US2177067A - Phonograph - Google Patents

Description

Oct 24, 1939. C.-HUENLICH PHONOGRAPH Filed Sept. 25, 1936 IN VENTOR Char/( 2s HuenZz'c/z By 2 A TTORNEY Pat nted Oct. 2.4,i939 I s PATENT OFFICE PHONOGRAPH Charles Huenlich, Bloomfield, N. J., aasiinorto Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated, West Orange,

,N, J., a corporation ofNew Jersey Application September 23,1936, Serial No. 102,060 I a 3 Claims. (01. 274-17) This inventionrelates to phonographs, andmore particularly to phonographs adapted at least'attimes for recordation, for example of dictation, upon a removable record.

. In connection with such phonographs it is common practice to provide a warning or indicating means for apprizing the dictator, or other person effecting or controlling the recordation, of an approach to the limit of recording space available on thelrecord. Usually this means operates to supply a momentary or substantially instantaneous indication or warning at a predetermined interval, in respect of recording space or time, before the exhaustion of available, recording space; accordingly after the operation of this means a dictator may continue his dictation for a brief periodfor' example for a number of words sufficient, in most instances, to complete a'sentence or to close a letterbefore replacing the record then' in use with a fresh one. There has been available, however, no obvious measure of the recording space or time remaining after the operation of the warning or indicating means; the dictator has thus been'left to choose between a conservatively prompt'removal .of the record, with possible waste of some available recording space,

andan appreciable continuation of dictation, with It is an object of the instant invention to so warn the dictator of the impending exhaustion of recording space as to provide for a permissible continuance of dictation of indicated duration.

It is another object more completely than heretofore to indicate the traversal of a predetermined terminal portion of the recording space.

It is another object to indicate differentially the beginning and. substantial ending of traversal of such a predetermined terminal portion.

It is a further object to provide a generally improved system for warning of impending exhaustion of recording space.

Other and allied objects will more fully appear fromthe following description and the appended claims.

' 1n the description reference is had to the accom panying drawing, of which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view, with portions broken away, of a phonograph in which my invention has been incorporated;

. Figure 4 is still another fragmentary rear view showing the same parts in still another set of positions, which they occupy at substantially the ending of traversal of recording space.

. There may'first be described, with reference to Figure 1, the conventional portions of the phonograph of the drawing; these will be understood, however, to be illustrative only. Thus typically there is provided a mandrel l adapted to support a removable cylindrical record R. The shaft 2 of the mandrel is journalled in a bearing 3, which is secured to or formed from the stationary topplate 4 of the phonograph. Shaft 2 and mandrel I are arranged for rotation by a pulley 5, through the medium of the clutch 6 which is engageable and disengageable at will to provide immediate control over the rotation; the pulley 5 is rotatably mounted on a short shaft 2' secured in standard I, and is driven by a-belt 8 from a motor (not shown) suspended below the top plate 4.

Above the mandrel l is arranged a recording and reproducing mechanism l3, conveniently referred to as a sound box. This may for example be provided with appropriate styli for engagement with 40 the surface of a record R in well known manner,

though no limitation to any particular form of this mechanism is intended. In Figure l the numeral l3 designates-a recording stylus. In the operation of the phonograph the sound box is caused to travel longitudinally of the record, for example from left to right; thus when adjusted for recordation the particularly illustrated mechanism will engrave a continuous helicalspiral groove in the record R, this groove being modulated (for example in depth) by sound or soundrepresenting energy appropriately supplied to the sound box. To effect the longitudinal travel of the sound box the latter is supported in a circular mounting I4 forming a portion of acarriage I4, 55

this carriage being slidably arranged on the longitudinal guide rods l5 and I6; during recordation or reproductioiithe carriage is. driven slowly along these rods. This driving is accomplished by imgagement of a feed nut I1. (secured'to the carriage) with a feed screw I0 journaled in standards I and I, the feedscrew being rotated by shaft 2 through the medium of' driving gear 12 on that shaft and driven gear II on the-feed screw. To

permit mandrel rotation without sound box travel during times of non-recordationor reproduction,

there is provided a lever l3 movable in slot 19 in the carriage and arranged in accordance with its position selectively to engage and disengage the feed nut l1 with-and from the feed screw ill (by mechanism not here necessary to show) It will be understood thatiri the illustrated phonograph the exhaustion of recording space occurs whenithe recording stylus l 3' in its rightward travel re'aches substantially the right-hand extremity of'the record R; the parts may of course be so arranged that thereafter further movement of the carriage signalled both the beginning and the substantial ending ofyft'raversal of apredeterminedterminal portion of. the recording space. This may be done for exam'ple'bythe production of a momentary ring or other sound at such beginning, and of another ring or other sound at, such substantial ending; Thus by the first sound the dictator is put on notice of the impending exhaustion of recording space. If the subject matter of his dictation permits: he may now draw the dictation to an appropriate close; butif not he maycon tinue freely, with positive assurance that recorda- 'tion is still being effected, until he hears the second sound; thereupon he stopshis dictation with- -in a very few words, and changes records with the assurance that the available space on; the first record has been efiiciently utilized. The,

typical specific structure which I have illustiiated for this action is now described, with special reference to Figures 2, 3 and 4:

Underneath the back carriage guide rod [6 and portion 29 of the stud and a spacingsleeve 21' surrounding the stud between bell and standard, the stud passing through the standard 1 to be secured by the nut 26'. The enlarged stud head portion 29 is provided with the vertical slot 29'; and an arm 30 is centrally pivoted, to swing in this slot, .by the horizontal cross-pin 3i. The lower portion of the'arm 30 is curved sothat, when the upper portion is essentially vertical, the extremity of the lower portion is adjacent the bell 25; this extremity is formed into a clapper 30' for the bell. The normal position of the arm, illustrated in Figure 2, is one wherein the clapper is minutely spaced from the bell; this position is maintained by the tension spring 34, then fully closed, this spring being terminally fastened to the lower portion of the arm 30 and to a clipwasher 28 held between-bell 25 and stud head portion 29.

