US835604A - Automatic musical instrument. - Google Patents

Description

No. 835,604. PATENTED NOV.'13, 1906.

w. K. L. DIGKSON.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMEN T.

APPLICATION FILED AUG LQO, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSbVS; NV l Q W 4 BY ATTORNEY.

No. 835,604. PATENTED NOV. 13, 1906.

W. K. L. DIOKSON.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 20, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Q I MB% .wrajiZENTORE A TZORNE Y.

THE N'omus PETERS 60, m ASHIIVIJTDN, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT orFIoE.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent,

Patented Nov. 13, 1906.

Application filed August 20, 1903. Serial No. 170,189.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM KENNEDY- LAURIE DicK'soN, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Lon don, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Musical Instruments, (for which I have received Letters Patent of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 23,853 of 1902,) of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to musical instruments of the harp or zither type, and has for its object the automatic operation or playing of the instrument by the aid of a moving music-record which selects and controls the means for striking the proper strings.

The invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement, and combination of devices and parts fully described, and pointed out in the following specification and claims.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which like reference characters refer to like parts, Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of a musical box embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view, and Fig. 3 is a plan view,

of my improved instrument.

The casing 1 of my musical boX is of any desired shape or of such ornamental construction as may be desired and has near each end shafts 2 and 3, which carry the musicrecord sheet or sheets 4 of paper or sheet metal made in the usual Way with perforations alined along its length to correspond with the wires or strings of the instrument and at such intervals as to produce the notes of some certain tune or air. This shaft 3 is provided with a crank-handle 5 to wind the record-sheet upon this shaft; but it is obvious that I may employ any one of various motive forces to do this winding, such as clockwork, weights, or battery-power. The records may be also wound on spools carried on the shafts, which could be readily slipped ofi when it is desired to substitute a new record, and the shaft 2 might also be provided with a crank handle to rewind the record for arepetition of the tune or tunes.

In its passage from the shaft 2 to the shaft 3 the record passes beneath a longitudinal opening 6 of a cylindrical casing 7, held rigidly at a point about midway between the two shafts and inclosing a drum 8, which rotates therein and is driven by the belt 9, which passes around the pulleys 10 and 11,

the latter being on the shaft 3. The drum 8 is provided with a series of annular grooves 12, which equal in number and correspond with the alinements of the perforations of the record-sheets 4. The upper side of the casing 7 has a flared opening or hopper 13, into which is placed a certain amount of shot, pellets, or other objects or substance which may pass around the grooves 12 and out of the opening 6 when a perforation in the sheet passes under said opening, but which the blank or unperforated portion of the sheet would ordinarily check and hold within the grooves.

Beneath the casing 7 and adapted to carry on its upper face the record-sheet 4 is a sliding plate 14, which is provided with perforations corresponding with the alinement of the perforations of the record-sheets and moves in ways 15, secured to the under side of the casing 7 at each end. Each perforation of the plate 14 opens into a depending tube 16, which is designed to receive the pellet dropped from the corresponding groove of the drum 8 and cause it to drop in a vertical line toward the strings of the instrument.

The strings 17 which produce the musical sounds, are stretched over a slanting sounding-board 18 by means of the ordinary tuning-pegs 19 and are looped around a stationary peg 20 at the bottom of the board 18, so that each string is practically composed of a pair of strings adjacent to each other, and each pair is tuned in unison and is imme diately below an opening in the plate 14 and its tube 16. Above the strings 17 there is arranged a mufiier 21 for modulating the sound produced by the pellets falling on the strings of the instrument. This muffler is made of thin muslin, silk, or like material and is 5 stretched so that it does not touch the strings nor prevent their vibrations. Each side of the muslin is attached to a roller 22 and wound thereon until a desired tension is obtained. This muffler may be made up of materials of different thicknesses and wound upon these rollers, so that the desired one may be brought into use when necessary.

A short distance below the point on the string that is struck by the pellet is the inclined side of a trough 23, whose bottom 24 slopes toward a pocket 25, in which is journaled the lower end of an Archimedean screw 26. This screw is adapted to return the pellets which have been used to the hopper 13 IIO of the casing 7, and it is driven by a suitable belt 27 passing around the pulley 28 on the screw and driven by the pulley 29 on the driving-shaft 3. The belt passes over suit able idlers 30, and the screw is inclosed within a casing 31 and suitably journaled at its upper end. The pellets are delivered from the screw into a lateral spout 32, which conducts them into the hopper 13.

