US3667765A - Toy phonograph - Google Patents

Abstract

A TOY PHONOGRAPH CAPABLE OF ACHIEVING A CONSTANT ROTARY SPEED FOR A DISK RECORD. THE RECORD IS CARRIED BY A TURNTABLE WHICH IS DRIVEN BY A SPRING WHICH IS MANUALLY ACTUATED TO HAVE A DRIVING FORCE STORED THEREIN. A PICK-UP HAS A STYLUS PRESSING AGAINST THE DISK RECORD, AND THE PRESSURE WITH WHICH THE STYLUS PRESSES AGAINST THE RECORD GRADUALLY DIMINISHES AS THE STYLUS APPROACHES THE CENTRAL REGION OF THE RECORD. THE DRIVING SPRING GRADUALLY RUNS DOWN ALSO AS THE STYLUS APPROACHES THE CENTRAL REGION OF THE RECORD, SO THAT IN THIS WAY THE DROP IN THE PRESSURE OF THE STYLUS ON THE RECORD COMPENSATES FOR THE RUNNING DOWN OF THE SPRING TO CONTRIBUTE TOWARD THE MAINTENANCE OF A SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT ROTARY SPEED FOR THE RECORD.

Description

June 6, 1972 KATSUMI WATANABE 3,667,765

TOY PHONOGRAPH Filed Jan. 29' 1970 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 KATSUMI WATAHABE United States Patent 3,667,765 TOY PHONOGRAPH Katsumi Watanabe, 376 Ozenji, Kawasaki-shi, Japan Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 748,283, July 29, 1968. This application Jan. 29, 1970, Ser. No. 6,761

Int. Cl. Gllb 25/04, 17/06 U.S. Cl. 274-14 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A toy phonograph capable of achieving a constant rotary speed for a disk record. The record is carried by a turntable which is driven by a spring which is manually actuated to have a driving force stored therein, A pick-up has a stylus pressing against the disk record, and the pressure with which the stylus presses against the record gradually diminishes as the stylus approaches the central region of the record. The driving spring gradually runs down also as the stylus approaches the central region of the record, so that in this way the drop in the pressure of the stylus on the record compensates for the running down of the spring to contribute toward the maintenance of a substantially constant rotary speed for the record.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No. 748,283, filed July 29, 1968 and entitled Toy Gramophone.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to toy phonographs.

In the construction of toy phonographs it is essential to use inexpensive components, and this requirement leads to certain problems. Thus, for example, because of the essential low costs which must be maintained it is not possible to provide a toy phonograph driven by an electric motor at a fairly constant speed. Instead it is essential to rely on devices such as driving springs which necessarily run down, giving rise to the problem of a variable driving force. One of the prime factors determining the performance of a phonograph is the degree to which the rotary speed of the record is maintained constant. Thus, when dealing with an inexpensive toy phonograph driven by a spring, the maintenance of a constant rotary speed for the record creates a serious problem. Although it has already been proposed to use, for example, governors to bring about a constant rotary speed for the record, these expedients have not proved to be entirely successful in practice and provide only a partial solution to the problem.

The factor of the speed of rotation is, however, only one of several important factors to be considered in the manufacture of a toy phonograph. Thus, it is essential to make a toy of this type exceedingly simple to operate since it will be operated for the most part by young children, and of course it goes without saying that the construction must be exceedingly rugged. All of these requirements are exceedingly dilficult to fulfill within the framework of a low-cost device which above all must have a construction and operation adhering to the highest degree of safety so that no possible injury can occur to the operator.

3,667,765 Patented June 6, 1972 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide a toy phonograph which will fulfill the above requirements and advance the state of the art beyond what has been possible to accomplish heretofore.

In particular, it is an object of the invention to provide a toy phonograph which will be capable of maintaining the rotary speed of a disk record at a value the constancy of which is far beyond what can be accomplished with conventional toy phonographs.

In addition, it is an object of the invention to provide a device of this type which can be enclosed within a simple housing having no sharp points or other possible sources of injury so that the entire structure is one which is exceedingly safe to operate even by the smallest children.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a construction of this type which can be operated in the most simple manner which is absolutely foolproof so that for this purpose also completely satisfactory operations can be provided by extremely young children.

