US1738551A - Telephone-message apparatus - Google Patents

Description

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 am a? Q 54 44 31 14471 C1 Hem W1 m N w :Q UA 2 2 i a s mm Mm TELEPHONE MESSAGE APPARATUS Flled Sept 8 192'? Dec 10, 1929 Dec. 10, 1929. s. ZULLO 1,738,551 TELEPHONE MESSAGE AIPARATUS Filed Sept. 8, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 8 t z WM O Dec. 10, 1929. s ZULLQ TELEPHONE MESSAGE APPARATUS Filed Sept. 8, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Sn'vemtoz WM 85 M0 fitter/44013 dim/w a 6 Patent Bee. to," was SAE'UEL Z'ULLO, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY TELEPHONE-MESSAGE APPARATUS Application filed September 3, 1927. Serial No. 218,142.

speech recording instrument, such as a dictaphone, together with such submechanisms as will provide an automatic apparatus adapted.

to receive an incoming telephone call, trans mit a standard message advising the calling party that he is talking to an apparatus, re-

ceive and record a message and finally transmit such a message to the subscriber.

I have selected a standard dictaphone as the recording device because it is well known,

may be considered as a standard in its field and because it may be used as dictaphone per se apart from its function as a part of my invention.

Accordingly my invention is embodied in an'apparatus to accomplish the foregoing objects and as set forth in the following specification read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of an apparatus embodying my invention with parts removed and broken away.

Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of certain parts shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is an end view looking in the direction of arrow 3 in Figure 1 with parts omitted and broken away.

Fig. 4 is a rear view of the apparatus with parts omitted and broken away.

5 is a detail sectional view on line5-5 of Figure 1. I g

Inasmuch as a dictaphone is a well known instrument in use in thousands of places, only so much of it is shown and described as is necessary for an understanding of my in- I vention. In describing the dictaphone itself the arrangement of the speaking tubes shown in the drawings must be disregarded because they are shown arranged in accordance with my invention.

Referring to the drawings the numeral 13 designates the dictaphone base or main casmg which contains a motor 14:, shown diagrammatically in Figure 3. The motor drives a pulley 15 on a record shaft 16 which is adapted to carry the usual cylinder record 17. The casing l3'carries' two, upstanding brackets 18, 18 which support two shafts 19 and 20. 21 designates the usual dictaphone sound box slidably mounted on shaft 19 and clutched thereto by a clutching lever 23.

The latter is shown in its normal neutral position in the drawings, but when said lever is moved rearwards, to the left in Figure 3, the sound box is clutched to the operating shaft 19 and slides along said shaft as the latter is rotated. The sound box is guided by a depending member 33 which slides on the shaft 20. The incoming speech, i. e. the dictated message is carried to the soundbox by a speaking tube and recorded on the recording cylinder 17, all in a well known manner. v

The motor is usually connected to a lamp socket or other outlet by wires 24. The m0- tor circuit is broken at contacts 25,-but closed by a switch 26 carried on a rod 27 pivoted at 28 to a hook lever 29 which is pivoted to the machine at 31. The hook lever 29 supports the dictaphone speaking tube which by its weight keeps'the switch 26 away from the contacts 25. When the operator lifts the tube to dictate, the rod 27 drops, the switch 26 closes the motor circuit and the dictaphone starts operating. This is all old in the art and thought to be adequate for an understanding of this invention.

For the pur oses of my invention I rovide the dictap one with a second sound ox 35 which is mounted and operates exactly like the sound box 21. called the transmitting sound box for purposes of identification, while box 35 will be called the receiving sound box. Tov the latter is aflixed a speaking tube 22 endin Y in a mouth-piece 32 which rests by gravity 1n the 95 hook lever 29. The tube 22 and receivingsound box 35 functions in the same manner as the dictating or speaking tube on the standarddictaphone.

, The transmitting sound box 21 is also pro- The latter will be vided with a speaking tube 36 with a mouthpiece 37 which is held in a predetermined fixed position in a bracket 38 secured to the dictaphone.

