US1196899A - Talking-machine. - Google Patents

Description

C. F. A. STURTS.

TALKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 25, 1912. RENEWED AUG. 4. 1916.

191911611 Sept. 5,1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

INVENTOR (.YQM

ATTORNEY C. F. A. STURTS.

TALKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 25. 1912. RENEWED AUG. 4, 19m.

Patented Sept. 5; 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

\VETNESSES mvENmR 43% la. o'flaziy f-a C. F. A. STURTS.

TALKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 25. 1912.

RENEWED AUG. 4,19I6.

PatentedSept. 5,1916.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

INVENTOR jmmcw 14 1 ya/Q, C

CHARLES F. A. STURTS, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

TALKING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

Application filed November 25, 1912, Serial No. 733,316. Renewed August 4, 1916. Serial No. 113,205.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. A. STURTs, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Talking- Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improve ments in talking machines, especially those of the disk type.

One object of the invention is to provide such a machine which will produce a fuller and better tone, and in which the scraping, metallic, and discordant sounds heretofore always, so far as I am aware, produced by talking machines are practically eliminated, and in which the sound waves produced by the diaphragm will not be checked or dampened in any way but will be sustained, thus reproducing the original sounds with great accuracy.

A further object is to provide such a machine in which the disk can be rotated at a substantially constant speed, by electricity, and in which therefore rewinding is not required.

A further object is to provide such a machine which will be inexpensive and convenient in operation.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a broken vertical section of a cabinet, showing in side elevation, my improved talking machine therein; Fig. 2 is a broken horizontal section of the cabinet above the disk carrier; Fig. 3 is a'broken bottom plan view of the table of the cabinet; Fig. 4 is a section thereof on the line 44 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross-section of a shaft; Fig. 6 is an enlarged vertical section of a bearing; Fig. 7 is an enlarged side view of the sound box; Fig. 8 is a transverse section of the same in a different position, showing also a section of the end of the sound-conveying tube; Fig. 9 is a plan view, and Fig. 10 an end view of means for connecting the sound box and the conveying tube.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates the upper portion of a cabinet having hinged thereto a cover 2. Cleats?) are secured to the sides of the cabinet at the top, and upon said cleats, is secured a table 4. To the under side of the table at the center is secured a plate 5 carrying a central stud 6 which projects into a central hole in the table, and through said hole extends around said stud a tube 7 depending from a hub 8 secured to a circular record-carrier 9 of the usual form, provided with a central pin 11 adapted to pass into a central hole in a record in the usual manner. To the under side of this table are secured the upper ends of four springs 12, to the lower ends of which is attached the casing 13 of an electric motor receiving its electricity from any suitable source, not here shown. By suspending the motor from springs, the noise resulting from Vibration of the motor is absolutely eliminated, and said vibration can in no way be detected, and does not in the least affect the desired reproduction of the sound by the talking machine. The shaft 14 of said motor carries a small pulley 16 around Which travels a belt 17 which also travels around a large pulley 18 on a shaft 19, the ends of which are conical and rotate in conical bearings 21, adjustably secured by means of screws 22 in holes formed in the upper ends of standards 23 secured to the outer ends of arms 24. Said arms are secured to a bar 26, in the ends of which are formed conical bearings 27 in which are fitted conical pivot pins 28 adjustably secured by screws 29 in hangers 31 depending from a strip of metal 32 screwed to the under side of the table, a strip 33 of rubber being interposed between the strip 32 and the table. Blocks 34 are also secured to the under side of the table, and to the under side of said blocks are secured, each by screws 35, ends of flat springs 36, bent upward at their free ends, and each .aressin a ainst the under side of the free end of one of the arms 24. Upon said shaft 19 is adjustably secured, as hereinafter explained, a wheel 37, having a rubber tire 38, which, being pressed upward by the springs 36, contacts with the under side of the rec- 0rd carrier 9, the table being formed with a suitable slot 39 to peimit said shaft 19, pulley 18, and wheel 37 to operate.