The objects of the present invention furthermore include the provision of a construction which is small, lightweight, capable of operation with the exertion of a relatively small force, and extremely inexpensive to manufacture and sell, without sacrificing any of the desirable qualities such as a highly superior degree of sound reproduction and full safety and ease of operation.

According to the invention the toy phonograph includes a rotary turntable means for carrying a disk record which stores the sound which is to be reproduced. A pick-up means has a stylus for engaging the disk record and for progressing from a peripheral region toward a central region thereof during rotary movement of the record with the turntable means, for the purpose of picking up the sound from the disk record. A driving spring means is operatively connected with the rotary turntable means to drive the latter for rotating a disk record carried thereby with respect to the stylus, and during the movement of the stylus toward the central region of the record the driving spring means gradually runs down. According to the invention a pressure means coacts with the pick-up means for urging the stylus thereof toward the record with a force which gradually diminishes as the stylus progresses toward the central region of the record. As a result of this gradual reduction in the force with which the stylus is urged toward the record simultaneously with the approach of the stylus toward the central region of the record, the running down of the driving spring means is compensated by this gradual reduction in pressure so that it becomes possible to contribute in this way toward the maintenance of a constancy in the speed of rotation of the record which heretofore could not be achieved with relatively inexpensive toy phonographs of this general type.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a toy phonograph of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the toy phonograph of FIG. 1 taken along line 22 of FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is plan view of the structure taken along line 33 of FIG. 2 in the direction of the arrows and showing the structure as it appears without the outer covering wall thereof;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary partly sectional plan view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2 in the direction of the arrows and showing the details of a pressure means of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a partly fragmentary and partly sectional plan view taken along line 55 of FIG. 2 in the direction of the arrows and showing the details of the structure at the area where the pick-up means is located;

FIG. 6 is a partly sectional plan view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 2 in the direction of the arrows and showing the turntable and governor structure as well as the structure for storing a driving force in the driving spring; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional plan view taken along line 77 of FIG. 2 in the direction of the arrows and showing the driving spring means as well as further details of the governor.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawing, the toy phonograph 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes an outer housing 12 composed of an upper part 14 visible in FIG. 1 and a lower part 16 visible in FIG. 2. These housing components 14 and 16 are releasably fixed to each other in any suitable way such as by screws 18 visible in FIG. 1. The housing components 14 and 16 form part of the support means of structure of the invention and may be made of any suitable plastic which is substantially rigid. Thus, polyvinylchloride, polystyrene, and the like are but a few of the suitable plastics which may be used. The upper housing component 14 has a wall formed with a series of openings 20 passing therethrough and arranged in the pattern illustrated in FIG. 1 so that the reproduced sound may freely emanate through these openings to the exterior.

In addition to the releasable fasteners 18, the right lower end portion of the upper housing component 14, as viewed in FIG. 2, has a tongue 22 received in an opening or loop 24 integral with the lower housing component 16. Thus, in order to assemble the components 14 and 16 it is only necessary to remove and replace the screws 18, the tongue 22 being readily inserted into and removed from the opening defined by the loop or U-shaped strap 24 which projects upwardly from the top edge of the remainder of the lower housing component 16 at the upper right portion thereof, as viewed in FIG. 2.

The lower housing component 16 has a bottom wall 26 which forms the equivalent of a base on which the entire structure is mounted. A pin 28 of circular cross-section is integrally formed with and projects upwardly from the wall 26, as shown most clearly in FIG. 2. This pin 28 is freely received within an elongated sleeve 30 having an upper portion formed with axially extending splines and integrally carrying at its lower portion a horizontal disk 32 which is situated in a plane normal to the sleeve 30 and which forms a circular flange surrounding the latter. Beneath the disk 32 is situated a driving spring means 34 in the form of a spiral spring fixed in any suitable way at its inner end to the sleeve 30 beneath the disk 32 and at its outer end to a side wall portion of the lower housing component 16. Thus, as may be seen from FIG. 7, the outer convolution of the spiral driving spring means 34 is looped through a cross rib 36 situated in an opening in a side wall of the housing part 16, so that in this way the driving spring means is operatively connected to the sleeve 30.