' form left-hand and right- hand fingers 32 and 33.

respectively (it. being borne in mind that in the rear views of Figures 2, 3 and 4 these parts naturally appear in reverse arrangement), These fingers extend upwardly into the path of a trip member or pawl 35 which is pivotally mounted (at 3.6) to a lug "carried, underneath guide rod path of thebottom of the pawlface 35' is shown in-Figure 2 as the line P. i

As the carriage travels from left to right of the phonograph. (i. e., in a leftwardly direction as ap: pearing in Figure 2), the pawl face 35' is eventually brought into contact with the finger 32. As the travel continues the arm 30 is slowly rotated about its pivotpin 3| (in a clockwise direction as seen in'Fi'gure 2) so that the tip of finger 32' describes an are shown in Figure 2 as terminating at the point A on line P; when this point is reached the parts will have assumed the positions example to a stylus l3 position, longitudinally of the record, as indicated by the line W1 in Fig. 1. Immediately thereafter the finger 32 willbe released. by the pawl, since further arcuate-movement ofthe finger tip would be below the line P; upon this release the arm will fly clockwise about its pivot in response to the spring 34, which has been expanded by the arm rotation, the

bell 25. Thus is provided an audible indicationof the beginning of traversal 'of a predetermined terminal portion of the recording space-4. e., the space on the record from the line W1 rightwardly.

As the carriage :continues its travel the pawl face is presently brought into contact with the finger 33. As the travel further continues the arm 30 is'again slowlyrotated about its pivot pin 3! so that the tip of finger 33 described the are shown in Figure 2 as terminating at the point B on line P; when this point isreached the parts will have assumed the positions illustrated in Figure 4, which may correspond for example to a .stylus l3 position, longitudinally of the record,

as indicated by the line W: in Figure 1. Immediately thereafter the finger 33 will be released by the pawl and, as in the. case of release of the finger 32 above described, the clapper 30 will again strike the bell 25. Thus is provided an audible indication of the substantial ending of tratermined by the position of the pivot pin 3| and the distances of the finger tips therefrom. I prefer so to arrange the last mentioned parameters that the second sound will occur just before the exhaustion of recording space, and the first'sound 'therebeiore by an interval of the order of onehalf minute (assuming uninterrupted travel of the carriage during that interval).

In accordance with my invention I may provide 76 a distinction between the two sounds or other indications; in the illustrated embodiment such a distinction is made in the amplitudes of the sounds. This amplitude is obviously determined by the angular length of the are through which the arm 30 is moved between normal position and the position of release by the pawl; for any given distance of finger-tip from pivot 3| this arc length is determined by the angle formed between a line from finger-tip to pivot and a line from pivot to clapper. In the illustrated embodiment I have so chosen these angles for the respective finger-tips, in view of their distances from the pivot, that the arc terminating at point A is greater than that terminating at point B-in other words, so that the first of the sounds will be the louder; this relationship obviously, however, may be reversed if desired.

Alternatively or additionally to a differentiation in the sound or other signal itself, I may provide a differentiation by auxiliary visible means; typical such means have been illustrated in Figure 1. Herein will be seen, at the front of the phonograph, anindex holder 42 wherein is intended for insertion with each record inserted upon the mandrel I a corresponding index scale 40; secured to the carriage l4 and overhanging the index holder and scale is an indicator 43, the position of the right-hand edge of which indicates a position longitudinally of the index scale corresponding to the position of the stylus l3 longitudinally of the record. Such index holder, scale and indicator are themselves in common use, the slip usually being adapted to be marked by the dictator lengths of letters, etc. According to the instant invention there may be printed on the index scale, in position to be traversed by the indicator 43 as the stylus traverses the predetermined terminal recording space portion, a sub-scale S, the beginning and ending of this sub-scale comprising for example prominent lines or markings 11- to note corrections,

lustrated as 45 and 45', respectively. It will be understood that the right-hand edge of indicator 43 will be over the marking 45 when the first of the two above described sounds occur, and over the marking 45 whenthe second occurs. Thus upon hearing of one of the sounds by the dictator, a glance at the sub-scale S instantly resolves any question he may entertain as to which sound has been heard. Furthermore, this sub-scale, together with a conception rapidly gained through usage as to the approximate recording time which its length represents, enables the dictator much more accurately to estimate his ability to complete his dictation in any instance within the limits of the available recording space V I claim:

1. A phonograph having, in combination, a support for and means for recording on a record, means for causing traversal of the record by the recording means, and mechanical means responsive to said recording means in its traversal for producing a plurality of predeterminedly separated and mutually distinctive audible warnings of the termination of said traversal.

2. A phonograph having, in combination, a support for and means for recording on a record, means for causing traversal of the record by the recording means, a bell, a striker for said bell, and a plurality of means associated with said striker for rendering the same responsive to said recording means at a respective plurality of points in the terminal portion of said traversal.

3. A phonograph having, in combination, a support for and means for recording on a record, means for causing traversal of the record by the recording means, a bell, a pivoted striker for said bell, a plurality of fingers extending from said striker, and a pawl connected with said recording means and adapted to engage said fingers at respectively different points in said traversal.

CHARLES HUEN'LICH.

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