US1082499A - Means for recording music. - Google Patents

Description

M. CLARK.

MEANS FOR RECORDING MUSIC.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1911.

Patenfied'Dec. 30, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

M, CLARK.

MEANS FOR RECORDING MUSIC.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1911.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA i LANoGRAPM couwAsmNa'roN. n. c.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

M. CLARK.

MEANS FOR RECORDING MUSIC.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1911.

1,082,499. Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MELVILLE CLARK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO MELVILLE CLARK PIANO COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

MEANS FOR RECORDING MUSIC.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

Application filed September 13, 1911. Serial No. 649,190.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MELVILLE CLARK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,-have invented new and useful Improvements in Means for Recording Music, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to provide an improved device to be attached to a piano or other similarly keyed instrument for recording the manual playing thereon of any piece of music within the capacity of the instrument.

It consists of the elements and features of construction shown and described as indicated in the claims.

In the drawings :Figure 1 is a fore-andaft vertical section of a portion of the piano equipped with this invent-ion. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the recording device. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail section showing the primary pneumatiocontrolling valve in relation to the manual key which operates the valve. Fig. 4 is a detail section at the line, 4-4, on Fig. 2, upon a larger scale than said Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic View showing pedal-operated valves controlling ducts leading to pneumatics for record ing the action of the pedals. Fig. 6 is a detail elevation showing a portion of a note sheet marked by the devices constituting this invention. Fig. 7 is a vertical section similar to the lower portion of Fig. 1, showing a modification of the manual key operated valve for controlling the marking devices. Fig. 8 is a detail end view of several of the markers showing their type form.

The only parts of the piano necessary to be referred to for understanding this invention as applied to a piano, are the case, whose various parts are indicated by the numeral, 1, and the manual keys, indicated by the numeral, 2. Within the case, behind the fall board, above the manual keys, there is mounted a pneumatic action of the general character familiar in auto-pneumatic playing devices, comprising a primary pneumatic chamber, 8, containing primary pneumatics, 4, in the customary order of arrangement, and a system of motor pneumatics, 5, which are suitably mounted on supporting duct boards, 6, and connected, respectively, by tubes, 7, with the corresponding primary pneumatics. The motor pneumatics, 6, have their moving walls each provided with a marker, 8, said markers being positioned with their marking terminals in line overhanging a platen, 10, which is mounted upon a roll-carrying frame, 11, in which are mounted rolls, 12 and 18, corresponding to the customary music and take-up rolls of an automatic player mechanism, and which, it may be understood, are operated in the customary manner of operating such player mechanism rolls, by driving mechanism not shown. Most conveniently, the roll carriage, carrying the rolls and the platen, is positioned above the primary pneumatic chamber and below the motor pneumatics whose pencils are in that case, and as illus trated in the drawings, mounted vertically. The moving walls of the motor pneumatics are their upper walls, in the construction shown, so that the markers are depressed by the collapse of the motor pneumatics, and while such collapse continues are held in contact with the record strip, 15, which is carried over the platen by the action of the rolls in the same manner in which the note sheet is carried over a tracker bar in familiar auto-pneumatic player mechanisms.

The primary pneumatic chamber is connected by a duct, 16, with exhaust devices, not shown, of any convenient type, for producing rarefication of the air in the primary pneumatic chambers of familiar types of auto pneumatic player mechanisms.

In the primary pneumatic chamber, the primary pneumatics are mounted on duct bars 17, in which the ducts lead from the pneumatics, respectively, to lateral ports, 17, positioned in the portions of said bars which protrude from the chamber; said ports being in position to be closed by valves, 18, carried by the manual keys, respectively, and sliding upon the ported sides of said duct bars as the keys are respectively dcpressed by the operator in manual playing.- The valves and ports which they respectively close are relatively positioned so thatthe ports are not uncovered by slight depression of the keys such as might occur accidentally or by rebound when the keys are struck suddenly and released, but so that the ports will be opened only by sufficientdepression of the keys to operate the sounding devices of the instrument, so that the markers will be depressed for marking the record strip only when the tone is produced in playing.

A modification is shown in Fig. 7, consisting in interposing between the manual keys and the primary pneumatics bell-crank levers, 20, whose horizontal arms are connected with the respective manual keys by bolts, 21, protruding up from the keys and extending loosely through said horizontal arms of the levers, stop nuts, 22, 22, being provided on the bolts above the lever arms and. adjusted so as to allow a certain amount of movement of the keys before the levers are actuated thereby, said levers having on their upright arms valves, 23, which control the ports of the primary pneumatic ducts, respectively.

