Music box
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorAkihiro Ikeda
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A music box includes a plurality of star wheels, a plurality of sun wheels, a drive unit, a plurality of anchoring members, a plurality of vibration valves, a rotating disk, a detection unit, and a control unit. Each of the plurality of anchoring members is configured to engage one of a plurality of protruding parts of the plurality of star wheels. The rotating disk is configured to rotate according to a rotation of an axis. The rotating disk is formed with a plurality of slits arrayed in a circumferential direction of the rotating disk. The detection unit is configured to detect a passage of one or more of the plurality of slits. The control unit is configured to control one or more of the plurality of anchoring members to disengage one of the plurality of protruding parts, based on a detection result of the detection unit.
Claims8
A music box comprising:
- a plurality of star wheels configured to rotate about a first axis, each of the plurality of star wheels comprising:
- a plurality of protruding parts protruding outward in a radial direction of each of the plurality of star wheels;
- and
- an intermitting gear configured to rotate about the first axis, the intermitting gear comprising a plurality of gear teeth extending outward in a radial direction of the intermitting gear;
- a plurality of sun wheels corresponding to the plurality of star wheels and arrayed along a second axis extending parallel to the first axis, the plurality of sun wheels being fixed on the second axis and configured to rotate about the second axis, each of the plurality of sun wheels comprising a plurality of gear portions, at least one of the plurality of gear portions being configured to engage at least one of the plurality of gear teeth;
- a drive unit configured to drive the first axis and the second axis;
- a plurality of anchoring members corresponding to the plurality of star wheels, each of the plurality of anchoring members being configured to engage one of the plurality of protruding parts;
- a plurality of vibration valves arrayed along a first direction extending parallel to the first axis, and corresponding to the plurality of star wheels, each of the plurality of vibration valves being configured to be plucked by one of the plurality of protruding parts;
- a rotating disk configured to rotate according to a rotation of the second axis, the rotating disk being formed with a plurality of slits arrayed in a circumferential direction of the rotating disk;
- a detection unit configured to detect a passage of one or more of the plurality of slits;
- and
- a control unit configured to control one or more of the plurality of anchoring members to disengage one of the plurality of protruding parts of one or more of the plurality of star wheels corresponding to the one or more of the plurality of anchoring members, based on a detection result of the detection unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.