US2376272A - Automatic telephone answering system - Google Patents

Description

May 15, 1945.

E. L. PETERSON El AL AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE ANSWERING SYSTEM Filed Nov. 2, 1943 IN VEN TOR-S fieyer Patented May 15, 1945 AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE it SYSTEM New York, and George W.

Edwin L. Peterson,

ANSWERING Papenmeyer, Malvernc, 'N.XY., .assignors. to American Telephone and Telegraph Company;

a corporation oi New York Application November 2, 194s,s riaino. 603, 96 11 Claims. r gor 179--6) This invention relates to a system for auto-Z matically giving a recorded answer to an incoming telephone call and particularly to means for automaticallysetting in operation the device that carries the recorded message and for connecting it to a-l ine upon the receipt of an incomingcall and for automatically disconnecting the said'device from the line when the calling telephoneis disconnected. o p o H y, In the use ofthe present invention a telephone subscriber, who expects to be awayfrom the premises on which his telephone set is located, may impress a message upon a' record blank which will be automatically set in motion and the message Willlbe picked up. and transmitted to a calling party upon the receipt of :the ringing signal from the said calling partys telephone. The systemisfurther characterized by means by which the nessage maybe repeated until the calling partys telephone is disconnected which will tendto ensure that the calling party hears the message. The record is made bythe subscriber, who expects to' be called during his absence, talking into the transmitterof his telee 1 phone set, with which the automatic answering device may be connected by manipulation of" a switch. The record may then beplayedback to the subscriber in order that hemay deter minewhether it is satisfactory. o

Other and furtherfobjects of this invention will be apparent from the following description h ead in connection with the attacheddrawe ing that shows schematically one rorm of embodiment of the invention.

o In the drawing, L represents a line extending" quent operation of relays 22, 21 and 24, which;

in combination, serve to connect the message device to the line andsubsequently to disconnect t and", I5 and [6, and l8, and opens the contacts 5 and J9, and 6 and 20, and with the switch 12 in that position the message recorded on the blank 9 will be transmitted either to the telephone set 2 or to the line L for transmission thereover to the distantsubscriber, if an incomg me; call has, by the action of itsring ingcurrent, caused the operation of relay 2] and the subse therefrom when the calling party's telephone is disconnected. The inanner in which those broad h objects are attained, will be specifically described hereinafter. o w 1 For "normaltelephoneoperation between the telephone 2 and a distant telephone,the switch I is left in its nonnal unoperated position. The

line Lwill then be connected to the'subscribers set throughthe contacts 3 andfi, and contacts 6 and 4. The mode of operationbf that circuit does notinvolve in any way the other apparatus shown on the drawing. t

" Let it beassumedthatja subscriber at telephone 2 desires to record upon theblank 9 a message, to be given to all telephone callersd ur ing the absence ofthe subscriber from his prem-j ises where the telephone 2 is located. To record that message the switch I will be operated downw ardly to close contacts 1 and B and the switch l2 will; be left in its normal position as shown in the drawing. The cutting head- 2B islowered ontn the blank 9 and the turntable is set in rotationby the operation of the switch 82 which to the central ofiice whichmay be of either the manual or automatic type through which ash-1" nections may be establishedwithother telephones. The line L isconnectedto the telephone {through the contacts 3, 4, Stand 6 of the switch 1, when that switch is in its normal position. As shown in the drawing, switch [is designed to operate downwardly and upwardly to establish desired connections in the carryingout of the present invention. Whenoperated downwardly itcloses the contacts 1 and 8, which serve in part to connect the subscriber's telephone set 2 to-the rec-' 0rd blank 9 on the turntable III of the recording device for the purpose of recording the message intended to be given to calling subscribers. The connection for impressin the spoken message upon the record blank includes the amplifier II and also the switch 12 when thelatter is in its normal, unoperated position. When the switch I is operated upwardly it closes its contacts I3 connects the power circuit to themotor 28. A talking circuit will be established between the telephone 2 and the "cutting head 29 which may be traced through contacts 6 and 8 of switch I; the winding. 30 ofthe transformer 3i, through thebattery 32, shunted. by the condenser 33, V

thencefthrough the contacts 1 and 5 to the other side of the telephoneset. 'One side of the secondary winding 34of transformer 3| is connected by conductor 46 to one side of the volume control. resistance 35 of the amplifier ll theother side of which is. connected by conductor. 36 through" contact 20 of switch I to the other side of the winding 34 of the transformer 3 l'. The output sideof the amplifier II has its plateconnected to one side of the winding 31 of thetransformer 38 the other side of which is connected through contact 39to the filament side of the output of .the amplifier. .The secondary wind ing 40 of thetransformer 38 is connected to a circu tthat includes contact 41 of the switch l2,

the cutting head 29, conductor 42, contact H) of switch I and conductor 43 of the other side of the winding 49. The cutting head 29will accordingly record the message upon the blank 9 that is put into the telephone 2.