It will be seen that with such a device mounted, as described, in conjunction with the manual keys of a piano, the markers will record upon the traveling record strip the eXact time at which each key is depressed and the length of time it is held depressed, and will thus make a correct record of all that constitutes the style of a player, except that which depends upon the force of his strokes upon the keys. The strip thus marked is designed to be used as a pattern for cutting a note sheet for playing auto matically the music which is thus recorded, and thereby reproducing the style of the player to the extent above indicated. lVhcn a note sheet has been cut in accordance with the pattern furnished by the record strip used in this device, it may be used in an automatic instrument for playing the music, the player from whose playing the record was made operating the pumping devices and manipulating the various stops of the instrument for recording on the note sheet by suitable mechanism the characteristics of his playing which are not recorded by the device herein shown. In my co-pending application, Serial No. 649,191, filed Sept. 13, 1911, T have shown mechanism for so recording the manipulation of the controlling devices of an automatic player, and thus completing the record of the style of the player, which may be used in cutting a final note sheet, by which it may be reproduced automatically in all respects.

The operators use of the piano pedals may also be indicated in the same manner his fingering of the manual keys, by providing motor and primary pneumatics with markers overhang" 1g the marginal portions of the record strip, and having primary pneumatics in the chambers, 3, provided with tubes, 19, leading from the lower ends of the duct bars on which said primary pneumatics respectively are mounted, to terminals, 24:, mounted in position to be controlled by valves, 24, on the pedal-operated levers, 33, 33, respectively, in the same manner as the valves of the manual keys control the ports of the other primary pneumatics, as above described.

Preferably, the marking is produced upon the record strip by means of type bars; that is to say, the markers, 8, have their marking terminals provided with type faces, and the marks are produced by means of inked ribbon or carbon sheet, 25, which overhangs the record strip and receives the stroke and continuing pressure of the marker for producing the record mark on the strip. By this means, the first impact of the marker imprints the character which the marker carries on its operating end, and said characters on the several markers being the names of the keys of the manual to which they respectively correspond, black keys being denoted by a point adjacent to the letter-name of the key. The record strip is preferably longitudinally ruled in octave spaces corresponding in number to the octaves of the instrument from which the record is to be taken. This manner of marking makes a record which guides the operator of a master-cutting machine in making the master for the perforated roll which is to be cut, to play the music in a manner in which the record shows it to have been played manually by the original operator; and since the master-cutting machines have keys corresponding to the several keys of the manual for operating the punches to cut the master, the making of the record in the manner above described, that is, so that each mark consists of or begins with the name of the note to which it corresponds greatly facilitates the work of cutting a master by means of this record, and avoids errors which would otherwise be liable to occur if the operator was obliged to ascertain the note merely by the alincment of the mark indicating it. Also a record made in this manner can be readily transcribed into ordinary musical staff notation.

The preferred method of mounting the inking ribbon or carbon paper for the purpose above described, consists in providing for it a roll, 26, having its bearings supported from the lower duct board, (3, the ribbon or carbon paper running from the roll in position to overlie the record and rest thereon by gravity in position to receive the impact of the markers when they are depressed. For advancing the carbon sheet or inking ribbon slightly from time to time and presenting a new surface to the markers, each end of the roll, 26, may be provided with a ratchet disk, 27, and pawls, 28, en gaging said ratchets are provided on arms, 29, of a rock shaft, 80, journaled on one of the duct boards, a bar, 31, being provided connecting the two arms and extending across from side to side under the projecting ends of the moving walls of one bank of motor pneumatics so that the bar will be engaged by any of said projecting ends when the pneumatics are actuated, thus giving the inking ribbon or carbon sheet a step movement as often as there is a stroke of any of the pneumatics in said bank. In practice, this will advance the carbon sheet or inking ribbon one step for each three notes played. A friction brake, 32, bearing on the surface of the roll, 26, prevents overfeeding.

In order that the record sheet may receive distinct impressions of the type faces of the markers, and that the amount of pressure with which they are held down after their impact may be efi'ective to produce a continuous mark following the type imprint, the platen, 10, is preferably, as shown, a roll provided with a cushioning outer covering, 10*.

