US3218080A

US3218080A - Cordless dictating machine

Info

Publication number: US3218080A
Application number: US186099A
Authority: US
Inventors: Melvin H Best
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1962-04-09
Filing date: 1962-04-09
Publication date: 1965-11-16
Anticipated expiration: 1982-11-16

Description

Nov. 16, 1965 M. H. BEST CORDLESS DIGTATING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 9, 1962 RT O V my 2 M m Nov. 16, 1965 M. H. BEST CORDLESS DICTATING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 9, 1962 l B 45 5/ 46 INVENTOR. M62 mm 5557 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 N m mm N w I v Wm i @ii fl mm mw m k RN V \m QM mm v a Mm -W W Gm Nov. 16, 1965 M. H. BEST CORDLESS DICTATING MACHINE Filed April 9, 1962 United States Patent Ofi ice 3,213,686 Patented Nov. 16, 1965 3,218,080 CORDLESS DHJTATIN G MACHINE Melvin H. Best, 262 S. Greenwood Ave, Pasadena, Calif. Filed Apr. 9, 1962, Ser. No. 186,099 3 Claims. (Cl. 274-17) This invention is an improved portable dictating machine which is cordless, that is, the machine is completely self-contained and in effect may be said to be a microphone with the dictating and playback machine built into it.

The object of the invention is to provide a machine having the characterisitcs set forth in the foregoing. It is extremely compact and portable and may be carried in a persons pocket and used anywhere.

Another object is to provide a machine as in the foregoing which is sound powered, not requiring batteries or electronic or electrical circuitry or switches.

Another object is to provide a machine as in the foregoing having improved and extremely effective power drive means in the form of a spring motor of the type known as a Negator motor.

Another object is to provide a machine as described having extremely simplified, effective, dependable and economical control and operating mechanisms.

Further objects and additional advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and annexed drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a preferred form of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 66 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 8 is a view showing the housing and cover therefor in open position;

FIGURE 9 is a detail view showing the holding means for the cover;

FIGURE 10 is a detail view of the motor and clutch therefor;

FIGURE 11 is a partial view of a modified form of the invention.

Referring now more in detail to the drawings, in a preferred form of the invention the dictating machine is in the form of a small compact one piece instrument which can be carried in a persons pocket. The instrument is entirely self-contained there being no attaching cords or wires and in efiect it is a microphone with the dictating machine and playback mechanism built into it. In a preferred form, it comprises a housing as shown at 10 preferably having a configuration as shown in the figures. The housing has a lower half 11 and an upper half 13 hinged together by piano hinge 15. The cover may be latched in closed position by a manual latch 17 as shown in FIG- URE 2 which operates a latching bar 18 cooperable with pins 19 and 20 as shown in FIGURE 9.

The principal components of the device are the microphone-speaker embodied in the housing 10; the motor drive means, the belt, the record and pickup head and the transistorized amplifier circuit which is used in the preferred embodiment. The belt may be magnetic.

The recording medium is preferably in the form of the endless belt as designated at 24 which passes over

rollers

25 and 26 suitably journalled on

shafts

27 and 28 supported by pedestal bearing means in the ends of the housing 10.

Numerals

31 and 32 designate transverse presser bars in the cover 13 which depress and tension the belt 24 when the cover is closed. Numeral 35 designates a support plate Within the housing positioned to provide support underneath the upper run of the belt 24 at the position of the record and playback head as will be described. FIGURE 8 shows the device with the cover 13 open.

Preferably the motor drive unit is a Negator spring motor which is a known type of commercial device. This type of motor uses an elongated stressed spring strip of a type which is normally rolled up and if unrolled it will seek to roll up and it will exert a pull on the extended part of the spring which pull is constant, that is, this particular spring motor exerts a constant driving or pulling force. Such a spring is designated at numeral 37 and it may be rolled on a spool 38 having a center part or shaft 39, this spool being suitably journalled or mounted in the housing 10. Numeral 42 designates a second larger spool having a shaft 43 suitably mounted in the housing and the spring 37 may be wound on the spool 42. Spool 42 is attached to and drives a gear 45 which meshes wit-h a gear 46 of a suitable gear transmission component 47 which also drives a governor 48 which may be of standard construction to regulate and make uniform the speed of operation. The transmission drives an output gear 50 meshing with a gear 51 on the shaft of the spool 25 for driving the endless belt during operation. The transmission also drives a shaft 54 having a bevel gear 55 on its end meshing with a bevel gear 56 on a lead screw 57 which drives the record and playback head as will be described.