I do not wish to confine myself to the use of a screw in returning the pellets to the hopper 13, as various other means may be resorted to, such as buckets on an endless belt, to elevate them; but I find the screw a convenient and simple method, and therefore show it in the drawings.

Connected with the sliding plate 14, by means of the rod 33, is an ordinary ballgovernor 34, which is put in motion by the friction-wheel 35 on the shaft 2 through the smaller friction-wheel 36 and the belt-pulleys 37 and'38. In Fig. 1 the sliding plate is shown in position to release the pellets when the proper perforated notes pass beneath the grooves 12 and the governor is supposed to be in motion and the balls thrown out; but when the shaft 3 is at rest or before ithas attained its proper speed the spring 39 carries the tube 16 past the opening 6 and closes same. The same occurs when the recordsheet is being reversed and wound on the shaft 2.

Instead of using the tubes 16 for directing the pellets to the various strings I may adopt vertical partitions, which depend from the plate 14, extending in the direction of the strings, and effectively prevent the deviation of the pellets from a vertical course and consequent striking of the wrong string.

The side of the trough 23 adjacent to the strings of the instrument may be made adjustable in order to catch the pellet on its first rebound. This will be found necessary with the variation of the tension of the modulator or muffler 21.

The operation of the instrument is as follows: The crank-arm 5 is turned with sufficient speed to cause the governor 34 to move the perforated plate 14 to a position where it permits the pellets to pass through the perforations of the record-sheet by registering with the opening 6 in the casing 7. The pellets from the annular grooves drop through their respective tubes as the recordsheet passes over the plate 14 and striking their strings rebound into the trough 23, and the inclined bottom of the trough causes them to run down into the pocket 25, where they are taken up by the spiral groove of the screw 26 and carried to the top of the casing 31, where they pass out into the spout 32 and hopper 13.

It is obvious that other means may be adopted to accomplish the same results in the various details of the instrument, as has already been suggested, such as a different type of governor, gearing, or sprocket wheels and chains instead of the pulleys and belts, as shown in several parts of the instrument, 620.; but these changes may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a musical instrument, the combination with strings, of pellets or weighty objects adapted to strike and sound the strings, a receptacle for the pellets and means therein for dividing them into groups, a perforated plate adapted to deliver the pellets to the various strings and a musical record-sheet provided with perforations alined to correspond with the perforations of the plate and to deliver the pellets therein.

2. In a musical instrument, the combination with strings adapted to produce different musical notes, of pellets or weighty objects adapted to fall upon the strings and sound the notes, a receptacle for the pellets and means therein for dividing them into groups, a perforatedplate adapted to direct the pellets to the proper strings, a perforated musical record-sheet admitting the pellets to the perforations of the plate and means for delivering the pellets to the perforations of the said musical record.

3. In a musical instrument, the combination with strings, of a plate with perforations corresponding with the strings, a perforated musical record-sheet, pellets or weighty objects adapted to drop through the perfora' tions of the record and the plate and strike the strings, a cylindrical casing and a grooved roller rotating within the cylindrical casing, the grooves adapted to contain the pellets and to deliver same to the perforations of the record.

1. In a musical instrument, the combination with strings, of a perforated plate supported above the strings, a musical record, provided with perforations alined with those of the plate, pellets adapted to pass through the perforations of the record and plate and strike the strings, a roller with annular grooves for carrying the pellets and a cylindrical case inclosing the roller and provided with a longitudinal opening, to permit the passage of the pellets from the roller to the record-sheet.

5. In a musical instrument, the combination with strings, of pellets or weighty objects adapted to drop upon the strings, a plate having perforations above the separate strings, a perforated musical record, a cireumferentially-grooved roller, a cylindrical case containing the roller and having a hopper on its top and an opening along its lower side and means for returning the pellets to the hopper and roller after having struck the strings.

from the trough to the hopper.

7. In a musical instrument, the combinat1on with strings for producing Various musical notes, of a plate provided with a perforation over each string, a musical record provided with perforations alined to gage with those of the plate, a roller with annular grooves coinciding with the perforations, and pellets or weighty bodies adapted to be carried in the grooves and to drop through the perforations onto the strings.

