US2665134A - Automatic phonograph - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 5, 1954 J. GIANNELLI AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPH 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 22, 1947 mm mm NN O F. m J

YOE

. 4 I J. GIANNELLI 34 AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPH Filed April 22, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

(5 JOSCPH G/AN/VL'LLI.

4 J. GIANNELLI 2,665,134

AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPH Filed April 22, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR.

JOSL'PH G/ANNE'LLI.

5 i; fww M Jan. 5, 1954 .1. GIANNELLI 2,665,134

AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPH Filed April 22, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIGQ7.

JOSEPH GM NNELLI.

d INVENTOR. I

Patented Jan. 5, 1954 This invention .relates to automatic. phonoe graphs and particularly to phonographs .of the.

type'in which a plurality of stacked records are played automatically in sequence after the opera-v tion. of themechanism is manually initiated.

Various machines of thisgeneral type have been suggestedin the prior art but so far as I am advised all machines. on the market have either required'thatithe records be turned over manually or mechanically in order to play them onboth.

sides, 01 the: arrangement has been complicated and, hence, unduly expensive.

The object. of the present. invention is. to 0011- I struct a highly simplified :machine, capable of playing recordsion both; sides 'inany desired se quence automatically without the records. being turned over. One important advantage of the present invention is that/1a. single drivingmotoiy:

'asingle needle and a single: reproducer. mechanism may be employed. Furtherfore; the mechanism is fully operativeandindependent of varia-v tion-in thickness of the .recordsior of aslightly warped condition of the same.

A further important object of the. invention is to providea mechanism which is selective'in operation so as to take care of manual control, playing of both sides of a record in sequence-or playing of one side only at the willof the operator.

The machine is also provided with means for; rejecting any particular record face-without otherwise affecting the playingsequence.

While it hasbeen proposed.- in the'prior art heretofore to play both sides of a record in sequence without turning the record" over, it has.

beennecessary either to incorporate'in the Ina-'- chin'e some meansfor reversing the-direction of rotation of the record, as in shifting from one side to thejother, 'or to'providemechanismfor lifting a record from a'turntable'to another support when the bottom face of the record is to be played,or to use'a' plurality of tone arms; Such arrangements not only cause undue complicationof the structure but aresubject to failure when employed in connection with warped records or with records of varying thickness as in records of different diameter. The present invention overcomes all of the disadvantages above enumer-' ated and at the same time simplifies the mecha' nism greatly.

Numerous other objects and advantages will be apparent. from. the following. specincationswhen it is-read in'connection withtheaccompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 ;is a side :iziew, with.. p ar tsin .Section,

ofia complete phonograph structure embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view'of the machine with the top plate of the frame removed to expose the control mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the complete machine showing a record in playing position on the; turntable with the stacked records removed;-

Fig. 4 is an isometric view of the gearing and control mechanism isolated from the supports, turntable and the like;

Fig. 5 is a detailed sectional view of a portionof the means for adjusting theturntable height;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on line VI-VI of Fig. 2, showing the control means provided to permit selectively, manual operation of the machine or playing either one or both sides of the stacked records;

Fig. 7 is an exploded view of a portion of the structure provided for transferring a record from the-bottom of the stack to the turntable, and including a portion of the adjustment used to permit the playing of records of different diameters;

and

Fig. 8 is a detailed sectional view of a brake for holding the driving gears in neutral position opposite sides of records without turning them' over, and to take care of difierent types of recordings as in playing large operas or suites composed of double facerecords.

Briefly stated the mechanism consists of a turntable driven through reduction gearing by a small electric motor. Placed around the periphery of the turntable. at intervals of are posts each carrying blade devices forlowering records from a stack; on the top faces of three drive wheels which are supported, respectively, for rotation on each of the posts, and driven by engagement with the flat surface-of the turntable or with the fiat surface of a record carried by that turntable. A stack of records is. supported by the three wheels so as to" be rotated. in a direction opposed to thatbladeniechanismcarried by the three 'pos'tsaft'er 3 the playing of the bottom surface of the bottom record in the stack has been completed.

