US2180094A - Sound box for dictating machines - Google Patents

Description

' Nbv. 14,1939. Q J E. RENHOLDT 9 soumq BOX FOR DIGTATING MACHINES Film i Sept. 24, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR 3573/2 l Renholdf ATTORNEYS Nov. 14, 1939.

J. E. RENHOLDT SOUND BOX FOR DICTATING MACHINES Filed Sept. 24, 1937 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 0 32 |N3VENTOR 35 50/222 E. Ben/201d! @ZML CWZL Q v 'ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 14, 1939 SOUND BOX FOR DICTATING MACHINES John 1:. m, Bridgeport, Oonn., assignor m Dictaphone Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application September 24, 1937, Serial No. 185,424

90mins.

This invention relates to sound translating devices and more particularly to sound boxes for dictating machines.

An object of the invention is the provision of vide new and improved means to restrain the recording stylus of such a device against lateral movement as an incident to conditioning of the device for a recording operation.

A further object is to provide a sound box construction of the above character which is compact, economical of manufacture, and readily operable to condition the device for either reproducing or recording operations. Other objects and advantages will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

This invention accordingly consists in the fea-. tures of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangements of parts, as will be exemplified in the structure to be hereinafter described and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of my invention,

Figure l is an end elevation with some of the parts shown in cross-section;

- Figure 2 is a sectional view of the recording and reproducing sound box taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the under surface of the sound box shown in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a sectional view of the sound box shown in Figure 2 but taken on line 4-4 of Fi ure 2;

Figure 5 is a sectional view of the sound box similar to Figure 4, but with the parts in a different position of adjustment;

Figure 6 is a transverse sectional view of the sound box similar to Figures 4 and 5, but with the parts in a diflerent position of adjustment from those shown in Figures 4 and 5 Figures 7, 8 and 9 are enlarged detailed perspective views of certain of the parts shown in Figures 2 to 6 inclusive.

Sound boxes according to the present invention are particularly well adapted to replace the reproducing sound box of a well known type of transcribing machine, thus converting the lat- -ter into a universal machine capable of recording diction and also reproducing same without other alteration than the substitution of a transmltting connection to the sound box in place of I the receiving connection ordinarily used for listening. Combination sound boxes of this nature are not, however, limited to the use specified.

Referring to Figure 1, the machine shown in 5 the accompanying drawings comprises a base plate l2, having an integrally formed upstanding housing l3 for rotatably supporting a mandrel l4 adapted to carry a record tablet or cylinder l5.

The mandrel may be driven by means such, for example, as that shown in the patent to J. M. ligigrrelle et. al., 1,983,039, dated December 4,

Extending longitudinally of the machine are upper and lower carriage supporting and guiding members It and I! which are supported at their ends by the housing l3 and standards (not shown.) near the other end of the base plate.

Slidably mounted upon the members It and ii is a sound box carriage It. A feed screw it, journalled'on an axis parallel to the axis of the mandrel i4, and suitably connected thereto so as to rotate when the mandrel rotates, is arranged to drive the sound box carriage through a feed nut 20 supported on the carriage and arranged to be moved into and out of engagement with the feed screw. For a further disclosure of this construction, which forms no part of the present invention, reference may be had to the above cited patent. A sound box 2| carried by the sound box carriage I8 is arranged to be traversed longitudinally of a record tablet on the mandrel Ii.

. Referring additionally to Figures 2 to 6, inclusive, the sound box 2| comprises a body portion formed with a short tubular voice connection 22, its under surface being recessed at '23 to receive a diaphragm 24.

An annular plate member 25, removably se- 40 cured on the under surface of the sound box, carries a weighted support 26, on a pivot rdd 21, which, in turn, is carried by a bracket 28, mounted on trunnions 29 for arcuate movement in a s plane at right angles to the plane of movement of the support 26 on the pivot 21. Hence the support 26 is capable of universal movement with respect to the body of the sound box.

A 'styluslever 30 is pivotally mounted on the weighted support 26, one of its arms being connected to the diaphragm 24 by a wire 3|. The opposite end of stylus lever 30 carries a substantially triangular, pivotally mounted stylus head 32 arranged to receive a recording stylus 33 and a reproducing stylus 34.

The pivot 21 and trunnion 29 permit the weighted support 26, and thus the stylus head, to have free lateral and vertical movement on the record in a reproducing operation, and addition ally accommodate the mechanism to records of various thicknesses and to inequalities in-the record surface.