Above the flange 32, which may be made of the same plastic as the housing 12, for example, and which is integrally formed with the sleeve 30, is a rotary turntable means which engages flange 32 and is in the form of a disk of circular configuration formed with a central bore passing therethrough and having a grooved periphery so that the turntable 38 can also function as a pulley for an elastic endless band or belt 40. The rotary turntable means 38 fixedly and permanently carries at its upper surface, as viewed in FIG. 2, a disk record 42 having any desired recording impressed into its upper surface in a manner well known for conventional disk records. Thus, in the illustrated example the record 42 is permanently mounted on the turntable means 38 and will always rotate therewith. It is possible, for example, to bond the plastic of the record 42 directly to the top surface of the turntable means 38 which may be made, for example, of aluminum.

A one-way drive means is provided between the sleeve 30 and the rotary turntable means 38. This one-way drive means in the illustrated example takes the form of a coil spring 44 situated in the relatively narrow gap between the sleeve 30 and the inner periphery of the rotary turntable means 38. The spring 44 has a lower end 46 extending radially from its coils and permanently fixed with the lower surface of the rotary turntable means 38. The top end of the coil spring 44, as viewed in FIG. 2, is simply free, and the coil spring frictionally engages the sleeve 30. With this known one-way drive when the sleeve 30 rotates in a direction tending to reduce the diameter of the convolutions of the spring 44, the spring 44 tightly grips the sleeve 30 and transmits rotation therefrom to the turntable 38 which is permanently connected with the end 46 of the spring 44. However, when the sleeve 30 rotates in a direction which tends to unwind the convolutions from the sleeve 30, these convolutions of the spring 44 become loose and permit a free turning of the sleeve 30.

A manually operable means is provided for storing a driving force in the driving spring means 34. This manually operable means includes a pulley 48 having inner peripheral teeth received between the splines extending axially along the upper portion of the sleeve 30. This mounting of the pulley 48 on the splined top end of the sleeve 30 is clearly apparent in FIG. 6. Thus, the pulley 48 of the manually operable means is constrained to rotate with the sleeve 30. The peripheral groove of the pulley 48 has one end of a string 50 fixed therein, and this string is wound around the pulley several times and extends therefrom to the exterior of the housing 12 in a manner described in greater detail below. This string 50 terminates at the exterior of the housing 12 in a loop 52 which may be readily grasped by any child or other op erator of the toy phonograph. Upon pulling the loop 52, the string 50 becomes taut and unwinds from the pulley 48 while rotating the latter in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 6. In this direction of rotation of the sleeve 30 it tends to unwind or loosen the convolutions of the one-way drive spring 44, so that the sleeve 30 now turns freely within the coils of the spring 44. It is this direction of rotation which tightens the convolutions of the driving spring means 34 so as to store a driving force therein. The operator may pull the string 50 out beyond the housing 12 to any desired extent up to the limit provided by the total length of the string 50 where its inner end remains fixed with the pulley 48. Irrespective of how far the string 50 is pulled, immediately upon release of the string 50 the driving spring means 34 expands and rotates the sleeve 30 in a direction opposite to its direction of rotation upon pulling of the string 50 by the operator. The result is that now the sleeve 30 is rotated in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIGS. 6 and 7 thus tending to tighten the convolutions of the spring 44 on the sleeve, so that now the one-way drive means is effective to transmit the rotation of the driving spring means 34 to the turntable means 38 through the sleeve 30. This drive of the rotary turntable 38 in a clockwise direction as indicated by the arrow 54 in FIG. 6 continues until the spring 34 runs down to such an extent that it can no longer rotate the turntable means 38.

The sound which is stored in the disk record 42 is picked up by a pick-up means 56 (FIG. which includes a tone arm in the form of a lever 58 supported for swinging movement on a pin 60 which is fixed to and projects upwardly from a partition 62 supported between the upper and lower walls of the housing 12 and forming therewith the support means of the structure of the invention. This partition 62 has along its side edges tongues 64 situated within notches at the upper edge of the side walls of the lower housing component 16 so that in this way the partition 62 is properly situated. The pin 60 may be formed integrally with the partition 62, and both of these components can be made of any suitable plastic which may be the same as that which is used for the housing 12. The partition 62 has a raised portion 66 formed with a central opening 68 which receives the top end of the 28.

