Record player having a child-proof device

Claim 1

A record player comprising a player cabinet and a cabinet lid, a turntable rotatably mounted on the top surface of said cabinet, means for driving said turntable by means of an electric motor, and a pickup arm supporting a pickup head at its one end and mounted on the top surface of said cabinet pivotably in the vertical direction, said pickup arm being also pivotable in a horizontal plane from a first position where said pickup head comes outside of a record on said turntable, through a second position where said pickup head engages with a starting point of the recorded groove of said record and a third position where said pickup head engages with an end point of the recorded groove of said record, up to a fourth position where said pickup head engages with the innermost idling groove of said record; characterized in that said record player is equipped with a child-proof device comprising: an arm carrier mounted on said top surface of said cabinet displaceably in the vertical direction between a first level where said arm carrier supports said pickup arm so as to keep said pickup head above and away from the surface of said record and a second level where said arm carrier is disengaged from said pickup arm so as to make said pickup head engage with the surface of said record and swing freely, and having on its upper surface a self-positioning means for stably positioning said pickup arm at said second position when said arm carrier is disposed at said first level; a resilient means for normally maintaining said arm carrier at said first level; a switch means actuated upon vertical displacement of said arm carrier to operate to open a circuit when said arm carrier is disposed at said first level and to close the circuit when said arm carrier is disposed at said second level; a magnetic element forming at least part of said pickup arm near its base portion; a first magnetic attracting means adapted to engage with said magnetic element of said pickup arm when said pickup arm is disposed substantially at said first position; a second magnetic attracting means adapted to engage with said magnetic element of said pickup arm when said arm is disposed substantially at said fourth position; a tapered face means for engaging with the lower edge of said pickup arm during the period when said pickup arm swings from said third position to said fourth position to raise said pickup arm from a level where the pickup head engages with the surface of said record to another level where the pickup head is kept above and away from the surface of said record; and an electric circuit means for connecting the contact pair of said switch means and said electric motor with an electric power supply.