After the recording of the message has been completed the subscriber may listen to it, in or-- der to check its correctness, by operating the switch! upwardly and by operating the switch 12 downwardly so as to open its contacts 39' and .4i and to close the contacts 44 and 45. A

circuit will thereupon be established that maytransformer 49 and conductor 50 to the filament side of-the output of the amplifier. The secondary winding 5| of the transformer 49 is connected through the contacts of the switch 52 to the primary winding 530i trans-former 54 across battery 66 through the winding of relay 2'! and the secondary winding 55 of which is connected thecircuit that includes conductors.- .5'6' and 51. Conductor 56 is connected through contact i 5 with oneside of telephone set 2 and conductor 1 is connected through contact if of switch. I to the other side of said telephone set, the latter connectionincluding the condenser 58. Thus the message recorded on the blank 9 will be amplified by the amplifier H and will be impressed upon the-circuit that extends through the contacts of the switch 12, the switch 52, the transformer 54,. and the contacts of switch I to the telephone set 2, and: the'subscriber will hear the recorded mes; sage; ,If it is desired to hear a reproduction of the message upon a loud speaker, the switch 52 may be operated to close its contacts 59 and 64 thereby connecting the output of 'the transformer 49-tothe loud-speaker 6|, That device, however, is not essential since the message can be clearly heard through the receiver of the Celephone set 2, and the switch. 52 and the loudspeaker may be omitted. v

To provide for a repetition of the message a device made by the Repeato Graph Corporation is employed, in connection with the mechanism for operating the turntable. By means of that device, recordings made upon a small portion of the record at a time, may be caused to be repeated simply by moving two small adjusting slides. Regardless of the position of the pick-up devicev 29 upon the record 9, when the calling party hangs up his receiver, the repeating device will always repeat the message from beginning to end as often as the calling party desires; This device does not have to beinplace when making a record but may be usedasameans of preventing the slipping of the record due to a weight being placed on the recording pick-up head to assist in such recording.

Upon leaving the premises, the telephone subscriber will restore the receiver of his telephone set to its cradle and restore switch 82 to its normal position, and the automatic answering device will then bein'a position to give to the calling parties the message recorded upon the record. This isfaccomplished in the following manner: When ringing current is transmitted over the line L from the central office it will flow through a circuit that includes contacts 3 and l 3 of switch I, the condenser 6|, the left-hand winding of relay 2l, the left-hand contact of relay 25, and conductor 62 to the other side of the line. Thereupon relay 2| will be operated, and upon closing its contact, it will establish a circuit from the battcry 53 through the right-hand winding of that relay, the right-hand contact of relay 25 and the contact of relay 2|, thus locking the latter relay.

The operation of relay 22 follows from the operation of relay 2! as the result of current flowing from the battery 64 through the upper winding of that relay and through the contacts of relays 25 and 2| to ground. The closing of contact 55 of relay 22 establishes a circuit from the the lamp 25 which will cause the operation of the said relay and the lamp. The operation of relay 2'! will close a circuit to provide power for the motor 28 and also for the energizationof the tubes of the amplifier ll. That circuitmay be traced from one'side of the power circuit 61, over conductor 58, contacts 69 and 10 of relay 2! and thence over conductor H through the primary winding l2fof the transformer 13 to the other side T4 of the power circuit. Current will also flow through the winding of the motor 28 and overconductor 15 to the said other side of the power circuit, and the motor and the amplifier will thereby be set in operation. Contacts 15 and 11 of relay 22 will also be closed but it is important to note that the contact 16 is closed before contact 18 of relay 22 is opened. By the closing of contact 16 before contact '18 opens, a circuit will beestablished from thelowersme of line L over conductor 62, through contact 16, resistance 83, contact 18, conductor 19, contacts 13 and 3 of switch I. to the other side. of the said line. The effect of that is to trip the ringing, device at the central omce and thereby to stop the. application of ringing current to the line. Thereafter contact 11 closes and that permits the flow of direct current from the centralv office battery-through relay 24, the circuit. for which may be traced from the lower conductor of line- L through contact 16, conductor 80,

winding and contact 8| of relay 24. Relay 25 will also be operated, which will release relay 2|.

