Phonograph turntable control system

Abstract

When the user presses a touch-activated switch a first time, a first digital storage device becomes set and furnishes a platter-motor-start signal to the control electronics of the platter drive motor. If the touch-activated switch is pressed a second time, the first digital storage device becomes reset, and the signal commanding that the platter drive motor operate terminates. A second digital storage device likewise assumes its set and reset states in response to the first and second pressing of the touch-activated switch. Sensors ascertain various operating conditions during the course of turntable operation, such as the swinging of the tone arm to the position corresponding to the lead-in groove of a phonograph record. The states of the digital storage devices are additionally dependent upon the conditions sensed by the sensors. Logic circuitry interprets the combinations of states of the digital storage devices and causes the requisite turntable operations to be performed, e.g., lifting and lowering of the tone arm, inward and outward swinging of the tone arm, initiation and termination of rotation of the platter, audio muting, and the like. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention concerns a phonograph turntable control system, provided with means for lifting and lowering the tone arm, means for swinging the tone arm horizontally, means for detecting when the tone arm has been lowered onto a record and when the tone arm has reached the end of a record, and provided with touch-activated switches or touch buttons activated by the user, with settable and resettable electrical or electronic storage devices which register commands for the swinging, lifting and lowering of the tone arm and for turning on and off the drive motor for the platter. In conventional phonographs, the control functions for the platter motor and the tone arm are implemented using predominantly mechanical means. Use is typically made of transmissions, gearing, levers, and the like. However, mechanical components such as these wear and age quite rapidly and are very susceptible to malfunction. For certain special functions, it has already been proposed to make use of nonmechanical control devices which make for a considerable improvement in overall phonograph turntable construction. For example, German Pat. DT-PS No. 1,243,412 discloses a shutoff system for the platter drive motor of a phonograph turntable. The tone arm has connected to it a light shield which, when the tone arm swings, moves through the light path of a photoelectric detector. The speed of swinging movement of the tone arm is sensed, and when a certain speed of swinging movement is reached, the platter drive motor is shut off by means of a transistor-controlled switching relay. An RC-circuit receives the output signal of the photodetector and produces a voltage whose magnitude is dependent upon the rate of change of the light-dependent current produced by the photodetector. German published patent application DT-OS No. 1,810,983 discloses another photoelectric switching system for phonograph turntables. The photoelectric switching system includes a stationary light source and a stationary light detector. A deflecting mirror is mechanically coupled to the tone arm and moves as the tone arm becomes inwardly displaced during tracking of the spiral record groove. The deflecting mirror is preferably oriented perpendicular to a radial plane which passes through the swinging axis of the tone arm. When the tone arm reaches a position calling for the initiation of a switching operation, the deflecting mirror directs the light from the light source onto the light detector. Other automatic switching devices are known in the art, for switching off a phonograph at the end of a record, for lowering the tone arm and for controlling the tone-arm drive mechanism, for example in German published patent applications Nos. DT-OS 19 57 562, DS-OS 20 54 880, DT-OS 20 11 005 and DT-OS 19 54 673, and also in German allowed patent application No. DT-AS 19 17 241. However, these various automatic switching systems relate to various individual aspects of electronic phonographic control. The Audiodynamics Corporation (ADC Accutrac 4000, brochure AVO 17608) produces an automatic phonograph turntable in which various functions can be triggered by pushbutton action or by wireless remote control. However, this known system is not provided with sensor operator control elements. Finally, German published patent application No. DT-OS 21 04 692 discloses a system in which the various functions to be performed for turntable control are made to have a much more automatic character, and are implemented using electronic means. The tone arm is moved by two electromechanical positioning devices, one for horizontal swinging of the tone arm, the other for vertical lifting and lowering of the tone arm. Use is made of two electrical storage devices for storage of swing-in and swing-out information. The tone arm is lifted as soon as one of the storage devices registers a signal. Swinging of the tone arm is not possible until after the lifting movement of the tone arm has been completed. The storage devices are erased when tone-arm-position transducers signal the end of the operation involved. The use of settable storage devices makes it possible to dispense with the use of electrical switches of the type which must be held locked in activated position by mechanical locking means; instead, use can be made of touch-activated switches, very-low-force touch buttons, and the like. The present invention proceeds from the state of the prior art last referred to. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a general object of the invention to provide a turntable control system which uses electronic components to control the lifting, lowering and swinging of the tone arm, and in which manual initiation of automatic operations can be performed using simple touch-activated switches, momentary switches activated by very-light-pressure touch-button action, and the like, so that manual initiation of automatic operations can be performed with very great ease and using a minimum of manual force. These objects can be met, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, using first and second electronic digital storage devices. When the user presses a touch-activated switch a first time, the first digital storage device becomes set and furnishes a platter-motor-start signal to the control electronics of the platter drive motor. If the touch-activated switch is pressed a second time, the first digital storage device becomes reset, and the signal commanding that the platter drive motor operate terminates. A second digital storage device likewise assumes its set and reset states in response to the first and second pressing of the touch-activated switch. Sensors ascertain various operating conditions during the course of turntable operation, such as the swinging of the tone arm to the position corresponding to the lead-in groove of a phonograph record, etc. The states of the digital storage devices are additionally dependent upon the conditions sensed by the sensors. Logic circuitry interprets the combinations of states of the digital storage devices and causes the requisite turntable operations to be performed, e.g., lifting and lowering of the tone arm, inward and outward swinging of the tone arm, initiation and termination of rotation of the platter, audio muting, and the like. With the inventive system, incorrect manual initiation of automatically performed operations becomes almost impossible. Also, with the inventive concepts, it becomes possible to combine an automatic touch system with a searching function. The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages therof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.