Weighted support 26 may be moved from the reproducing position shown in Figure 6 to a neutral position shown in Figure 5 so as to raise the stylus head above the record, as is done when the record is removed from the mandrel or in those instances in which it is desired to move the sound box carriage a relatively long distance along the record, either forward or backward. To this end, the weighted support is formed with an angularly-extending arm 35 which lies in the path of an arm 36, Figure l, of a carriage release, or sound box conditioning lever 31 pivotally supported on the guide rod l6.

As shown in Figure 1, when the lever 31 is under edge of the camming lever 45.

raised, its arm 36 will engage the arm 35 of -weighted support 26 to rock the latter in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed, thus raising the stylus head above the record. The conditioning lever 31 simultaneously functions to disengage the feed nut 20 from the feed screw l6, its arm 36, being arranged to act upon an upwardly-tumed end 38 of. the feed nut to rock the latter in a clockwise direction against the action of a spring 39, thus disengaging the nut from the feed screw.

Means is provided to rock the stylus head 32 between the positions shown in Figures 4 and 6 to selectively condition the sound box for recording and/or reproducing operations. To this end, weighted support 26 is arranged to be raised to neutral position, as in Figure 5, and then lowered again into engagement with the record each time the machine is changed from recording to reproducing condition and vice-versa, the stylus head during this movement being automatically moved to cause the desired stylus to contact the record.

Referring particularly to Figures 2 to 9, in.- clusive, the under surface of the sound box is formed with similar, diametrically-aligned, rectangularly shaped recesses 39, to receive a stationary guide piece 4|] (Figure 8) extending between and rigidly secured in the recesses. The guide piece 40 comprises fiat, irregularly shaped end portions 4| and 42 which engage the surfaces of the recesses 39, and a connecting, or bridge member 43 which maintains the parts 4| and 42 in fixed rigid relationship and also defines a bearing 44 to pivotally support a camming lever 45, Figure 7.

The free end of camminglever 45 is formed with a laterally turned hook 46 which engages a hook 41 projecting upwardly and rearwardly from the surface of weighted lever 26 as shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6.

Camming lever 45 is arranged to be moved arcuately by means including a slide 48 (Figure 9) which underlies the guide 40 and may be reciprocated in the slots 39 in the annular underbody of the sound box. Slide 48 comprises a flat, rectangular body portion and'a substantially centrally located depending car 49 which in turn carries a laterally extending pin 50 arranged to act upon camming surfaces 5| and 52 and an intermediate dwell surface 53 formed on the As the slide 48 is caused to move leftwardly and rightwardly, between the positions shown in Figures 4 to 6, pin 50 will act upon the camming su f c s 5| and 52 of lever 45 so as to alternately levate, hold, and then permit the lever to move downwardly, thereby effecting a corresponding movement of weighted lever 26.

Reverting now to Figure 9, it will be observed that the left end of the slide 48, as viewed therein, is bifurcated to provide spaced arms 55 which straddle the upwardly projecting portion of the trunnion housing for the trunnion bearing 29 as shown at 56 in Figures 4 to 6, inclusive.

Slide 48 is adapted to be reciprocated between the positions shown in Figures 4 and 6 by means of a thumb nut 51 conveniently positioned on the upper surface of the sound box. The thumb nut is fixed to the upper end of a short shaft 58, journalled in the annular portion of the body of. the sound box for rotation in a plane substantially normal to the surface thereof. At its lower end, shaft 58 is provided with a rigidly connected arm 56 (Figure 3) the free end of which is received between the downwardlyturned; ends of a bracket 60 (Figure 9) secured on the lower surface of slide 48.

