US1010552A - Sheet-adjusting device for mechanical musical instruments. - Google Patents

Description

V J. A.;WBSER. SHEET ADJUSTING DEVICE r011 mmmu MUSICAL mswnuunn'rs. APPLIOATIO! FILED DBO. 31,1909.

1,010,552. Patented Dec.5,1911,

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UNITED STATES PATENT JOHN A. WESER, onmiw YORK, N, Y.

SHEET-ADJUSTING nnvxcn Ion MECHANICAL MUSICAVL' msrrnU EnrsJ-f To all whom it ma concern: Be it known that I, Joim A. 'Esrm, a citizen ofitl'i'l nited States, residing in the borough "of; Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sheet-Adjusting Devices for .Mechanic'al Musical In: struments, &c., of which thef-followin is a specification, reference being had to t e accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof.

T llS invention has for its ob ect to provide improved devices for insuring the proper lateral positioning of a traveling web or sheet, such as the perforated music v sheet of a mechanical piano, so that it shall register accurately with the cooperating devices, such as the holes in the tracker-board. In another application for Letters Patent of the l'nitcd States, Serial No.5519,9l6, filed September 28, 1909, there are shown and described devices intended toaccomplish the general purpose above stated, suchdevices comprising a floating detector which is moved readily by contact with the edge of the webor sheet, offering practically no resistance, such detector, by. its movements, inaugurating the operation of the device by which the web or sheet is shifted, while the detector is not positively ormechanically connected therewith. In oi1c form of the device shown in said application, the detector operates valves, one at each end, which, through suitable pneumatic connections,control theoperation of thesheet shiftingdevices, which are themselves pneumatic. In another and ditl'crcnt specific embodiment of the floating detector shown in said application, the lnovcment of the detector controls an electric circuit or electric --ci1'cltits by which the operation of the sheet shifting de-' vice is controlled. It is with this latter embodiment of the floating detector that the present invention is particularly concerned and the present appli'cation'is in eli'cc't'a di vision of "said earlierapplication, although the illustration of theembodiment of the l'h vention is somewhat'aiitplitiedjand ditt'tfrent forn'isjthereof are. illt'i'strated. The invention will he moreparticularly enplained hereih after with reference to "the accompanymg drawing n wlnch'1t"1s illustrated andfln' Figure 1 1' is a vie'w infront elevation of so much'of amechanical playeras is necessarytoillustrate thealiplicatioirof' the inven- Spectflcation of Letters Patent. Application filed December 31, 1909. 8erie1 1! o.-55,7 49.

lar. view showing amodification'.

=11 aria I r ,patea eajiieci'fi; tion, the electrical connections being sented (diagrammatically .Fig. 2 i

In the embodiment oftheeinventi n illus- I. w, trated 1n the drawings the, nni-sic sheet a iseo carried, as usual, by two spools or rolls .b b

one of which is driven by :anysuitablef means through a shaft-c. vThe spool. Z) has a,lin1---' ited capacity for longitudinal nrovemnt- 1inthe supporting frameworlcd,the other spool, .65 I) being usually formed without-heads so. that lateral movement of the web or sheet; a with respectthercto is not restrained. j I

In the construction shownin Fig. l...a cir cumferentially rooved hub- 0 connected .to' the spool 11,. so t at the two move longitudinally and rotate together, is engagedby'an arm f on a longitudinally movablezrod 1" supported in the framework d.parallelwitlr. H the axis of the Spool 1). Through a 'block 'adjustably secured on the rod fand a link, 1',

' and '2", the saidmovable members beingcon 180 nected by a link i,'so that theco llapsing, partial collapsing, of one bellows or. the other will move the rodflfand therefore'thei spool 'b. in one directionorit'he other f'lflie two bellows 1' and i'are carried byajbox 01185 frame g which support sjthe "respective piiem matic controlling devices ual ha-racte *lv for the bellows 1' andji and the'boxf o'rj frame 9 is adjustable laterally"withfrespect to the frame I. being preferably earn l'by a bar g. threaded at its end and enraged by an adjusting nut yji-ino iitedj t weenl',

