Toy phonograph

Claim 1

In a toy phonograph, a chassis and a housing in which said chassis is located, a rotary turntable situated in said housing on said chassis and supported by said chassis for rotary movement about a central axis extending perpendicularly through said turntable at the center thereof, said turntable fixedly carrying at its outer periphery a protuberance which extends outwardly beyond said turntable and which rotates therewith, an electric motor carried by said chassis and operatively connected to said turntable for rotating the latter when said motor is energized, a record carried by said turntable for rotation therewith and including a plurality of sound grooves each progressing from the periphery to the center of said record and respectively having starting points equidistantly arranged with respect to each other along the outer periphery of the record, a pickup and a stylus carried thereby, said chassis supporting said pickup for swinging movement toward and away from the record as well as for swinging movement about an axis parallel to the central axis of said turntable so that the stylus can follow a selected sound groove, a spring operatively connected to said pickup for urging said stylus to the outer periphery of the record, a plurality of control elements distributed circumferentially around said turntable and guided by said chassis and housing for axial movement respectively along a plurality of axes which are parallel to each other and parallel to the central axis of said turntable, said control elements each extending upwardly beyond said housing so that a selected control element can be depressed by the operator to an elevation where it will be situated in the path of movement of said protuberance at the periphery of said turntable, each control element when engaging said protuberance situating the starting end of a selected sound groove in a position to be engage by the stylus, a plurality of springs operatively connected to said control elements for urging the latter to rest positions respectively situated above the path of movement of said protuberance, an arm in said housing extending across and over said pickup and a spring urging said arm to press downwardly against said pickup to hold the stylus carried thereby in a sound gRoove, a pair of electrical contacts engaging each other to maintain said motor energized, at least one of said contacts normally engaging the other and being situated in the path of movement of said pickup to be displaced thereby away from said other contact to stop the operation of the motor when the stylus reaches the end of a selected sound groove, and a control wheel supported for free rotation by said chassis coaxially with said turntable about said central axis with said control wheel being turnable independently of said turntable, a spring being operatively connected to said control wheel for normally maintaining the latter at a position where it does not influence the playing of s selected sound groove, and said control wheel having a plurality of inclined cam edges respectively situated in the paths of movement of said control elements so that when a selected control element is depressed said control wheel will be turned in a given direction through a given distance while the selected control element is situated in the path of movement of said protuberance, said control wheel carrying a cam which when said control wheel is turned by a selected control element engages and raises said arm away from said pickup so that the latter can automatically return to a starting position while said one contact engages the other contact to energize said motor and start the rotation of said turntable, the latter rotating until said protuberance engages the depressed selected control element, so as to situate the stylus at the starting end of a selected sound groove, whereupon when the operator releases the selected control element the latter automatically returns to its position beyond the path of movement of said protuberance and said control wheel returns to its position where it has no influence on the playing of a record while said cam which displaced said arm away from said pickup is moved with said control wheel to a position releasing said arm for movement against said pickup to place the stylus in engagement with the selected sound groove.