Viscous damping arrangement for record player tone arms

A viscously damped record player tone arm comprising:

• a stationary frame member;
• a pick-up arm with counterweight;
• a hollow container containing viscous fluid, said container being open at the top and being attached to said pick-up arm near said counterweight;
• a suspension system comprising a gimbal arrangement which rotatably attached said pick-up arm and said counterweight to said stationary frame via said viscous fluid container in such a way as to allow said pick-up arm to rotate freely in the vertical and horizontal planes about a single point of rotation and having the geometrical centre of said reservoir coincident with said point of rotation;
• an essentially spherical member immersed in said fluid in said container, said spherical member being affixed to said stationary frame and having the geometrical center of said spherical member coincident with said point of rotation of said pick-up arm and said reservoir thus providing equal coefficient of viscous friction when said pick-up arm rotates in the vertical and horizontal planes by virtue of shearing forces produced in said fluid between the outside surface of said spherical member and the inside surface of said hollow container.