Improvements in Devices for Reproducing and Recording Sound.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Feb., 1898-Accepted, 16th Apr., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Devices for Reproducing and Recording Sound.
I, HENRY JOHN HAGEN, of No. 26, Mount Vernon Avenue, Orange, in the County
of Essex, and State of New Jersey, United States of America, Phonograph Expert,
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 invention is directed especially to improvements in what is known as
phonographic reproducing devices, and its objects are:-
First, to provide means whereby the diaphragm or sound-reproducing medium
may be caused to assume a relatively fixed relation to the record to be reproduced
and the reproducing stylus so connected thereto that it will follow the inequalities
of the record and faithfully yieldingly transmit them to the diaphragm under all
conditions of position and usage of the instrument; and, second, to provide means
whereby the stylus of such instruments will readily automatically adjust itself to
the record in such manner as to cause the diaphragm or sound-reproducing medium
to correctly reproduce the sounds which originally effected such record.
The invention will be fully understood by referring to the accompanying draw-
ings, in which,
Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a well known form of phonographic
apparatus having the invention attached thereto and illustrating also a portion of
the record cylinder or blank.
Figure 2 is a plan view of the underside of the apparatus illustrating the in-
vention.
Figure 3 is a detail sectional view illustrating the universal or pivotal attach-
ment of the invention to the diaphragm-supporting ring of the instrument;
Figure 4 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken through the diaphragm
or sound-reproducing medium and illustrating the manner of attaching the in-
vention thereto.
Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view of a modified form of the invention, and
Figure 6 represents in detail a part of the yielding connections between the
diaphragm and the stylus.
With existing forms of sound reproducing devices, such as the phonograph,
graphophone and gramophone, it is customary to cause the sound-reproducing
medium to which is attached directly the stylus to act by its own weight in such
manner as to cause the stylus to follow the produced or indented record so that
instruments of this type are not always available in places where the downward
action of the instrument may be effected, as for instance on board of steamers,
railway trains or moving vehicles generally.
The present invention renders it possible to attach or secure the diaphragm-
supporting ring in such manner that it, the diaphragm, will assume once for all a
relatively permanent distance from the record as it moves thereover, while the
stylus will follow correctly the record under all conditions of usage.
In the reproduction of sound from phonographic, gramophonic and analogous

page_text: records, it has also been found that where the conditions between the reproducing
apparatus and the record itself vary materially from those under which the record
was produced, there will not result a perfect or accurate reproduction of the sounds
which originally produced such record. This is due to several causes, among
which may be enumerated the following:
First, in the use of instruments like the phonograph wherein the record repro-
ducing mechanism is advanced by a screw, if the record be placed upon the
recording cylinder or blank under a given condition of temperature and if it be
not reproduced under the same conditions, the expansion or contraction, as the case
may be, of such cylinder or blank will vary the pitch of the screw-like record to
such an extent that the reproduced sounds will be materially effected.
Second, in instruments like the gramophone in which the stylus is carried by a
swinging arm, there is a variation in pressure between the stylus and the record
at various positions of its movement as it, the arm, is caused to swing across or over
the face of the record, such variations being most marked when the swinging arm
is at its extreme or outer position owing to the fact that one side of the record
line bears upon the stylus with more pressure than the 'other, it being a noticeable
fact that when the stylus is in direct alignment with the record so that it presses
equally upon both sides thereof the best results are attained.
...
It was with a view of devising means for overcoming these inequalities of pres-
sure between the record and the usual rigidly supported stylus of such instruments
that the present invention was devised. It consists of a stylus designed for
reproducing a record and so connected with the reproducing diaphragm or medium
that it, the stylus, will automatically follow the record in a yielding manner and
transmits its movements to the diaphragm in such manner as to give out a clear
reproduction of all of the original sounds or tones which produced the record.
The invention contemplates the connecting of the stylus to the diaphragm or
sound reproducing medium in such manner that it, the stylus, will follow the
record with the least possible friction and will yieldingly impart motion thereto
under all conditions of usage and without utilizing gravity as an agent to that
end.
Referring now to the drawings in detail for a full and clear understanding of
the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it relates to
manufacture and use the same.
M represents the mouth-piece, D the diaphragm, and R the diaphragm-sustain-
ing ring of a well known form of phonographic apparatus. I represents a yoke,
see Figure 4, rigidly secured to the underside of the diaphragm and having its
free ends secured together by a pin P¹ which in instruments of the type herein
illustrated is located parallel with an element of the phonogram blank or cylinder C.
p is a pin having an opening in its upper end adapted to move freely over the
pin P¹
S is a spring bent in the conformation shown, its free ends being provided with
oblong slots 001 through which the pin p passes. These slots Ŏ and O¹ are of
such length as to admit of free lateral play of the pin therethrough, as will be
apparent upon inspection of Figures 4 and 6, and said pin has its upper end flattened,
as shown in Figure 6, so as to afford a shoulder for the upper one of the free ends
of the spring S. a and a¹ are spring arms secured at one end to a pivotal support
consisting of a yoke B and a pin P, which yoke is in turn pivotally secured by an
eye E, collar F and screws to the underside of the diaphragm-supporting ring R,
e being a rigid arm secured also by the screws forked at its free end and adapted
to bear firmly upon a central arm c secured to the two arms a a
t is the stylus carried by the arm a. ii are pieces of cork or other yielding
material secured to the inner surfaces of the free ends of the arms a and a¹ and
adapted to bear yieldingly against the lower or free end of the pin p. S1, is an
adjusting screw connecting the two arms a a' for varying the pressure between the
free ends thereof and the pin p.

