US2384634A - Time-of-day announcing system - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 11, 1945.

V TIME-OF-DAY ANNOUNCING SYSTEM Filed Aug. 21, 1943 sou/9c: or PRECISION /a0- msauzlvcr R. F. MASSONNEAU 2,384,634

sauna or PRECISION /aornsausncr INVENTOR R E MASSONNEAU ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 11, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT O ICE-g;

TEME-OF-DAY ANNOUNCING SYSTEM Robert F. Massonneau, Searsdale, N.'Yl', assignmto Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York application August .21, 1943, Serial N o. 499,578

7 Claims. (01.170-6) This invention relates to equipment for automatically announcing the tim of day and has for its object to prevent faults in the announcements made by such equipment.

One form of equipment for announcing the time of day is disclosed in Patent No. 2,364,147, granted to E. H. Jones, Dec. 5, 1944. This equipment employs film records of the elements making up the announcements and these films are mounted over openings in an opaque drum or on a transparent drum. Individual scanning devices are arranged in registration with the film records, the scanning devices being moved in accordance with the time of dayf The drum is constantly in motion, being driven by a motor under the control of a source of precision frequency. This motor also drives a set of cams which control the, connection of the scanning devices to the outgoing circuit.

In order to insure uninterrupted service, and reliable time keeping, two units of the announcing equipment are provided and are operated simultaneously although only one unit is connected to the outgoing circuit at a time together with means to indicate when one unitfails to keep accurate time as shown by a failure of the two units to keep step. Another source'of improper announcements would be the breakdown of any element of the equipment whereby part of the announcement would fail to reach the outgoing circuit.

In accordance with the present invention means is provided, operated by each announcing equipment to sound an alarm if faults exist in the equipment.

More specifically means is provided under the joint control of said units to sound an alarm if the units get out of step. In addition, said alarm is also operated if the effective unit fails to produce any element of the announcement.

The invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description, read in connection with the drawing which shows schematically two announcing machines and the alarm control means of the resent invention.

The announcing machine at the top of the sheet will be briefly described. For a detailed description and a showing of the mechanical structure, reference may be made to the above-identified Jones patent.

As spoken by the machine shown, the time of clay announcement is made up of a preamble, the hour, minute and fractional minute announcements and atime tone. The minute announcement is made from one film for the first nineteen minutes of each hour and from two films for sub: sequent minutes, the tens digit being spoken by the first film and the units digit by the second film. The fractional minutes are stated as. tens ofseconds and two scanning devices are provided, one in advance of the other, the latter used during the time when only one minute film is functioning.

The device for scanning the preamble film is shown at I00, the hour scanner at I03, the primary minute scanner at I02, the secondary minute scanner at IN and the two seconds scanners at I04 and, I05. These scanner are arranged around the film bearing drum I00 and are moved in accordance with the time of day bymeans of cams (not shown) driven by a motor I I 6 which is operated by a source of commercial current.

The drum I00 is operated by a motor I0! driven bye. precision source of -cycle frequency and is, constantly in motion; Motor I01 also operates a set of cams I08 to II 4, which areso geared to the drive as to make one revolution for the two revolutions of the drum which are necessary for a complet announcement. Following each announcement, cam I I4 closes a circuit from source I50 of alternating current, over the contact of cam I14 through the Winding of motor H6 and back to source I59. Motor IIB starts to rotate, and as soon as the motor starts to move, a supplementary circuit is closed for the motor winding at cam I I5, thereby causing the motor to complete one revolution. As shown in the aboveidentified Jones patent thisadvances the seconds scanner into position opposite the next tensecond announcement and also advances the driving shafts for the other scanners so that they will be advanced at the proper time intervals.

