US2343114A

US2343114A - Recording and reproducing sound

Info

Publication number: US2343114A
Application number: US354824A
Authority: US
Inventors: Neumann Leopold
Original assignee: MULTIPRISES Inc
Current assignee: MULTIPRISES Inc
Priority date: 1940-08-30
Filing date: 1940-08-30
Publication date: 1944-02-29
Anticipated expiration: 1961-02-28

Description

Feb. 29,` 1944.

L. NEUMANN RECORDING AND REPRODUCING SOUND Filed Aug. so, 1940 l2 sheets-sheet 1 Q *vom Q E w- .f um .w www,

. mvENToR l v .fapo/a/A/euman/ 'VW 3' ATTORNEYS Feb. 29,'1944 L NEUMANN y 2,343,114

RECORDING ANDREPRODUCING SOUND I' Filed Aug. 5o, 1940 42 sheets-,sheet 2 mvENToR i ,gpo/a//Vez/mann in rolls.

for a small amount of recorded sound and after- Patented Feb. 29, 41944 U'NTED STATES PATENT ori-'Ica .fllm'f?.

Multiprises,v Inc., New

tion of New York York, N. Y., a corporaappimation aufm so. im. serai No'. 354,824

s claims.. (ci. 214-11) der is placed upon a mandrel for reproducing This invention relates to sound recording and reproducingl and has for an object the provision of improvements in this art. y

Among the objects of the invention is that vof recording sound in a substantially continuous manner, thus avoiding interruptions which have ner, and while these proposals have been many' and varied it is believedthat none of them offers the advantages provided bythe present inverition. s

One previous proposal was to` use a plurality of waxA records on a plurality of recording. ma-

chines and to shift from one to the other as the records were lled, but the expense of duplex machines is great, the change-over mechanism is likelytobe complex, and in the end there are still heavy and bulky records to deal with. There is also -a high service cost for shaving records.' Moreover, shaving'` destroys the recorded material.

Another proposal was to use a continuous tape This requires a great length of 'tape wards it is very diiilcult topick out'desired se- 3 lections of materlafbecause this means running VVthe whole roll through each time a selection is wanted.

Other lprior proposals might be mentioned;

andqwhile they all may have advantages for certain?V purposes they also all have disadvantages from-the, standpdint ofthe purposes or applica-- vtionsof, ,ij,he present invention. According to this invention a the sound there .will be practcally no appreciable eilect from the flattening or even from the seam y wherethe cylinder is jointed; and more impor,

tant, there will be no dlmculty in correctly following the record track across the seam. Indeed the inventionmakes possible the formation of an improved joint seam which further insures correct tracking.

When a permanent cylinder is not formed. the sheet material while in temporary cylindrical vform may bepunched or otherwise formed or marked adjacent the longitudinal edges to assure matching'of the circumferential sound track convolutlons when the record again assumes a A 'I cylindrical shape for reproduction.

' the line 54-5 of Fig. 1;

tape of record material'is folded longitudinally into cylindrical form"` andl thesound track Vis made in a circumferentialspiral thereon. The record tape is suppoi-tedV in vfolded condition upon a mandrel while the* sound track is` being recorded thereon.

Thereafter the tube of material maybe cut into desired lengths and marked with indicia for indexing. The resulting vrecorrd is ver'y light`and Further objects and features of the inventiony will be revealed by the following description of an illustrative embodiment `oi the invention and one form 'of apparatus Aemploying the invention, which is shown in the' accompanying ldrawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a schematic elevational view partly in section of one form of apparatus embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the parts shown at the left of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section -taken on the line 3 3' or Fis. 1:

Fig. 441s a side viewer parts of two finished records showing the line of severance between them:

Fig. 5 is a partial enlarged section taken on Fig. a is a view snowing how the cylindrical -record may be flattened for mailing or filing:

lFig. His a View showing a -:nished record which has been returned to flat sheet form.

In the exemplary embodiment vof apparatus for practicing the invention illustrated herein, the tape, .sheet o r strip of record material I is fed fom a roll ll'mounted in brackets l2 for convenient replacement. The record material is thin and yflexible in orderl that it may readily be formed into a cylinderl I 3 on a mandrel Il and also that it may bev folded almost if not quite to a crease without breakage as shown in Fig. 6. There are perhaps several hundred materials which for various requirements might be employed. As one example, gelatin tape Ahasproved satisfactory. It has the further advantage,of being smooth and almost frictionless so 'as to slide easily along 'the mandrel, especially if the mandrel has a highly polished surface. v

The tape and mandrel have movement relative to each other longitudinally of their length but do not have relative circumferential move' ment. Bothmay rotate together or both may be fixed. Considering simplicity of mechanism and convenience of manipulation, it is ypreferred to.

f use the form shown herein in which the mandrel and tape supply means are xed.

