US958730A - Talking-machine and piano recording device. - Google Patents

Description

W. M. DAVIS.

TALKING MACHINE AND PIANO RECORDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APB.17,1909.

Patented May 24, 1910.

In ven tor /A try.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

. WALTER M. DAVIS, 01 NEW YORK, N. Y.

Specification or Letters Patent.

Tat ana-Musl ms AND PIANO anconm'ne DEVICE.

Patented May 24, 1910..

a uau n filed April 17, 1909. Serial maeasev.

' To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Warren M. DAVIS, a citizen ofthe United States, and a resident of the cityv of- New York, borou h of Man chines and pianos.

Singers or solo instruments are accompanied by a piano or an orchestra and it as been found that when --a talking machine orphonographic record is made by a singer or $010 instrument erformer the sounds of the voice or solo mstrument are clearly recorded for reproduction but the sounds produced by the accompanying piano are faint, blurred, indistinct and resemble the sounds of abanjo, and hence in the re- .production of the performance, by means of talking machine or like devices, the harmonies produced in the original productionbythe solo instrument or so 0 :voices or voice and the accompanying piano do not appear and the reproduction therefore neverequals the original. as it is lacking in the beauty, expression and tonal effect of the original performance. a

The object. of my invention is to produce two records at the same time, one of the sounds produced b the singer or solo instrument and one or the sounds produced by the accompanyingpiano, the record of the'voice-or solo instrument being produced in the well known manner on a .disk or cylinder. of a talking machineor phonogra h, the record of the 1 piano tones being pro need on a" paper stri directly or indirectly by slots or per orations, so that this piano record can be placed into a piano piaymg device such as for example the well own pianola. The disk or phonograph then reproduces the vocal or instrumental solo correctly as originally produced and the piano playing mechanism reproduces the piano accompaniment with the same force and effect as originally roduced on the accompanying piano, so t at the combined result-in every respect is acorrect copy of the original production.

, Forthis purpose it. is necessary, when these two records are made, that the speeds of both coincide and when one blank is moved a tracker '6, w

fasterthe other must be moved correspondingly and when one is moved slower the other must be moved correspondingly, so that, when by means ofthe piano-p aying-record and the talking-machine-record the ori 'nal production is reproduced, the notes 0 the accom animent will accord with the correspondmg notes of the solo and will not be sounded too-late or too soon.

In the accompanying drawings *in whichlike letters of reference indicate like parts in all the fi res: Figure 1 illustrates diagrammatical y in elevation one embodimentof my improved talking machine and piano recording device. Fig. 2- is a lan view of the same. 3 is a viewv 0 part of the piano record.

Thepiaho lisprovided with an automatic recording'device 2' of any well known construction which produces a. record of the notes played on a sheet of paper 3 unrolled from a roll 4* plon a roll 5 and passing over ereby slots orperforations 7 Fig. '3, are made that correspond to the pitch andtime value of the notes played.

The solo performer, sa-y a sin er, sings into the horn or receiver 8 of: a ta 'ng machine 9 of conventional constructlon, whereby a record of the sounds produced by the solo performer is traced by the. stylus upon a disk 10 or equivalent.

It is essential that the paper strip 3 and the disk 10 should be moved at a practically uniform and predetermined speed so that when the aper strip or sheet 3 and the disk are plac into an automatic piano player and talking machine respectively and moved at the same speed at which they were moved when taking the records, they will reproduce respectively the sounds produced by the piano and the soloist in perfect harmony. To this end the r0115 of the piano recording device and the disk 10 of the talking machine recording device are driven from a common motor 11, which in the embodiment shown, for example, drives the roll 5 and the disk 10 by means of a shaft 12 and on the smooth part of the disk or cylinder,

for a greater or less undetermined and variable length of time before it encountersthe beginning of the line of undulations which reproduce the sounds by means of the stylus and diaphragm, and thus itwould be very difiicult to begin the reproduction of the ga'ccompaniment at the proper time. Therefore, directly before the soloist begins, the accompanist roduces a si al on the piano, say by str ing the midd e G three times in succession, as represented by the dotted circles 15 in Fig. 3. and, of course, these sounds would be reproduced faintly by the talking machine or phonoaph record. As there is no need of reproucmg them on vthe piano player they are closed or pasted over on the note sheet.

The erformer on the accompanying Piano p :1 er mechanism adjusts the note sheet so that the first notes of the accomaniment are just in front of the line of ducts in the tracker board and waits until the talking machine or phonograph disk produces the predetermined signal notes and then instantly releases the sheet or throws the cou ling of the music roll into gear with the feed mechanism of the piano player.

Of course in the reproducing means the note sheet and talking machine disk must henceforth be moved at the same rate of speed they had while being made, but this forms the subject matter of my application, Serial No. 490,596 filed conjointly with this one.

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

The combination with a piano, of mechanism for moving a sheet of paper and mechanism for making upon this moving paper a record of the notes produced in playing the piano, and means for makin a talking machine record of another musical performance produced at the same time and place with the piano performance, of which the record is being produced on the sheet of y paper in playing the piano,. and motor means for, operating the talking machine record, v-andkthe above-mentioned; papersheet-moving' mechanism at the same time and at the same relative speeds, whereby the records, made at the same time, of notes produced on the piano and the sounds re-. ceived by the talking machine, at the same time are recorded in both recording means at the same relative speeds at which they are produced. 1 r

Signed at New York city in the county of New York and State of N ew York this 15th day of April A. 1).. 190% .WALTER M. DAVIS.

Witnesses:

FRANK E. RAFFMAN, Oscar: F. Gmrz.

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