US3658346A - Apparatus for automatically starting a rotatable member at predetermined positions sequentially - Google Patents

Apparatus for automatically starting a rotatable member at predetermined positions sequentially Download PDF

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Publication number
US3658346A
US3658346A US14924A US3658346DA US3658346A US 3658346 A US3658346 A US 3658346A US 14924 A US14924 A US 14924A US 3658346D A US3658346D A US 3658346DA US 3658346 A US3658346 A US 3658346A
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United States
Prior art keywords
record
stop
record member
stop means
path
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Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
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US14924A
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English (en)
Inventor
Howard R Stern
James E Marshall
Thomas E Sloane Jr
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Mattel Inc
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Mattel Inc
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Publication date
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B33/00—Constructional parts, details or accessories not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
    • G11B33/02—Cabinets; Cases; Stands; Disposition of apparatus therein or thereon
    • G11B33/06—Cabinets; Cases; Stands; Disposition of apparatus therein or thereon combined with other apparatus having a different main function

Definitions

  • the invention pertains generally to the field of indexing mechanisms for controlling the position of a member sequentially and more particularly to such a mechanism which causes a phonograph toy to play a plurality of messages sequentially.
  • the instant invention exemplifies improvements in indexing means of the type described in said US. Pat. No. 3,245,688.
  • the primary object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for automatically starting a rotatable member at a plurality of predetermined positions sequentially.
  • Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved indexing means of the type described in US. Pat. No. 3,245,688.
  • a further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for automatically starting a rotatable member at a predetermined position including first stop means carried by the rotatable member, friction coupling means engaged with the rotatable member for movement thereby, second stop means for stopping the coupling means after a predetermined amount of movement with the rotatable member, third stop means carried by the coupling means and means moving the third stop means into the path of travel of the first stop means coincident with the engagement of the coupling means with the second stop means.
  • Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an indexing means of the type described which includes a fixed channel controlling the path of movement of a friction coupling engaged with a rotatable member.
  • a phonograph toy is provided with an indexing means movable into engagement with a phonograph record member having a plurality of discrete sound sequences provided thereon for reproducing the sound sequences in a predetermined order.
  • the indexing means includes a first stop means carried by the record, friction coupling means engaged with the record for movement thereby, second stop means for stopping the coupling means after a predetermined amount of movement with the record, third stop means carried by the coupling means and means moving the third stop means into the path of travel of the first stop means coincident with the engagement of the coupling means with the second stop means.
  • the means for moving the third stop means into the path of travel of the first stop means includes a fixed channel receiving the second stop means for controlling the path of travel of the third stop means.
  • the channel is configured to move the third stop means into and out of the path of the first stop means sequentially at different positions of the record.
  • FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a phonograph toy in combination with an indexing mechanism of the present invention
  • FIG. 2 is an exploded, perspective view of the indexing mechanism shown in FIG. 1;
  • FIG. 3 is a plan view, with parts broken away to show internal construction, of the phonograph toy shown in FIG. 1 with the indexing means in a first operating position;
  • FIG. 4 is a partial view similar to FIG. 3 showing the indexing means in a second operating position
  • FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the indexing means in a third operating position.
  • apparatus for automatically starting a rotatable member at predetermined positions sequentially hereinafter referred to as an indexing mechanism 10
  • a housing 14 having a lower housing half 16 and an upper housing half 18.
  • Lower housing half 16 includes a bottom wall 20 provided with a cylindrical cavity 22 journaling the lower end 24 of a turntable spindle 26 having an upper end 28 joumaled in a hollow boss 30 depending from the upper wall portion 32 of upper housing half 18.
  • a turntable 34 is formed integrally with spindle 26 from a suitable metal material and includes a peripheral belt groove 36 and an upstanding annular flange 38.
  • a phonograph record 40 is suitably affixed to turntable 34 for rotation thereby and is provided with a plurality of discrete sound sequences recorded in suitable interleaved grooves, as indicated at 42 in FIG. 2 for an outer set of sound sequences 44 and at 46 for an inner set of sound sequences 48.
  • the outer set of grooves 44 carries four sound sequences having lead-in grooves 50, 52, 53 and 54, respectively (FIG. 3) extending to the outer peripheral edge 56 of record 40 and equally spaced circumferentially thereabout.
