Tone arm

Claim 1

A tone arm assembly including: horizontal pivot assembly means; vertical pivot assembly means, said vertical pivot assembly means including a casing having an opening therethrough and said casing being mounted on said horizontal pivot assembly means; a tone arm having a head member, said tone arm passing through said opening in said casing; a pair of opposed resilient isolation rings in said casing for isolating said tone arm from resonance vibration; a recess in each of said isolation rings; a bearing housing in each of said recesses, said housing having an opening at one end; a jewel thrust bearing element in each housing having a large diameter spherical bearing surface facing the open end of said housing; a jewel support bearing element in each housing between said thrust bearing and the open end of said housing, said support bearing having a central toroidal opening with the walls thereof in the shape of a body of revolution of a curve; mounting means extending from said tone arm into said housings in said casing, said mounting means having reduced end portions with a spherical end surface; one of said reduced end portions extending into each of said housings and through the central opening of a support bearing to the spherical surface of a thrust bearing, the spherical end surface of the reduced end portion opposing and being of smaller diameter than the spherical surface of the thrust bearing; and a stabilization ring extending from each of said resilient isolation rings beyond said bearing housing toward said tone arm, said stabilization ring extending beyond said reduced end portion of the mounting means to overlap the enlarged portion thereof to define a movement limiting space therebetween.