The Talking Machine Patent Archive

Patents you could hear

19th century patent

Two technical line drawings show a long cylindrical pattern-and-music cylinder assembly in cross-section (Fig. 1) with labeled holes and a boring tool, and a circular end-view cross-section (Fig. 2) revealing the nested pattern cylinder and inner music cylinder with aligned holes.IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MUSIC-BOX CYLINDERS.Arnold Frankfeld · October 28, 1873Patent drawing of an accordion-like automatic musical instrument showing a folding bellows chamber with a reed-board, a series of gears and ratchet wheels on a shaft, and below it a separate diagram of a long perforated valve-sheet strip marked with note letters and numbered apertures.IMPROVEMENT IN AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTSHenry B. Horton · October 30, 1877Exploded patent drawing of a cabinet-style reed organ labeled 'autophone,' showing a perforated paper valve-sheet feeding over rows of metal reed pipes, driven by a foot pedal, balance-wheel, and hand crank visible on the wooden case.Improvement in Mechanical Musical InstrumentsHenry B. Horton · December 3, 1878Patent drawing of a mechanical organ showing a cabinet with bellows, a hinged reed-block with air chambers, and feed rollers guiding a perforated paper strip.Mechanical Musical Instrument.Oliver H. Arno · June 14, 1881A cutaway perspective drawing of a small piano-shaped case showing a row of keys, a ratcheted roller, gears, and a music-box mechanism housed inside on curved cabriole legs.APPLICATION OF KEY-BOARD MECHANISM TO MUSIC-BOXESGeorge M. Patten · October 4, 1881Technical patent drawing showing a boxed mechanism with a hand-cranked roller drawing a perforated paper sheet over rows of pivoted levers, connected via rods and elbow-levers to spring-loaded hammers that strike piano keys below.KEY-BOARD ATTACHMENT FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTSJoseph Schwertner · May 8, 1883Patent drawing showing a hand-cranked mechanical musical instrument with a circular reed holder and handle in Fig. 1, its cross-section in Fig. 1A, and a rectangular two-row reed variant with scroll-decorated chest in Figs. 2 and 2A.MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTMarshall Arthur Wier · October 27, 1885Patent drawing of a mechanical musical instrument showing a boxed frame with a perforated music-sheet stretched between two rollers, side gear wheels, a hand crank, and pivoted levers used to lift the take-up roller and stop the sheet's motion.MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.James E. Treat · September 6, 1887Patent drawing showing four side-view diagrams of a toothed tripping wheel mounted on an eccentric pivoted disk beneath a perforated music sheet, with a fifth detail figure of the frame's circular support opening.DEVICE FOR TRIPPING VIBRATING TONGUES OF MECHANICAL MUSIC-BOXESAndré Junod · July 18, 1899