US1198360A - Speed-controlling device for musical instruments. - Google Patents

Description

4Hvl I. LA JOIE.

SPEED CONTRDLLING DEVICE FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED AUGI23| I9|5.

Patented Sept. 12, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

H. I. LA JOIE.

SPEED CONTROLLING DEVICE FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

ARPLICATION FILED AUGLZS. I9I5.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT J'. LA JOIE, 0F ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO AUTOPIANO COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SPEED-CONTROLLING DEVICE FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Application filed August 23, 1915.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, HERBERT J. LA JOIE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Speed-Controlling Device for Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a speed controlling device, particularly adapted for controlling the speed of a note sheet in an automatic musical instrument.

Such instruments, as commonly constructed, are provided with a manually adjustable governor by which the speed of the motor can be varied at will, but the speed when adjusted remains constant until the adjustment is changed by the operator. The takeup roll is thus operated at constant speed 2o and, as the note sheet winding thereon increases in thickness, the rate of travel of the note sheet correspondingly increases. This increases the tempo of the music to a degree which becomes seriously objectionable when very long records are played, and also when the instrument is used to furnish dance music without manual supervision.

Devices have been heretofore provided for automatically regulating the note sheet speed, independently of the manually controller governor, and it is the object of my invention to improve the construction of such devices, rendering them more eflicient in operation and more reliable in service.

Vith this object in view, one feature of my invention relates to the provision of a sheet-engaging memberx adapted to coperate with the sheet winding upon the music roll, the decrease in size thereof permitting the speed-adjusting devices to become operative. j

A second feature of my invention relates to the provision of an automatically adjustable connection between the sheet-engaging member and the speed-adjusting device,

whereby the device will automatically adjust itself to a sheet winding of any size upon the music roll.

A further feature of my invention consists in the provision of a connection between the speed-adjusting device and the reroll lever through which connection the controlling valve will be fully open when the reroll mechanism is in operation.

My invention further relates to certain Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 12, 1916.

Serial No. 46,816.

arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

A preferred form of my invention is shown in the drawings in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a portion of an automatic musical instrument with my invention attached thereto; Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the controlling valve, taken along the line 2-2 in Fig. 3; Fig. 3 is a plan view, partly in section, taken along the line 3 3 in Fig. 1; Fig. a is a front elevation of the automatic adjusting device and the connection to the reroll lever; Fig. 5 is a detail sectional elevation taken along the line 5 5 in Fig. 3, and Fig. 6 is a detail end elevation looking in the direction of the arrow 6 in Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, I have shown my invention as applied to an automatic musical instrument of ordinary construction, the parts thereof herein shown including apcasing 10 and a horizontal supporting member 11 upon which the music roll actuating mechanism is mounted in a frame work or casing 11u. The music roll is indicated at 12, the take-up roll at 13, and the motor for actuating said rolls at 15.

The motor 15 is designed to rotate the driving shaft 16 through connections not shown and the shaft 16 is connected through the sprocket wheels 17 and 1S and the sprocket chain 19 to rotate the clutch shaft 20. The shaft 2O is longitudinally movable by the reroll lever 21. W'hen in its lefthand position, the pinion 22 upon the shaft 20 meshes with a gear 23 fixed to rotate with the take-up roll 13.

Then the reroll lever is shifted to its opposite position the shaft 20 is moved to the right until the pinion 22 is disengaged from the gear 23 and at the same time a clutch pin 24: engages a pin 25' upon a sprocket wheel 26 loose on the shaft 20. The wheel 26 is connected by a chain 27 to a sprocket wheel 28 mounted upon the shaft 29 which supports one end of the music roll 12.

The reroll lever is actuated from the usual handle 30 mounted in the front of the keybed. The connections between the handle 30 and the lever 21 comprise a link 31 connected to the handle 30 and to an arm 32 upon a shaft 33, the shaft 33 being provided with a second arm 34 which in turnv is connected by a link 35 to the reroll lever 2l.