To effect automatic rocking of the stylus head 32 as an incident to operation of the thumb nut 51, slide 48 is formed with a downwardly-projecting, laterally-turned fork 62, the arms of which, 63 and 63 straddle the upwardly-projecting apex 64 of the stylus head when the weighted lever 26 is in its upper or neutral position as shown in Figure 5. This movement of the stylus head into position between the arms of fork 62 occurs in timed relation with the movement of slide 48, the completion of the movement of the slide being eifective to rock the stylus head either in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction dependent upon the direction of movement of the slide. Thus, when thumb nut 51 is rotated from the position shown in Figure 4 so as to change the machine from a dictating to a transcribing condition, in other words, to render the stylus 33 ineffective and the stylus 34 effective, the slide 48 is moved to the right to cause pin 50 to act against the camming surface 52 of lever 45, thereby elevating the weighted support to the position shown in Figure 5. It will be noted that in these positions of the parts the arms 63 and 63 of fork 62 straddle the upper end 64 of the movable stylus head 32. Now as the rotation of thumb nut 51 is continued, the movement of slide 48 continues in a rightward direction so as to cause arm 63 of fork 62 to rock the stylus head in a clockwise direction, thereby position-' ing the transcribing stylus so that it will'engage the record when the weighted support is again lowered. This last mentioned movement of the slide occurs while the pin 56 engages the dwell surface 53 of camming lever 45 so that no movement of the weighted support takes place during the rocking of the stylus head.

Toward the conclusion of the rightward movement of slide 46, pin 50 moves beyond the dwell surface 53, the configuration of the camming surface 5| then permitting the camming lever to drop downwardly under the influence of weighted support 26, the parts finally assuming the'position shown in Figure 6.

Conversely, when thumb nut 51 is rotated tomit the weighted support to drop again to the position shown in Figure 6, the recording stylus 39 having been positioned to engage the tablet or record.

To facilitate manipulation of the stylus head to its respective positions, the thumb nut I1 is formed with a pointer 98 which is coordinated with suitable indicia on the top surface 2| of the sound box which serve to identify the positions of the thumb nut with the recording and reproducing conditions of the stylus head.

To insure equivalent movement of the stylus head and sound box carriage inboth recording and back-spacing movement of the sound box, means is provided to lock the weighted support 26 against lateral movement relative to the sound box carriage during both recording and back-spacing operations. More particularly, the weighted support is prevented from moving arcuately on the trunnion bearing 29 at all times when the machine is conditioned for recording and it is similarly restricted when a back-spacing movement of the sound box occurs. As shown in Figures 3, and 4' to 6 inclusive, 9. locking lug 61 is carried by the pivoted bracket 29 on which the support 26 is mounted, and a movable locking device comprising a lever 69 is pivoted on the plate member 25 and carries a notched wheel 69 arranged to cooperate with the locking lug 61.

A tensile spring 10 is connected between the locking lever 69 and a lug II on slide 49. When slide 49 is moved to the left as shown in Figure 4, that is, when the machine is conditioned for a recording operation, spring 10 is tensioned to draw lever 69, and thus the notched wheel 69, into locking engagement with the lug 61 thereby preventing movement of the support 26 and stylus head 32 on trunnion 29. When slide 49 is caused to moveto the position shown in Figure 6, on the other hand, that is to the position' in which the sound box is conditioned for a reproducing operation, the tension, in the spring 10 is destroyed so as to allow the locking lever and its notched wheel to rock downwardly under the influence of gravity out of engagement with the lug 61, thereby permitting free tracking movement of the support and stylus head over the tablet or record.

In those instances in which it is desired to back-space the sound box carriage during a reproducing operation, the weighted support is locked with respect to the sound box as an in cident to the beginning of the back-space movement and is restored to'its normal free tracking condition after the conclusion of the retrograde movement. As shown particularly in Figures 1 and 3, the locking lever 69 is provided with a depending lug 12 which is engaged by means associated with the feed nut whenever the backspace lever 19 is operated to step the carriage backwardly along its supports, as is fully described in the above cited patent.v Thus it will be understood that the locking lever 98 is actuated to bring the notched wheel 69 into engagement with the locking lug 91 when the feed nut 2!) is raised by operation of the back-spacer key as well as by rotation of the thumb nut 51 to condition the machine for a recording operation.

Thus I have provided a construction including emcient means for shifting a device 01' the character described between recording, neutral, and

reproducing positions. .Furthermore, the mechanism is such as to automatically providefor locking the recording tool against lateral movementduring a recording operation as well as for locking the reproducing tool against lateral movement during a back-spacing operation. Great ease of adjustment of the device to any of its plurality of positions is accomplished by coordinating all of its movements with asingle manipulative device.

Thus I have provided a thoroughly efficient construction in which the several objects hereinabove referred to, as well as many others, are successfully accomplished.

