The talking machine world (July-Dec 1918)

December 15, 1918 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD 115 LATEST PATENTS RELATING TO TALKING MACHINES AND RECORDS Washington, D. C, December 8— Lid Support. — George W. Beadle, New Rochelle, N. Y., assignor to the American Graphophone Co., Bridgeport, Conn. Patent No. 1,280,637. This invention is intended primarily for supporting the cover of the cabinet for a Grafonola or other talking machine; but it can be employed in other service, such as maintaining in desired position the hinged top of any box or chest or trunk, or any other movable closure or door. Among the objects of the invention are: to provide a contrivance by which the cover or closure can be opened or closed by one hand only; and, in case of a vertically-opening cover which, when lifted, would otherwise drop down by its own gravity, to prevent such unintended dropping of the cover; and to provide a device which will present the minimum obstruction in the angular opening of a hinged top or cover. Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the ensuing description. The invention consists broadly of providing a pivoted guide-plate upon the box or stationary member, in combination with a rigid prop pivoted upon the lid or movable member, with suitable friction-means coacting upon said plate and prop. ' Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a Grafonola cabinet, with its lid in its raised position, to present a side-view of a simple form of the invention employed therewith; Fig. 2 is a front elevation, on a larger scale, of the same form of the device; Fig. 3 is a side-view of the pivoted guide plate (partly broken away), and of its supporting-plate. Needle Attachment for Sound Reproducing Machines. — Frederick W. Claybrook, Baltimore, Md. Patent No. 1,281,135. This invention relates to attachments for holding the needle in sound reproducing machines with the object of absorbing the undesirable vibrations due to various causes and which result in harsh grating "or screeching sounds; and also of reducing the wear on the record disc to a minimum. As is well known, the channels in the record disc which are produced by the action of the needle in the sound recorder are undulating and vary in depth and steepness with the amplitude and pitch of the sound waves projected upon the diaphragm of the recorder. The needle of the graphophone, phonograph or other reproducing machine, following in these grooves or channels, is caused to vibrate in exact unison with the undulations, except for certain undesirable variations,, and this, generally speaking, reproduces the same sounds in the horn or other sound transmitter. Among the causes which contribute to undesirable sounds which interfere with the transmission of the true sound waves may be mentioned the following: When the undulations in the record channel are formed of gradual curves the needle follows faithfully all of the indentations, but if a very sudden or steep incline is encountered, the needle will be thereby thrown upward with greater rapidity or violence and may be caused to actually leave the record, immediately returning upon the rebound and not only producing a false tone or sound, but to a certain extent marring the record, many repetitions of this action resulting in wear and injury. In order to accurately reproduce the sounds or notes corresponding to the record, the vibrations of the needle must be caused solely by the recorded undulations. Like all bodies that are free to vibrate, the needle has a certain rate of vibrations of its own to which it will respond if that particular note or number of vibrations is impressed upon it. From this it follows that if perchance the needle encounters a certain number of undulations in the record to which it is attuned, or with which its natural vibrations are in synchronism, it will add its own vibrations thus produced to those caused by the record, thereby multiplying the amplitude of vibrations of the needle and producing a false note which is recognized as a screeching sound occasionally produced. Undesirable sounds, such as the harsh grating sounds, are produced by the imperfections in old or wornout records. Foreign substances, such as particles of dust, encountered by the needle also produce false and undue vibrations which result in improper sounds. Certain of the causes above mentioned have been heretofore known and various attempts have been made to overcome the defects. Thus it has been proposed to surround the needle with a rubber sleeve and to interpose a rubber disc or block or a spiral spring, between the needle and the sound box in the endeavor to absorb undue vibrations; and also to remove the dust particles from the record by means of a separate brush holder clamped to the shank of the usual needle holder or to the casing of the sound box. Instead of analyzing the deficiencies of such prior devices it is deemed sufficient to point out the requirements and the manner in which they are embodied in the device disclosed herein. In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the usual sound box and needle holder of a phonograph together with a sectional view of a device embodying the features of the invention; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the device; and Fig. 3 is an end view of the same showing the attachment of the brush. Washington, D. C, December 5. — Phonograph. — Hans Brockmuller, New York. Patent No. 1,281,282. This invention relates to a novel phonograph which is so constructed that its operative parts may be separately mounted upon and removed from an ordinary table or similar support, thus dispensing with the use of the cabinet heretofore generally employed. In this way the cost of the cabinet is saved, and the additional piece of furniture which it represents is entirely done away with, so that the device is available to persons of limited means or possessing but restricted dwelling accommodations. In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a plan of a phonograph embodying the invention; It — Fig. 2, a side view partly in section, and Fig. 3, a section on line 3 — 3 Fig. 2. Phonograph. — Robert D. Schoonmaker, Plainfield, N. J. Patent No. 1,281,671. The present invention relates to talking ma chines, and more particularly to the construction and mounting of the sound-conveying tube or tone arm employed on such machines. The main object is to provide a simple and inexpensive way of mounting a tone arm on the casing of the talking machine so as to' give it the required freedom of movement in planes parallel and at right angles to the surface of the record. Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a tone arm constructed in accordance with the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 2 — 2 of Fig. 1. Tone Arm Adjustment. — Samuel Hechler, New York. Patent No. 1,282,007. This invention relates to sound recording and reproducing instruments and has particular reference to tone arm attachments. Among the objects of the invention is to provide a simple device whereby the counter balancing effect on a tone arm may be easily varied according to various types of records that are being played and without any danger of destroying the musical effect. Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conventional oscillating tone arm having the improvement applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view indicating more particularly the re lation of the improvement to the known devices. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3 — 3 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a modification of the adjustment means. Production of Sound Records. — Jonas W. Aylsworth, East Orange, and Edward L. Aiken, Orange, N. J., assignors to the New Jersey Patent Co., West Orange, N. J. Patent No. 1,282,011. This invention relates to the production of sound records; and the principal object is to provide a sound record having an improved label or other means of identification. This invention also contemplates the production of an improved matrix for forming the said record and also improved processes for making the record and the matrix. The production of an improved matrix for forming said record, referred to above, is described and claimed in copending application Serial No. 253,653, filed September 11, 1918, entitled Matrices for producing sound records, and the improved process for making sound records is described in copending application Serial No. 253,652 filed September 11, 1918, entitled Methods of producing sound records, both of which copending applications are divisions of the present case. In accordance with the invention, we form a matrix containing a reversed facsimile of the design to be reproduced on the record, this design being in half tone. When the matrix has been obtained, the same is pressed into or against the record composition, which is maintained in a plastic state during the pressing operation. The matrix preferably contains a reversed facsimile of the sound record impressions as well as of the label; so that the record and the label can be impressed into the record tablet by a (Continued on page 116)