The motor l5 is provided with an exhaust pipe 36 which is connected through a controlling valve box or casing 37 to a second pipe 38 which is connected to the usual manually controlled governor 39, mounted on the usual wind chest 40.

All of the parts thus far described with the exception of the controlling valve are of the usual construction and form no part of my invention.

The exhaust pipe 38 is connected with the interior of the valve casing 37 through an air passage 41 which is triangular in cross section as clearly shown in Fig. 2. A controlling valve plate 42 is mounted to slide in the casing 37 and to thereby close more or less of the valve opening 4l. A light spring 43 is fixed to the valve casing and is received between two pins 44 upon the plate 42, said spring tending to slide the valve toward the left to its normally inoperative position as shown in Fig. 2.

The operation of the valve plate 42 is controlled by a rod 44 having one end fixed to the plate 42 and extending outwardly through an opening in the end of the casing 37, said opening being provided with suitable packing` to prevent the passage of air therethrough. rlhe rod 44 is further supported in a bearing 45 (Fig. 3) mounted upon the music box frame l1, and its lefthand end is positioned between the two jaws 46 and 47 (Fig. 5) of a pneumatic gripping device. Said device consists of a small pneumatic bellows 48 (Fig. 3) mounted upon a block 49 slidable in ways 50 secured to the rear face of the music box frame 11a. The jaw 46 is carried by the fixed leaf 51 of the bellows 48, said leaf being secured to the block 49, while the jaw 47 is carried by the movable leaf of the bellows 48. The pneumatic device is connected by a liexible exhaust pipe 53 (Fig. l) to the wind chest 40.

The slide block 49 is connected by a link 54 (Fig. 4) to the vertical arm of the bellcrank 55 which is mounted upon a fixed pivot 56. The horizontal arm of the bellcrank 55 is connected by a. link 57 (Figs. 4 and 6) to an arm 58 extending rearwardly from a shaft 59 supported in bearings in the ends of the music box 11n.

The shaft 59 is provided with two additional arms 60 and 6l which extend forwardly and provide bearings for a sheetengaging roll 62. The arm 58 is extended rearwardly beyond its connection with the link 57 and is provided at its outer end with a hook 63 to which is secured one end of a tension spring 64. The other end of the spring is attached to a hook 65 mounted on the casing 11a. The relative positions of the hooks 63 and 65 and the shaft 59 is shown in Fig. 6, in which it will be seen that the spring 64 forces the roll 62 yieldingly downward against the music sheet winding upon the music roll l2, causing the roll to follow the winding as it decreases in dialneter through the operation of the instrument.

In the operation of the device the music roll is placed within the casing ll*L in the usual manner and the end of the music sheet is connected to the take-up roll 13. The roll 62 mounted upon the arms 60 and 6l carried by the shaft 59 engages the winding upon the music roll under the influence of the spring 64. As the roll 62 moves downward to engage the sheet winding it operates through the links 57 and 54 and bellcrank to move the slide block 49 toward the right, as viewed in Figs. 3 and 4. As the exhaust mechanism of the instrument is not in operation at this time, the pneumatic device remains open and the jaws 46 and 47 slide freely along the rod 44. As soon, however, as the instrunient is started in operation, the exhaust tension in the wind chest 40 is communicated. through the pipe 53 to the pneumatic gripping device, collapsing the bellows 48 and causing the jaws 46 and 47 to engage and grip the rod 44. As the sheet windingl upon the music roll l2 thereafter gradually decreases in diameter, the roll 62 moives downward and the slide 49 and rod 44 are moved toward the right. Such movement of the rod 44 is communicated to the valve 42 which gradually decreases the effective size of the valve opening 41, thereby decreasing the speed of the motor It will be noted that this decrease in speed is entirely independent of any manual adjustment of the speed of the governor 39.