  • the inner set of grooves 48 is also provided with four sound sequences having lead-in grooves 58, 60, 62 and 64 extending into an unrecorded annular area 66 (FIG. 2) lying between sets 44 and 48 and circumferentially spaced around annular area 66 opposite lead-in grooves 50, 52, 53 and 54, respectively.
  • the outer set of grooves 44 each includes a suitable lead-out groove, like the one shown at 68 in FIG. 2, extending across the unrecorded area 66 into a suitable silent groove portion 70 extending a short circumferential distance along the outer periphery of the inner set of grooves 48.
  • Sound recorded in grooves 42, 46 are reproduced by a sound reproducing apparatus 72 (FIG. 1) including a speaker cone 74, a tone arm 76 and a stylus 78.
  • Speaker cone 74 is mounted in an opening 80 provided in top wall 32 and is covered with a suitable speaker grill 82 having a depending annular flange 84 frictionally engaging an upstanding annular flange 86 encompassing opening 80.
  • Speaker cone 74 is connected to tone arm 76 by a piston 88 slidably mounted in a cylindrical collar 90 affixed to the apex 92 of cone 74 and is biased into engagement with tone arm 76 by a compression spring 94 having a first end (not shown) bearing against a peg 96 depending from speaker grill 82 and a second end (not shown) bearing against piston 88.
  • Spring 94 presses stylus 78 into engagement with record 40 with sufficient pressure to assure satisfactory contact therewith.
  • Tone arm 76 is swingably mounted on an upstanding post 98 carried by bottom wall 20, as shown in FIG. 3, and carries a cross-piece, 100 maintaining tone arm 76 in contact with piston 88 during swinging of tone arm 76 from the outer periphery 56 of record 40 to the inner periphery thereof.
  • turntable 34 is driven by a clock spring 102 having a first end 104 (FIG. 3) anchored to housing half 18 and a second end 106 (FIG. 2) anchored to a spring arbor 108 rotatably mounted on spindle 26.
  • spring 102 having a first end 104 (FIG. 3) anchored to housing half 18 and a second end 106 (FIG. 2) anchored to a spring arbor 108 rotatably mounted on spindle 26.
  • spring arbor 108 rotatably mounted on spindle 26.
  • a one-way clutch including a roller 110 mounted in an arcuate recess 1 12 provided in arbor 108 and having a narrow throat portion 114 which wedges roller 110 into engagement with spindle 26 when arbor 108 rotates in a clockwise direction and a wide throat portion 116 which releases roller 110 from spindle 26 when arbor 108 rotates in a counterclockwise direction.
  • Arbor 108 may be rotated in a counterclockwise direction to wind spring 102 by pulling a drawstring 118 having one end 120 affixed to arbor 108 through an annular block 122 affixed to arbor 108 for increasing the torque arm through which drawstring 118 operates.
  • the angular velocity of turntable 34 is controlled by a governor 124 having a spindle 126 connected to turntable 34 by a belt 128 for rotation thereby.
  • Governor 124 includes conventional weights 130, 132 biased inwardly by springs 134, 136, respectively.
  • Governor 124 is rotatably mounted inside a cylindrical housing 138 having an encompassing side wall 140 engageable by weights 130, 132 when they are thrown outwardly by centrifugal force.
  • Roller 110 is disengaged from spindle 26 during rewinding of spring 102 so that governor 124 will not exert a drag on drawstring 118.
  • tone arm 76 is connected to drawstring 118 in such a manner that drawstring 118 will return tone arm 76 to the outer periphery of record 40 when drawstring 118 is withdrawn to wind spring 102. Tone arm 76 then engages a post 142 which connects upper housing half 18 to lower housing half 16 and also serves as a tone arm stop for playing the outer set of grooves 44. When it is desired to play the inner set of grooves 48, phonograph 12 may be rotated 180 from its FIG. 3 position causing a gravity-actuated tone arm cam 144 to rotate from its FIG.
  • tone arm stop 146 When phonograph toy 12 is rotated 180 from its FIG. 3 position, tone arm stop 146 is engaged by tone arm 76 when drawstring 118 is operated to stop tone arm 76 with needle 78 at the peripheral position oflead-in grooves 58, 60, 62 and 64. Indexing mechanism 10 will also cause these lead-in grooves to be brought into position under needle 78 sequentially.
  • indexing mechanism 10 includes a slip clutch 160 including a clutch plate 162 having a plurality of upstanding fingers 164 engaging notches 166 provided in spring arbor 108 for connecting clutch plate 162 thereto.
  • Clutch plate 162 also includes a plurality of upwardly sprung wipers 168 frictionally engaged against a disc 170 connected to turntable 34 by annular flange 38, for transmitting counterclockwise reverse rotation from spring arbor 108 to spindle 26 and turntable 34 until turntable 34 meets sufficient resistance to overcome the frictional force exerted by wipers 168 on disc 170.
  • Coupling member 176 includes a flat plate portion 178 which is provided with an elongated opening 180 (FIG. 2) encompassing spindle 26 between an annular land 182, which is provided on bottom wall 20, and another annular land 184, which is provided on turntable 34. Plate 178 is prevented from wedging between land 184 and the upper edge 186 of cylindrical cavity 22 by a pair of flanges 188, 190 which extend along the edges of opening 180.
  • Coupling member 176 includes a pair of upwardly sprung fingers 192, 194 each of which carries a friction pad 196.
  • the friction pads 196 engage turntable 34 for transferring motion from turntable 34 to coupling member 176 moving it through paths defined by a "flower-petal cam 198 formed by a channel 200 provided in bottom wall 20 and engaged by a cam follower 202 carried by coupling member 176.
  • Cam follower 202 is adapted to engage a plurality of guide members 204 (FIG.
  • the cam follower 202, the guide members 204, 206, 208 and 210 and the end wall portions 211 comprise a second stop member for stopping the coupling member 176 after a predetermined amount of movement with the turntable 34.