I use a standard telephone for starting and operating the apparatus. The telephone is shown in conventional form and comprises the stand 10, the transmitter 11 and the receiw'er 12. A shelf 40 is attached to thedictaphone base in any suitable manner and is adapted to support the telephone in a sllghtly inclined position as shown so'that the transmitter 11 registers with the mouthpiece 37 and the telephone receiver registers with the mouthpiece 32. I

lVhile the inclined position of the telephone is not essential, it is preferred because in such position the receiver 12 hangs away from the stand 10 as best seen in Figure 4 and more space is obtained below the receiver for registry with the mouthpiece 32. For convenience in positioning the telephone, the shelf 40 is provided with an upstanding flange 41.

The operation and functioning of the apparatus is controlled by a timing mechanism which is automatically actuated by an incoming telephone calland which timing mechanism in turn automatically causes the dictaphone to operate a predetermined length of time so as to receive and record the incoming message. At the end of the period, the tim-.

ing mechanism stops the operation of the dictaphone and returns certain parts to starting position ready for the next operation. The timing and control mechanism is preferably embodied in a unitary structure adapted to be mounted as an assembled unit on the base of the dictaphone.

To this end there is formed a bracket like casting 42 comprising a front wall 43 and a rear wall 44 joined by suitably placed transverse members 45, 45. Any suitable fastening means may be used for mounting this bracket on the dictaphone. The screw 46 in Figure 4 indicates such means. The bracket 42 supports a spring motor 47 adapted to be rewound by a suitable tool, not shown, applied to the rewinding shaft 48. The motor 47 drives a shaft 49 by means of gears 50 and 51. The shaft 49 carries outside the bracket a disk 52 having a notch 53 and a pin 54. The notch 53 isengaged by a pawl 55 which thus prevents the motor from rotating so long as the pawl engages the notch. In the bracket is further mounted a cam shaft 58 which carries a cam 59 adapted to cause the telephone receiver 12 to be loweredto cut off the telephone circuit (hang up the receiver) at the end of operations. The cam has a neutral surface or seat 60 upon which rests the rear end of the hook lever 29 which is being kept on said seat by a spring 61. The cam also has a lifting portion 62 and a stop 63. The cam shaft 58 is provided with a pin 64 within the bracket 42 and an arm 65 outside the bracket, see Figure 1. The inside pin 64 is connected by a chain 66 with the armature of an electromagnet 67. The outside arm 65 rests on the upper end 68 of a pivoted lever 69 adapted to be operated by the aforesaid pin 54 in the disk 52. The electromagent 67, shown as a two coil magnet or relay, is conveniently mounted on a shelf 71 which may be a part of the bracket 42.

The pawl 55 is carried by a stop shaft 72. Inside the bracket 42 this shaft 72 carries a stop arm 73 and a starting arm/74, see Figure 2. The stop arm 73 engages a stop pin 75 on the governor shaft 76 which carries a governor 77, Figure 1. The starting arm 74 rests on the bevelled head 78 of a slide 79 mounted in a block 80 afiixed to the bracket wall 43.

The pawl 55 and the starting arm 74, both in the stop shaft 72, rest by gravity on the disk 55 and head 78, respectively, and thus tend to keep the stop arm 73 normally in the path of movement of the pin 75 on the governor shaft.

The governor shaft 76 is rotated by a train of gears 78, 79 and 80. The gear 78 is mounted on the shaft 49. On the latter and in front of the wall 43 of the bracket 42, see Figures 1 and 5, there is mounted a cam82 which operates a vertical slide 83 which at its top carries a turnable head 84. The latter ries a pin 85 and a finger 86. The shaft 49 further carries a returning cam 87 adapted to engage a knob 88 on the depending guide piece 33 from the recording unit 21. The pin 85 engages a slotted lever 90 secured to the clutching lever 23 on the recording unit 21. The relay 67 is energized by means of a small local circuit shown in Figure 4. The relay 67 is connected in series with a battery 92 and a relay 93 which is adapted to be energized from the telephone bell circuit 94. When the bell 195 rings, the relay 93 is energized and closes the circuit through the battery'and the relay 67 energizing the latter.