After the playing of a given record has been completed the reroll lever will be shifted in the direction of the arrow (t in Fig. 4 to connect the clutch pins 24 and 25 to thereby drive the music roll positively in the reverse direction. Under these conditions, it is desirable that the motor l5 operate at its maximum speed and for this purpose I provide a lever mounted upon a fixed pivot 7l and having its upper end engaging' the slide block 49. The lower end of the lever 70 is connected by a link 72 to the upper end of the reroll lever 2l. As the upper end of the reroll lever moves to the right (as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 4), the upper end of the lever 70 is moved to the left, thereby forcibly returning the slide block 49 and the valve 42 to their extreme left-hand positions, such movements being aided by the spring 43 in the valve casing 37. This movement is performed against the tension of the spring 64 until 'the hook (S3-passes below the center line through the shaft 59 and the hook 65, below which line' the spring 64 acts to retain the roll 62 in l raised position and out of Contact with the music roll 12, during the rewinding operation.

It should be further noted that the music sheet in my sheet-winding mechanism performs no part in the actuation of my improved controlling mechanism. By controlling the speed from the music roll which is constantly decreasing in size, the roll 62 follows the decreasing sheet winding and the adjusting mechanism is actuated by gravity and by the spring 64.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, it will be evident that changes and modifications can be made therein by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as set forth in the claims, and I do not wish to be otherwise limited to the details herein disclosed, but

What I claim is zl 1. In a musical instrument, in combination, a music roll, a take-up roll, a pneumatic motor, driving connections between said motor and said rolls, a valve controlling the speed of said motor, and means for adjusting said valve, said means including" a member engaging the note sheet winding upon the music roll and effective to gradually close the valve opening as the diameter of said winding decreases.

2. In a musical instrument, in vcombination, a music roll, a take-up roll, a pneumatic motor, driving connections between said motor and said rolls, a valve controlling the speed of said motor, a member engaging the note-sheet winding upon the music roll, and adjustable connections between said member and said valve, said connections including a pneumatic gripping device rendered operative by the occurrence of exhaust tension in the instrument.

3. In a musical instrument, in combination, a music roll, a take-up roll, a pneumatic motor, driving connections between said moto-r and said rolls, a valve controlling the speed of said motor, a member engaging the note-sheet winding upon the music roll, and adjustable connections between said member and said valve, said connections including a pair of gripping aws, a rod attached at one end to said valve and positioned between said jaws, a pneumatic device supporting said jaws and connected to move with said member, and an exhaust connectionto said pneumatic device, whereby said device may bc caused to grip said rod and to form a substantially inextensible connection between said member and said valve.

4. In a musical instrument, in combination, a music roll, a take-up roll, a pneumatic motor, driving connections between said motor and said rolls, a valve controlling the speed of said motor, a member engaging the note-sheet winding upon the music roll, and adjustable connections between said member and said valve, said connections including a normally freelyslidable rod attached at one end to said valve, a spring effective to open said valve when said rod is free to slide, and a pneumatic gripping device connected to said member and movable therewith, said device gripping said rod when subjected to exhaust tension and forming therewith a substantially inextensible connection between said member and said valve.

5. In a musical instrument, in combination, a music roll, a take-up roll, a pneumatic motor, driving connections between said motor and said rolls, a valve controlling the speed of said motor, a member engaging the note-sheet winding upon one of said rolls, connection between said member and said valve, a reroll lever, and additional `connections therefrom, effective to positively retract said member and valve when the reroll mechanism is placed in operation.

6. In a musical. instrument, in combination, a music roll, a take-up roll, a pneumatic motor, driving connections between said motor and said rolls, a valve controlling the speed of said motor, a member engaging the note-sheet winding upon the music roll, adjustable connections between said member and said valve including a pneumatic gripping device rendered operative by the occurrence of exhaust tension in the instrument, a reroll lever, and connections from said lever to said gripping device eifective to move said device and said valve to normal inoperative position when the reroll mechanism is rendered operative.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

HERBERT J. LA JOIE.

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

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