The machine is controlled by a finger panel 60 on the side of the machine which controls a switch 61 for the transistorized amplifier as will be described and also controls the operation of the Negator motor. Preferably this control of the motor by member 61 is simply by way of a projection or finger actuated by it engageable with one of the gears of one of the gear trains described above. In other words, this is simply a mechanical latch or latch finger which either stops or allows a gear to rotate. This feature is not shown in detail on the drawings for reasons of simplification. Hunter Spring Co. makes the said motor.

Numeral 64 designates a Winding handle for the motor. This handle has a yoke formed on the end pivoted to a stem 65 which extends out from the top of the housing 10 and from the lower part of which extends the stem or shaft 43. The gear 45 and spool 42 having a hub 67, as shown in FIGURE 10. Numeral 68 designates a clutch plate having radial ribs as shown at 70 in FIGURE 7 which may clutch and declutch with respect to similar ribs on the spool 42 adjacent to the hub 67 as may be seen in FIGURE 10. Within the hub 67 is a coil spring 72 around the stem 43 and acting against the clutch plate 68 normally urging it outwardly.

The handle 64 has pivoted a folding grip 75 at its end so that the handle can be folded down into the position shown in FIGURE 1. When the handle is lifted, as shown in FIGURE 10, the clutch plate 68 comes into engagement with the clutch members on spool 42 and the motor can then be wound up by the handle. The end of the handle 64 releases stem 65 to allow spring 73 to engage the clutch. When handle 64 is released and folded down the clutch disengages and the motor is then operable to drive the machine.

Numeral 76 designates a ribbed manual sliding button on the top of the machine which is provided to actuate a switch from talk to listen as will be described.

Numeral 77 designates generally the 'microphonespeaker which is of a type embodying a cone as designated at 78 positioned adjacent to sound openings in the form of slots as designated at 8t? in the top of the unit. In the form of the invention being described, the microphone-speaker cooperates with a record and magnetic playback head designated generally by the numeral 31. This head comprises a member 82 mounted on an arm 83 pivoted on a transverse shaft 34. The arm 83 has a finger piece 86 which extends upwardly through an opening in the top of the cover as designated at 87 and is mounted to slide transversely with respect to a graduated scale 88. The finger piece 86 includes a ribbed part 90 having an indicating pointer 91 which moves opposite the scale 88 to indicate the position of the record-playback head.

Numeral 93 designates a leaf spring positioned in a slot transversely along the shaft 84 and engageable with the arm 83 to normally bias the arm into engagement with the transverse lead screw 57. The arm 83 has an intermediate serni-cylindrical threaded part 89 which can engage the lower half of the lead screw 57 so that the lead screw can drive the record-playback head transversely. The finger piece 9% may be pushed down slightly to disengage its threaded intermediate part from the lead screw 57 allowing the record-playback head to be manually adjusted to any position with respect to the scale 88. When piece 99 is pushed down spring 93 flexes.

In the form of the invention shown, in FIGURE 2 a transistorized amplifier is provided in combination with the record-playback head and the microphone speaker. This is a standard amplifier circuit including preferably a mercury battery 97,

transistors

98, 99 and ltltl, capacitor lltll and a control means 102 actuated as described by the finger panel 60. This circuit is diagrammatically shown since any suitable standard commercial amplifier circuit may be utilized. Suitable electrical connections are made, as shown, from the record and pickup head to the amplifier circuit and the microphone-loudspeaker, these connections being made in accordance with standard practice in the art. The principal novelty of the invention herein lies in the concept of a one piece dictating machine, that is, a machine with everything built into a single compact unit without cords or wires on the exterior thereof. Features of the invention which are not shown in exact detail are features which may be adapted in accordance with known practices in the art. With respect, however, to the control of the driving motor from the finger panel 60, this may, for example, be by way of a rod 105 extending from the panel 64) and switch housing 61 transversely to the transmission housing 47 so as to be engageable and disengageable from a gear therein to control the movement.