It has heretofore not been found pract1- cable, so far as I am aware, to rotate the disk or record-carrier of a talking machine by an electric motor, for the reason that the the original tones.

electric current supplied to the motor for so rotating it fluctuates greatly in magnitude and hence causes a variation in speed of the rotating disk, which in turn causes a variation in the rapidity of the vibrations, which therefore incorrectly reproduce the pitch of I overcome this difficulty by the above described arrangement for rotating the disk from the motor, for it will be observed that, while the motor, which is of low-power, rotates at a high speed, the pulley 18 is of much greater diameter than the pulley 16 and therefore rotates at a lower speed, and the wheel 37 is of a much less diameter than the pulley 18 thus again reducing the speed of rotation. By reason of the circumference of the wheel 37 being much smaller than that of the part of the disk with which it is in contact, there is a still further reduction of the speed. In consequence the motor is obliged to make a considerable number of revolutions to each revolution of the disk. Since the transmission is not positive, but entirely frictional, the inertia of the record-carrier, rotating at a comparatively low speed, cannot be overcome, and the speed of the carrier varied, by rapid variations of the low-power motor, rotating at a high speed. 7

I have found that, with a transmission of the above described character, I can use an electric motor and an ordinary city current and obtain a speed of the disk having no perceptible variation.

For the purpose of varying the speed of the disk as desired, the wheel 37 is formed with hubs 41, on one of which is secured one end of a spring 42, the other end of which is secured to one end of a pin 43, which passes through a hole in the hub, the other end of the pin depending into a groove 44 extending longitudinally in the shaft 19. Straddling the wheel, and slightly engaging the outer sides of the hubs 41, is a' fork 45 attached to, and extending from, a slidepiece 46, formed with two slots 47 which engage screws 48, screwed into a brass plate 49 secured upon the top of the table, one side of the slidepiece being formed with a rack 51 which is engaged by a small pinion 52 having a suitable bearing in said brass plate, and having a knob or handle 53, by which it may be turned. By turning said pinion the rack is moved, correspondingly moving the fork and the wheel 37, to vary the rate atwhich rotation is transmitted from the motor to the rotating disk.

Secured, as shown at 54, to the rear wall of the cabinet are ends of arms 56, extending parallel with the said rear wall and at a short distance therefrom. To the free ends of said arms are secured clamps 57, which clamp to said arms a long, slightly flaring, straight, portion 58 of a horn 59, which extends upwardly from the lower end of said straight portion 58 and flares greatly to its open end. Rigidly secured to said straight portion of the horn, immediately above the upper clamp 57 therefor, are secured two, upper and lower, plates 70, 71. To these plates are secured two vertical rods 72, one on each side of said straight portion of the horn, the plates 70, 71 being spaced suiliciently to furnish a rigid support for said vertical rods. Said rods 72 extend upward, and pass through a hole 73 in the table, and to their upper ends is secured by screws 74 a cross plate 7 6. Said cross plate is formed with a central brass casing 77, opening downwardly, in which casing is embedded a block 78 of fiber, and in said block is driven, or otherwise firmly secured, a downwardly pointed stud or pivot pin 79. Secured in the straight portion 58 of the horn at its upper end is a narrow cross bar 81, to the center of which is secured a bearing block 82 having a conical bearing 83.

84 indicates the bent swinging arm or tube for conveying the sound from the sound box. The lower end of said arm is provided with a cross bar 86 having a central socket 87 containing a fiber block 88, in which is a downwardly pointing pivot pin 89 fitting in the conical bearing 83. Upon the outer side of said swinging tube is formed a boss 91, in which is a conical bearing 92, in which is received the downwardly pointing pin 79. By this arrangement it will be observed that the swinging tube is secured directly to the horn, and is independent of the table or any other part of the cabinet. Moreover yielding nonmetallic material is interposed between the sound-conveying tube and the horn at the pivots of the former. Consequently the sound vibrations received by said swinging arm are conveyed to the horn undampened and are produced by said horn with great clearness, purity and resonance.

In order to obtain the full effect of the sound reproduced, the cabinet is formed shown. The openings 93 will, for the purpose of excluding dust, be closed as is usual by silk or suitable screening material, not here shown.