A tone arm is pivotally mounted outside of the area occupied by the turntable and this tone arm carries a single reproducer mechanism at its inner end, and associated with it, a double-ended needle which can be moved so that its upper end engages the bottom surface of the bottom record of the stack or its lower end, when the tone arm is lowered, may engage the top surface of a record carried by the turntable. Suitable control mechanism is provided to sequentially swing the tone arm in position to play the bottom record of the stack and then to swing the tone arm and the drive wheels out so as to permit the bottom record of the stack to drop and then to swing the drive wheels back to position under the stack at the same time bringing the tone arm in a position to play the top surface of the record which has been lowered on to the turntable. A suitable mechanism is provided to permit the operator of the machine to cause both sides of the records in the stack to be played in seouence as indicated, or to play one side only, namely the bottom sides of all the records in the stack but omitting the top sides of those records. Means is also provided in the control whereby the machine may be operated manually with the automatic mechanism rendered ineffective. and likewise means for rejecting any record the playing of which has been commenced or is about to be commenced, with only a momentary interruption of the playing seouence.

It will be clear that bv use of the three drive wheels which actuate the stack of records by en agement with that stack, and with the turntable. all bevel gearing for driving purposes is eliminated. The driving is effective in spite of a warped condition of the records and the provision of a single tone arm using a single cartrid e with a double ended needle materially reduces the number of parts reouired, and the control is therefore greatly simplified. It is also possible by a simple manual adiustment of the three posts upon which the drive wheels are mounted to condition the mechanism to play either ten or twelve inch records at will.

The mechanism which is now to be described in detail will ordinarily be used in coniunction with suitable electronic amplifying means. Inasmuch as amplifiers of this character are well known and standard equipment to which no claim is made herein, the description will be confined to the record actuating and playing mechanism which forms the basis of the present improvement.

Referring now to Figure 1 of the drawing in which the operating mechanism of the machine is shown in side elevation, the reference characters I5 and I6 designate top and bottom plates, respectively, for supporting the mechanism and holding it in proper relation. As here illustrated the two plates are held in spaced relation by a plurality of spacers I! to which the plates are screwed, one spacer being adjacent each corner of the assembled frame made up of the plates and spacers, and others suitably lo cated to provide proper support. Reference to Figure 3 of the drawing will show certain of the screws [8 which secure the top plate l5 to the spacers. Between the two plates is placed the driving and control mechanism for the machine, with the turntable and the record supporting means and tone arm mounted above the top plate.

spaced relatively at 120 degrees, each adapted to carry an adjustable drive wheel 22 having a rubber coated periphery and serving concurrently as a supporting means for a stack of reccords indicated by the reference character S, and as a driving means for that stack through its contact with turntable 23.

The turntable 23 is located centrally with respect to the posts I9, 20 and 2|, and carries a central shaft 24 which passes through the top plate I5 being journaled in a tubular bearing member 25 supported by a plate which is suspended from and below top plate 15. The reduced end 26 of the shaft 24 extends upwardly above the turntable and serves as a centering means for the stack of records.

Actuation of the turntable is accomplished through an electric motor 21 resiliently mounted on the bottom plate 16 so as to drive the shaft 24 by a worm 28 and a Worm gear 29, the gear 23 being journaled in a housing 39 which also encloses the worm 28. The worm gear 29 carries a tubular extension 3| to which is secured a driving gear 32, hence the driving gear rotates with and at the same speed as worm gear 29. In practice this speed may be 78 revolutions per minute. The shaft 24 which is attached to the turntable has a vertical spline 33 which in cooperation with a pin 34 permanently attached to the gear 32 forms a driving connection between the gear 32 and the turntable 23 while permitting free longitudina1 movement of the shaft 24 without interrupting the driving connection. This permits the turntable to be moved downwardly as records are placed on the turntable, and maintains a fixed angular relation between the needle and the records.