8. In a musical instrument, the combination with strings, of pellets adapted to drop upon the strings to produce musical sounds, a receptacle for the pellets and means therein for dividing them into groups and a screen of flexible material interposed between the strings and the pellets and adapted to modulate the loudness of the sound.

9. In a musical instrument, the combination with strings, of pellets adapted to drop upon the strings to produce musical sounds, a receptacle for the pellets and means therein for dividing them into groups and a muffler comprising sections of varying thickness in terposed between the strings and pellets to modulate the loudness of the sound.

10. In a musical instrument, the combination with strings, of pellets adapted to drop upon the strings to produce musical sounds, adjustable spools and a screen of flexible material interposed between the strings and pellets and mounted on the adjustable spools to increase or decrease the tension of the screen, so as to modulate the loudness of the sound to a greater or less degree.

11. In a musical instrument, the combination with pellets or weighty objects, a receptacle for the pellets and means therein for dividing them into groups of strings adapted to be struck and sounded by the falling pellets or weighty objects, and means interposed between the strings and pellets to modulate the sound.

12. In a musical instrument, the combination with strings, of pellets or weighty obj ects, a grooved roller carrying the pellets, a slotted case containing the roller, a perforated musical record, a sliding plate with perforations coinciding with the strings of the instrument, and means by which the perforations of the sliding plate are carried beneath the slot in the case to receive the pellets when the record-sheet is put in motion.

' 13. In a musical instrument, the combination with strings, of a perforated musical record, pellets or weighty objects adapted to I drop through the perforations and onto the strings, means for regulating the-feed of the pellets to the record, shafts or rollers adapted to carry the record, and means connected with one of the shafts adapted to prevent the operation of the pellets before'the record has attained its proper speed.

14. In a musical instrument, the combination with strings, of pellets adapted to fall upon the strings to produce musical notes, a grooved roller, a cylindrical case with a hopper, a perforated musical record, a perforated sliding plate or support, a governor connected with and operating the sliding plate, shafts or rollers carrying the perforated recor rollers with the governor. v

15. In a musical instrument, the combination with a musical record-sheet, of shafts carrying the musical record-sheet, means for driving one of the shafts, strings, pellets adapted to be dropped upon the strings to produce musical notes, a grooved roller and case, a sliding perforated plate adapted to prevent the operation of the pellets, a governor controlling the position of the sliding plate, means for driving the governor by one of the shafts, an elevator adapted .to return the fallen pellets to the grooved roller, and means connected with one of the shafts fo operating the elevator.

16. In a musical instrument, the combination with strings, of pellets or weighty objects, a grooved roller and case, a perforated musical record-sheet, a perforated plate with partitions or tubes for directing the course of the pellets, a mufliing-apron or modulator, a trough with slanting floor to catch the spent pellets, a screw journaled in the bottom of the trough and adapted to deliver the pellets to the grooved roller and its case, a shaft carrying one end of the musical record-sheet,

the screw and means connected with the shaft for rotating the grooved roller.

17. In a musical instrument, the combination with strings, of pellets adapted to drop upon the strings to produce musical notes, a grooved roller and case carrying the pellets, means for controlling the flow of the pellets, a trough with slanting bottom and a pocket adapted to catch the spent pellets, a screw having its bearing in the pocket and delivering into the case of the grooved roller and means for operating the screw.

18. In an automatic musical instrument, the combination with strings, pellets or weighty objects adapted to drop upon said strings and thereby produce sounds, and a receptacle for said pellets having means and an opening in its bottom, of a perforated music record-sheet located below the said receptacle and adapted to close the opening therein except at such times as when a pertherein for dividing the pellets into groups ord and gearing connecting one of theshafts ICC means connected with the shaft for turning foration in said sheet registers 01' coincides I my name, this 15th day of July, 1903, in the with said opening and adapted to permit a presence of two subscribing witnesses. pellet to drop from said receptacle onto one of the strings when a perforation does regis- WILLIAM KENLEDLLAURIE DICKSOB' 5 ter or coincide with said opening, and means for moving said music record-sheet.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed Witnesses:

H. D. JAMEsoN, A. NUTTING.

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