At the beginning of the announcement, cam I08 closes its contact, operating relay H8 which connects scanning device I 00 to the amplifier I29, starting the preamble. When the preamble is finished, cam I09 comes into position to close its contact, operating relay II9 to render the hours scanner I03 effective. Subsequently, cam IIO operates relay I20 to connect the primary minutes scanner I02 to the amplifier I29. The efiect of cams III, H2 and H3 depends on the operated or non-operated condition of contacts I25 to I21. These contacts are operated by an auxiliary cam carried by the cam which drives the rimary minutes scanning device. During the first nineteen minutes of each hour these contacts are moved to the alternate position, in which contact i25 is closed and contacts I26 and I21 are opened. During the balance of thehour the contacts are as shown. Therefore, during the first nineteen minutes of the hour, following the primary minutes announcement, cam II is effective to operate relay I22 and connect the early seconds scanning device I04 to the amplifier I29. During the remainder of the hour cam I I I is ineffective, while cam H3 operates relay I23 to connect the secondary minutes scanner IN to the amplifier I29, after which cam II2 operates relay I2I to connect the late seconds scanner I05 to the amplifier. After the seconds announcement, cam I08 again closes the circuit of relay I I8 to transmit the time tone. Each of the relays H8 and I23 closes an obvious circuit for relay I28.

The announcing machine shown at the bottom of the figure is identical with that described. As stated above, the two machines are run simultaneously but only one machine is'connected with the outgoing circuit I58. Which machine is to be effective is determined by the position of key I60. With key I60 in the position shown relay I6I is not energized and relay I3I is operated, connecting the output of amplifier I29- to theoutgoing trunk I58.

Relay I3I also prepares a circuit from battery through the winding of relay I54, outer left contacts of relay I-3I to the left contacts of relay I28. Each time that relay I28 operates, thecircuit of relay I54 is extended to ground.

Across the talking conductors of trunk I58 is connected the primary winding of transformer I51, the secondary of which is connected to the input circuit of a rectifier-amplifier tube I56. The output of tube I56 is connected to the input of the trigger tube I55. The circuits of these tubes are-so arranged that each time that speech current reaches the outgoing trunk, tube I55 becomes conducting and prepares a circuit for relay I52. Since relay I54-is operated each time that one of the scanning devices is connected to the amplifier, each operation of relay I54 should coincide with the flashing of tube I55 thereby completing a circuit from the plate of tube I55, through the right winding of relay I52, right contacts of relay I54 to the cathode of tube I55; for operating relay I52. Each time that relay I54 operates, it also closes a circuit for relay I53, which, being slow to release remains operated for an interval following the release of relay I 54 and. provides a locking circuit for relay I52 from battery through the left winding and contacts of relay I52 and the left contacts of relay I53 toground.

Between the phrases of an announcement, relay I54- releases, followed after a short interval by relay I53 and relay I52.

If, during any portion of an announcement, no speech current passes to the outgoing trunk, relay I52 is not operated and, during the interval between the release of relay I54 and therelease of relay I53, a circuit is closed from ground over the back contact of relay I54, right front contact of relay I53, backcontact of relay I52, normal contacts and winding ofrelay I50 to battery. Relay I50 operates, looks over its right alternate contacts and the normal contactsof key I 51 to ground and at its left contacts closes a circuit for'an alarm.

The attendant, in response to the alarm, may move key I50 to its alternate position, operating relay I 6|, releasing relay I3-I- and operating'relay 23 l; Relay 23I connects amplifier 229 and the associated announcing machine to the outgoing trunk I58; It also places relay I54 under the control of relay 228 and the relays 2I8 to 223 of the machine which is now effective. Key I5I permits the release of relay I and the silencing of the alarm while the attendant finds the trouble.

As mentioned above, relay I28 operates each time that one of the relays IIB to I23 operates, while relay 228 operates each time that one of the relays 2I8 to 223 operates. If the two announcing machines are operating in step, relays I28 and 228 are operated at the same time. However, if the speeds of the machines differ enough to permit relay I28 to release while relay 228 is operated, or vice versa, indicating that one of the machines is not keeping time, a circuit is closed from ground over the back contact of one relay and the front contact of the other relay to battery through the normal contacts and winding ofrelay I50. Relay I50 operates, locks to ground under the control of key I5I and closes the alarm circuit. Means is provided, as set forth in the above-identified Jones patent, to return the two announcing machines into step.

