Improvements in Music Leaf Turners.
Year: 1893

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Music Leaf Turners.
I, THOMAS DOUGLAS, of 229 East Fourteenth Street, New York, in the County
and State of New York, United States of America, Presbyterian Clergyman, 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 improvements in music leaf turners in which by the
touching of a key, located within convenient reach of the person playing a musical
instrument, the leaves may be consecutively turned without further effort on the
part of the player.
A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying
drawings in which,
Figure 1 represents the turner as it appears in use, the position of the parts being
that which they assume when the first of a series of leaves is turned about three-
quarters of the distance.
Figure 2 is a front view of the turner, the music being removed and one of the
turning arms occupying the position which it assumes when it has completely
turned a leaf.
Figure 3 is a similar view with the turning arms and fingers and their actuating
mechanism removed, showing the clamp for holding the back of the music open
to receive the music as distinguished from its closed position, shown in Figure 2.
Figure 4 is a transverse section from front to rear through the line x, x of
Figure 3.
Figure 5 is an enlarged view in detail through one of the hubs of the turning
arms, and
Figure 6 is a view in detail, showing a partial side elevation of the clamp, operating
key and brace.
The frame consists of a centre standard or back bone A, provided with a lower
cross head a and an upper cross head a' extending in opposite directions from the back
bone, the said cross heads being connected at a distance from the back bone and
at opposite sides thereof by tie rods a³ and a*.
Along one edge, in the present instance along the right hand edge of the back
bone, there is a fixed jaw B which extends a short distance toward the front and
toward the centre of the back bone, forming an under-cut lip within the hollow
space of which the rod C for operating the turning arms extends, as will herein-
after more particularly appear. The opposite clamping jaw B' which co-acts with
the jaw B to clamp the back of the music to the frame is provided at its upper
and lower ends with elongated slots 6 and 6' through which pins 6 and 6* extend
into the cross heads to fasten the movable jaw to the frame in sliding adjustment
toward and away from the stationary jaw B. The movable jaw B¹ is pressed
normally toward the stationary jaw B by springs D and D' at its upper and lower
ends, one end of the said springs being secured respectively to the upper and lower
cross head and the opposite or free end pressing against the movable jaw. The
jaw B' is forced and held away from the stationary jaw by means of a pair of cam
levers E and E', pivotally secured to the projections 6 and 6 on the jaw B' and
their free ends engage the edge of the back bone A. When the levers are down in
the position shown in Figure 2, the movable jaw B₁ is free to close toward the
stationary jaw B and clamp the music between the two. When it is desired to
remove the music, the levers E and E¹ may be thrown into the position shown in
Figure 3 and the cams upon their ends will, by pressing against the edge of the