The message picked up from the record by the device 29 will be impressed upon a circuit connected to the input'of the amplifier, the said circuit including conductor 42, contacts l6 and I8, of switch I, conductor 36, connected to one side of the volume control resistance 35 of the amplifier, thence over conductor 41 and contact 45 of switch l2 to the other side of the pick-up device 29. The message upon the record, as thus amplified, will be impressed "by the output of the amplifier upon; the circuit that extends from the plate of the last tube to contact 44 of switch l2, through the winding 48 to the filament side of the amplifier. The amplified message will be impressed by the transformer 49 upon the winding 53 of transformer 54, and, in turn, upon the circult that extends from one side of the winding 55 over conductor 80, contact 16 and conductor 62' to the lower 'side of the line L. and from the upper side of. that line through contacts 3 and I3'of switch I, conductor 19, contact ll of relay] 22, the winding of, relay 24 .to the other side of thewinding 55 t transformer 54; The voicecurrents,' representing the recorded "message, will thus be impressed upon the line L and will be transmitted thereover to the calling subscriber's telephone continuously until the calling subscriberhangs" up his receiver and the connections between the lines of the calling and called parties are removed at the central oflice either automatically or manually. u The removal of the connection at the central oilice will automatically stop the flow of direct current over the line by which relay 24 was energized. Thatrelay will accordingly be released audit will in turn release relay 22, which was locked through the contact 8| of relay 24. The breaking of contact 65will open the circuit through the'winding of relay 2'! and the lamp ZB whichwill cause'relay 21 to be released, and the light to be extinguished. In turn, the power circuit through the motor 28 and the amplifier H will be opened,thus causing bothof those cle= vices to cease to operate. Relay will likewise be ole-energized, thereby permitting its armatures to fall back and close their contacts. Thesystem is therefore restored to its normal condition for the giving of the-recorded message to the nexttelephone subscriber when ringing current is again transmittedover the line L. I

While'this invention has been disclosed as embodiedfin a particular form and arrangement of parts, it is capable of embodiment in other and different forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. d

What is claimed is: I 1 I 1; In a system for automatically giving a recorded answer to an incoming telephone call. the combination with a telephone line ofa recording device upon which a predetermined answer to be given to each incoming telephone call may be recorded'means operable by the receipt of an incoming call to automatically connect the said recording device to' the said line and to cause it to impress the recorded answer upon the said line for transmission to the calling telephone, I

and meansoperable solely upon the disconnection of the calling telephone to stop the operation of the said recording device.

2. In a system for automatically giving a recorded answer to an incoming telephone call, the

combination with a subscriber's telephone line extending from a central oflice to a subscribers telephone set, of means at the central olllce to apply ringin current to the said line, a message lice and to impress upon the said line the said recorded message.

3. The system defined by claim 2 further characterized by the repetitive application of the said message to the said line until the disconnectionof the calling telephone occurs.

4. The system defined by claim 2 further characterized by the inclusion of means to stopthe operation of the message reproducing device and to disconnect that device from the said line upon the disconnection of the calling telephone.

l 51m a telephonesystem for automatically "gi v ing a r'ecorded answer to a" calling party, the

combination with a'telephon'e line havingl'a telephonesetconnected to the distantend thereof of another telephone set normallyconnectedto the near end of thes'aid line, a. message reproducingdevice capable of having recorded thereon in said message reproducin devicewhereby the re corded message will be impressed upon the line for transmission to the calling telephone, and means controlled by the disconnection ofthe calling telephone to effectively disconnect the said message reproducing device from the said line whenever the calling telephone is also ef fectively disconnected from that line.