The use of the apparatus presupposes that a suitable informing message has been spoken into the mouthpiece 37 and conveyed through the tube 36 to the unit 21 and recorded on the record cylinder 17, this operation being done in exactly the same manner as when dictating to the dictaphone. During this operation, however, the operator manipulates the finger piece 86 to turn the pin 85 out of the groove in the slotted member 90. In other words, the timing mechanism is disconnected from the dictaphone, the informing message recorded by thelatter and the parts restored to normal position as shown. On a small part of the cylinder 17 there is now an informing message ready to be transmitted to the party who calls up during the absence of the subscriber.

Thereafter the dictaphone mechanism is carma am placed in position ready to operate. That is, the lever 23 of the recording unit 21 is put in clutched position with the pin 85 engaging the slotted lever 90, see Figure 2. At the same time, the corresponding clutching lever 123 of the dictaphone receiving unit is put in clutching position,

When a party desires to receive telephone calls during his absence, he places the telephone on the shelf so that the transmitter and receiver register with the mouthpieces 37 and 32 respectively. When a call comes in, the relay 67 is energized as aforesaid and the armature 70 pulls down the pin 64: through the chain 66, thereby rocking the shaft 58 anticlockwise and rotating the cam 59 a short distance. The sprin 61 therefore pulls down the rear end of the hook lever 29 and raises the front end which carries the mouthpiece 32 and the telephone receiver 12.. Consequently the latter is lifted ofi the telephone hook and the line is ready for messages. The rear end of the hook lever 29 now rests on the low part of the cam 59 against the stop 63. The anticlockwise movement of the shaft 58 has also lowered the pin 65 totip the lever 69 so that its lower end projects into the path of the pin 54 on the disk 52.

The lowering of the hook lever 29 on the cam 59 closes the motor circuit, see Figure 3; the motor commences to operate and thetwo units 21 and 35 commence to move on shaft 19. Immediately thereafter, because there is nothing to prevent it, the informing message notifying the caller to deliver his message to the machine, is spoken into the telephone transmitter 11 from the sound box 21 and the tube 36. At this time the two sound boxes 21 and 35 have moved along the record cylinder a certain distance depending upon the length of the informing message and the caller has been notified of the absence of the subscriber.

It will be noticed, then, that when the sound box 21 moves, the slotted lever 90 will strike the sliding member 79 projecting from the block 80 and consequently the head 78 will move to the left in Figure 2 and will lift the starting arm 74 and rock the shaft 72 anticlockwise, thereby lifting the stop arm 73 away from the governor stop pin 75, and the pawl out of the notch 53 on disk 52.

I The spring motor 47 is now free to rotate.

The rotation of the motor operates the governor to steady the movements of the parts as is obvious and also rotates the shaft 49. The latter, through the instrumentality of the cam 82 causes the slide 83 and pin 85 to rise, thus moving the clutching lever 23 back to normal or neutral.

At the same time, however, the returning cam 87 has rotated to engage the pin 88 to tion, the pawl 55 drops into the notch 53 and prevents further rotation. But at this time, the pin 54 has engaged lever 69 to lift the arm to rock the shaft 58 and cam 59 clockwise. Consequently the hook/lever 29 is lifted and the mouthpiece and telephone receiver is lowered to out off the telephone connection.

To recapitulate :-When the telephone rings the relay 67 is energized and through the chaintifi rocks the shaft 58 a short distance anticlockwise. This causes operation of the cam 59 to lower the lever 29 to lift the receiver ofi the hook and close the motor circuit. The dictaphone commences to work and moves both sound boxes 21 and 35 to the left in Figure 4. The sound box 21 immediately transmits the short informing message on the cylinder 17 into the telephone transmitter 37 advising the calling party. Simultanenously therewith the slotted lever 90 of the unit 21 has moved slide head 78 to lift arm 74 to rock the shaft 72 anticlockwise, thereby freeing the governor mechanism from the stop arm 73, and freeing the disk 52 from the pawl 55. Consequently the spring motor is free to rotate. It rotates shaft 49 and the cams 82 and 87 do two things in combination. First, cam 82 raises the pin 85 and unclutches 21 from the shaft 19. Second, the returning cam 87 strikes the knob or pin '88 on unit 21 (which has moved up to the cam) and returns the unit 21 to normal neutral position.