It is apparent from the foregoing description, that any fault which might lead to a defective time announcement causes an alarm to be soundedv so that the fault may be corrected.

It is also clear that, using well-known switching apparatus indicated at I62, relay IBI could be actuated by the operation of alarm relay I50 to shift the load automatically to the machine not in use whenever a fault occurs.

What is claimed is:

1. In a time-of-day announcing system, two identical announcing machines driven at the same speed, each machine having records of the elements of a time-of-day announcement, a plurality ofv reproducers cooperating respectively with said records, means for successively rendering said reproducers effective, and means under the control of said last-mentioned means for detecting faults in the operation of said machines individually or with respect to each other, and means under the, control of said detecting means for sounding an alarm.

2. In a time-of-day announcing system, two identical announcing machines driven at the same speed, each machine having records of the elements of atime-of-day announcement, a plurality ofreproducers cooperating respectively with said records, means for successively rendering said reproducers effective, and means under the control of said last-mentioned means for detecting faults in the operation of said machines individually or with respect to each other, an outgoing line, means for normally connecting the, reproducers of one of said machines to said outgoing, line, and, means under the control of said detecting means-for disconnecting said outgoing line from said one machine and connecting it to saidother machine.

3. In atime-of-day announcing system, an announcing machine having records of a preliminary announcementand of the hour, minute and fractiona-lminutedivisions of the time of day, a plurality ofreproducers cooperating respectively with said records, a speech output detector, a series of relaysfor successively rendering saidreproducers effective and for associating them in succession with said speech detector, means under thecontrol of each of said relays for preparing analarm circuit and means under the controlof'said speech detector for disabling said alarm circuit.

4 Ina time-of-day announcing system, two identical-announcing machines, eachof said machines having records of the preliminary announcement and of the hour, minute and fractional minute divisions of the time of day, a plurality of reproducers cooperating respectively with said records, a series of relays for successively rendering said reproducers effective and a supplementary relay operated by each of said series of relays, a speech detector, means for connecting said speech detector to one of said announcing machines, an alarm device and means under the control of the supplementary relay belonging to said one announcing machine for rendering said speech detector and the supplementary relay belonging to said other announcing machine efiective to operate said alarm device.

5. In a time-of-day announcing system, an announcing machine comprising records of a preliminary announcement, and of the hour, minute and fractional minute divisions of the time of day and a plurality of reproducers each cooperating with one of said records, a connector relay for each of said reproducers, a load circuit, means for successively operating said connector relays to connect said reproducers to said load circuit, speech detecting means permanently connected with said load circuit, and means under the control of each of said connector relays for rendering said speech detecting means efiective only while a reproducer is connected with said load circuit.

6. In a time-of-day announcing system, an announcing machine comprising records of a preliminary announcement, and of the hour, minute and fractional minute divisions of the time of day and a plurality of reproducers each cooperating with one of said records, a connector relay for each of said reproducers, a load circuit, means for successively operating said connector relays to connect said reproducers to said load circuit, speech detecting means permanently connected with said load circuit, and means under the control of each of said connector relays for rendering said speech detecting means effective each time that a reproducer is connected with said load circuit.

7. In a time-of-day announcing system, an announcing machine comprising record of a preiiminary announcement, and of the hour, minute and fractional minute divisions of the time of day and a plurality of reproducers each cooperating with one of said records, a connector relay for each of said reproducers, a load circuit, means for successively operating said connector relays to connect said reproducers to said load circuit, speech detecting means permanently connected with said load circuit, a speech indicatingrelay, means under the control of each of said connector relays for associating said speech indicating relay with said speech detecting means, and means under the control of said speech indicating relay for sounding an alarm.

ROBERT F. MASSONNEAU.

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