U.S. patent number 3,648,385 [Application Number 05/021,254] was granted by the patent office on 1972-03-14 for educational toy with phonograph.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Marvin Glass & Associates. Invention is credited to Gordon A. Barlow, Marvin I. Glass.
United States Patent |
3,648,385 |
Barlow , et al. |
March 14, 1972 |
EDUCATIONAL TOY WITH PHONOGRAPH
Abstract
A child entertainment and instruction toy including a sound
reproducing phonograph mechanism characterized by the provision of
a cardlike information conveying element having the usual helical
record grooves on one side thereof and a readily perceived matter
on the other side such as text matter, pictures or surface
characteristics perceived by touch; and a phonograph mechanism for
use therewith of the type having a rotating stylus which moves
vertically upwardly to track in the grooves of the card, with the
card presented for sound reproduction with the grooves facing
downwardly and the side having the readily perceived matter
presented face up to view and/or touch.
Inventors: |
Barlow; Gordon A. (Evanston,
IL), Glass; Marvin I. (Chicago, IL) |
Assignee: |
Marvin Glass & Associates
(N/A)
|
Family
ID: |
21803207 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/021,254 |
Filed: |
March 20, 1970 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
434/312;
G9B/33.023; 434/318; 369/194 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G11B
33/06 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G11B
33/06 (20060101); G09b 005/06 () |
Field of
Search: |
;35/8A,35C ;40/28.1,340
;274/1A,9,9B,42P,42 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Grieb; Wm. H.
Claims
We claim:
1. In combination, a child entertainment and instruction device
comprising: means defining a housing; a record playing station in
said housing including means for holding playable record against
movement therein; player means at said record playing station for
playing a record held therein comprising a stylus for tracking on
the record, said stylus being mounted on means for driving the
stylus for tracking from the inside to the outside of the record by
circular movement of the stylus relative to the record, with means
for normally biasing the stylus upwards to engage a record from the
underside thereof; a record for use therewith, said record having
opposed faces with sound producible grooves in one face thereof and
presentable information over a substantial portion of the opposite
face thereof; a receiving station in said housing adjacent said
playing station, said receiving station being constructed and
arranged to hold a plurality of records, said receiving station and
playing station being in communication with each other by means of
a record-feeding passage extending therebetween; and a delivery
member adjacent the receiving station, said delivery member being
movable into engagement with records at the receiving station
through said record-feeding passage to said playing station.
2. The device of claim 1 wherein said receiving station is defined
by a recess in said housing bounded by generally upright walls, and
wherein said passage comprises a slot in a wall separating the
receiving station from the playing station.
3. The device of claim 2 wherein the delivery member is laterally
movable relative to the receiving station from a rest position,
relatively retracted from said receiving station, through a record
delivery position, wherein the delivery member extends into the
receiving station; and wherein said receiving station and delivery
member are in communication through an opening in another wall
defining said receiving station recess.
4. The device of claim 3 wherein said playing station includes a
record outfeed slot generally opposite the record-feeding passage
between the receiving station and the playing station, whereby one
record may be displaced outwardly from the playing station, while
another record may be inserted therein responsive to lateral
movement of the delivery member.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to child entertainment and instruction
devices, and more particularly, to a phonograph type entertainment
and instruction device utilizing both audio and visual and/or touch
presentation during the use thereof.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Over the years there have been developed smaller, simplified
phonograph players for use by children. Such players are typically
of lower sound reproducing quality but, more importantly, less
delicate and more capable of withstanding the usual jolts and
slight abuse given thereto during use by children. Moreover, the
sound reproducing quality of such players is more than adequate for
its intended use with children who are not as interested in sound
reproduction which precisely duplicates the original "live"
presentation.
In recent years, developments have been made in combined
audio-visual presentations utilizing the simplified child use
phonographs. A popular form of this presentation comprises a
separate pamphlet or book with pages thereof keyed to tracks of a
record and page index mechanism on a phonograph player housing for
maintaining association between the book pages and the record
tracks. Another form includes a transparency in the center of a
record which remains stationary during the play. Light projected
from the underside of the record through the transparency displays
the image during the play of the record. Still another form of an
audio-visual child phonograph unit utilizes small tile-like cards
in association with relatively lateral tracking between the card
and the stylus for brief audio messages relating to minimal visual
representation on the tile-like card.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention is directed, in brief, to the provision of an
improved child entertainment and instruction phonograph of the type
wherein audio and visual presentation is obtained from a common
element.