The tape is fed forward by friction driving rolls Il and II driven by a shaft I1. with suitable gearing I andconnected by a sprocket or belt i9. As many driving rolls may be used as are needed at any convenient 'point along or around the mandrel.

The sheet material is folded or wrapped around the mandrel by a surrounding tube 20. the entering end of the tube being suitably shaped to progressively form the sheet as it passes under a roller 2i.

In case it is desired to form the sheet into a permanent cylinder, means 9 may be provided for lapplying glue or other adhesive to the seam before it is laid up on the mandrel'.

Means are provided for forming a circumferential sound track on the record cylinder while it is held in position securely on the mandrel.v In' addition to the forming tube 20 other means4 such as a tube a may be provided for thus v mandrel and the record strip. A similar groove holding the record cylinder. The sound track forming means may comprise a vibratory stylus 22 mounted in a supporting ring 23 for revolution ,around the cylinder within a supporting shell 24. The ring 23 may be driven as by a belt 2U from the shaft 2l of a motor M. Sound may be transmitted by a portable microphone 21, an

j amplifier 2l, annular tracks 20 and contacts or brushes to the revoluble stylus 22.

The stylus normally produces an evenly spaced because of the slow uniform longitudinal feed of the record cylinder is of a spiral shape. vIt is Aor uniform circumferential sound track which v cylinder is returned to a flat sheet form as shownv This uniform 'recording may continue indefinitely or it may be interrupted at predetermined intervals to form records R. of definite length.

spaces Ri wherein the strip maybe severed by a rotaryor other cutter 3l The sound track thenchanges from its uniform close spiral formV R2 to-the long or open spiral form RI.

' The cutter may bemounted upon an annular ring -Il bearing an annular gear I'I by'which it may be revolved through a shaft 38 and gearing $9.

The mandrel maybe formed with a shoulder Ila, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. `l, to coopthis may be-done by mechanism 40 which operates cooperatively with the cutter 35. At the same time and by the same general mechanism shown in Figs. 4 and 7, this may take the form of punched holes R4 adapted to fit upon projectingpins of the mandrel or rotating cylinder upon which the strip is placed for reproduction.

`The holes may pass through both ends of the sheet when it is overlapped as shown in Fig. 5. Even when the seams are glued to form a permanent record cylinder', the holes may be useful forcooperating with pins on the mandrel of the reproducing machine to avoid slippage.

It was stated above that vthe invention permitted a special seam joint to be formed. This is shown in Fig. 5 where the-cylinder is provided with a longitudinal groove I3b which receives one edge of the strip to allow the mating edge to form a smooth surface across the joint with the material on the other side. This is possible because there is no relative rotation between the in the reproducing mandrel will assist rotation and minimize slippage 'of the record.

It is thus seen that the invention provides subf stantially continuous and unlimited recording because the roll ofv record tape may be made as large as desired. Also the recording may be substantially continuous and unlimited because the` sound track is made transversely of the length of the tape (circumferentially of the formed cyl-v inder) Moreover, since the record track is compactly produced within a short length of tape it is made feasible to cut off short lengths for' separate identification, indexing or mailing. Heretofore, so far as is known, when continuous records were made on a tape the sound track ran parallel to the length ofthe tape and hence required a great length of tape for a short record. Belt forms of record sheet have also been proposedbut these were of definite length as supplied for recording, hence did not provide unlimited recording.

erate with the cutter. This cooperative interior support is necessary 4with thin sheet material.

The severing operation should be performed when the record strip is travelling at slow speed. Little or no provision is then required for acccmmodating the forwardtravel of the record strip during the cutting operation.

It 'may be desirable to place'identifying in-` dicia on one or both clear ends of the record and The present record is particularly useful when taken off as a flat sheet for then it may be led Y or mailed like ordinary letters in a flat envelope.

Ifcopies are desired it is only necessary to place the original on a reproducing machine and connect this with one or more recording machines of the type illustrated. This may be done by either the sender or receiver of the original record.

