GB1590513A

GB1590513A - Control mechanisms for record players

Info

Publication number: GB1590513A
Application number: GB895078A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Braun GmbH
Current assignee: Braun GmbH
Priority date: 1977-03-19
Filing date: 1978-03-07
Publication date: 1981-06-03
Also published as: JPS53117401A; JPS5746146B2; DE2737387C3; DE2737387A1; FR2384312A1; FR2384312B1; DE2737387B2

Description

(54) CONTROL MECHANISMS FOR RECORD PLAYERS (71) We, BRAUN AKTIENGESELL SCHAFT, a body corporate organised and existing under the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, of 22 Rüsselsheimer Strasse, 6 Frankfurt/Main, Federal Republic of Germany, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- This invention relates to a control mechanism for raising, swinging and lowering the pickup arm of record players.

In general a record player is put into operation by operating a mechanical switch having a lock-down member. To a certain extent this lock-down member acts as a register which for a predeterminable time supplies a control command. The turntable and pickup arm are set in motion on the basis of this control command. The drive for the turntable and pickup arm can be coupled by means of mechanical connecting members, but it is also possible to separate the two drives.

A control mechanism for raising, swinging and lowering the pickup arm of record players is known in which different drives are provided for the turntable and pickup arm (German Patent Specification No.

1917241). In said control mechanism the raising of the pickup arm is brought about by means of an electronic contact switch by merely touching a handle, which can be a knob or slider and lowering or swinging is brought about in each case by a separate electromechanical arrangement. It is disadvantageous that a knob or slider is provided for swinging the pickup arm.

The present invention aims to provide control mechanisms for record players permitting an easier control of movements of the pickup arm.

According to the invention, there is provided a control mechanism for raising, swinging and lowering the pick-up arm of a record player, wherein the control mechanism comprises a disc having a depression in its periphery adapted to receive a finger and wherein a touch responsive switch is provided in said depression which is arranged, when touched by a finger in the depression, to initiate movement of the pick-up arm.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the disc is mounted for rotation and is so arranged that when it is rotated in either direction by means of a finger inserted in the depression it is effective to control movement of the pick-up arm.

The touch responsive switch located in the finger depression may have two contacts which are capable of being electrically interconnected by finger contact to close a circuit, the pick-up arm being arranged to be raised when the circuit is closed.

Preferably, a spring is provided which is arranged so that the disc is rotated in opposition to the tension of the spring, whereby said spring serves to return the disc to the initial, central, position once the rotational force is removed from the disc.

Rotation of the disc may be effective to adjust a potentiometer located in a circuit, the swinging movement of the pick-up arm being controlled by said circuit.

Further touch-responsive switches may be provided on said disc, preferably on the sides of the finger depression, which switches when touched either lead to the pick-up arm remaining in the raised position or being brought into the lowered position.

According to a second embodiment of the invention, the touch responsive switch is arranged, when touched, to effect raising of the pick-up arm and second and third touch responsive switches are provided on the opposite sides of the finger depression in the disc to effect respective swinging of the pickup arm in one direction or the other.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the touch responsive switch is arranged, when touched, to effect raising of the pick-up arm and pressure-responsive switches are also provided in the finger depression, a first pressure-responsive switch being effective, when pressed, to cause swinging movement of the pick-up arm in a first direction and a second pressure-responsive switch being effective, when pressed, to cause swinging movement of the pick-up arm in a second direction, speed of movement of the pick-up arm being controlled by the pressure applied to said pressure-responsive switches.

The advantage obtained with the invention is in particular that the record player pick-up arm can be easily controlled.

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a record player having one embodiment of a control mechanism according to the invention; Figure 2 shows a first embodiment of a control mechanism for the pick-up arm of a record player; Figure 3 is a plan view of a control disc; Figure 4 is a side view of part of a control disd with bridging contacts; Figure 5 is a side view of part of a control disc with pressure contacts; Figure 6 is a side view of another embodiment of a control disc; and Figure 7 is a plan view of the disc shown in Figure 6.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a record player 1, having a base 2 and a lid 3.

On base 2 are provided a turntable 4, a pickup arm 5 and various keys 6, 7, 8 for controlling various functions of the record player such as the speed of rotation of the turntable 4. The base 2 also carries a control mechanism constructed as a disc 9 for raising, swinging and lowering the pick-up arm 5.

If the record player 1 is switched on and the operator places his finger in a depression 10 formed in the disc 9, the pick-up arm 5 is raised because a sensor is actuated. If he now turns disc 9 to the left with his finger the raised pick-up arm also moves to the left in such a way that a large deflection leads to a high pick-up arm speed and a small deflection to a low pick-up arm speed.