The best mode currently contemplated for carrying out the invention
includes the provision of a phonograph mechanism wherein there is a
loading station, a laterally adjacent record playing station and an
opposite laterally adjacent pusher member. The record elements are
enlarged cardlike elements with phonograph grooves on one side and
graphic matter in the form of pictures or text on the other side.
The playing station includes a rotatable stylus which faces
upward.
In use, it is intended that the record will be placed in the
loading station with the grooves facing downwardly and the visual
matter facing upwardly. The record will then be pushed laterally by
the pusher to the playing station. Following this, the stylus moves
upwardly to track in the grooves on the underside of the record and
reproduce the message thereof while the entire top face affords a
visual presentation exposed to view.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged section along line 2--2 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged top plan view of the device of FIG. 1 with
the top housing or casing portion removed and internal parts broken
away to show other structure;
FIG. 4 is an enlarged section along line 4--4 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is an enlarged section along line 5--5 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 6 is an enlarged section along line 6--6 of FIG. 1 with the
stylus and speaker cone removed;
FIG. 7 is a section through a portion of the sound reproduction
system showing the stylus and speaker cone and mounting system;
and
FIG. 8 is an enlarged section through a record which can be played
by the device of FIG. 1.
While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different
forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described
in detail a specific embodiment therefor, with the understanding
that the present disclosure is to be considered as an
exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not
intended to limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The child entertainment and instruction device 20 of this invention
includes a housing generally designated 22 preferably being of a
suitable rigid, durable material, such as a hard plastic or the
like. Housing 22 comprises a cover 24 which overlies a generally
rectangular boxlike base 26. Base 26 has a substantially flat
bottom 26a for resting upon a supporting surface and upright side
walls 26b, 26c, 26d and 26e. Cover 24 has a depending peripheral
flange 28 which overlies the top portion of each of the side walls
26b, 26c, 26d, and 26e of base 26 when the base and cover are
assembled together as seen in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4 through 6.
The housing 22 includes a drawer 30 which includes storage
compartments 30a and 30b in the interior of base 26 wherein
elements 32 intended for use with the device of this invention may
be stored. Elements 32 are information presenting elements which
will be described in detail later herein and, for the purposes of
simplicity, are hereinafter generally referred to as "records."
The housing 22 includes a record delivery member or pusher 40 which
is a generally flat, planar member of substantially rigid material,
such as a plastic material compatible with the remainder of housing
22. The free end 40a of pusher 40 is intended for engagement with
records 32 to push the same laterally as will be described.
Opposite sides of the pusher 40 have depending offset flanges 40a
and 40b and the opposite end has an upstanding handle 42 for
grasping by a user to move the pusher element 40 to and fro. Cover
24 has laterally extending depending guides 44a and 44b of a size
and shape to receive the depending offset flanges 40a and 40b,
respectively, of pusher element 40. The depending guides 44a and
44b extend through the area of record receiving station 46 to
provide a track means for the lateral traversal thereof between a
retracted position, shown in FIG. 1, and an extended position
wherein the pusher occupies a substantial portion of record
receiving station. A partition or web 47 normally separates the
record receiving station 46 from the record delivery element when
the pusher 40 is in the retracted position with the partition 47
having a slot 47a in the underside thereof for permitting the
lateral traversal of a pusher 40 into the area of the record
receiving station 46.
Generally speaking, the record receiving station comprises a flat,
planar surface 46a which is vertically offset from the pusher 40 a
distance substantially equal to the thickness of a record 32
intended to be used with this invention. An upstanding web 48
having a slot 48a in the underside thereof separates the record
receiving station 46 from the record playing station 50 which is
laterally adjacent the record receiving station on the side
opposite from the pusher 40 when the pusher is in the normal
retracted position.