The tubular guide 25 is closed at its lower end by a plug 34 upon which is supported a spring 35 for exerting constant upward pressure against the shaft 24, acting through a ratchet member 36 and a thrust ball 31 which is held in a socket in the lower end of shaft 24 this ball bearing upon the top flat face of ratchet member 35. It will be obvious from this description that the turntable 23 with its shaft 24- may be moved down against the resiliency of spring 35, by action of a pawl 38 which cooperates with the .ratchet member 36. With this arrangement of the ratchet mechanism as it is shown in detail in Fig. 5, the member 36 together with the shaft 24 and turntable 23 may move downwardly against the spring 35 without encountering opposition from the pawl 38 but opposite movement is precluded, except as the pawl 38 is actuated by a cam mechanism controlled by gear 69 which will be described subsequently. The effect of this arrangement is to bias the turntable 23 upwardly against the drive wheels 22 so that as the turntable 23 rotates these wheels 22 will rotate and, at the same time, induce rotation of the record stack S.

As shown in Figure 1, a record 39 rests on the turntable 23 in position to be played, while the bottom record 40 of the stack S rotates in such a direction that it may be played when the needle engages its lower exposed face. As a consequence of this arrangement the distance between the turntable 23 or the top face of a record upon it, and the bottom face of the record 48 remains constant. Both records are driven concurrently at the same speed but in opposing directions and no changeover mechanism is required. Conse quently, it is possible to utilize a single tone arm record is to be transferred from the stack tothe turntable.

Rotatably mounted and suspended from the top plate I 5, by means of plate 90, is a mutilated gear 69 which is normally held with its mutilated portion adjacent to the gear 32. The gear 69 is eccentrically connected by means of a rod to the shaft 50 carrying the pulley 5| associated with post l9, so that when the gear 69 is driven, the parts are actuated to remove a record from the bottom of the stack, deposit it on the turntable, and then return the drive wheels to the position shown in Figure 1.

Secured to the top face of gear 69 is a cam 86 which serves to cause the turntable to move down each time that the gear 69 is driven in lowering a record from the stack to the turntable. As best shown in Figure 4, a cam follower 81 is carried at the end of lever 88 fulcrumed on post 89. Post 89 is secured to a fixed portion of the frame, in this case on plate 98 (Figure 1) secured in turn to cover plate I5 and serving to support the journal for gear 69 and tubular bearing member 25 for shaft 24. The end of lever 88 remote from the cam follower Bl is pivoted.v

to a vertical link 9| which actuates a lever 92 fulcrumed at 93 to support the pawl 38 in operative relation to ratchet device 35. When gear 6% is idle the follower 81 rests in the low point of the cam 86, holding the ratchet 36, as indicated in Figure 5, but rotation of the gear lifts the follower to move pawl 38 down, and with it the ratchet member 36 against spring 35. The turntable and its drive shaft follows the member 36 down to make room for the record which is lowered onto the turntable. At the completion of the lowering cycle the turntable is held in its new position by the drive wheels engaging the top of the topmost record on the turntable and the follower again rests in the low spot of cam 85.

Depending from the lower face of gear 69 in alignment with its mutilated portion H is a pin 12 which serves by its engagement with the teeth of an idler gear 13 to hold that gear in fixed position, and this position is also maintained by means of a friction tooth 14 shown in Figure 2. The idler gear 13 is journaled on a sleeve depending from the gear 32, and never moves except for the purpose of transferring a record from the stack to the turntable and under the actuation of a bolt device depending from the tone arm gear 15 which performs a major function in the operation of the control mechanism, and particularly of the tone arm and its relation to the turntable and the record stack.