The tone arm or lever 58 of the pick-up means 56 is urged in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 5 by a wire spring 70 extending at one end region through an opening formed in a rib 72 fixed to and projecting upwardly from the arm 58 and formed integrally therewith of a suitable plastic such as any of those referred to above. The spring 70 which forms a return means for returning the pick-up means 56 to a starting position extends around the pivot 60 along the upper surface of the lever 58 and then beneath a lateral projection of a stationary pin 74 to a further pin 76 to which the spring 70 is fastened at its right end, as viewed in FIG. 5. These elements 74 and 76 are also formed integrally with the partition 62. This partition 62 further carries an integral pin 78 against which the pick-up means 56 is urged by the spring 70-. Thus, the lever 58 is urged against the pin 78 by the spring 70 so that it is this pin 78 which determines the starting position of the pick-up means 56 to which the pick-up means is returned by the return means 70.

The partition 62 is formed with an opening 80 having the configuration most clearly apparent in FIG. 5 and through this opening it can be seen that the free end of lever 58 distant from pivot 60 is situated at the peripheral region of the record 42 when the pick-up means 56 is in its starting position illustrated in FIG. 5. At its free end the tone arm 58 fixedly carries a stylus 82 in the form of a pointed metal body having its tip received in the recording groove which is impressed on the record 42. As the record 42 is rotated with the turntable means 38 by the driving spring 34 the stylus 82 will progress toward the central region of the record from the peripheral region thereof.

A pressure means 84 of the invention includes a pressure lever 86, the configuration of which is most clearly apparent from FIG. 4. This pressure lever 86 has the cranked configuration shown in FIG. 4.

The partition 62 is formed at its left region, as viewed in FIG. 3, with a pair of integral blocks 88 projecting upwardly, as viewed in FIG. 2 and formed at their top surfaces with notches 90 which extend down into the bearing blocks 88. These blocks receive in their notches 90 the free ends 92 of the pressure lever 86 of the pressure means 84. These free ends 92 have a common axis and are supported for turning movement about this common axis in the notches 90 of the blocks 88 so that in this way the common axis of the ends 92 of the lever 86 form a fulcrum axis about which the pressure lever 86 can freely swing.

At its central region the pressure lever 86 has an enlargement 94 provided with a fiat lower surface directed downwardly toward the tone arm 58 of the pick-up means 56, as viewed in FIG. 2. The arm 58 fixedly carries at its upper surface a pimple or projection 96 provided with a convexly curved exterior upwardly directed surface. This pimple 96 directly engages the lower surface of the enlargement 94 of the lever 86. During rotary movement of a record 42, while the stylus 82 progresses toward the central region of the record the pimple 96 will describe along the lower surface of the enlargement 94 of lever 86 an arcuate path 98 indicated in dotted lines in FIG. 4, this path 98 of course extending along a circle whose center is in the axis of the pivot 60. During return movement of the pick-up means 56 to its starting position by the return means 70 the pimple 96 will move toward the left along the path 98 while during playing of a record the pimple will move along the path 98 toward the right, as viewed in FIG. 4.

The enlargement 94 further includes an extension 100 having the configuration of a hollow channel the interior of which is directed upwardly with this channel having an open left end, as viewed in FIG. 4. Through this open end of the channel 100 extends a pressure spring 102 of the pressure means 84. This pressure spring 102 is simply an elongated tapered leaf spring the tapering free end of which is received in the channel 100 to press downwardly on the latter, as viewed in FIG. 2. The left end of the spring 102, as viewed in FIG. 2, rests in an upwardly directed notch formed in a rigid fin 104 integral with and extending upwardly from the partition 62 at the left end thereof. In front of the fin 104, the partition 62 has an integral part 106 formed with a downwardly directed threaded bore receiving the bottom threaded end of an adjusting screw 108 which extends through an opening of the leaf spring 102. Thus, the screw 108 can be threaded into the boss 106 of partition 62 in order to adjust the force with which the spring 102 presses downwardly on the pressure lever 86. In this way the force with which the stylus 82 is urged toward the record 42 is adjusted.