stops 4 on the frame (1." fl-he bar" 1/ pick erably is provided with an .iii dicat'oif {/f'so that. by reference to a central niarli I? or V the frame J.th bellow sz'ainl e" and.j'thro ghj. the link f, the rod f, and the sptiolli. in. accurately adjusted in position. A finger 5 projects dou'nwardlv from theib orfraine g between two rather widel'y spd c ll j" mtthe barf f str'ais. to limit the iltlt itiel e theliai' f and thei'efore'of the-spot) I d respect to the 1m or franie'g and the bellow For thepurpo'se of central ning the s Z), after-"longitudinal movement in" either-d1 rection', a flat spring k.'*secure'd to the franlfe work" "(1, is arranged-* to bear "(bein fot'lced for the purpose)against the outerjend' ofa Y longitudinally n'iovable'socket-l) which is1-10 mounted m the frame d and furnishes a h and b" I left threaded at for the corresponding end of the the said socket also receiving, in

bearing spool its outer" end, with capacity for relative longitudinal movement a rod 5, which is connected with the rod j by an arm I while a spiral spring I), supported by the stem b;

etb at one end as an other end, through upon the rod f. The two springs bears against the soc abutment and acts, at the the arm f the spool 12 and tend to centralize it when it position in either direction.

The floating detector, in the constructionshown, in Fig. 1 and in Fig. 2 as well, con-- sists of a light rod p mounted for freemovement lon 'tudinally 'inthe framework d and having rs p for cooperation with the ed es of e web orsheet respectively, the p being freely rotatable and right and its ends to en gers and provided with a mill that by rotation of the rod the-fingers p may be spaced apart with accurac to accommodate the. web or sheet'a wit out affecting the operation of the automatic ad- 'usting device. The rod p freely sup 'rted y the frame but otherwise mechanica ly unconnected with the operating mechanism is connected electrically, as through a battery 1 and an automatic switch r, to a common point between two magnets a and a. One of such magnets is connected electrically with an adjustable s ring contact a in line 'with the rod p an adjacent to one end a and s which normally close the terminal portsof pneumatic tubes 8' and a connected respectively with the bellows valves or pneumatics n and a.

" It will .now be seen that if the web or sheet a shifts out of position. toward the left it will close the circuit of the magnet 5 through the contact 8 and that the magnet will open the valve 8, thereby, through the corresponding valve n, causing the bellows 1' to'be collapsed. Through the connection of the movable members of 'the two bellows (both bellows being capable of further exansion beyond the degree indicated in the rawing) the rod f wi 1 be shifted slightl to the right, carrying with it the spool Similarly, if the bellows i will be collapsed and the spool b I will be moved slightly to the left. The excessive movement of the spool b to the left is checked by the bearing of the socket 5 against the spring h and excessive movement of the spool to the right is checked by therefore act in opposition upon e the fin-- ead p so the bearin of an arin i,.on the movable member 0 the bellows i inst the other side of the spring h. It wi be understood, of course,*that the valves n and n are con nected with the vacuum system of the pneumatic player through a tube n in the usual mamzgr. Wh en ftbs;1 instr' ument is n2:i in use, ecircuito ebattey iso n atthe automatic switch r, one mehi ber of which is carried by the movable member of a bellows r. As soon, however, as vacuum ressure is created the bellows r is cola and the switch r is closed.

t is obviously immaterial whether the music sheet be shifted with respect to a stationary tracker-board as shown in F i 1, or the tracker-board itself be shifted with respect to the music sheet as shown in Fig. 2., In this embodimentof the invention the bellows i i, the In ets a a, valves 3 a, valves 1: n and floating detector rod p with their several connectio are arranged and ?erate as already dascri ig. 1, but the arm i of the bellows i connected by a link t with alongitudinally movable tracker-board t, which maybe arranged-in an usual or suitable manner, such longitudinal y movable tracker-boards being well known in the art. Any accidental shiftin of the music sheeta will therefore,

a correspondin shifting ,of the trackerboard so that t e relative position of the music sheet and tracker-board are unchanged and the proper re istration of the music sheet with the trac er-board is assured.