The tone arm gear 15 is of the mutilated type and during the playing of a record is stationary with its mutilated portion 16 in'alignment with gear 32 so that it is not driven. Slidably mounted in a bore in the gear 15 and radial with respect to its mutilated portion is a pin 11 biased in an outwardly radial direction by a spring (shown in dotted lines in Figure 2) and normally held in retracted position by a trigger 18. This trigger is held in a notch in the gear 15 adjacent the bore for pin 11. When this pin is released by striking the trigger, the spring projects the pin outwardly until it engages a recess in the gear 32 to produce a driving engagement with gear '15 and to bring the two gears into mesh, whereupon gear !5 completes a full revolution until it stops again with its mutilr ted portion 16 in alignment with gear 32. This rotation of gear 15 takes place each time that the tone arm 43 is to be positively moved, as distinguished from movement which it executes through its playing connection with a groove in a record. The tone arm is guided in its movement by a guide pin 84 on lateral arm 85 attached to the lower end of spool M Pin 84 is controlled in its movement by a cam track around cam C on the upper face of the gear 15.

The operation of the control mechanism centers about certain cam devices which are associated with the gear 15. For exrmple, the upper face of this gear contains an inner track A which has a high spot across from the mutilated portion 16, to cause lifting of the tone arm to a position for playing the bottom surface of a record in the stack, whereas an outer track B contains a low spot in similar location for positioning the tone arm to play the top surface of a record on the turntable. Transfer of the tone arm from one position to the other is accomplished by a switching mechanism which is quite analogous in its operation to that of a railroad switch. For example, as seen in Figure 4, a switch 19 is pivoted between the two interosculating tracks A and B. It carries a wedge shaped portion 80 which may cooperate with and be actuated by a plow 8! carried by the inner end of a pivoted member 82. The horizontal portion of the plyoted member 82 engages the bottom end of tone arm pin 44 so that the pin 44 raises and lowers the tone arm in response to movements of the plow 3! as it travels in one of the tracks A or B. As shown in Figure 4, the gear 32 is always driven in a clockwise direction as indicated by the arrow, consequently the gear 15 is always driven in a counter-clockwise direction, and when the mutilated portion 16 of gear 15 is in its idle position, and is held there by brake 83, the details of which are shown in Figure 8, the plow 8| is at the highest point in the track A to hold the tone arm in its uppermost position. If, on the contrary, with a similar relative position of gears 32 and E5 the plow BI is in the track B it will occupy the low spot in that track, holding the tone arm in a position to play the top surface of a record on the turntable. Transfer of the plow from one track to the other is accomplished Figure 4, when the arm 85 is moved in a clockwise position around its pivot axis provided by the post 4| within which the spool H. moves. As pointed out before. the arm is rigidly connected to the tone arm 50 as to move with it and cause rotation of gear 15 at the proper t me to shift the tone arm from one playing position to another, or to shift it beyond the confines of the turntable in order to permit transfer of a record from the bottom of the stack to the turntable.

At this point it might be indicated that the so-called reject lever shown at 94 in Figure 3, serves normally to actuate the arm 95 wh h strikes the trigger 18 to cause the gear 15 to be sent throu h a cycle when a record face is to be complishthis result at any point in the traverse of thetone arm across a record face during 'a playing operation, so that'the playing operation is interrupted and the next playing operation'is If, for example, the tone arm is "in started.

upper position, playing the bottom'of a record on-the staclnand the operator decides that' he is not interested in this record the reject lever 9 is pushed downwardly as indicated by the arrow in'Figure 3, causing the gear 15 to execute one complete rotation during which time the tone' arm is moved to a mid-position between the two" records, is swung beyond the periphery" of the turntablefgear B9 is actuated to move the blades,