The raised pick-up arm moves correspondingly to the right if disc 9 is moved to the right.

Figure 2 shows the principle of the control mechanism shown in Figure 1 in greater detail. In this case, the disc 9 with the depression 10 is connected with a spindle 11 around which is wound a return spring 12.

To spindle 11 is connected a control arm 13 of a potentiometer 14, which in turn is connected into a control circuit of a drive mechanism 15 for swinging the pick-up arm 5. If, after placing the finger in depression 10, disc 9 is rotated to the right then the control arm 13 on the potentiometer 14 is moved downwards. This modifies the power supply in the drive mechanism 15; the further disc 9 is turned to the right the greater the change to the power supply. According to a variant the potentiometer can be replaced by an optical, magnetic or piezoelectric control which is dependent on the displacement or rotation angle.

Owing to this current change, the pick-up arm 5 is swung to the right by a suitable device such as that described in German Patent Specification No. 1917241. If the disc 9 is turned to the left, the control arm 13 is moved upwards, thereby causing a movement to the left of the pick-up arm 5.

The drive mechanism 15 is supplied by a current which in the central position of the control arm 13 is zero and in positions of said control arm 13 above the centre is associated with a movement to the left and below the centre with a movement to the right. The pick-up arm is accordingly swung to the right or left by the pick-up arm drive depending on whether the control arm 13 is moved below or above the centre of the potentiometer 14.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the disc 9 in which it is possible to see two contacts 16, 17 which can be galvanically bridged by a finger or the like in the depression 10. These contacts are connected to lines 18, 19 (Figure 2) leading to the drive mechanism 15. Bridging of the contacts 16 and 17 leads to the raising of the pick-up arm 5. For this purpose a lifting device can be provided in the drive mechanism 15 which is separate from the swinging device.

Another solution of the problem is shown in Figure 4, whereby once again a disc 20 with a depression 21 are provided, but disc 20 cannot be rotated. The pick-up arm 5 is raised by bridging the central contacts 22 and 23, whilst swinging to the left results from bridging contacts 24, 25 and swinging to the right by bridging contacts 26, 27, after raising the pick-up arm. However, in this solution it is not possible to modify the swinging speed of the pick-up arm.

In the solution shown in Figure 5 it is possible to modify the swinging speed because in this case disc 28 in its depression 29 has pressure-responsive contacts 32; 33, e.g.

containing piezoelectric crystals in addition to contacts 30, 31 for raising the pick-up arm 5. Depending on the intensity with which these contacts 32, 33 are depressed, the finger pick-up arm 5 is swung more or less rapidly.

Figure 6 shows a rotary disc 41 which projects out of a record player chassis 2 or the like. The disc 41 has a finger depression 43 in which is provided a sensor. Figure 7 shows how said sensor is constructed and this drawing shows two electrodes 44, 45 which can be bridged by a finger placed in depression 43. To this extent, the disc 41 corresponds with the disc shown in Figures 1 to 3.

If a finger is placed in the depression 43, the pick-up arm of a record player is raised and remains in the raised position until the finger is removed again from the depression.

On removing the finger, the pick-up arm is lowered.

In order to provide the possibility of leaving the pick-up arm in its raised position without keeping the finger in depression 43, a further sensor is provided on the periphery of the disc 41 and said sensor also comprises two electrodes 46, 47. If these electrodes 46, 47 are contacted simultaneously, the pick-up arm remains in its raised position.

In order to permit the pick-up arm to be lowered again from its raised position, a third sensor is provided which also comprises two electrodes 48, 49. If this sensor is contacted, the pick-up arm is lowered.

The subject matter of the complete specification of our co-pending Application No.

7925926 (Serial No. 1,590,514) has been divided out of the subject matter of the present application.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A control mechanism for raising, swinging and lowering the pick-up arm of a record player, wherein said control mechanism comprises a disc having a depression in its periphery to receive a finger and wherein a touch responsive switch is provided in said depression which is arranged, when touched by a finger in the depression, to initiate movement of the pick-up arm.

2. A control mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the disc is mounted for rotation and is so arranged that when it is rotated in either direction by means of a finger inserted in the depression it is effective to control movement of the pick-up arm.

3. A control mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the touch responsive switch located in the finger depression has two contacts which are capable of being electrically interconnected by finger contact to close a circuit, the pick-up arm being arranged to be raised when the circuit is closed.