6. In a telephone system for automatically givinga recorded answer to a calling party, the combination f comprising a telephone line having connectedth'ereto the telephone set of the calling party, a'source of ringing current and a central office battery-to supply talking current, both connected to the said line, a telephone' answering circuit connectedlto the said line at thecalled partys station, the said answering circuit including meansresponsivetothe application of the ringing current to the said lineto'set in operation the answering deviceof the said circuit,the said responsive means being arranged 'to provide a sh'unt'path of such resistance as to automatical- 1y effect the disconnection of the source of ringing current from the said line and'also being sin I ranged to automatically stop the operation of the answering device upon the disconnection of the source of talking current from the said line. I

'7. In a telephone system for automatically giving a recorded answer to a calling party, the combination withya telephone line having means connected therewith to generate a ringing current, of means connected to the said line and responsive to the said ringing current to transmit a recorded message to the said telephone line, the said meansincluding an answering de-- vice upon which a, message has been recorded for transmission to each calling party, a, relay i responsive to the said ringing current and thereupon adapted to be looked, a second relay responsive to the operation of the said first mentioned relay and having a plurality of contacts, one of which is adapted to close before a second contact opens to establish a shunt path for the ringing current of such resistance as to effeet the disconnection of ringing current from said line, a source of power, a, third relay adapted to be energized by the said second 'relay to connect the source of power to the-said answering device whereby it will be set in operation to transmit the recorded message over the said telephone line to the calling party. l

8. In a, telephone system for automatically giving a recorded answer to a, calling party the combination with a telephone line to which the telephone set of the calling party-may be connected, of a source of ringing current adapted to be connected to the said line to signal the called party, a relay responsive to the ringing current and adapted to be locked'upon being energized by the said ringing current a second relay having a plurality of contacts and'adapted to be; energized by; the operation of the first mentioned relay; the said second relay being arranged to zclose. one of its contacts before the opening of another'to provide a shunt path for theysaid ringingcurrent of such resistance and of alimited'duration. as to effect thedisconnection of the .said source of ringing current from the said line, an answering circuit including aturn-table having thereon a record carry-. ing an answer to be given to each-calling party, amotor for operating the turn-table, an amplifier, a sourceof power to operate the said motor andthe said amplifier, a third relay operable upon the operation of the said second relay to connect the; power source to the-said motor and the said' amplifienand a pick-up device connected tothe inward side of the said amplifier to apply;-;thereto the said answer, and means to from the disconnection of the calling partys telephone from the'saidline whereby thesaid answering circuit will be effectively connected from. thesaid line. i

10.'In a telephone system for automatically giving a recordedanswer to a calling party,-the combination Y comprising a. telephone line, to which a calling partys telephone set may be. connected, theconnection including a source of ringing current and a source of talking current, a-telephone answering circuit, the said answer-. ing circuit" including switching means responsive .to the said ringing current to connect to the said line an answering device including a record upon which an answering message has beenrecorded, means to-set the'said device in operation,- 'and. means to apply the recorded answer to thelinathe said switching means ineluding means to: provide avshunt path to an propriate resistance and of a limited duration across: thesaid line to stop the= application '01 ringing current, to the line, and also including means responsive to the cessation of -the flow of. talking current over the line to efiectively disconnect the answering circuit from the line."

I 11.7 In a telephone system for automatically giving a recorded answer to a calling party, the combination comprising a telephone line to which a calling Party's telephone set is con nected; the said line having connected thereto a source of ringing current and a battery to supply talking current to the line, and a' tele-'- phone answering circuit at a called party's station, the said circuit including a. relay responsive'to the ringing current applied to the said line and adapted to be locked upon energization thereof; a second relay controlled by said first mentioned relay having a pluralityof contacts, one of which is arranged .to close before another opens to-provide a, shunt path across the said line of suitable resistance and for-limited-duration to effect the disconnection of the Source of ringing. current from the said line, an answering device connected to said answeringcircuit and having an amplifier associated therewith, a' third-relay controlled by the said second relay-to apply power to .the said answering device to set it in operation and also to energize the said amplifier, whereby a recorded answer may be given to thecalling party, and a fourth relay energized by the fiow of current from the said battery adapted to lock the :said vsecond mentionedrelay, and a fifth relay energizedby the operation of the fourth relay and. adapted to release the said first relay whereby, upon disconnection of the battery supplying the talking current, the said fourth and the said second relays will be released and the answeringdevice will be stopped and the answering circuit will be effectively disconnected from the-said line.

i EDWIN L. PETERSON.

GEORGE W.-PAPEN1V1EYER.'

Images