  • the cam 198 includes four segments each including an arcuate portion 212 (FIG. 2) for guiding cam follower 202 circumferentially.
  • Each arcuate portion 212 has an inlet opening 214 and an outlet opening 216.
  • the segments also each includes a straight portion 218 doubling back radially inwardly alongside an arcuate portion 212 between the outer periphery of cam 198 and cylindrical cavity 22 from an associated one of the end wall portions 211 to another end wall portion 238.
  • the straight portions 218 guide the third stop member 174 into and out of the path of travel of the first stop member 172.
  • Guide members 204, 206, 208 and 210 are each formed by providing a ramp 220 in an associated arcuate portion 212.
  • Each ramp 220 is wedged shaped having its thin end 222 adjacent an associated inlet opening 214 and its thick portion forming an associated one of the guide members 204, 206, 208 and 210 at an associated outlet opening 216.
  • Cam follower 202 working in cam 198 under the influence of the motion imparted to coupling member 176 by turntable 34 causes the indexing mechanism 10 to operate as a two axis ratchet ratcheting in-and-out in straight portions 218 of cam 198 and up-and-down on ramps 220.
  • the combination of the turntable 34 and the record 40 are considered broadly to comprise a record member" or a rotatable member.
  • indexing mechanism 10 Operation of the indexing mechanism 10 will be described in connection with FIGS. 3 and 4 and 5 wherein the cam 144 is in its FIG. 3 position permitting tone arm 76 to track the outer set of grooves 44. It is to be understood, however, that indexing mechanism 10 will operate in the same manner when cam 144 is rotated to a position where stop 146 positions tone arm 76 for tracking the inner set of grooves 48.
  • needle 78 has just tracked from lead-in 50 to the end of the first recorded saying on record 40 and cam follower 202 is bottomed-out" against end wall portion 238 of straight portion 218 of cam 198 opposite lead-in groove 52 for saying number 2.
  • Drawstring 118 may now be actuated by pulling it in the direction of arrow 224 for rewinding spring 102 (FIGS. 1 and 2). This will cause spring arbor 108 to rotate turntable 34 and record 40 counterclockwise in the direction of arrow 226 (FIG. 3) through clutch plate 162 (FIG. 1). counterclockwise rotation of record 40 and turntable 44 moves cam follower 202 in the direction of arrow 228 (FIG. 3) along straight portion 218 of cam 198 until cam follower 202 reaches the broken line position shown in FIG. 3 where cam follower 202 is bottomed-out against guide member 208 and endwall portion 211 of channel 200.
  • cam follower 202 When drawstring 118 is again actuated to rewindspring 102, cam follower 202 will move out of straight portion 218 into engagement with end wall portion 211 of the arcuate portion 212 which has its inlet opening 214 adjacent guide member 206 where stop member 174 will be in position to be engaged by stop member 172 on the next revolution of record 40 in a counterclockwise direction during the rewinding of spring 102. This will bring lead-in groove 53 into position under needle 78 so that message number 3 will be played next.
  • indexing mechanism causes phonograph toy 12 to play all four messages sequentially. It will also be apparent that more or less than four messages may be played sequentially by changing the number of segments employed on cam 198 and that the indexing mechanism will work in the opposite direction by reversing the ramps 220.
  • first stop means carried by said record member
  • a phonograph device having a record member rotatably mounted in said device on a spindle and having recorded thereon a plurality of discrete sound sequences arranged to be separately reproduced, driving means mounted on said device and drivrngly connected to said record member for moving said record member in a first direction an amount to reproduce one of said sound sequences individually, manually-operable means connected to said record member for positioning said record member to reproduce another of said sound sequences when said record member is again moved in said first direction, and indexing means on said device and movable into engagement with said record member for stopping said record member in a predetermined position when said record member is moved in said other direction, whereby, upon repeated operations of said manually-operable means, said discrete sound sequences are reproduced in predetermined order, the improvements comprising:
  • friction coupling means mounted in said device in operative association with said record member
  • said coupling means including a plate having an elongated opening provided therein, said elongated opening encompassing said spindle, said coupling means also including resilient fingers carried by said plate and frictionally engaging said record member for movement thereby;
  • cam means including channel means extending into and out of said path of travel;
  • cam follower means affixed to said plate and engaged in said channel means.
  • said second stop means includes an end wall in said channel means engageable by said cam follower.
  • said record member is a disc-type phonograph record having a lead-in groove for each sound sequence, said lead-in grooves being circumferentially spaced about the periphery of said record
  • said channel means includes arcuate portions for moving said third stop means circumferentially and straight portions extending radially inwardly from said arcuate portions for moving said third stop means out of said path-oftravel when said record is moved in said first direction and into said path-of-travel when said record is moved in said other direction
  • said second stop means includes an end wall in said channel means at the junction of each arcuate portion and its associated straight portion.