and the drive wheels to drop a record from'the stack to the turntable, and restore the blades' and drive wheels to their normal positioncom tacting both the last record which was'dropped onto the turntable, and the bottom'record of 69 in mesh with the teeth of gear 32. This step can be brought about through the action of a bolt mechanism carried by the bottom face of'gear it, as shown in Figure 1. Bolt 96 is slidablycar ried in guides 91 and 98,"and is embraced between them by a coiled spring 99 which biases the bolt in an outward direction where its end will strike the teeth or idler gear 73, when the gear '15 is rotated to bring the bolt into con tact with the idler gear. This bolt 96 maybe held in retracted position by a pivoted dog iii? which engages in a notch in the innerend the bolt. The dog H1!) is pivoted at Nil on the rotating sleeve Hi2 attached to gear 15. Release of the bolt 96 is accomplished through a cam its when the machine is playing both sides of records in normal sequence,-the bolt 96 will be released only during alternate cycles of rotation-of gear 15, because gear iilshouldonly be actuated ts lower a record after the playing of the bottom surface of a recordon the stack. The pivoted member 82 controls the position of lever Hit and hence of the cam face l03'to bring this about.

After the bolt 96 has engaged the idler-gear13 to a cause actuation of the record lowering means,

and the gear 15 continues its rotation, the bolt is reset when the depending-pin 100A on'bolt -96 strikes a cam I01 which extends upwardly from the bottom plate l6, 'as best shown inFigure 1.

The cam *lill appears in dotted lines in Figure 2. When the playing of the top surface of a record on the turntable is completed, the tone arm is moved to neutral position,- and then to'its'upper position to play the bottom record on the stack,

the gear 15, of'course, completes'one cycle of rotation but the bolt 96 is'held in retracted position because the cam HIS-occupies the full lineposition of Figure 2. During the next cycle of" the gear 15, when a record is to belowered onto:

the turntable, the cam IE3 willoccupy the dottedline position of Figure 2. 1

It has been pointed'out that the arm'Bicarries a guide pin 84." It also carries a tripping dog 93 which serves to engage the trigger 'it andto release it when the-tone.v arm has swung stack to the turntable.

inwardlyat the completion of the playing of a record, so as to initiate a cycle of'the gear 15 to re-position the tone arm-for the next playing cycle and, when necessary,to cause transfer of a record from the stack to the turntable;

When the mechanism'is to be set for manual operation, there'i no necessity for causing gear 75 to pass through a cycle, hence the mechanism includes an'arm I03 carrying at its inner end a depending plate I09 spring-biased to the left by spring llii. When the arm W8 is moved to the right in Figure'4 under the actuation of a manually controlled'rod, III, the plate H19 prevents the trigger it frombeing released, and hence,

prevents the pin i! from being projected into en-' gagement with gear 32.

At this point, it Will be indicated how the con-- trolme'chanism on the top of the cabinet serves to accomplish the three types of possible playing operation. Referring now to Figure 3, the indicator button I I2 can be set to cause the machine to'position itself for manual control or for twoside sequence playing or for one-side playing.

When the button is swung to the manual position the arm H3, shown in Figure 4, will occupy the right hand position moving the rod l i i to the right in Figure 4 or moving arm 08 radially to prevent actuation of trigger it; With the arm 3 13 in the mid-position as shown in Figure 4, the arm Hi8 will be inoperative and the cam IE3 will be controlled by member 32 and arm as tho playing sequence is carried out. With this aujustment, alternate cycles of gear '45 will cause actuation of gear 69 to lower a record from the During each cycle of gear 75, the trigger 18 will be released to produce driving operation'betweengear l5 and gear 32'. Each time that the gear 75 makes a complete rotation, the trigger will'be reset by cam I4 which depends from the top plate 15 (Figures 2 and 4).

it has been indicated above that the guide pin 8% associated with arm 85 follows a cam track which surrounds the cam C. A portion of thetravel of this guide pin M has two branches as indicated in Figs. 2 and' i. The branch H5, for example, being that in which the guide pin 84 travels when a ten inch record is being played. On the other hand, the guide pin 84 follows a cam track H6 during the playing of a twelve inch record. These 'two tracks are separated by a switch member ill, similar in character to switch i9 associated with the tracks A and B. The switch H7 in Figure 4 is shown in the position which it occupies when twelve inch records are being played. When ten inch records are to be played, adjustment of the drive wheels will cause actuation of lever HS, whereby the cam H9 strikes the switch? to change its position to suit the new operation. As'indicated above, the lever H3 is under control of the drive wheel adjustment associated with post 26.

