Improvements in Perforating Machines, particularly Designed for Perforating Music Sheets for Automatic Musical Instruments.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 20th June, 1899-Accepted, 19th Aug., 1899
[Communicated from abroad by The AEOLIAN COMPANY, a Corporation organized
and existing under the laws of the State of Connecticut, having a place of
business at the City of Meriden, State of Connecticut, and an office at No. 18,
West 23rd Street, in the Borough of Manhattan, City and State of New
York, United States of America, Manufacturers.]
Improvements in Perforating Machines, particularly Designed for
Perforating Music Sheets for Automatic Musical Instruments.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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:.
-
This present invention relates to electro mechanical perforating machines, and
particularly to that class designed to perforate roll paper into music sheets used
to actuate such automatic instruments as the automaton piano, aeolian, orches-
trion, and the like.
The machine is also adapted to perforate sheet metal, card board, etc.
Furthermore the machine is adapted to be connected with a piano or organ,
preferably electrically, so as to produce a perforated music sheet simultaneously
with the depression of the keys of the instrument, and upon running the sheet
so produced through an automaton piano or organ it will produce a correct repro-
duction as to tempo, of the piece as originally played.
These ends are accomplished by the combination and arrangement of parts
substantially as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
In said drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my complete machine. Fig. 2
is an enlarged side, view of a part of my reciprocating.punch bar, die, stripper,
etc. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the same punchblock, illustrating
a modification of the mechanism for operating the draw bars. Fig. 4 is a plan
of the lower table. Fig. 5 a plan of the upper table. Fig. 6 an enlarged trans-
verse sectional view of the contact board. Figs. 7 and 8 show modified forms
of punch letters. Fig. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view of Fig. 1, the repro-
ducing template and the connections between the piano keys and the operating
magnets being removed. Fig. 10 is a transverse sectional view of the punch
block; showing the die and stripper and the mechanism for operating the draw
bars. Fig. 11 is a detail view on an enlarged scale of the eccentric, eccentric
arms, punch block, guides and the standards. Fig. 12 is a sectional view taken
upon the line 12-12 of Fig. 11.
In the following detailed description like numerals of reference indicate corre-
sponding parts differently shown in the several views.
Referring to the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, I provide a
table 1, having the legs 2, connected at the bottom by the shelf 3, upon which
rests the electric motor 4 of any suitable form, and which drives the pulley 5

page_text: rigidly secured to the counter-shaft 6, carrying the driving pulley 7 belted to
the pulley 8 which is rigid with the shaft 9, upon the ends of which are secured
the eccentrics 10, operating the eccentric arms 12, which, when in motion give
a reciprocating movement to the punch block or bar 13, the V shaped guides 14
of which work in the corresponding grooves in the standards 15, rigidly bolted
to the table 1, as shown.
The punch block 13 is so mounted as to have a constantly reciprocating or
vibrating movement imparted thereto. Said punch block extends entirely across
the machine and carries a series of loosely mounted punches 16, said punches
being normally free to vibrate or jump up or down with the movement of the
punch block, but held or prevented from entirely falling from said block, by
means of short pins or studs 16', formed with or passed through the punches,
said pins or studs working in an enlarged slot or cut-out portion in the punch
block.
At the upper part of the vibrating punch block and passing transversely
therethrough are a series of locking bars 17, each having a notch 171, cut therein,
said notch being normally in alignment with the punches. The notches in the
locking bars are normally held in alignment with the punches by means of the
springs 19, secured to one side of the punch block. When it is desired to lock
the punches in position for cutting, it is simply necessary to draw the locking
bars 17, against the tension of spring 19, by means of the rods 20, until the
solid portions of the locking bars adjacent to the notches, are directly over the
punches where upon they will be thrown downwardly and locked and as the
punch block vibrates the punches will act upon the paper or other material to
be perforated, as hereinafter described.
Arranged at either side of said punch block is a series of magnets 22, 23,
supported above the table as shown, to the armatures 24, 25, of which is
pivotally secured the one end of the draw-rods 20.
Directly under the reciprocating punch block is arranged the die 26 having
a series of holes 27 to receive the lower ends of punches 16 and over said die is
secured the stripper 28, and under which the paper 29 passes.
The feed roller 30, preferably having a roughened surface is provided at one
end with a ratchet wheel 31 engaged by pawl 32 connected to and given motion
by the eccentric arm 12.
The paper or other material to be perforated, is first led from the supply
roller 33, between the guide rollers 34, under the stripper 28, between the feed
rollers 30 and friction roller 35, onto the receiving roller 36.
Assuming that it is desired to produce à template, or perforated sheet, which
shall reproduce and run through an automaton piano, a piece to be played by
a pianist, then I provide any suitable form of electrical contacts, 37", for each
key 37 and so arrange them that the depression of any key or series of keys will
'complete the circuits through said contacts each key or contact being electrically
connected to its respective magnet 22. This circuit may be arranged as follows:
A wire a connects one of the contact pieces 37 to the coil of the corresponding
magnet 22. The current then passes through the magnet coil, then by the wire b
to a battery 37b, thence by the wire e to a switch 37°, thence by the wire d to
the other contact piece of the contact 37. With this arrangement the depression
of the key 37, closes the circuit through the contact 37 and thus energizes the
magnet 22. e and f¹ are wires led from the switch 37° and the wire b respectively,
and are adapted, when the switch is thrown, to connect the magnet 22 with the
copying device upon the table 44, the operation of which will be described here-
after.
Assuming now that the performer is ready to play, then my machine is set
in motion by the motor 4, or otherwise, and the paper 29 is being fed regularly
and steadily under the now rapidly reciprocating punch block 13, shortly after
which the performer commences to play upon the connected piano just as though
the machine was not in existence. It is contemplated having electrical con-