We have now reached a point in the operation where the telephone call has been received and the apparatus automatically started. The informing message has been transmitted from the dictaphone to the telephone transmitter via tube 36 and the sound box 21 has been unclutched from the shaft 19 and moved back into starting position. It will, however, be remembered, that during these operations, the dictaphone motor is continuing ,to run the dictaphone. Consequently as soon as the informing (outgoing) message has been spoken, the caller may respond with an in-- coming message which will be deliveredby the telephone receiver to the second sound box via the tube 22, and from the second box 35 the incoming message will be recorded on the record cylinder 17, because these two elements keep on operating while the'first sound box is being moved back tostarting position.

The apparatus stops when the stop shaft has made one complete revolution. and the pin 54 has gone around once and now strikes the lever 69, raising its upper end to lift the arm 65 and rotate the shaft 58 clockwise, causing the cam 59 to raise the hook lever 29 back to normal position, break the motor circuit and the cycle of operations is completed.

The cycle of operations may therefore be summarlzed as follows :The ringing of the telephone bell energizes the relay 67, which pulls down pin 64 to rock the shaft 58 to move cam 59 anticlockwise away from under the hook lever 29. The latter is pulled down by the spring'61 to lift the telephone receiver 0 thehook and close the motorcircuit. This starts the dictaphone and both sound boxes 21 {and 35 commence to travel along the recording'cylinder 17 The movement of sound box 21 operates to disengage the pawl 53 from the disk 52 through the instrumentality of the elements shown in Figure 2 and starts the timing mechanism.

During the first movement of the sound boxes, the informing message is sent out through sound box 21 and at the same time at the end of the informing message, the slide 83 has risen to move lever 23 to unclutch the first sound box and the returning cam is ready to return said sound box to starting osition. As soon as the informing message as been spoken, the incoming call is received bythe second sound box and recorded, while the first sound box returns to initial position. When this has been accom lished, the motor circuit is automatically bro en because the cam 59 is operated clockwise back to starting position to lower the hook lever, and the spring motor is stopped because the pawl 55 falls into the notch 53 of the disk 52.

At the end of the operation we therefore find sound box 21 back into startingposition, but sound box 35 has advanced along the shaft 19 and recorded the incoming call on the cylinder 17 and stops in its new position.

If the incoming message has not. been completed, the caller rings again. The same operations are gone through with and at the end thereof sound box 21 is again back into starting position, but sound box 35 has been still further advanced along the shaft 19.

Therefore, at the beginning of each call the two sound boxes travel together a distance determined by the length of the informing message. Thereafter the first sound box re turns to starting position, while the second sound box continues its travel and records the incoming message.

In the instance illustrated it will be seen therefore, that the apparatus is of sufficient capacity to permit a complete informingoutgoing-message, and can record an incoming message of a length dependent upon the length of time it takes to return the first sound box to starting position.

To illustrate :Assume that the. first sound box 21 travels one quarter of an inch in' order to transmit an informing message to the effect that the subscriber is out but will return. at a certain time and for the caller to deliver his message to the apparatus. When this has been accomplished,'both sound boxes have travelled one quarter of an inch. The second sound box, however, has not recorded anything, but will commence to do so, as soon as the incomlng message is being delivered. The first sound box Is now unclutched from the dictaphone and returns at a speed, not depending upon the dictaphone o rations but dependent upon the rate of s eed at t which the spring motor operates and t e contour or side of the returning cam 49, because the sound box 21 does not return to starting position until the said cam strikes the knob 88 and moves it back. During this time, of course, the second sound box records the incomin call and may for this purpose have a trave of perhaps up to half an inch.

At the beginning of the second operation, the two sound boxes again travel together, and for a space of another one quarter of an inch the second sound will again travel idly, thereby automatically separating the incomin calls.