Record playing station 50 includes a viewing window 50a through
which the record is positioned thereat may be viewed. Upstanding
web 51 opposite the web 48 has a slot 51a in the underside thereof
to permit the exit of records from the record playing station onto
the area of the laterally adjacent recessed shelf 52 in the cover
24. In addition, the record playing station has opposed side walls
53a and 53b which complete the enclosure defined thereby. Slots 54a
and 54b in the underside of opposed side walls 53a and 53b are
spaced apart a distance substantially sufficient to grasp opposed
sides of a record 32 to be positioned at the record playing station
50. To insure secure registration and holding of records 32 between
the slots 54a and 54b at the record playing station 50, small
holding or urging elements, here shown in the preferred form as
leaf springs 55, may be provided in one or both of the slots 54a
and 54b to bear in opposition against opposed sides of records 32
and hold the same against unintended movement relative to the
record playing station 50.
As seen in FIGS. 3 and 6, an electric motor 56 is mounted in the
base 26 and has a rotatable drive shaft 56a. Drive shaft 56a drives
belt 57 which is in engagement with a peripheral groove 57a in disc
58. Disc 58 is mounted for rotation on a pin 58a which extends
through the slotted end 59 of lever 60. Lever 60 is tiltably
mounted on fulcrum member 62 which extends upwardly from bottom 26a
of base 26. A plunger 64 extends downwardly into engagement with
the end of lever 60 opposite from the slotted end 59 and is
connected to a press bar 66 which is vertically slidably mounted in
the cover 24 adjacent to playing station 60. Downward movement
applied to the press bar 66 causes the lever 60 to tilt or pivot
about fulcrum 62 and raise the end having slot 59 through which the
pin 58a of disc 58 extends, thereby raising the disc 58 and
components connected thereto as will be explained.
A limit switch 68 underlies the lever 60 at the end adjacent the
engagement of plunger 64. During depression of the plunger 64, the
lever 60 engages switch 68 to close contacts of switch 68 and
initiate the flow of current through the electrical circuitry
supplying power to the motor 56 to initiate the rotatable drive of
disc 58. Switch contacts 68b and 68c are connected to lead wires
69a and 69b, respectively, with lead wire 69a connected to motor 56
and lead wire 69b connected to slide switch 70 which projects to
the exterior of the cover 24. Slide switch 70 includes a wiper arm
70a to which wire 69b is connected. Arm 70a is in engagement with a
coil 70b associated with a post 70c on power source or battery 70d
within the interior of base 26. Wire 71 leads from battery 70d to
motor 56 to complete the circuitry. Arm 70a and coil 70b provide a
rheostat in the circuitry to change the amount of power supplied to
the motor. Thus, when the slide switch 70 is in the extreme left
position as viewed in FIG. 1, the least amount of power will be
supplied through the circuitry and when the arm 70a is in the
rightmost position or adjacent post 70c, the greatest amount of
power will be supplied to the motor. By this arrangement the rate
of speed at which the turntable is to spin can be changed. Thus, to
initiate the driving action of the motor 56, plunger 66 must be
depressed so that contacts 68b and 68c may be closed to complete
the circuitry therethrough to the motor 56 and the rate of speed at
which the motor will drive the turntable will be determined by the
position of wiper arm 70a on coil 70b.
As best seen in FIGS. 2, 3 and 7, an upstanding pivot pin 72 is
mounted on disc 58 provided with a reduced upper end for receiving
a torsion and compression spring 72a. The upper end of pivot pin 72
impales a flange 74 attached to speaker housing 76 to thereby mount
speaker housing 76 in flange 74 pivotally with respect to pin 72.
Spring 72a normally biases speaker housing 76 upwardly or to a
"playing" position. A tension spring 78 extends from a mounting 78a
at the extreme end of flange 74 to an anchor 79 on disc 56 to
normally urge speaker housing 76 radially inwardly towards the
center of turntable 58. Stop member 80 extends through slot 81 in
flange 74 to retain flange 74 in pin 72 against the force of
compression spring 72a. In addition, an upstanding stop member 83
extends uprightly from turntable 58 to limit the retraction of
speaker housing 76. When the stylus 86 is in engagement with the
grooves of a record by being raised upwardly to the operating
position as seen in FIG. 6, it tracks radially outwardly as the
turntable rotates in opposition to the gradually stretching spring
78. When downward pressure on push bar 66 is released, the stylus
86 will descend out of engagement with the record grooves and the
spring 78 will pull the speaker relatively inwardly. Stop member 83
is positioned so as to terminate the radially inward movement of
the speaker 76 at a point where it will be positioned to engage the
initial starting portion of a record when the push bar is depressed
to bring the stylus 86 into engagement with the grooves of a
record.