page_text: nections made inside the piano out of sight and the machine set in a different
room, so that the performer need not know he is playing for reproduction.
During the performance, the depression of any particular key, such as 37
completes an electrical circuit through its contact point and instantly causes
the energization of its particular magnet 22, connected by wires as shown, where-
upon its armature is attracted and the draw-rod 20 and the draw-bar 17 pulled
toward said magnet; and upon said draw-bar sliding forward it locks or sets its
punch 16, and keeps said punch set so long as the piano key is kept depressed,
and the longer said punch is kept set the longer will be the perforation or slot
it will make in the paper which is kept moving at a uniform rate below, i.c., a
long note will cause a long slot and a short note a short slot. A note struck even
an instant after another would commence to perforate the paper further along
and in a different longitudinal line, or in other words the duration of the note
will be indicated by the length of the perforation it causes and the tempo by
the relative transverse positions of the slots.
Supposing a correct template or first sheet to have been produced, and it is
desired to make a duplicate or duplicates of said template or first sheet, in this
instance it is simply necessary to join the ends of said first sheet and place it
upon the rollers 39, 40 of my upper table 42, having the contact-board 43
thereon, the fingers or selectors 44 of which are normally kept pressed upward,
and being arranged in line with the perforations in the template they project
therethrough and thereby allow said selector to make an electrical contact with
the point 45, and as these selectors are now in electrical connection with the
magnets instead of the piano keys, it is obvious that if the template is fed by its
feed roller 46 (Figure 5) operated by the ratchet 46 and the pawl 47 having a
uniform movement with the pawl 32, that the template and under paper 29 will
travel at the same speed and that the template will continuously reproduce itself
upon the paper below.
The template strip is fed forward by means of a rod 47" which is connected
at its ends with the pawl 47 and the reciprocating head 12 respectively, and
thus causes the pawl to rotate the ratchet and the feed roller 46. A friction
roller 46b is adapted to press the strip against the feed roller, while the copying
mechanism is in operation.
By arranging to feed the template at say half the speed or travel of the under-
paper then the slots in the latter will be twice the length of those in the template,
and of course their distance apart will be relatively longer. In this way the
manufactured undersheets may be made in any desired proportions, longer or
shorter than the template.
Instead of actuating the draw-bars 17 electrically I may choose to make
mechanical connections therefrom to the piano, such as that shown in Fig. 3 in
which the key 48 depresses the bar 49 actuating the bell-crank 50 thus giving
an outward movement to its lower end to which the draw-rod 20 and lock 17
are connected.
And instead of employing the lock 17 to set the punches I may substitute the
arms 51 and 52 shown in Figs. 7 and 8 respectively.
Instead of having the punch bar movable I also contemplate making this
stationary and arranging the die to reciprocate, in which case the paper would
have an up and down movement with the die and in view of this objectionable
feature I prefer to make the punch bar to reciprocate as shown in the drawings
and described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. The combination with a piano or similar musical instrument operated by
keys, of a perforating machine having a rapidly and constantly reciprocating
punch block, a suitable die, a series of punches loosely carried by said punch block,

page_text: locking devices carried by said punch block and means operatively connecting
said keys with said locking devices whereby a punch or punches will be locked
to said punch block during the depression of a suitable key or keys, substantially
as specified.
2. The combination with a piano or similar musical instrument having keys
for operating the instrument, of a punch block, a series of punches, carried
thereby, a suitable die therefor, and means for rapidly reciprocating said punch
block whereby said punches may engage said dies; a locking device for each of
said punches, and means operatively connecting the keys of said musical
instrument and said locking devices, whereby the depression of said keys will lock
said punches and render them operative.
3. The combination with a piano or similar musical instrument having operating
keys, of a perforating machine comprising a rapidly and constantly reciprocating
punch block and a suitable die, a series of punches loosely carried by the punch
block, locking devices mounted upon and carried by the punch block,
and means operatively connecting said keys and said locking devices,
whereby a punch or punches will be locked to the punch block during the
depression of a suitable key or keys; and means for copying a perforated strip
formed by said perforating machine, said means comprising a series of arms, a
device for passing the strip over said arms, and means operatively connecting
said arms and said punch locking devices, said means operated by the passage
of the perforated strip over said arms, whereby a punch or punches will be locked
in the punch block when a perforation in said strip passes over a suitable arm
or arms, substantially as specified.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.