In another form of the invention, the battery and amplifier circuit may be dispensed with entirely. This is a sound powered type of unit which may be made even smaller and more compact by reason of having no battery or electronic components. Such a machine is shown in FIGURE 11 and operates on a principle which in itself is not new, the principle being a known one which has previously been utilized in dictating machines and is the same principle that is utilized in sound powered telephones. In this machine, the sound itself acts on the diaphragm of the speaker mechanism to impart vibrations to a material embodied therein so as to generate electrical currents sufiicient to actuate the device. On the one hand when dictating the sound actuates the microphone unit to generate sutficient current to drive the recording head, that is, to record, and in the listening operation the pickup head acts directly on the microphone unit to reproduce the recorded sound. The material referred to is of a known type which when subjected to sound vibrations or pressures, generates a corresponding electrical current which is conducted to the recording head for recording. For reproducing, such material is mounted in the recording head and the electrical output is conducted to the speaker-microphone, the electrical signals acting on the material in it to convert them to vibrations which reproduce the sound in the microphone.

The principles of this invention may be embodied in machines adapted for magnetic recording with amplification; in sound powered magnetic recording; in machines adapted for grooved belt recording with amplification and sound powered and in other types of machines.

The machine is adapted for bracket mounting on a desk and may be combined with other components known in the art.

From the foregoing those skilled in the art will observe that the invention fulfills and realizes all of the objects as stated in the foregoing and has the advantages enumerated as well as many additional more detailed advantages that are obvious from the foregoing specification. There is provided a dictating machine which fulfills a great and growing need for a small compact unit that can be carried in the pocket and is not encumbered with cords or wires. It is in effect a microphone with the dictating and recording means built into it. As described in the foregoing, certain forms of the invention may dispense entirely with batteries and electronic circuitry thereby further contributing to their adaptability and versatility.

The foregoing disclosure is representative of preferred forms of the invention and is to be interpreted in an illustrative rather than a limiting sense, the scope of the invention to be in accordance with the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A dictating and recording machine comprising: a relatively small compact housing of a size capable of be ing carried in a pocket; a movable endless belt type record member, means movably mounting said record member for movement in said housing; a manually wound spring motor mounted in said housing and drivingly connected to said mounting means for driving said record member to move the same; a microphone-loudspeaker mounted in said housing; guide means mounted in said housing adjacent said record member; a recording and playback head mounted on said guide means in said housing adjacent said record member and in engagement with the same to record sound thereon and to play back sound recorded thereon; said microphone-loudspeaker and said recording and playback head each being an electrical transducer; and electrical circuit means connecting said transducers.

2. A machine as defined in claim 1 wherein said microphone-loudspeaker and said recording and playback head are sound-powered type transducers.

3. A machine as defined in claim 1 wherein said motor is a Negator spring motor.

References (Iited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,523,340 9/1950 Bonsall 274-2 2,654,609 10/1953 Shepherd 27411 2,689,736 9/1954 Siegel 274-19 2,899,506 8/1959 Wehmer 27411 X 2,951,127 8/1960 Pierson et a1 27417 X 2,967,715 1/1961 Black et a1. 274-9 3,016,244 1/1962 Schuh et a1 274-4 3,018,111 1/1962 Balmer et a1. 2749 LOUIS l. CAPOZI, Primary Examiner.

C. W. ROBINSON, Examiner.

Claims

1. A DICTATING AND RECORDING MACHINE COMPRISING: A RELATIVELY SMALL COMPACT HOUSING OF A SIZE CAPABLE OF BEING CARRIED IN A POCKET; A MOVABLE ENDLESS BELT TYPE RECORD MEMBER, MEANS MOVABLY MOUNTING SAID RECORD MEMBER FOR MOVEMENT IN SAID HOUSING; A MANUALLY WOUND SPRING MOTOR MOUNTED IN SAID HOUSING AND DRIVINGLY CONNECTED TO SAID HOUSING MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID RECORD MEMBER TO MOVE THE SAME; A MICROPHONE-LOUDSPEAKER MOUNTED IN SAID HOUSING; GUIDE MEANS MOUNTED IN SAID HOUSING ADJACENT SAID RECORD MEMBER; A RECORDING AND PLAYBACK HEAD MOUNTED ON SAID GUIDE MEANS IN SAID HOUSING ADJACENT SAID RECORD MEMBER AND IN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE SAME TO RECORD SOUND THEREON AND TO PLAY BACK SOUND RECORDED THEREON; SAID MICROPHONE-LOUDSPEAKER AND SAID RECORDING AND PLAYBACK HEAD EACH BEING AN ELECTRICAL TRANSDUCER; AND ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT MEANS CONNECTING SAID TRANSDUCERS.