Improvements in or connected with Musical Boxes and similar Mechanical Musical Instruments.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd May, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Feb., 1890-Accepted, 5th Apr., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with Musical Boxes and similar
Mechanical Musical Instruments.
I, GUSTAV ADOLPH KEILE, Merchant, of 41, Kromonadenstrasse Leipzig, in the
Kingdom of Saxony, do hereby declare the nature of my invention to be as.
follows:-
My invention relates to musical boxes and other mechanical musical instruments in
which the sounds are produced by a row of vibrating tongues or teeth, and has for
its object to replace the pin barrel usually employed for striking the said tongues, by
a travelling sheet of perforated paper or other material.
The mechanism designed for this purpose chiefly comprises a peculiarly shaped one-
armed lever for striking, a stand serving as a pivotal bearing for the said lever, and a
pair of springs.
The said striking lever is situated between the sheet of travelling paper and the
vibrating tongues, and nearly parallel to both, but movable in a plane perpendicular
to the same.
The rear end of the lever has right and left a pair of fulcrum pins
which are guided and supported in a pair of slots formed in the stand and placed
parallel to the motion of the music sheet. The front end of the lever has two lateral
extensions, one being shaped as a tooth and adapted to project through the slots of the
music sheet, while the other is rounded and situated on the opposite side so as to rest
on a leaf spring near the bent end of the same.
From a point between its fulcrum and the free end, a striking arm extends from
the lever downward towards the point of the vibrating tongue, and rests on the free
extremity of a second leaf spring, which is attached to the base plate of the mechanism
or box, and extends obliquely towards the point of the vibrating tongue. The end of
this tongue is lined with felt or other soft material.
After the tooth of the lever has entered a slot or perforation of the music sheet,
the motion of the latter will push the entire lever backward by shifting the fulcrum
pins in their slots, until the rounded extension of the lever comes in contact with the
bent extremity of the spring. By the further motion of the music sheet, the lever is
pressed downward (towards the vibrating tongue) and the downward projecting arm
of the lever will act on the said tongue so as to produce sound.
The striking lever may be supported at its rear end by the upright arm of an
angle lever situated between a pair of fixed frames or stands adapted to serve as
bearings for the fulcrum pins or pivots of the said angle lever. While the upper
extremity of the upright arm of the angle lever thus serves as a fulcrum for the
striking lever, the horizontal arm of the angle lever is adapted to touch with its
extremity the vibrating tongue from below, and fix its position, before the said
vibrating tongue is reached by the striking lever, thus avoiding the necessity of using
a special damper.
By the motion of the angle lever round its horizontal axis or fulcrum, the position
of the striking lever relatively to the vibrating tongue is alternately changed in such
a manner, that the extremity of the striking arm will clear the end of the vibrating
tongue during its up-motion, but strike the said tongue during the down motion of
the striking lever.
In this modification the second spring is not in contact with the end of the striking
arm, but supports the horizontal arm of the angle lever.
As long as a given vibrating tongue is to remain out of action, the music sheet will
slide over the top of the corresponding striking lever and keep it in the lowest position.

page_text: The horizontal arm of the angle lever is situated with its extremity closely under the
free end of the vibrating tongue, without touching the same.
As soon as a slot of the music sheet passes over the striking lever, the latter will
be pressed upward by the spring situated above the vibrating tongue, and at the same
time drawn back (opposite to the motion of the music sheet) by the motion of the
angle lever on its fulcrum, owing to the pressure of the second spring on the
horizontal arm of the angle lever. By this up-motion of the angle lever, the latter
will come in contact with the vibrating tongue, after the striking arm has cleared it.
As soon as the rear edge of the slot in the music sheet begins to act on the inclined
edge of the tooth of the striking lever which projects through the said slot, the
striking lever is slightly drawn forward by the music sheet, and thereby the
extremity of the striking arm drawn immediately over the free end of the vibrating
tongue.
At the same time the angle lever is caused to turn downward on its fulcrum, and
its horizontal arm is released from the vibrating tongue, so that the latter is now
free, and may be seized and depressed by the striking arm on the further motion of
the music sheet.
When the rear edge of the slot in the music sheet has reached the extremity of
the tooth of the striking lever, the latter will be again situated underneath the
music sheet until the following slot passes over the lever and the same operation
repeats itself.
The end of the vertical arm of the angle lever is preferably connected with the
rear end of the striking lever by a ball and socket or a knuckle joint.
Dated this 21st day of May 1889.
FAIRFAX & WETTER,
433, Strand, London, Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with Musical Boxes and similar
Mechanical Musical Instruments.
I, GUSTAV ADOLPH KEILE, Merchant, of 41, Kromonadenstrasse, Leipzig, in the
Kingdon of Saxony, do hereby declare the nature of my 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 musical boxes and other mechanical musical instruments in
which the sounds are produced by a row of vibrating reeds, tongues or teeth, and has for
its object to provide suitable mechanism by means of which the pin barrel usually
employed for striking the said tongues may be replaced by a travelling sheet of
perforated paper or other material.
The mechanism designed for this purpose is illustrated by Figs. 1 to 9 of the
accompanying drawings and comprises chiefly a peculiarly shaped one-armed striking
lever A, provided at its rear end with a pivotal cross pin e¹; a grooved stand or
bearing and springs c and d.
Fig. 1 is a side view and a plan of the lever A, after having been lifted out of the
slot & Fig. 1. The free end of the spring d is bent upward, so as to form an angle
which limits the travel of the lever opposite to the direction of the arrow. To the
end of the slanting spring c is glued a piece of felt or cloth which comes in contact
with the arm i and prevents the lever from vibrating.
Fig. 2 shows the lever A, after it has entered a hole of the music sheet. When the
tooth of the lever passes through a perforation of the music sheet; the springs.c
and d are called into action. The spring e shifts the lever backward; until it meets
the bent up flange of the spring d. If the spring moves upward, the arm i will pass
over the tongue S without touching it. The music sheet N travels in the direction
of the arrow, and imparts motion to the tooth f of the lever until the stop-pin é
secured to the lever A has moved to the end of the slo b. The tooth f is now pressed