As many possible embodiments may be made of the above invention and asmany changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matters hereinabove set forth, or shown in the accompanying drawings, are to beinterpreted as illustrative and;not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A sound box adapted to be detachably mounted as a unit on the carriage of a dictating machine in operative relation to a record tablet .comprising in combination, a body portion, a support movably mounted thereon, a stylus head operatively mounted on said suport, a plurality of styli on said head conditionable by movement of said head into and out of operative relation to said tablet, a slide on said body portion, and

a single manipulative means operable to move said slide and said support to eflect a coacting relationship between said head and said slide to selectively condition said styli for operation.

2. A sound box adapted to be detachably mounted as a unit on the carriage of a dictating machine in operative relation to a record tablet comprising in combination, a body portion, a support mounted on said body portion for movement relative thereto in angularly disposed planes, a stylus-on said support, means adapted to lock said support against movement in one of said planes, manipulative means operable to move said support in the other of said planes to condition said stylus in relation to said record tablet, and means associated with said manipulative means automatically actuated as an incident to manipulation of said support to prevent movement thereof in the said one plane.

3. A sound box adapted to be detachably mounted as a unit on'the carriage of a dictating machine in operative relation to a record tablet comprising in combination, a weighted support pivotally mounted on said sound box for universal movement relative thereto, manipulative means operable to effect movement of said support in -one plane, means for locking said support against comprising in combination, a body portion, a support universally connected to said body portion to permit movement thereof relative to said body portion in angularly disposed planes, recording and reproducing styli mounted on said support and selectively conditionable for operation with said record tablet, manipulative means to eil'ect movement of said support between two angulariy spaced positions and to selectively condition said styli for operation, and means associated with said manipulative means and said support actuated as an incident to conditioning of one of said styli to restrict the movement of said support to a single plane;

5. A sound box adapted to be detachably mounted as a unit on the carriage of a dictating machine in operative relation to a record tablet comprising in combination, a body portion, a support pivoted on said body portion for movement between two angularly disposed positions, a stylus head movably mounted on said support, recording and reproducing styli on said head, a part movable on said body portion, and manipulative means operable to move said support and said part to a position to effect a coacting relationship between said part and said head to selectively condition said styli for operation with said record tablet.

6. A sound box adapted to be detachably mounted as a unit on the carriage of a dictating machine in operative relation to a record tablet comprising in combination, a body portion, a weighted support pivotally mounted thereon for universal movement relative thereto, a stylus head operatively mounted on said support, a plurality of styli on said head, a slide on said body portion, locking means operable to restrict movement of said support to a single plane, and manipulative means operable to move said support and said slide to a position to provide an actuating relationship between said slide and said styli head to selectively condition said styli for operation with said record tablet, and a resilient one-way operating connection between said slide and said locking means.

7. A sound box adapted to be detachably mounted as a unit on the carriage of a-dictating machine in operative relation to a record tablet including in combination, a body portion, a support universally mounted thereon, a stylus head operatively mounted on said support, a plurality of styli on said head, a part supported on said body portion for movement between two spaced positions, locking means operable to restrict movement of said support to a single plane, a resilent one-way operating connection between said part and said locking means, and a single manipulative means operable to move said part and said support to effect selective conditioning of said styli for operation with said record tablet and to lock said support against movement in a particular plane when a particular one of said styli is conditioned.

8. In a sound box adapted to be detachably mounted on the carriage of a dictating machine tion of reciprocation to actuate said cam member first to raise and then to lower said support and carrier, and means on said slide adapted in the raised position of said carrier to engage and rock said carrier, whereby opposite movements of said slide selectively condition the respective styli in operative relation to the record tablet.

9. In a sound box adapted to be detachably mounted on the carriage of a dictating machine in operative relation to a record tablet, in combination, a support mounted universally for upand-down and lateral movements in relation to said tablet, a carrier for a recording and a reproducing stylus pivotally mounted to present one or the other of said styli in operative relation to said tablet, said carrier being connected with said support for movement therewith, a movable cam member having a connection with said support for effecting up-and-down movements of said support, a reciprocatory slide adapted during one part of its movement to engage and raise said cam member, means for moving said slide selectively in either direction of reciprocation t0 actuate said cam member first to raise and then to lower said support and carrier, means on said slide adapted in the raised position of said carrier to engage and rock said carrier, whereby opposite movements of said slide selectively condition the respective styli in operative relation to the record tablet, means adapted to lock said support against lateral movement, and a resilent connection between said slide and said locking means adapted to eifect locking of said support when said slide is operated to present the recording stylus to the record tablet.

JOHN E. RENHOLDT.

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