US941114A - Telephonic system for auditoriums. - Google Patents

Description

K. M. TURNER.

TELEPHONIG SYSTEM FOR AUDITORIUMS.

APrLIoATIoN FILED JUNE 1, 1908.

f e@ a@ e@ @fw @ff ff@ @XN/memes 5 wu@ who@ KELLEY MONROE TURNER, or NEW' YoRK, N. Y.

TELEPHoNIo SYSTEM non UnI'ToniUMs.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Appiicaaon mea :tune 1, 190s. se'riai Nt. lim'is.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, KELLEY M. TURNER, a citizen of the United States, residing'at New York, Yin the borough of Manhattan V and State of New York, have invented cer-v tain new and useful Improvements in Telephonie Systems for Auditoriums, of which the following is a' full, clear, and exact description. v

This invention is a telephonie system intended for use in large halls or areas, for transmitting the speech of any person in the assembly who may be speaking, to any indefinite; number of persons simultaneously who may be located in the same hall or area or elsewhere.

It is Well known that in conventions -and A points 'at which they may be speaking, and

likewise regardless of disturbing noises that may occur in the neighborhood of the listeners. The instruments used yare also eX- treinely sensitive so that persons more or less deaf are able to hear when ordinarilyl they could not. To accomplish this, my invention contemplates a telephonif system comprising transmitters of a sensitive character which are located at selected, fixed points throughout the hall or area` to be covered; a plurality of receivers also distributed throughout the hall or area' and any other places more or less remote therefrom, ut convenientl for those who may Wish to listen, and a. switching` apparatus in charge of an operator so located that he has a View of the entire assembly, said switching appa.- ratus being capable of manipulation by the operator so as to connect and disconnect `at will any one or more of the transmitters with all'of the receivers. Th'us the operator is able, by watching thosewho rise to speak and their movements while speaking, to cut into circuit with all of the, receivers 'the particular transmitter or transmitters which will most effectively transmit and reproduce the remarks of the speaker. To facilitate the manipulation by the operator, in invention also includes a test receiver whie is always in circuit with the other receivers and by transmission.

Patented Nov. 23, 1969.-

which the result f the operators manipulai tion of the switching apparatusis at once made' knownto himself, which enables him to' operate the system at its highest eh'icien'cy. i

My improved telephone system is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein- Figure 1 is a plan of an assembly hall or other area where persons assemble for the purpose of debate or the interchange of ideas by means of speech,l equipped with the apparatus comprised in my improved telephone systein, and Fig. 2 is a diagram of the circuits comprised in the improved system.

The hall or area. A is supposed to be occupied by a large number of persons who ordinarily would occupy chairs or stalls arrangfgi in groups, as indicated by the dotted lines, and separated by aisles. There may also be accommodations for a presiding oflicer at. B and secretaries or reporters at C. Distributed throughout such an area or hall are a suitable number of sensitive telephonie transmitters T. The type of instrument is preferably that known as the Acousticonl 'which is capable of 'transmitting sound emanating at a considerable distance from .the instrument itself. These transmitters are fixed at their Various locations by fastening them to the desks, chairs, or other speciallysupplied su ports, and they are arranged with their ronts directed with respect to one another so as to properly command the areas intervening betweenthen'i. These instruments being so sensitive, will oftentimes transmit sounds coming from a comparatively great distance better thaii they will transmit sounds that emanate from a point. immediately infront of -or very near them. For this reason the field to which each instrument will respondA is comparatively large adthe instruments may be located some distance from each other, but always -so that there will be no location in the hall or area which does not come Within the range of at least one transmitter. The ranges or areas of the various transmitters also preferably overlap to a certain extent, so that two or more transmitters can be used simultaneously to effect a uniform degree of R indicates telephonie receivers which for convenience"should be located at each chair or, stall and at each point in the hall, area,

-or other localities where 'a person would be likely to desire to listen to the proceedings. S is a switch-board located at some polnt in or near the hall or area where the operator in charge of it will have a view of the entire space and, for his particular use, there 1s provided a test receiver r. All of the telephone receivers R and 7' are connected 1n the same circuit so that any one or all of them can be used at the same time and they will all receive the remarks of the same speaker. The switch-board is equipped with keys lc by which the operator can connect with this single receiver circuit any one or more of the transmitters T, 'and he can likewisev disconnect any of them at pleasure. The specic 'feature of the apparatus for accomplishing this is not important, but in F1g..2 is shown diagram of the circuits wherein a general letters that have been used the reference heretofore are applied to the'same parts, so

that further description is not necessary, it being understood that the battery b is common to all ofthe instrument and that the keys are closed by simply pressing two springs together.

The operation is as follows: The o erator at the switch-board keeps the assem ly under observation constantel7 and, when he sees a speaker rise,-he imm iately manipulates the key-board 1n such a way a's to throw into l circuit with all of the receivers, one or more transmitters T inthe immediate neighbor'- hood of the speaker. At the same time he listens with his test receiver T, and,'if he finds he does not hear distinctly, he may cut out one or more of the transmitters in use and substitute others until finally he obtains satisfactory reproduction rat his re-v ceiver 1'. Every other receiver 1n the system,

provided it is in good. order, will reproduce the words of the speaker with the same distinctness as the test receiver, so that any person in the assembly who is located so far away from the speaker as'not to'hear him distinctly', or who may be disturbed -by noises in his own immediate neighborhood, may

`-use tile receiver at his command 'to Bejar the remarks of the speaker. These receiving instruments, ifdesired, may be equipped with hand or automatic switches of well known character for controlling their circuit when they are put into and out of use. It will be seen that with this visual supervision on 'the part of the switch-board operator, he is enabled to maintain the eiiiciency of the transmission, notwithstanding the fact that a speaker may move from place to place while speaklng, and from the fact that the range of each transmitter overlaps that of its neighbors, itwould be 'extremely difcult for any speaker to so change his location that his remarks could'not be caught by at least one of the instruments.

What I claiml'is: l

l. A telephone system 'comprising a plurality of transmitters distributed at fixed polnts withreference to each other` throughout a given area, a plurality of receivers connected in a single icircuit, and a switching station located in'a position which commands a view of the entire area, said switching station provided with manually operated means for connecting anyone or more of said transmitters with the circuit containinglr the receivers, substantially as described.

2. A telephone system comprising a plurality of transmitters distributed at fixed points with reference to each other through? out a given area, a plurality` of receivers distributed throughout said area and connected in a single circuit, and a switching

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