Referring now to the details of the post 20,

it has already been pointed out how the cam slot 6? serves to actuate the pin 68. When twelve inch records are being played, the point of the shaft 68 as shown in Figure 7 occupies the deepest portion ofslot 6?, so that the linkage is actuated to drive the lever HS inwardly, whereby' the cam'surface H9 p'ositionsthe switch Ill as indicated inFigure 4, and guide pin 84 foltrack I I instead of track I I8 as shown.

When the indicator lever I I2 occupies the oneside position, the striking portion i20 of control arm |2l will be positioned to strike the de pending tail I22 of switch 19 to restore that switch to the position of Fig. 4 and repeat a playing sequence directed to the bottom face of the record stack by reason of the plow 8| being caused to remain in track A. As the gear 15 completes each cycle of rotation, the plow Bl will strike the wedge shaped member 80 to direct the next cycle of travel onto track B, but immediately following this movement of switch 19 resulting from engagement between plow BI and wedge 89, the tail I22 will strike the striking portion I20 to restore the switch to the position shown in Figure 4, and the playing arm will always occupy its uppermost position to play a record on the bottom of the stack so long as the indicator H2 occupies the one-side position. The tone arm will, of course, move from between the records periodically following the playing of a single record face in order to permit transfer of records from the stack to the turntable.

When the machine is set for automatic operation either on two sides or one side, the records will all be played in sequence until the stack S is exhausted. In order to indicate when the last record has been played, it may at times be desired to place a dummy record i23 on the top of the stack. This dummy may have in it, a groove I24 in which is recorded some signal such as the continued ringing of a bell which will warn the operator of the machine, that the stack of records has been exhausted. The dummy I23 also provides weight when the bottom face of the last record in the stack is being played, and would otherwise tend to be displaced upwardly by the arm 43.

The starting and stopping of the motor 21 will normally be under the control of a manual switch [25, shown in Figure 3. While it has been indicated that a dummy record may be employed for the purpose of indicating when a record sequence has been played, it is also possible, within the scope of the present invention, to adopt any automatic stopping mechanism which is well known in the art. For example, when the last record has been played and the tone arm again assumes its top position in the absence of a record means may be provided for interrupting the electric circuit, utilizing for this purpose any suitable means known in the art.

It is believed that the operation of the machine will be clear without any further description. It is to be understood that the embodiment described and claimed herein, is subject to modification, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In an automatic phonograph mechanism of the type in which a stack of records is supported by drive wheels engaging a turntable, a turntable shaft, a driving gear carried by the turntable shaft, a plurality of mutilated gears mounted adjacent to said driving gear with their mutilated portions normally in registry with the driving gear so they remain stationary, a tone arm pivoted for movement between the record stack and the turntable. cam means driven by one of said mutilated gears for controlling said tone arm, cam means driven by the other mutilated gear for causing delivery of a record from said stack to said turntable in timed relation to the movement of said arm, and means actuated by the tone arm for at times bringing one or the other of said mutilated gears into mesh with said driving gear.

2. In an automatic phonograph mechanism including a rotatable turntable having a shaft, a driving gear fixed to said shaft, a plurality of mutilated gears mounted adjacent to said driving gear with their mutilated portions normally in registry with the driving gear so they remain stationary, a plurality of wheels in driving engagement with said turntable and supporting a stack of records thereon, a tone arm pivoted for movement between said stack and said turntable, cam means driven by one of said mutilated gears for controlling said tone arm, cam means driven by the other mutilated gear for causing delivery of a record from said stack to said turntable in timed relation to the movement of said arm, and manually operable means for preventing operating of said mutilated gears when automatic operation is not desired.