page_text: It will be apparent that by reason of the pivot pin P, yoke B, eye E, and
rigidly-supported collar F the two arms a and a¹ are adapted to partake of universal
movement and that the arm e prevents said arms from dropping below a given point
and also that the spring S yieldingly connects the free ends of said arms with the
diaphragm, while the pin p may partake of movement either to the right or left;
the arms a and a¹ having vertical movement with sufficient delicate frictional
bearing thereon to impart correctly to the diaphragm D a reproduction of the
movements of the stylus. It is apparent therefore that the reproducing stylus't
will correctly follow such record and with the least possible friction, at the same
time correctly imparting to the diaphragm all of its movements.
In the modified form shown in Figure 5 is shown a reversal of the parts in which
the arms a and a¹ are pivotally connected to the diaphragm by a link L and pivot
pins P and P1, the pin p in this instance being rigidly secured to the diaphragm-
supporting ring R and surrounded by a delicate compressible spring S, it being
obvious that this form of the apparatus will as correctly reproduce the record as
would the forms shown in Figures 1 to 4 inclusive.
The invention is not limited to the use of such a device in connection with a
sound-reproducing device, as it is obvious that the same might be applied to a
sound-recording apparatus, it being only necessary in this event to apply the
stylus t to the outer end of one of the arms a a¹ in order to produce the best results.
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. In a device for reproducing sound a diaphragm or sound-reproducing medium
relatively fixedly sustained, in combination with a stylus yieldingly connected to
said diaphragm or medium and adapted to conform to the inequalities of the record
under all conditions of usage without imparting the effects of such inequalities
thereto.
2. In a device for reproducing sound a diaphragm or sound-reproducing medium,
in combination with a stylus yieldingly connected to said diaphragm or medium
and adapted to conform to the inequalities of the record without imparting the
effects of such inequalities thereto.
3. In a device for reproducing sound a diaphragm or sound-reproducing medium,
in combination with a stylus secured to an arm pivotally secured at one end and
yieldingly connected at the other to the diaphragm or medium.
4. In a device for reproducing sound a diaphragm, in combination with a stylus
carried by an arm provided with universal connections at its opposite ends to the
body of the instrument and the diaphragm whereby the inequalities of the record
will not effect the operation of the diaphragm in correctly reproducing the original
sounds which effected the record.
5. In a device for reproducing sound a diaphragm, the combination of two spring
arms provided with universal connections at their opposite ends between the body
of the instrument and the diaphragm respectively, and a stylus carried by one of
said arms.
6. In a device for reproducing sound a diaphragm, a pair of spring arms con-
nected by a universal joint at one end to the body of the instrument and a pin
yieldingly connected with the diaphragm and the free ends of the arms, together
with yielding means as a spring between the diaphragm and said arms, in com-
bination with a stylus carried by one of said arms.
7. In a device for reproducing sound a diaphragm D provided with a yoke B¹
near its centre and a pin Pl, a vertically arranged pin having movement upon
the aforesaid pin, a pair of spring arms a a¹ connected by a universal joint to the
body of the instrument and grasping the lower end of the pin p yieldingly between
their free ends, in combination with a spring S located between said arms and the

page_text: yoke B¹ and a stylus t carried by one of said arms, all of said parts acting substan-
tially as described.
8. In a device for reproducing sound a diaphragm D provided with a yoke B¹
near its centre and a pin P¹, a vertically arranged pin having movement upon
the aforesaid pin, a pair of spring arms a a¹ connected by a universal joint to the
body of the instrument and grasping the lower end of the pin yieldingly between
their free ends, a spring S located between said arms and the yoke B', and a
stylus carried by one of said arms, in combination with means as a screw St for
adjusting the pressure between the free ends of the arms a a¹ and the pin p.
Dated this 17th day of February 1898.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.