so, and it is placed under the action of a spring or springs which, on one hand, tend
to draw it backward and, on the other hand, to put and maintain it in engagement
with the music-sheet. By means of the said sheet and spring or springs the tappet
piece is so operated upon that the sounding finger is first raised and moved forward
into the path of oscillation of the vibrating tongue, or the like then caused to perform
an angular movement so as to bend the tongue and slip past it, being finally withdrawn
to its normal position, or position of rest.
t
In the annexed sheet of drawing Figures 1 and 2 are two views partly in section
of an arrangement of the tongue-operating mechanism. Figure 3 represents
mechanism for sounding two tongues simultaneously.
a
In these figures S is a perforated music-sheet, which is moved over the finger nin
the direction indicated by the arrow. The means for producing the said movement
of the inusic-sheet, being well known to those skilled in the art, form no feature of
this invention. a is the tappet piece provided with the two fingers or tappets n and i,
the former engaging with the perforations of the music-sheet S, while the latter serves
to sound the tongue or tine . The tappet piece is pivotted at 6 to an oscillating arm c,
>

page_text: which in turn is pivotted at c¹ to the frame of the instrument. is a spring connected
to the rear end of the piece a, and placed in an inclined position for the purpose of
drawing the tappet piece a backwards and pressing its fore end n upwards. I and u
are bars, the one or both faced with felt, which serve as stops to liinit the motion of
the arm c.
The dotted lines in figure 1 show the parts in their position of rest. When a
perforation of the sheet S comes into register with the finger n, the spring g causes
the tappet piece to rock on its fulcrum or support until its lower edge rests on the
upper surface of the bar acting as a guide the finger n thereby engaging in the
said perforation as shown by full lines in figure 1. The sheet S then pushes the tappet
piece forwards against the force of the spring g, which, having a tendency to draw
the rear end of the said piece downwards, prevents it from being rotated or rocking
on its centre and this motion continues until the arm c comes in contact with the bar,
the finger being at the time above the end of the tongue f (see full lines in figure 2).
Thereupon the sheet S continuing to advance depresses the finger n and turns or
rocks the tappet piece so as to cause the finger i to sound the tongue f, and when
the piece has attained the position shown by dotted lines in figure 2, the spring g
retracts the same to its position of rest.
A small brush fixed to the piece a below the finger i, as indicated in the drawing
serves as a damper which prevents the tongue from vibrating until it has been
properly acted on by the said finger.
With a view to increasing the certainty of action of the mechanism, and of preventing
the tappet-piece from being turned or rocked before the proper time by the sheet S,
a resilient or spring hook & may be arranged, adapted to cooperate with a projection s
formed on the said piece. As soon as the latter is brought into the position shown
by full lines in figure 1, the hook k engages with the projections, and remains in
engagement therewith by virtue of its flexibility or resiliency until it comes in contact
with a stop or bar p. This renders it unable to follow the movement of the tappet
piece and disengages the projection 8 so that the tappet piece is free to turn or rock
on its support.
Figure 3 is a view of a mechanism acting in substantially the same manner as the
foregoing, but having combined with it a second tongue and a tappet-piece a²
provided with a finger for sounding the said tongue, the piece a² being pivotted to
the tappet piece a and guided by an arm or link c¹.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1. The combination of a perforated music-sheet, or vibrating tongue or string, a
tappet piece a having the fingers n and i, arme carrying the tappet piece stopping
bars and spring g, and guide e, substantially as hereinbefore described with
reference to the accompanying drawings.
2. The combination of a perforated music-sheet, the vibrating tongues f, f³, the.
pivotted tappet-piece a having the fingers n and i, arm c, spring g, stopping bars u
and 1, guide v, tappet piece a having tho finger ¹ and arm c³, substantially as
hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
3. The arrangements and combinations of parts constituting the improvements
in automatic or mechanical musical instruments substantially as hereinbefore
described.
Dated this 19th day of June 1890.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
Agents.