It is to be noted that the pressure of the free tip of the pressure spring 102 on the channel 100 of lever 86 remains at a substantially constant distance from the fulcrum axis which coincides with the axis of the ends 92 of the lever 86, so that the entire lever 86 is urged toward the pick-up means 56 with a substantially constant moment the magnitude of which is equal to the force at the free end of spring 102 multiplied by the distance thereof from the fulcrum axis. This moment is of course equal to the moment determined by the distance of the pimple 95 from the fulcrum axis multiplied by the force transmitted through the pimple 96 to the pick-up means from the pressure lever 86. This latter moment will of course remain equal to the moment derived from the spring 102, but since the distance of the pimple 96 from the fulcrum axis continuously increases as the stylus 82 progresses toward a central portion of the record, the force with which the stylus 82 is urged toward the record continuously diminishes at the same time. This is an important result achieved by the invention. Because of this constant reduction in the force of the stylus with respect to the record 42 there is an automatic compensation for the lesser force derived from the driving spring means 34 which is continuously running down as the force of the stylus against the record continuously diminishes.

The elastic belt 40 surrounds a knurled or otherwise roughened exterior surface of a sleeve 110 of a governor means 112 shown most clearly in FIGS. 6 and 7. The bottom wall of the lower housing component 16 also fixedly carries an upwardly directed pin 114 received in the sleeve 110 and supporting the latter for rotation. This sleeve integrally carries a disk 116 projecting radially from and forming a flange surrounding the sleeve 110, and the upper surface of the disk 116 carries a pair of diametrically opposed pins 118 on which governor weights 120 are supported for free swinging movement. These weights 120 are provided at their exterior surfaces with friction bodies 122 adapted to frictionally ride against the inner cylindrical surface 124 of a well 126 formed integrally with the lower housing component 16 and extending in part beneath the turntable 38. Thus, a governor means 112 is provided to also contribute toward the maintenance of a constant rotary speed for the disk record. The combination of the governor means 112 with the above-described pressure means for continuously diminishing the force of the stylus against the record as the driving spring means 34 runs down achieves a rotary speed for the record 42 the constancy of which is far beyond anything which has heretofore been possible.

The enlargement 94 of the pressure lever 86 is formed at one side with an integral block 127 projecting therefrom and formed at its lower surface with an upwardly directed notch through which the string 50 extends. This string 50 then extends over the partition '62. and through guide openings formed in the left walls of the housing components 14 and 16 where these walls meet. A suitable metal eyelet may be provided at this location to guide the string out to where the loop 52 thereof is located. As a result when the string 50 is pulled taut it will exert an upward force through the block 127 onto the lever 86 through the enlargement 94 thereof, with the result that the entire pressure lever 86 will be turned in opposition to the spring 102 through a distance sufiiciently great to interrupt the engagement between the lever 86 and the pimple 96 of the arm 58. Thus, at this time the pick-up means 56 is released to the return means 70 which can now almost instantaneously return the arm 58 into engagement with the pin 78. The manner in which the spring 70 is connected to the arm 58 is such that the stylus is raised slightly from the record as it is swung with the lever 58 to the starting position shown in FIG. 5. Thus, the pulling on the string 50 not only results in storing of a force in the driving spring means 34, in addition it brings about an interruption in the engagement between the pressure means and the pick-up means releasing the latter to the return means which will return the pick-up means to its starting position in preparation for the next record playing operation.

The pressure lever 86 also contributes to the transmission of sound from the record. Thus, the upper part of the enlargement 94 at its right end, as viewed in FIG. 4, is fixed with the central lowest region of a loudspeaker 130. This loudspeaker 130 tapers upwardly and has an upwardly directed concave surface. Thus, the hollow interior of the loudspeaker 130 is directed upwardly and faces the openings 20, as viewed in FIG. 2. The peripheral edge of the loudspeaker 130 is stiifened by an endless angle member 132 made of a suitable plastic and joined to the periphery of the loudspeaker 130. The lowermost region of the loudspeaker 130 is bonded or fixed in any suitable way to the right portion of the enlargement 94 as viewed in FIG. 4. Thus, the loudspeaker 130 is simply carried directly on the pressure lever and it is made of a relatively thin plastic. Thus, during progress of the stylus '82 toward the central region of the record 42 the vibratory movement of the stylus will be transmitted through the tone arm 58 and the pimple 6 to the lever 86 which will in turn transmit these vibrations to the loudspeaker 130 providing an exceedingly faithful reproduction of the sound stored in the record 42.

