Apparatus for Recording and Reproducing Musical Tones.
Year: 1892

page_text: ate of Application, 24th Oct., 1892-Accepted, 21st Jan., 189
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Apparatus for Recording and Reproducing Musical Tones.
I, CARL VILHELM NYSTRÖM, of Karlstad, in the Kingdom of Sweden, Elec-
trical Engineer, 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 relates to apparatus intended to be applied to a musical instru-
ment, such as a piano, an organ, or the like, by means of which apparatus the notes
inay on the one hand be recorded as they are played, and on the other hand be
repeated either upon the instrument on which they were played or upon another
instrument with the same kind of key-board. If for instance a piece be played
upon a piano it may by this apparatus be played either upon a piano or an organ
and conversely.
The essential portion of this invention is a revolving cylinder which is coated
with a suitable material, for instance, wax, tin-foil, thick soft paper or the like,
and which cylinder, when an instrument to which an apparatus of the present
construction is attached is being played, receives upon its surface indentations of
greater or less length corresponding to the value of the notes which are played.
The picce having been played the cylinder presents note signs upon its circum-
ference. These note signs can afterwards be copied off and written down as
ordinary notes. The coating upon the cylinder may consist of metal which in its
turn is coated with a fatty material, and the signs which are developed by the
rotatory movement of the cylinder may hereafter be eaten through by galvanic
processes. If the apparatus is to repeat a previously performed piece that portion
of it by means of which the impressions above referred to were made upon the
cylinder is removed and another portion inserted by the use of which the keys are
pressed down by means of the impressions upon the cylinder, the piece which has
been played being thus repeated.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figures 1 to 4 shew the apparatus with the arrangement for recording the notes;
and,
Figures 5 to 7 the apparatus with the arrangement for repeating the notes so
recorded:
Figures 8 and 9 are views illustrating modifications.
My apparatus comprises a casing a supporting a cylinder which as stated is
coated with metal, wax, tin-foil, paper, or the like, and which cylinder is caused
to rotate by means of a clock train, a small electro motor, or other suitable driving
mechanism. The said cylinder is made of the same length as the key board of a
piano or an organ, in which case the casing is attached to the framing (Schemel)
or the cylinder may be made for a few octaves, in which case the casing is made
If now
to rest by means of lengthening rods upon the framing of the instrument.
a piece of music is to be recorded upon the cylinder b, an apparatus e, Figures 1
to 4, is inserted in the casing a upon the blocks c, c, Figure 1. This apparatus
consists of a number of rotating pawls d each of which by means of a system of
levers g is connected with a vertical spindle h. This mechanism is so arranged
that the spindles are in contact with the keys of the instrument and the pawls
with the cylinder b. If a note is struck upon the instrument and a key at the
same time depressed the spindle which rests upon this key is lowered whereby
the corresponding pawl is drawn upward and makes an impression or sign upon the
coating of the revolving cylinder, see Figure 4. In this way an impression or
sign is made for each note which is struck upon the instrument, and the length of

page_text: "
the impressions depends upon the value of the note and the speed with which the
cylinder revolves. When the performance is over the cylinder is provided with
impressions or signs upon its circumference and these impressions can afterwards be
copied off or "translated into the ordinary notation whereby the fantasia or other
piece played is stored up or preserved just as it was played. If the above described
apparatus which I call a "tone phonograph" is to reproduce a piece previously
played and recorded upon the cylinder the above described apparatus e is removed
from the casing and another mechanism k, Figures 5 to 7, is placed upon the
blocks c, c.
This mechanism k consists of a number of pawls which are made to
lie in contact with the roller b, and when they pass over an impression on the
cylinder, to affect the arms m, m resting upon the keys x so that the corresponding
keys are depressed and thereby those notes struck which are already upon the
cylinder b in the form of longer or shorter impressions. This is effected in the
following way. The pawls are fastened to and rotate on a block n and are
provided at their rear end with a platinum contact which, when their point enters
a depression on the roller comes into contact with another platinum surface upon
the anvil o situated under the point of the pawl, the anvil being connected with
one end of the coil of an electro-magnet p. The other contact and the other end
of the coil of the electro-magnet are connected with a source of electricity. The
armaturer of the electro-magnet is connected, by means of a slender rod or wire s
with a pivotted rod t which carries at its lower end a roller u. Between the roller u
and a revolving roller is a strip y of coarse or rough india-rubber, felt, or the
like, which strip y is secured at one end to the above mentioned rotating arm m
whilst its other end is applied to the pivotted arm m which operates the key .
If now upon the revolution of the roller a pawl enters a depression on the
roller, its rear end comes into contact with the anvil o whereupon the circuit is
closed the armature? is attracted by the electro-magnet and the roller upon the
rod t presses the strip y against the roller which is rotating in the direction of
the arrow, Figure 6. This roller is coated in front of the strip with the same
material as that of which the latter consists, or is otherwise made rough upon
its circumference, so that the strip y when it is pressed against the roller by the
roller on the rod t is pulled upward by the friction between the strip and the
roller, whereupon the lower end of the arm is pressed downward, and the corre-
sponding key struck, so that that note. is sounded which was recorded by the
corresponding impression upon the roller b. When the pawl rises out of the
depression upon the roller b, the contact between the two platinum surfaces above
mentioned is interrupted, the electro-magnet releases its arinature, the rod t retreats,
and the arm m resumes its original position.
The gradations of expression, piano and forte, may also, if desired, be received
and recorded upon the cylinder and be repeated by the apparatus. For this
purpose, the mechanism e is provided with two extra pawls which are connected
with the loud and soft pedals. These pawls are most appropriately so arranged
that each of them at its end acts on the roller d and when one of the pedals is
pressed down during the performance the corresponding pawl makes an impression
in the coating of the cylinder b. If upon the mechanism k a pair of corresponding
extra pawls be placed each of which acts upon its corresponding pedal when the
pawl enters the impression, just as the other pawls operate the keys, the gradations
of forte and piano are likewise repeated.
Upon the drawing some details are visible which, although they are not essential,
will now be described. Thus, the cylinder is mounted in a frame which may
be adjusted by means of a screw 6 so that the cylinder may be raised or lowered
to some extent, in order to place it in proper position with reference to the pawls.
The cylinder is moreover so mounted as to be adjustable in the direction of its
length, and is provided at one end with two collars, 6, these being provided with
screw-threads cut in opposite directions. Two buttons 65, 6 are also provided
having pins on their under sides, the said buttons being connected to the casing of
the apparatus. On one of the buttons being depressed the pins thereon are caused