11 practise, the length of travel for the purpose of transmitting the outgoing informing message will be made as short as is practical, 35 while the return stroke of the sound box 21 Will be delayed as long as is practical in order to permit the sound box 35 to receive the in-- coming call While travelling at dictaphone speed. This is accomplished by the proper 90 proportioning of the timing mechanism elements.

As a matter of convenience there is placed a bar across the dictaphone, and said bar 1s spaced and numbered as shown to indicate 95 I the number of incoming calls which may be received. The sound box 35 carries a pointer I 96. It is obvious, therefore, that the position of the pointer indicates to the returning subscriber the number of calls received during his absence.

The telephone may now be removed and' the dicta hone started to relay or retransmit to the subscriber through sound box 35 and tube 22 the recorded calls made during his 1 5 absence- When it is desired to use the dictaphone for ordinary dictating purposes, the timing mechanism is rendered inoperative by the 0p erator taking hold of the finger piece 86, Figure 2, and turning the pin 85 out of engagement with the slotted lever 90 and placing the latter in neutral position. Therefore, when the dictaphone starts operating, the telephone being of course removed, the first sound box 21 will not travel along the shaft 19. The operator, however, starts the dictaphone in the usual manner by a manually operated switch, not shown, and dictates through'mouthpiece 32 and tube 22 to the second sound box Which operates as usual. The only difference is that When the apparatus is operated as a dictaphone per se, the available recording space is diminished for a distance from the inner end of the record to the point where the second sound box begins to record. I i 7 From the foregoing it will be seen that without making any material change in the dictaphone except adding the second Sound i box, which is a standard dictaphone part, it is made available for the purposes of the invention. The timing mechanism is simple and sure in operation and is the medium,

through which the dictaphone and the telephone are combined to accomplish the result aimed at.

In practise the timing mechanism maybe concealed by a suitable casing, not shown. Other details may be changed, but this is believed to be within the scope of the person skilled in the art and within the legitimate and intended scope of the appended claims.

I claim 1. In combination, a telephone set, a speech recording instrument of the character described having a recording cylinder and two sound boxes in sound transmitting relation to the cylinder which latter bears a recorded message, means for placing the transmitter and the receiver of the telephone set in operative relation to the two sound boxes and means for operating the latter so that at each operation one sound box transmits the said same recorded message to the telephone transmitter and the other sound box records an incoming message on the cylinder from the telephone receiver.

2. In combination, a telephone set, a speech recording instrument of the character described having a single recording cylinder and two sound boxes, said cylinder having a message recorded thereon, means for operating the said two sound boxes and controlling mechanism regulating the operation of the sound boxes whereby one of them transmits the recorded message to the telephone transmitter while the other sound box is inactive and wherebv the other sound box records an incoming message on said cylinder from the telephone receiver while the first sound box returns to initial position.

3. In combination, a telephone set, a speech recording instrument of the character described having a recording cylinder and two sound boxes, a telephone set, means for placing the telephone transmitter and the tele- 4 phone receiver in operative relations with said sound boxes, means actuated by the signalling current of the telephone circuit to cause the said recording instrument to operate, a controllin mechanism actuated by one of said sound boxes for controlling the period of operation of the other sound box and for returning the said first sound box to starting position each time the said recording instrument is operated.

4. In combination, a telephone set, a speech recording instrument of the character described having a recording cylinder and two sound boxes, mechanism for causing said recordin instrument to operate both of said sound oxes from given starting positions to given finishing positions to transmit and record, respectively from and to said recording cylinder, an outgoing and an incoming message via the telephone transmitter and telephone receiver, respectively, and means in saidmechanism to return the transmitting sound box to its starting position while the receiving sound box moves to its finishing position.

5. In combination, a telephone set, a speech recording instrument of the character described having a recording cylinder and two sound boxes, mechanism for causing said recording instrument to operate both of said sound boxes from given starting positions to given finishing positions with respect to the recording cylinder to transmit and record thereon, respectively, an outgoing and an incoming message via the telephone transmitter and telephone receiver, respectively, and means in said mechanism to return the transmitting sound box to its starting position while the receiving sound box moves to its finishing position, and visible means operated by the receiving sound box for indicating the number of operations of the said recording instrument.

SAMUEL ZULLO.

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