page_text: out of the slot of the music sheet, in consequence of which the arm i meets the tongue S
and produces a sound. Fig. 3 represents this stage. When a fresh slot or perforation
of the music sheet reaches the tooth f, the same operation is repeated.
Fig. 4, shows a row of levers in plan. The stop-pins or pivots e projecting over the
right and left side of the lever are of such a length, that each lever can move freely
without interfering with its neighbour.
The mechanism represented by Figs. 5 to 9 is an improvement of that shown in
Figs. 14, and has a special effect. It comprises a striking lever A with arm i, an
angle lever B which has its fulcrum at k, the vibrating tongue or reed S and the
springs and m.
l
The free end of the upright arm o forms a fulcrum for the lever A,
while the free end of the horizontal arm y serves to touch the vibrating tongue so as
to set it at rest before the said tongue is struck by the lever A. In addition to these
two functions, the lever B serves to lift the extremity of the striking arm i past the
tongue, (without touching the latter) in order that the said arm may again
descend and strike the tongue. This cycle of operations is illustrated by Figs. 5
and 7 to 9.
Fig. 5 shows the position of the apparatus immediately after the music sheet N
has been put on.
There is no sound produced, and the striking arm i is in its lowest
position, which it occupies after having touched a tongue. The army of the angle
lever B is in proximity to the tongue S, without touching the same. In the position
represented by Fig. 7, a perforation of the music sheet begins to act on the lever A.
The latter is lifted by the spring n and shifted in the direction of the arrow, by means
of the lever B, under the influence of the spring l. The lever B turns on the
fulcrum k, and the arm y is placed against the tongue S by the influence of the
spring During this time the arm i is allowed to move upward past the tongue S
into the position shown by Fig. 7.
As soon as the rear edge of the slot in the music sheet begins to act on the lever A
(see Fig. 8), the following operations take place. In consequence of the inclined
position of the contact face of the tooth f, the lever makes a slight horizontal motion
in the direction of the arrow, whereby the striking arm i is placed over the reed S.
At the same time, the lever B is caused to pivot on k and the army is removed from
the reed S, so that the latter now lies free, and can be pressed down by the arm i
during the continued forward motion of the edge n of the slot of the music sheet, as
shown by Fig. 9. When this has taken place, the tooth f of the lever A is again
situated underneath the travelling music sheet, and if now a fresh slot comes into
action, the cycle of operations described above will be repeated.
The angle lever B, which forms with the lever A, a ball and socket joint or a toggle
joint, thus serves not only to ensure, that the reed or tongue S is struck correctly,
but also to set the said tongue at rest by contact with the arm y, immediately before
the note is struck, so as to avoid any jarring sounds, when the tongue is struck again,
and to render a special damper unnecessary.
Having now particularly described and ascertained my invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare, that I claim :-
1. Mechanism for mechanical reed instruments comprising in its construction a
one-armed lever A, and springs c, d, the said lever being provided with tooth f and
arm i and with a pivot e movable in a slot, the whole being arranged in such a manner,
that the sliding motion of the pin e when the tooth f enters a slot of the music sheet,
is limited by spring d, and by the slot b when the tooth begins to leave the slot of
the music sheet, in order that the arm shall clear the extremity of the reed, or strike
the same, as may be required.
2. The combination with a striking lever A, of an angle lever B connected with
the lever A by a toggle joint or other pivotal joint, and arranged in such a manner,
that by the motion of the lever B on its pivot k the lever A is shifted horizontally
and the reed is set at rest by the extremity y immediately before being touched by the
arm i, and that it is subsequently again released.

page_text: 3. The combination of travelling music sheet N, and vibrating reed S, with striking
lever A, anglé lever B, and springs l, m, the whole constructed and adapted to operate
substantially as described and shown.
G. AD. KEILE.
By Fairfax & Wetter,
433, Strand, London, Agents..