The free end of the sound tube is T- shaped so as to form a transverse tubular bearing 98, in which rotates a tube 101, at one end closed and secured by a screw 102 to an end of an arm 103, carrying at the other end a cylindrical weight 1.04 extending parallel with the tube 101. The inner end of the arm 103 is formed with holes 106 for screwing steady pins 105 therein to secure said arm against rotation on said tube and so that it extends in a downward direction approximately parallel with the needle carrier lever 119 hereinafter described. Said weight thus forms a very convenient handle for turning up the sound box to change the needle, and it also forms a stop resting on the sound conveying tube when the sound box is so turned up. Within said tube 101 there is secured an oblique Wall 107, whereon the sound entering the tube at'its open end impinges and is then reflected along themain portion of the sound tube. Around the open end of the tube 101 is secured a plate 108 having a suitable number, three being here shown, of bayonet slots 109, adapted to receive headed pins 111 extending from an annular plate 112 secured to the reproducer casing 1.14 by screws 113 passing through a rubber gasket 115. The plate 108 is cut in three places, said cuts extending radially outward from the extreme portions of the narrow ends of said bayonet slots so as to form in the plate outside said bayonet slots, three tongues 110. These tongues are permanently bent outward, as shown in Fig. 9, but, the plate being of resilient material, when, the pins are inserted in the wide ends of said bayonet slots and the reproducer casing 114 is turned so that said pins enter the narrow portions, the tongues 110 bear against the inner surfaces of the heads of said pins and by their pressure thereon cause the annular plate 112 secured to the reproducer casing to fit tightly against said plate 108. Said reproducer casing is made of wood or metal, and in said casing is the diaphragm 117. I have found it desirable to make this diaphragm of wood, and considerably larger than the ordinary mica diaphragm. The circular edge of the diaphragm is clamped between soft rubber rings 118, said clamping being effected by the securement to each other of the sides of the casing. .To oneside of this diaphragm is secured in the center the long arm of a needle carrier lever 119, the short arm of which carries in the usual manner the needle 121,. Said lever 119 is secured to a shaft 122 formed with conical ends, which ends are received in conical recesses in the ends of screws 12S screwed through hangers 124 secured to, or formed integral, with the sound-reproducing box. By screwing these screws in or out, the freedom of motion of the shaft in its conical bearings can be regulated. From the reenter of said shaft extends a spring arm 125, thefree end of which is held between rubber washers 126, which are contained between metallic Washers 127, which in turn are contained between adjusting nuts 128, which are screwed on a screw 129 extending from a cross bar 130 connecting the two hangers. In this way the tension of the spring plate, producing pressure of the long arm against the diaphragm, can be regulated as desired.

I have found that a wooden diaphragm, considerably larger than the mica diaphragm ordinarily used, gives excellent sound reproduction, especially with the arrangement of the sound box to vibrate on an axis in line with its center. By reason of the mode of attachment of the horn to the rear wall of the cabinet, said rear wall itself acts as a sounding board. In consequence, and because of the oblique sounding board and the free support of the horn, the vibrations are greatly amplified, so that a good tone is obtained even with a needle of medium size, which tone, of course, is less free from discordant sounds.

I claim 1. In combination with a cabinet having openings in its front and side walls, a sounding board in the cabinet extending obliquely rearwardly and downwardly, and the side edges extending adjacent to the openings in the side walls, the front edge being secured near the top of the opening in the front Wall, a talking machine supported by said cabinet above said sounding board, and a horn extending from said talking machine near the rear wall of the cabinet and behind the rear edge of said sounding board downwardly to a level below the same and then upwardly, the mouth of the horn being directed toward the under side of said sounding board.

2. In combination with a talking machine, and a cabinettherefor, upper and lower horizontal arms each connected only at one end to a wall of said cabinet, and extending substantially parallel with, and at a short distance from, said wall, said arms being longer than their distance from said wall, and a horn supported wholly by the other ends of said arms.

3. In combination with a talking machine,

,a cabinet therefor, and a sounding board,

the upper edge of said sounding board being connected to the front wall of said cabinet, and said sounding board sloping downwardly to the rear, the cabinet having an opening in its front wall beneath the upper edge of the sounding board, and an opening in a side wall extending above and below the sounding board, and a horn arranged obliquely to the sounding board for directing on to said sounding board the sound pro duced by the talking machine.

4. In a talking machine having a record carrier, a table therefor, a rotary shaft, a wheel carried thereby contacting with the under side of said record carrier, bearings for said shaft, arms upon the free ends of measee which said bearings are carried, a shaft to In testimony whereof I have hereunto set which the other ends of said arms are semy hand in the presence of two subscribing cured, bearings for said latter shaft sup- Witnesses.

ported by the table, means for pressing up- CHARLES F. A. STURTS. ward the wheel shaft, a motor, and an op- Witnesses:

erative connection between said motor and FRANCIS M. WRIGHT,

wheel shaft. D. B. RICHARDS.

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