page_text: is
to engage with the screw-thread on the corresponding collar and the cylinder is
moved laterally either to the right or left hand according to which button
depressed. The object of this is to be able to effect one or several impressions
upon the cylinder in the space between two pawls, and thereby to be able to obtain
records of several pieces of music upon the same cylinder.
A belt pulley c¹ is provided for setting the cylinder b in rotation by means of a
clock train, an electro-motor or other suitable driving mechanism.
d', Figures 1 to 3, is a rod which extends the length of the row of spindles /
and which can be raised or lowered by the arm by means of the rod d³ and the
elbow d, with one arm of which latter the rod is connected by a hinge joint.
This rod when raised carries with it the whole of the spindles by means of
discs upon the latter, and the spindles are thus moved out of the way when the
apparatus is to be inserted or withdrawn. The roller is set in rotation, as
shewn in Figures 5 and 6, by the cylinder by means of a worm and worm wheel
driven by a belt.
Figure 8 shews a modification of the arrangement drawn in Figure 2. The lever
system, g is here omitted, and instead the pawls d receive their motion by means
of electro-magnets which are connected with contacts g', and these close the
circuit when the spindles, which rest upon the keys, move downwards. The
electro-magnets actuate the pawls d either directly, in which case the pawls are
provided with armatures d², or through the intervention of a rod 3 which is
attached to the pawl and carries an armature. Finally, the same pawl & may, as
shewn in the drawing, be actuated by two electro-magnets, one of which acts upon
the pawl directly and the other through the intervention of the rod d³.
The contact piece g' can rotate at one end, and is connected at the other to a
spindle which meets a disc upon the spindle h. The contact spring 2 rests
against the upper end of the spindle h. If now a key is pressed downward, the
corresponding spindle / falls, and contact is made between g¹ and g²; as the result
of this the electro-magnets act on the pawls d, so that an impression is made upon
the cylinder b. The spindles only serve to regulate the distance between the
contact springs g² and the spindles h.
Figure 9 shews a modification of the arrangement seen in Figure 6. This
modification consists chiefly in the fact that the electro-magnets are pushed forward,
and act upon the rods t directly, without the rod s, which is here omitted. The
rods t are for this purpose provided with armatures which are attracted by the
electro-magnets p. The rods t are, in Figure 9, shewn pivotted at their lower ends,
and the roller u is mounted about midway up the rod.
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. An apparatus called a tone phonograph "intended to be applied to any
instrument with a keyboard, for the purpose of automatically recording and
repeating a piece of music upon the same or upon another instrument with a key-
board, consisting of a casing applied directly to the key-board of the instrument,
its upper part enclosing a rotating cylinder coated with a suitable material, and in
the lower part of which a system of levers can be inserted for recording a piece of
music, one end of the system being so arranged as to lie in contact with the keys,
the other end resting upon the cylinder whilst on the other hand, for the purpose
of automatically repeating the piece so recorded another mechanism can be inserted
in the lower part of the apparatus, which mechanism consists of a number of
pivotted pawls, which can be made to lie against the cylinder, and which, when
they enter a depression in the cylinder close a circuit by means of an electro-
magnet whose armature by means of a system of levers actuates the corresponding
key, substantially as described.
2. In the apparatus described in Claim 1 the arrangement of the system of levers
connected with the armature of the electro-magnet, consisting of an arm projecting

page_text: from the armature which when the latter is attracted presses one end of a strip
secured to one end of a rotating elbow against a revolving roller by means of an
arm which is pivotted and carries a roller, the other end of the elbow resting upon
the key for the purpose of striking the latter when the armature is attracted
substantially as described.
3. The modification of the arrangement referred to in Claim 1 for recording the
piece of music, consisting in replacing the levers which connect the two extreme
ends of the system of levers by electro-magnets which actuate the levers which lie
in contact with the cylinder through the intervention of a contact which is made
when the spindle which rests upon the key moves downwards substantially as
described.
4. The modification of the arrangement described in Claim 2, consisting in
securing the armatures directly to rods which are pivotted and provided with rollers,
so that the electro-magnets actuate these rods directly, substantially as described.
Dated this 24th day of October 1892.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.