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US14924A 1970-02-27 1970-02-27 Apparatus for automatically starting a rotatable member at predetermined positions sequentially Expired - Lifetime US3658346A (en)

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US1492470A 1970-02-27 1970-02-27

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US (1) US3658346A (fr)
CA (1) CA918576A (fr)
DE (2) DE7026488U (fr)
FR (1) FR2080305A5 (fr)
GB (1) GB1277548A (fr)

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3741566A (en) * 1970-11-13 1973-06-26 Mattel Inc Sequential phonograph toy
US3773415A (en) * 1971-07-16 1973-11-20 Mattel Inc Record for an audio-visual device
US3774914A (en) * 1970-08-03 1973-11-27 Mattel Inc Phonograph toy
US4408310A (en) * 1981-03-25 1983-10-04 Ozen Corporation Simplified sound reproducing device driven by a spring motor
US4447898A (en) * 1981-11-30 1984-05-08 Ozen Corporation Simplified sound reproducing device driven by a spring motor
US4547873A (en) * 1983-08-30 1985-10-15 Ozen Corporation Simplified sound reproducing device

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS55117701A (en) * 1979-02-27 1980-09-10 Ozen Corp Simple gramophone selecting recording groove to be sound-reproduced through undulation operation
JPS59121601A (ja) * 1982-12-28 1984-07-13 Ozen Corp 簡易録音再生機の音伝達機構

Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3371934A (en) * 1966-02-28 1968-03-05 Lorraine Ind Inc Phonograph device

Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3371934A (en) * 1966-02-28 1968-03-05 Lorraine Ind Inc Phonograph device

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3774914A (en) * 1970-08-03 1973-11-27 Mattel Inc Phonograph toy
US3741566A (en) * 1970-11-13 1973-06-26 Mattel Inc Sequential phonograph toy
US3773415A (en) * 1971-07-16 1973-11-20 Mattel Inc Record for an audio-visual device
US4408310A (en) * 1981-03-25 1983-10-04 Ozen Corporation Simplified sound reproducing device driven by a spring motor
US4447898A (en) * 1981-11-30 1984-05-08 Ozen Corporation Simplified sound reproducing device driven by a spring motor
US4547873A (en) * 1983-08-30 1985-10-15 Ozen Corporation Simplified sound reproducing device

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GB1277548A (en) 1972-06-14
DE2034938A1 (de) 1971-09-09
CA918576A (en) 1973-01-09
DE7026488U (de) 1970-12-17
FR2080305A5 (fr) 1971-11-12

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