It will be observed that by the construction described, the markers being thrust toward the note sheet with sufiicient force so that their first impact will imprint the sheet with the type characters borne by the markers, respectively, and being held in the position to which they are thus thrust by the moderate pressure afforded by their operating pneumatics, will operate to produce a continuous mark on the record strip extending onward from the type marking which is produced by the first impact, which continuous mark will be light as compared with that produced by the first impact of the marker, but still clearly distinguishable throughout the full movement of the record strip occurring while the marker is held depressed. In the absence of provision for permittingthe transfer or mark-producing sheet to move along somewhat with the record strip, it would be liable to happen that the first impact of the marker producing its type mark upon the record strip would so nearly exhaust the marking substance on the transfer strip at the exact point of impact, that the subsequent travel of the record strip under the marker would not produce a sufliciently obvious or readily visible mark for the purpose of indicating the length of the note; but by mounting the transfer sheet as described, upon a roll which is only yieldingly held against turning to allow the sheet to be unwound therefrom, the transfer sheet will be slightly dragged with the note sheet during the transfer of the latter while the marker remains pressed upon it so that there will be furnished under the marker, a portion of the surface of the transfer sheet which is sufficiently fresh to insure the production of the continuous mark desired upon the record strip. This is more certainly accomplished because by the feeding device above described it will be observed that the roll, 26, is given the step movement for turning to unwind or release the transfer strip, 25, in

the retracting movement of the marker, so that at the impact of the marker, and thereafter during the travel of the note sheet while the marker is held down, there is a little slack of the transfer sheet to be drawn upon by the frictional drag of the record strip onsaid transfer sheet.

1. In combination with the manual keys of a keyed instrument, a recording device comprising a platen; means for propelling a record strip over the platen; pneumatics for the several keys whose action is to be recorded; markers corresponding to the pneumatics respectively, positioned with their marking terminals exposed toward the area of the platen at which the strip bears on the latter in crossing it; connections by which the pneumatics actuate their respective markers to advance their marking terminals toward the platen; a mark-producing or transfer sheet interposed between the marking terminals and the platen, said mark-producing sheet being restrained back of the line of bearing of the markers on the platen, whereby the travel of the record strip during the pressure of the markers tends to hold said sheet tense at said line of bearing.

2. In combination with the keys of a keyed instrument, a recording device comprising a platen; means for propelling a record strip over the platen; pneumatics for the several manual keys'whose action is to be recorded; markers corresponding to the pneumatics, respectively positioned with their marking terminals exposed toward the area of the platen at which the strip bears on it in crossing it; connections by which the pneumatics actuate their respective markers for advancing their marking terminals toward the platen; a roll upon which said transfer sheet is carried mounted opposite the record strip at a position rearward in respect to the direction of travel of said strip from the line of bearing of the markers on the platen,

and means yieldingly restraining the unwinding of said transfer strip from the roll.

3. In combination with the keys of a keyed instrument; a recording device comprising a platen; means for propelling a record strip over the platen; pneumatics for the several keys whose action is to be recorded; markers actuated by the pneumatics respectively positioned with their marking terminals exposed toward the surface of the platen at which the strip bears on the latter in crossing it; connections by which the pneumatics actuate their respective markers to advance their marking terminals toward the platen; a mark-producing or transfer sheet interposed between the marking terminals and the platen; aroll upon which said transfer sheet is carried, mounted opposite the record strip at a position rearward in respect to the direction of travel of said strip from the line of bearing of the markers on the platen; means yieldingly restraining the unwinding of said transfer strip from the roll, and means operated by the marker-actuating pneumatics for positively unwinding the transfer sheet to release new area thereof for exposure to the markers. 1

at. In combination with the keys of a keyed instrument, a recording device comprising a platen; means for propelling a record strip over the platen; pneumatics corresponding to the several keys whose action is to be re corded; markers corresponding to the pneumatics respectively positioned with their marking terminals exposed toward the surface of the platen at which the strip bears on the latter in crossing it; connections whereby the pneumatics actuate their respective markers; valves operated by the manual keys for controlling the pneumatics, respectively; a mark producing sheet interposed between the marking terminals and the platen, and means for holding said sheet adapted to yield to permit it to be drawn with the record strip in the travel of the latter.

In combination with the keys of a keyed instrument, a recording device comprising a platen; i'neans tor propelling a record strip over the platen; pneumatics corresponding to the several keys whose action is to be recorded and means for controlling them by the keys, respectively; markers actuated by the pneumatics respectively positioned with their marking terminals exposed toward the surfaces of the platen at which the strip bears 011 the latter in crossing it; connections by which the pneumatics actuate their respective markers; a mark-producing sheet interposed between the marking terminals and the platen, and means for holding said sheet adapted to yield to permit it to be drawn with the record strip in the travel of the latter, the marker-actuating pnemnatics and their controlling devices being adapted for holding the markers in marking position throughout the entire time of action of the key whose action is to be recorded, said markers having as their marking terminals type characters for indicating the keys to which they respectively correspond.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, Illinois, this 1st day of September, 1911.

MELVILLE CLARK.

Witnesses LUoY I. STONE, M. GERTRUDE Any.

Copies 01' this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

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