page_text: back bone, force the movable jaw back away from the stationary jaw and in this
position it will be temporarily locked by the throwing of the levers slightly past
the centre.
The operating key c is pivoted to the back boue at or near its lower end and the
lower end of the operating rod C is connected with the key, as clearly indicated in
Figure 6. The upper end of the operating rod is attached to one arm of a
vibrating dog F, pivotally secured to the upper cross head and provided at the end
of its arm opposite that to which the rod C is attached, with an upwardly extending
nosef for the purpose of catching and retaining a succeeding turning arm while a
previous turning arm is turning one of the leaves. The dog F has a pivotal engage-
ment with the vibrating lever G, pivoted at one end to the upper cross head and at
its opposite end engaged with the free end of an operating spring H, the tendency of
which spring is to throw the lever upward. The free end of the lever G is
provided with an upwardly extending nose 9 for the purpose of holding and
releasing one of the turning arms. The operation of the dog F and lever G
will be more fully described in connection with the movements of the turning arms
themselves.
At the upper end of the back bone A. there projects a split pin I, screw threaded
at its top, for the reception of the finish and retaining cap i. On the split pin I
the hubs of the several turning arms are loosely mounted. In the present instance
I have shown four of the turning arms, but it is to be understood that their number
may be increased or diminished at pleasure. There are represented respectively
by K, K¹, K' and K. Their hubs are represented respectively by k, k', k² and k³.
Coil springs L, represented on an enlarged scale in Figure 5, have one of their
ends secured in the opening in the split pin I and after taking one or more turns
around the split pin within the hub of the arm, have their opposite ends secured to
the arm, as shown at 1, Figure 5. The tendency of the springs L is to swing the
turning arms from their position at the right, over toward the left whenever the
arms are at liberty to be swung.
At the end of each of the turning arms there is secured a depending finger,
consisting of a stationary section M and a swinging section M¹ (see Figure 2).
I find it desirable to provide the face of the stationary section with some means
for increasing its frictional hold upon a leaf of music, and to this end when 1 form
the holding fingers of thin strips of metal, as I prefer to do, I find it desirable to
thread in several short loops of india-rubber. These are indicated by m. To insert
a leaf, the spring section M' may be turned off to one side and the leaf spread over
the prepared face of the stationary section M and then the movable section M'
swung over the leaf to hold it between the two sections of the finger.
In addition to providing the ends of the turning arms with the holding fingers,
I provide also the ends of the upper cross head a with similar fingers for holding
the front and back levers of the music in position.
In operation, the cam levers E and E¹ having been thrown in the position shown
in Figure 3, the back of the music leaves may be inserted between the clamping jaws
and the levers E E' may then be thrown into the position shown in Figure 2, to
clamp the music firmly to the frame. The first and last leaf may then be fixed in
position by inserting them between the sections of the fingers attached to the
opposite ends of the upper cross head. The intermediate leaves to be turned may
then be secured in order between the sections of the fingers attached to the turning
arms and the several arms thrown over to the right and held in position by the
projection of the nose g in front of the uppermost of the arms, as indicated in
Figure 2. When it is desired to turn a leaf the player momentarily presses
downwardly on the key c. This will pull down on one arm of the dog F and
elevate the nosef of the dog between the uppermost and the next succeeding of
the turning arms, such position being shown in Figure 1. The latter part of the
downward movement of the key c will withdraw the nose g of the lever G from in
front of the uppermost of the turning arms and permit it, under the pressure of
its operating spring to turn the leaf over from right to left. As the key o returns

page_text: to its upper position under the pressure of the spring H, acting upon the lever G
and hence upon the dog F, it will at first raise the nose of the lever G up in
position to catch the next succeeding of the turning arms and its further upward
movement will withdraw the nose ƒ from in front of the succeeding turning arm
and permit it to swing upward a slight distance against the nose 9, ready to be
released whenever it shall be desired to turn the next leaf. The dog F and
vibrating lever G with their connections form in effect an escapement to permit the
arms to be released one at a time in succession.
It is obvious that slight changes might be resorted to in the construction and
arrangement of the several parts without departing from the spirit and scope of
my invention hence I do not wish to limit myself strictly to the construction and
arrangement herein set forth.
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. A music leaf turner, comprising a supporting frame, means for securing the
music leaves as a whole to the frame, spring actuated leaf-turning arms located at
the top of the frame each provided with means for attaching its free end to the edge
of the leaf, escapement mechanism located at the top of the frame and comprising
a pivoted lever and a pivoted dog connected to move together and a controlling spring
common to the two, for releasing the arms one at a time and an operating rod
extending from the pivoted lever to the foot of the frame for operating the escape-
ment, substantially as set forth.
2. A music leaf turner, comprising a supporting frame clamping jaws for holding
the back of the music secured to the frame, one of the jaws being movable toward
and away from the other and the opposite jaw being under-cut, springs for
actuating the movable jaw toward the other, a cam lever for forcing the movable
jaw and locking it away from the other, leaf turning arms secured to the frame, an
arm operating rod located within the said under-cut jaw and means for actuating
the rod, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 19th day of December 1002
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.