Each contact a a is so constructed as to provide for great accuracy in adjustment and at the .same time to permit the detector to yield slightl after contact is made, so

torn, even when .movin 'rapidlv, as in rewinding, in case the action of the sheet-adjusting mechanism is somewhat sluggish. For this purpose the supporting and adjusting spring .6, a, which is secured to the frame d and is provided with a bindingpost at one end and at the other bears against the adjusting nut a. has on its inner face, adjacent to the end of the detector. an elastic, flat sprin s' which yields readily when the end of the detector presses against it, thus rmitting the detector to yield further, i necessary, after the circuit is completed.

. I claim as my invention:

1. In a sheet 'ad'usting mechanism, the combination of a eating detector, freely supported but otherwise mechanically unconnected with the mechanism and movable freely in either direction with variations in the lateral position of the sheet, op itely acting pneumatic sheet adjusting devices and corresponding electrical devices forcontrolthroug the described connections, produce that the edge 0 the web or sheet will not be vicesrespectively, the action of one or the other of said electrical-devices being determined by the movement of the detector in one direction or the other.

2. In a sheet ad'usting mechanism, the combination of an outing detector, freely supported but otherwise mechanically unconnected with the mechanism andmovable freely in either direction with variations in the lateral position of the sheet, oppositely acting pneumatic sheet adjusting devices, correspondin valves for controlling the operation of tie sheet adjusting devices respectively and corresponding. electro-magnetic devices for controlling said valves respectively, the action of one or the other of said electro-magnetic devices being deter-- mined by the movement of the detector in one direction or the other. a

3. In a sheet adjusting mechanism, the combination of a floating detector, freely supported but otherwise mechanically unconnected with the mechanism and movable freely in either direction with variations in thelateral position of the sheet, oppositely acting bellows and connections fon adjusting the lateral position of the sheet, and. corresponding bellows valves, valves for con-- trolling s aidbellows valves respectively and electro-nia neticdevices for controlling said last name valvesfthe action of one or the other of said electro-magnetic devices being determined by the movement of the detector in one direction or the other.

4. In a sheet adjusting mechanism, ,the combination, of a floating detector, freely supported but otherwise mechanically unconnected with the mechanism and movable freely in either direction with variations in the lateral position of the \sheet, a spool movable longitudinally to shift the sheet, oppositely acting bellows and connections to shift the spool with their corresponding controlling valves, valves to control said bellows valves respectively and correspondin electro-magnetic devices for controllin sai last named valves res ectively, the action of one or the other of said electro-magnetic devices being determined by the movement of the detector in one direction or the other.

5. In a sheet adjusting mechanism, the combination of a floating detector, subject to variations in the lateral position of the sheet, comprising afreely movable rod supported ad acent to the sheet and fingers to coiiperate with the edge of the sheet, oppositely acting sheet adjusting devices and corresponding electro-ma netic devices for controllin the action of the sheet adjustin devices, the action of one or the other'o said electro-magnetic devices being deter-- mined by the movement of the detector in one direction or the other.

6. In a sheet adjusting mechanism, the combination of a floating detector, subject to variations in the lateral position of the sheet, comprising a freely movable rod supported adjacent to the .sheet and fingers to coo crate with .the edges of the sheet, opposite y acting sheet shifting bellows with their corresponding control ing valves, corresponding valves to control the bellows valves respectively and electromagnetic devices for controlling said last named valves respectively, the action ofone or the other of said electro-magnetic devices being determined by the movement of the detector in one direction or the other.

7 In a sheet adjusting mechanism for mechanical musical instruments, the combination of a tracker-board and a music sheet spool, the said tracker-board and spool being relatively movable longitudinall the one with respect to the other, opposite y acting pneumatic devices for shifting the movab e part with respect to the other, a floating detector freely supported but otherwise mechanically unconnected with the mechanism and movable freelyin either direction with variations in the lateral position of the sheet and electro-magnetic devices, for controlling the operation of the pneumatic devices, respectively, the action of one or the other of said 'electr'o-magnetic devices being determined by the movement of the detector in one direction or the other.

8. In a sheet adjusting mechanism for mechanical musical instruments, the combination of a tracker-board and a music sheet spool, the said tracker-board andlspool ing relatively movable longitudinal] ,the one with respect to the other, opposite y acting bellows for shifting the movable part with respect to the other with their corre-' sponding valves, corresponding valves to JOHN A. EsER- Signed-in the resenee of,-

'- Comma ARRIB, Max Lavmn.

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