It is thus apparent that the structure described above is simple, compact, inexpensive, completely safe, and very easy to operate. Furthermore, it is capable of achieving by way of the above-discussed features, an exceedingly constant rotary speed for the disk record providing the most faithful sound reproduction.

What is claimed is:

11. In a toy phonograph, support means, rotary turntable means for supporting a disk record for rotation, said turntable means being supported for rotary movement by said support means, pick-up means having a stylus for engaging a disk record and supported by said support means for moving of said stylus from a peripheral region toward a central region of the disk record during rotation of a disk record with said turntable means, driving spring means carried by said support means and operatively connected with said turntable means for rotating the latter in order to rotate a disk record therewith and with respect to said stylus of said pick-up means, said driving spring means gradually running down as the stylus progresses toward the central region of the record, and pressure means carried by said support means for movement about a predetermined axis and engaging said pick-up means for pressing said stylus toward a record on said turntable means with a force which gradually diminishes as the stylus progresses toward the central region of the record, to compensate for the running down of the driving spring means and to contribute toward the maintenance of a substantially constant rotation speed for the record, said pickup means and said stylus thereof being situated between said axis of said pressure means and the central region of the disk record and moving away from the latter axis as said stylus approaches said central region.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein a governor means is carried by said support means and also is operatively connected with said turntable means for contributing toward the maintenance of a constant speed of rotation for a record carried thereby.

3. The combination of claim 1 and wherein a manually operable means is operatively connected to said driving spring means for storing in the latter a driving force preparatory to playing of a record on said turntable means, and return means carried by said support means and operatively connected with said pick-up means for returning the latter to a starting position locating said stylus at the peripheral region of a disk record on said turntable means, said manually operable means coacting with said pressure means for eliminating the force urging the stylus toward the record during storing of a force in said driving spring means by said manually operable means, so as to release the pick-up means to said return means to be returned thereby to said starting position during storing of a force in said driving spring means.

4. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said pressure means includes a pressure lever swingable about said axis which forms a fulcrum, said pressure lever directly engaging said pick-up means, a pressure spring forming part of said pressure means and urging said pressure lever around said fulcrum axis in a direction transmitting to said pick-up means a force urging said stylus toward a disk record on said turntable means.

5. The combination of claim 4 and wherein a sound amplification means is directly carried by said pressure lever, said pressure lever vibrating together with said pickup means while directly pressing against the same to transmit to the amplification means from the record sound which is stored in the latter to be amplified at the amplification means.

6. The combination of claim 5 and wherein said amplification means includes a loudsepaker operatively connected directly with said pressure lever.

7. The combination of claim 5 and wherein a manually operable means is operatively connected with said driving spring means for storing a driving force therein, and return means operatively connected with said pick-up means for returning the latter to a given starting position Where said stylus thereof is located at a peripheral region of a record, said manually operable means when actuated to store a force in said driving spring means automatically displacing said pressure lever away from said pick-up means to release the latter to said return means simultaneously with the storing of the driving force in said driving spring means.

8. The combination of claim 7 and wherein said manually operable means includes a rotary pulley operatively connected with said driving spring means for storing a force therein and a string extending from said pulley and accessible to the operator, said string extending along a path engaging said pressure lever for displacing the latter away from said pick-up means in opposition to the force of said pressure spring when said string is stretched during rotation of said pulley to store a driving force in said driving spring means, and a one-way transmission means operatively connected between said driving spring means and turntable for transmitting rotation from said driving spring means to said turntable only when said string of said manually operable means is released to free said driving spring means for expansion while it drives said turntable means.

9. The combination of claim 8 and wherein a governor means is operatively connected with said turntable means for contributing toward the maintenance of a substantially constant speed of rotation for a record.

10. The combination of claim 8 and wherein a loudspeaker is directly carried by said pressure lever at an end region thereof, distant from said fulcrum axis, said pressure lever transmitting vibratory movement of said pick-up means to said loudspeaker.

References Cited- UNITED STATES PATENTS LEONARD FORMAN, Primary Examiner D. A. DEARING, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.'R. 274-1 A

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