4. A control mechanism according to claim 2 or claim 3, wherein a spring is provided which is arranged so that the disc is rotated in opposition to the tension of the spring, whereby said spring serves to return the disc to the initial, central, position once the rotational force is removed from the disc.

5. A control mechanism according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein rotation of the disc is effective to adjust a potentiometer located in a circuit, the swinging movement of the pick-up arm being controlled by said circuit.

6. A control mechanism according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein further touch responsive switches are provided on said disc, which switches when touched either lead to the pick-up arm remaining in the raised position or being brought into the lowered position.

7. A control mechanism according to claim 6, wherein said further touch responsive switches are provided on the sides of the finger depression.

8. A control mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the touch responsive switch is arranged, when touched, to effect raising of the pick-up arm and wherein second and third touch responsive switches are provided on the opposite sides of the finger depression in the disc to effect respective swinging of the pick-up arm in one direction or the other.

9. A control mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the touch responsive switch is arranged, when touched, to effect raising of the pick-up arm and wherein pressureresponsive switches are also provided in the finger depression, a first pressure-responsive switch being effective, when pressed, to cause swinging movement of the pick-up arm in a first direction and a second pressure-responsive switch being effective, when pressed, to cause swinging movement of the pick-up arm in a second direction, speed of movement of the pick-up arm being controlled by the pressure applied to said pressure-responsive switches.

10. A control mechanism according to claim 9, wherein the pressure-responsive switches are provided with piezoelectric crystals.

11. A control mechanism substantially as described herein with reference to any one of Figures 1 to 5 of the drawings.

12. A control mechanism substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 6 and 7 of the drawings.

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Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **.

lowered.

In order to provide the possibility of leaving the pick-up arm in its raised position without keeping the finger in depression 43, a further sensor is provided on the periphery of the disc 41 and said sensor also comprises two electrodes 46, 47. If these electrodes 46, 47 are contacted simultaneously, the pick-up arm remains in its raised position.

In order to permit the pick-up arm to be lowered again from its raised position, a third sensor is provided which also comprises two electrodes 48, 49. If this sensor is contacted, the pick-up arm is lowered.

The subject matter of the complete specification of our co-pending Application No.

7925926 (Serial No. 1,590,514) has been divided out of the subject matter of the present application.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A control mechanism for raising, swinging and lowering the pick-up arm of a record player, wherein said control mechanism comprises a disc having a depression in its periphery to receive a finger and wherein a touch responsive switch is provided in said depression which is arranged, when touched by a finger in the depression, to initiate movement of the pick-up arm.
2. A control mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the disc is mounted for rotation and is so arranged that when it is rotated in either direction by means of a finger inserted in the depression it is effective to control movement of the pick-up arm.
3. A control mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the touch responsive switch located in the finger depression has two contacts which are capable of being electrically interconnected by finger contact to close a circuit, the pick-up arm being arranged to be raised when the circuit is closed.
4. A control mechanism according to claim 2 or claim 3, wherein a spring is provided which is arranged so that the disc is rotated in opposition to the tension of the spring, whereby said spring serves to return the disc to the initial, central, position once the rotational force is removed from the disc.
5. A control mechanism according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein rotation of the disc is effective to adjust a potentiometer located in a circuit, the swinging movement of the pick-up arm being controlled by said circuit.
6. A control mechanism according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein further touch responsive switches are provided on said disc, which switches when touched either lead to the pick-up arm remaining in the raised position or being brought into the lowered position.
7. A control mechanism according to claim 6, wherein said further touch responsive switches are provided on the sides of the finger depression.
8. A control mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the touch responsive switch is arranged, when touched, to effect raising of the pick-up arm and wherein second and third touch responsive switches are provided on the opposite sides of the finger depression in the disc to effect respective swinging of the pick-up arm in one direction or the other.
9. A control mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the touch responsive switch is arranged, when touched, to effect raising of the pick-up arm and wherein pressureresponsive switches are also provided in the finger depression, a first pressure-responsive switch being effective, when pressed, to cause swinging movement of the pick-up arm in a first direction and a second pressure-responsive switch being effective, when pressed, to cause swinging movement of the pick-up arm in a second direction, speed of movement of the pick-up arm being controlled by the pressure applied to said pressure-responsive switches.
10. A control mechanism according to claim 9, wherein the pressure-responsive switches are provided with piezoelectric crystals.
11. A control mechanism substantially as described herein with reference to any one of Figures 1 to 5 of the drawings.
12. A control mechanism substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 6 and 7 of the drawings.