US688739A - Production of sound-records. - Google Patents

Description

Patented Dee. M), MN.

4 .u. W. MINES. PRODUCTION 0F SOUWB'RECUBDS.

(Application filed Nov. 19, 1897.)

(No Model.)

$1" mmto'a @8 1 human PATENT rrIcE.

JosnPn W. JONES, or NEW YORK, N. Y.,

ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, AND

JOSEPH A. YINCENT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PRODUCTION OF SOUND-RECORDS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 688,739, dated December 10, 1901. Application filed November 19,1897- Serial No. 659,170. (No model.)

T 0. whom it may concern:

Be it known thatI, JOSEPH W. J ONES, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improved Production of Sound-Records; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and'exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and 'use the same.

My invention relates to the commercial production of sound-records, and has for its object the production of a number of copies of an original record characterized-by lateral undulations of substantially uniform depth. I-Ieretofore records of this character, generally known as gramophone-reeords, have been produced by first-tracing the lateral undulations or zigzags in a fatty (inky) film that protects an-etching-surface, then etching this tracing into the material to form a groove,

? thenrunning a blunt stylus through this groove to smooth the ragged etched surface, and finally electroplating this touched-u p surface and pressing the matrix so formed into a suitable material to form the commercial record. The etching process, for reasons unnecessary to state, causes considerable departure or deviations, so that the etched groove is far from being a correct representation of the path of the recording-stylus.

The deformations from this cause are still f u rther exaggerated by the use of the smoothingstylus. I avoid these objections by producing in the first instance a fully-finished original record whose grooves are of the final depth required, slight but appreciable, thus doing away with the necessity for etching and the subsequent smoothing made necessary thereby. The original records made by this processare electroplated and the electroplat'e matrix used as a diein the ordinary manner.

In carrying out my invention I employ a disk or tablet, of suitable recording material, ((as wax orawax-likecom position, preferably rendered sufficiently hard, as by an adn1ixture of rosin, to withstand the treatment employed in giving it an electrical conductingsurface.) Upon the surface of this tablet I then form by the use of a sound-recording the vibrations of the diaphragm and stylus,

whereas in producing my original records the resistance encountered by-my recording-stylus is exactly equal to the length of the v1hrations. On account of this difference in principle I am enabled to obtain more accurate, and

therefore better, records of the original sounds.

The original record so formed is an exact copy of the record to be used for reproducin is a complete and finished record, its grooves being of a slight yet appreciable depth, and no deepening or retouching by an etching fluid or in any other manner is required. This original record is then prepared for receiving the electroplate deposit by coating its surface with an electric conducting medium-- such, for instance, as carbon, (graphite,) as commonly employed in the process of electroplating, or, as a substitute, nitrate of silver. This coated plate is then placed in an e1ectroplating-bath, and a layer of metal (nickel, steel, 850.) is deposited upon it. The thin shell or matrix thus formed is then separated from the original record, which may be used repeatedly in the same manner to form other matrices. Owing to the fiat shape of the original and of the matrix and to the fact that the sound-groove of the former and the corresponding ridge of the latter do not lock the two are separated readily without the employment of heat or of shrinkage,it being obvious that the repeated heating and resultant cooling are very injurious to the accuracy of the record. The matrix itself may be backed up with a supporting-plate, such as brass or bronze cast upon (or sweated to) the reverse of the matrix. This complete matrix constitutes a stamp or die, the record appearing on its face in the form of a raised ridge having lateral sinnosities or irregularities that correspond to the sound-waves being the exact counterpart of the original soundgroove. This die is then pressed or stamped into a disk-or tablet of suitable composition, such as electrose or other fibrous material that can be readily handled in a'soft state In the drawings annexed hereto to illustrate this invention, Figure 1 shows a recorder in the act of producing the original record. Fig. 2 shows the original record partially covered with graphite. Fig. 3 shows diagrammatically the electroplating apparatus for forming the metallic matrix on the original record, and Fig. 4 shows a press for forming stamped records from the matrix;

A is a tablet of wax-like composition; B, a recording device whose stylus b cuts or engraves into the surface of tablet A a line or groove or channel (1. of uniform depth and undulating laterally. The shaded portion A, Fig. 2, represents the graphite coating appliedvover surface of A. Tablet A having its electroconductive. coating A is immersed in a plating-bath C, Fig. 3, by which a (copper) matrix or reverse U is formed. Matrix (J is laid on a tablet D of suitable material in "a press E and the finished product produced.

are the very essence of this kind of record it forms a covering that resembleson a minute scale a light fall of snow over a landscape. The sharp contours of the vertical irregularities are rounded, (the more delicate and minute irregularities being filled in and completely obliterated,) with a resulting mutilation of the record. Again, when the electroplate die is pressed into the surface to be stamped any inequality in the material being stamped would cause unequal impressions to be made, some deeper than others, which'is fatal to the accuracy of a record, whose very existence lies in the comparative depths and heights (vertical) of its irregularities. I u-rthermore, the presence (be tween the die and the material being stamped) of minute particles of dust or other foreign n1atter,or even of particles of air, (air-bubbles,) would to that extent still further distort and disfigure the impressions stamped by an already inaccurate die, whereas in the laterally-undulated records any vertical deformr' on (whether due to the causes just pointed out or to any other cause) does not in the slightest degree afiect the accuracy of the record, the essence of which lies in its lateral undulations, for the deposit of a film of conducting material does n otmodify the lateral outline, but only the vertical irregularities, and the deformations caused'by the presence of foreign particles in the stamping or pressing process are vertical, and consequently do not affect a record that depends upon its lateral and not its vertical outline.

For the foregoing reasons I do not claim my new process in connection with soundrecords characterized by vertical irregularities, but limit it to records characterized by lateral undulations of practically uniform depth.

.1 claiming sound-records, which consists in cutting .or engraving upon a tablet-of suitable material, by means of the lateral vibrations of a suitable stylus, a record-groove of appreciable and practically uniform depth and having lateral undulations corresponding to the sound-waves, next coating the same with a conducting material, then forming a matrix thereon by electrolysis, and finally separating this matrix and pressing the same into a tablet of suitable material, substantially as described.

2. The process of producing commercial sound-records of the type indicated, which consists of first preparing a fiat tablet or disk of soft wax like material, then engraving thereon by means of the lateral vibrations of a suitable stylus a record-groove of appreciable and uniform depth and having lateral undulations corresponding to sound-waves, next rendering the surface thereof electrically conductive, then forming a matrix thereon by electrolysis, next separating the matrix from the original record-disk without the use of heat, and finally impressing said matrix into a disk of suit-able material to form the ultimate record, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I all'i-x my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH \v. mm.

\Vitnessesi HARRY A Dl-snouu, WALTER 0. Pusnv.

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