Mounted in housing 76 is the sound amplifying speaker cone 82
having a baffle extension 84. A needle or stylus 86 extends
upwardly from the apex of cone 82 and outwardly from speaker
housing 76 for tracking in grooves of a record 32.
Referring to FIG. 8, each record 32 is generally of regular
geometric configuration, here shown as being substantially square.
Records 32 have a stiff substrate for medial layer 90, a readily
perceived information layer 92 and an opposing backing record layer
94 having trackable groove 94a therein for producing a recorded
sound.
In the illustrated embodiment, the layer 92 is shown as having
information in the form of a pictorial representation 96 and a word
or words 98 thereon. As an example, the information to be
reproduced from the tracking grooves 94a could be a short
discussion concerning different types of cars or the like, and the
pictorial representation 96 could be of the cars being discussed
and the words 98 could be a brief title as to the subject matter
recorded in grooves 94a and shown in 96.
It is to be understood that many variations of the information
layer 92 could be provided within the scope of this invention. For
example, the information layer 92 could consist entirely of text
matter or words or solely of a pictorial representation or several
representations. In addition, the information layer 92 could have
minor surface variations therein (within the limitations of the
size of the slots 47a, 48a and 51a) so as to illustrate contours,
elevations, and the like or other physical characteristics which
could be perceived by touch as well as by sight. In this
connection, the device could be a teaching aid with raised braille
characters thereon in which instance the user could feel the
braille characters prior to insertion into the playing station.
Where surface 92 contained information to be perceived by touch,
the playing station could have the window 50a removed so that the
characters or other surface characteristics could be perceived
simultaneously with the sound reproduction. The information layer
92 could be further utilized to illustrate texture in that it could
be provided with different materials such as cloth, grit, thin
strips of metal, or the like, so that one utilizing sight and touch
could see and feel the different characteristics of these different
materials while commentary about these characteristics is being
reproduced from the grooves 94a.
In operation, it is intended that a user would place a record or
several records 32 with the sound reproducing layer 94 face down
and the readily perceived information layer 92 face up at the
receiving station 46. Next, the pusher element 40 would be moved
laterally to the left as seen in the drawings to push the lowermost
record 32 over to the playing station 50. Knob 70 would be moved to
potentially activate the circuitry for the sound reproducing
mechanism. Following this, bar 66 would be depressed to close
switch 68 and complete the circuitry so that motor 56 would begin
to drive disc 58. At the same time, the depression of bar 66 would
raise speaker housing 76 and bring stylus 86 into contact with the
grooves 94a on the underside of record 32. Stylus 86 then would
begin to track in a helical path preferably from the inside or
towards the center of record 32 towards the outside thereof for
reproducing the message on the record layer 94 while at the same
time the informational layer 92 is presented to view for the user.
The entire sound reproducing system rotates with the disc 58. If,
at any time the bar 66 is released, the circuitry is interrupted
and the speaker housing 76 moves downwardly away from the playing
position and is returned to the initial starting position in a
clockwise direction about pin 70.
Thus, it can be seen that the child entertainment and instruction
device of this invention satisfies the need in the art for a
combination sound reproducing and perception device which may be
simply operated and wherein both the recorded information and
readily perceived information, such as that to be visually
perceived, are on a common element here shown as the record 32.
Thus, the possibility of losing one of the two of the sound or
visual perception elements is eliminated. Moreover, the record
grooves in the underside of the record element being in the usual
helical pattern may provide a substantial amount of recorded
information. The other side of the record element is capable of
having information over the entire face thereof so that a greater
amount of information may be provided thereon.
The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of
understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be
understood therefrom, as some modifications may be obvious to those
skilled in the art.
* * * * *