3. In an automatic phonograph mechanism in which a stack of records on top of a plurality of rotatable drive wheels is driven by a turntable on which the wheels rest, a tone arm pivoted radially beyond the space between the stack and the turntable, cam means for controlling movements of the tone arm, said means comprising two concentric circular tracks, one having a high spot and the othera low spot, means connected to the tone arm for sliding movement in either of said tracks to position the tone arm in playing relation to the stack when the sliding means is on the high spot of one track and to position the tone arm in playing position to a record on the turntable when the sliding means is on the low spot of the other track, and switch means actuated by said sliding means for directing said sliding means from one track to the other.

4. In an automatic phonograph mechanism in which a stack of records on top of a plurality of rotatable drive wheels is driven by a turntable on which the wheels rest, a tone arm pivoted radially beyond the space between the stack and the turntable, cam means for controlling movements of the tone arm, said means comprising two concentric circular tracks, one having a high spot and the other a low spot, means connected to the tone arm for sliding movement in either of said tracks to position the tone arm in playing relation to the stack when the sliding means is on the high spot of one track and to position the tone arm in playing position to a record on the turntable when the sliding means is on the low spot of the other track, and manually operable means for causing restoration of said switch after its actuation by the sliding means, for causing the arm to repeat playing operations on the bottom of the stack.

5. In an automatic phonograph of the type in which a stack of records is driven by wheels engaging a turntable below said stack, and a tone arm between said stack and said turntable carries a double-ended needle for engagement either with the top of a record on the turntable or the bottom of a record on said stack, a rotatable turntable for records, a turntable shaft extending above said turntable, means above said turntable for supp t g a stack of records threaded on said shaft, resilient means engaging the bottom end of the turntable shaft for biasing it upwardly and for holding said turntable in drivin relation with the wheels during a playing operation, ratchet means rendered effective by the transfer of a record from said stack to said turntable for moving said turntable downward a distance determined by the thickness of the record transferred, and means actuated by movement of said wheels during removal of records from said turntable for releasing said ratchet means to permit upward movement of the turntable.

6. In an automatic phonograph of the type in which a stack of records supported by 'a plurality of wheels driven from a turntable below said stack are played sequentially by a single tone arm, a turntable, a plurality of wheels above said turntable and constructed and arranged to support a stack of records, means for pivotally supporting said wheels, means for adjusting said Wheels radially when changing from one diameter of record to another, a tone arm, blade means connected to and movable with said wheels to support said stack when the wheels are moved out to permit transfer of a record from the stack to the turntable, and means controlled by movement of the tone arm for controlling the positioning of said blades and wheels with respect to said stack.

7. In an automatic phonograph mechanism of the type in which a plurality of spaced wheels support a stack of records and drive said stack through a turntable upon which the wheels rest,

means for maintaining said turntable in driving 1 engagement with said wheels during a playing operation, means for supporting said stack and swinging said wheels away from the stack when a record is to be transferred from-the stack to the turntable, means for holding said turntable in a fixed plane when said wheels are out of con- 14 tact with the stack, and means for releasing the turntable and bringing the transferred record on the top of the turntable into driving engagement with the wheels when they are returned into contact with said stack.

JOSEPH GIANNELLI.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,438,000 Underhill Dec. 5, 1922 1,547,768 Little July 28, 1925 2,307,030 Erwood Jan. 5, 1943 2,318,654 Wissner May 11, 1943 2,320,877 Manson June 1, 1943 2,332,650 Knox et a1. Oct. 26, 1943 2,376,741 Weaver May 22, 1945 2,398,010 Johnson Apr. 9, 1946 2,506,926 Johnson May 9, 1950 2,515,283 Wissner July 18, 1950 2,550,794 Fisher May 1, 1951 2,555,895 Lynch June 5, 1951 2,570,040 Thorens et a1. Oct. 2, 1951 2,601,986 James et a1. July 1, 1952 2,639,155 Groves May 19, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 340,711 Great Britain Jan. 8, 1931 377,173 Great Britain Jan. 16, 1931 472,135 Great Britain Sept. 17, 1937 541,156 Great Britain Nov. 14, 1941 111,950 Sweden July 27, 1944 239,044 Switzerland Apr. 1, 1946

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