The record is veryinexpensive, its .cost being less than the usual cost of shaving a waxl cylinder record. A sheet record containing the same amount of record material as a common wax record may cost less than one cent; whereas the shaving cost for the wax record is from three to five cents. The initial cost of a wax record may Aaverage fifty cents. Thev present sheet record can therefore be permanent because of low cost and small storage space required; whereas it is almost impracticable to maintain permanent wax records of routine omce material and the like orV i in fact of anything except very important subject matter. I

- As may be seenin Fig. 7 the completed record when returned to flat form has a concentrated so`und tracg'between two parallel edges and subl sta'ntially clear spaces near theseedges.

The concentrated portion extends to anend edge and to a line spaced a short distance from the opposite edge (which was folded underneath during recording) The less concentrated `portion of the sound track (in the two lines here) extends to the first said parallel edges. The entire sound track thus touches three edges and extends'to a line near'the fourth edge. The holes are in the four corners in-the clear spaces. Such a record has inherent usefulness whether formed by the present or some other method.

'I'he overall advantages of the present invention are very pronounced and tend to bring into larger everyday use this form of transmitting intelligence which heretofore has not reached its full usefulness. From recording through reproducing it provides benefits and savings.

The record may be reproduced with present reproducing machines with only small alterations. The record in its cylindrical form is 'in fact the embodiment of a single recording on a wax cylinder record. Therefore by providing a suitable mandrel for holding it in position it may be treated like a cylindrical record during reproduction. Several i'orms of mandrel or holding Vmechanism will insure correct movement along the sound track.

While one embodiment and certain advantages of the invention have been particularly described it is to be understood that the invention may have various' embodiments within the limits of the prior Aart and the scope of the subjoined claims.

1. Apparatus for recording sound, comprising in combination, means for producing relative movement between a record tape and a recordling element in the Vdirection of the length of the tape, means for folding the tape longitudisound track to form a clear space of substantial size, and means for severing the record in the clear space. v

4. Apparatus for producing. sound records,

comprising in combination, means for feeding a tape of record-receiving-material forward and progressively wrapping it in a straight longitudinal fold around a mandrel to form a tubular cylinder, means for forming a circumferential spiral soundtrack on the cylinder while it is supported on and moving along the mandrel,

means for periodically greatly increasing the speed of travel of the record cylinder along the mandrel, and means foisevering the cylinder in the clear space created bythe fastv feeding movement.

5. Apparatus asj set forth' in claim 4 which further comprises in combination, means for i placing identifying indicia in a clear space of( I the severed record. y

6. Apparatus for forming sound records,- comprising in combination, a fixed mandrel,

means for feeding a tubular record blank longinally into a 'cylinder as it approaches the re- V cording element, and means for causing the recording element to form a sound track in a circumferential direction on the cylinder lthus formed.

2. Apparatus vfor producing ing relative movement between an initially fiat sheet of record material anda recording element in the direction of the length of-the sheet. means for folding the sheet longitudinally into cylindrical form as it approaches the 4recording element, and means for recording transverse soundtracks on the shape thus formed.l

3. Apparatus for producing sound records.-

comprising in combination, means for forming a cylinderof record material of indenite length terrupting the normal formation of the spiral sound records, comprising in combination, means for produc-- tudinally along the mandrel, and means having movement,clrcumferentially around lsaid mandre1 for recording a circumferential spiral sound track on said blank as it advances along theA mandrel. l

7. Apparatus for forming sound records, comprising in combination, a fixed mandrel, means for supporting a roll of record tape adjacent one end of the mandrel, means for feeding tape longitudinally to said mandrel and wrappingit around the mandrel to form a cylinder, a sound recording element mounted for circumferential movement around said mandrel for recording a `transverse sound track on said cylinder, and means cooperating with the end of said cylinder for severing lengths' from said oylinderat intervals.

8. Apparauts for forming sound records, comprising in combination, an axially fixed mandrel provided with a ylongitudinal seam groove, means for supporting a roll of record tape adjacent one end of the mandrel, means for feeding tape longitudinally to said mandrel and Wrapping it around the mandrel to form a cylinder with the seam. thereof in the cylinder groove, a` sound recording element revoluble about said mandrel, means at the exit end of the mandrel for severing lengths of the record cylinder, and means for placing indicia on the records.

' 9. Apparatus for producing sound records comprising in combination, means vfor forming a cylinder of record material of indefinite length from sheet material by folding a band longitudinally, .means for recording a circumferential spiral sound track thereon, means for cutting the cylinder at intervals to form separate and distinct records, 4means for placing track-matching indications near the longitudinal edges of the records while still inv cylindrical form,

whereby the' record may be allowed to resume' the nat sheet form and later accurately placed on a reproducing mandrel.

LaoPoLn NEUMANN.