US1931624A - Remote control - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 24, 1933. H. SCHWARZE ET AL REMOTE CONTROL Filed Sept. 16, 1929 Patented Octo 24, 1933 unirse srarss Y REMOTE coN'rRoL K Herman Schwarze, Pontiac, Mich., and Laurence M. Perkins, Anderson", Ind., assignors to Delco- Remy Corporation, Anderson, Ind., a corpora-- tion of Delaware Application september 16, 1929 Serial No. 393,064

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a remote control for a radio receiver and in particular to a remote control whichl permits the tuning of a radio mounted on a car by controls mounted on the instrument board or some other convenient place remote from the receiver. l

Y It is very desirable to have the control of the radio mounted in a car within reach of the driver. For this reason it has `been proposed to build a radio receiver back of the instrument board. For certain cars and for certain makes of receivers this hasV its disadvantages. It usually requires a specially designed instrument board, as the control devices have to be re-arranged- Furthermore in certain makes ofr cars there is not suiilcient room for a radio receiver so mounted, Without redesigning parts of the car.-

An object of this invention is to remotely control a radio receiver by a control on the instru-- ment board. This has been accomplished by providing a dial on the instrument board connected to the radio receiver through a iiexible shaft'k so that the radio receiver may be mounted above the engine, under the cowl, under a seat, or elsewhere on the car.

Another object of this invention is-to diminish the effect of the angular displacement ofY one end of the remote control with respect to its other end.

This displacement is caused by a certain amount of give in the flexible shaft due to its elasticity. The effect of this displacement has been diminished by the use of a speed reducing mechanism mounted intermediate the tuning device of the radio receiver and the flexible shaft.

Another object of this invention is to provide a speed reducing unit which is accurate and sensitive. This has been accomplished by the use of speed reducing gear mechanism provided with means for preventing back lash of the gears.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will 'be apparent from the following de-` scription, reference being had to the accompanying drawing wherein a preferred embodiment of one form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 discloses the remote control with the speed reducing unit shown in section taken on the line 1-1 of Figs. 3 and 4.

Fig. 2 shows the dial in elevation. l

Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views taken on the lines 3-3 and 4 4 of Fig. .1.

In the drawings, reference character 10 indicates the instrument board or dashboard on a car.

been shown, supports a speed reducing unit 14,' connected with a flexible driving mechanism 16 to a dial 18, mounted on the instrument board 10. A casing 20 and a support 22 of the speed reducing unit 14 are attached to the casing 24 of the radio receiver 12 by a pair of screws 26 as best seen in Figs. 3 and 4. The iiexible conduit 28 of thel flexible driving mechanism 16 has one end attached to the instrument board by means of a fiared ferrule 27 fiXedly attached tothe flexible conduit. A nut 31 rigidly vholds the ferrule 27 against a tubular member 29 which is vpassed through an aperture provided therefor in thedash 10 and which is held in position by a nut 33 cooperating with a collar 35 integral with the tubular member. The otherendv of the flexible conduit 28 carries a ferrule 34 which cooperatesv with a nut 32 to rigidly attach the conduit 28 to the bearing 30, which is riveted to the casing 20. The flexible shaft 36 carried in the conduit 16 has one end connected to the dial 18 in amanner well known to those skilled in the art, and the other end 38 connected to the gear member 40.

The vgear 42 meshing with the gear 40 is iixedly attached to a gear 44, mounted upon a pin 46, carried by a support 22 and the casing 24. A gear 48 is driven by the gear 44 and is xedly attached to the quill 50 mounted in the bearing 52. The quill 50 is drivingly connected to the tuning devicesby means of the tubular coupling 54, keyed to the quill 50. It can be readily seen that the flexible shaft 36 upon being rotated by means of the dial 18 rotates the tuning devices connected to the tubular coupling 54, through the gear 40 meshing with the gear 42, attached to the gear 44, meshing with the gear 48, attachedto the quill 50, keyed to the tubular coupling 54.

In the tuning of a radio receiver it is essential that, for a particular setting of the dial, the rotors oi the tuning devices, whether condensers or variometers, are always positioned at the same .angle with respect to their respective stators. In order to overcome the play or backlash found in gears, the gear 40 meshes with a gear 56, iixedly attached to the gear 58, carried by a pin 60, mounted on the arm 62 which is pivotally mounted intermediate the gear 48 and the bearing. 52. The gear 58 mesheswith the gear 48. The arm 62 is biased in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 4 by a spring 64, having one end attached to the arm 62 and the other end attached to the pin 66, carried by the support 22. It can be readily seen that as the shaft 36 is rotated in either direction the blacklash found between the gears 40 and 42, and between the gears 44 and 48 is absorbed by the gears 56 and 58 being biased in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 4, by means of the helical spring 64. If the gear ratio is two to one and the dial is so constructed, or the tuning devices are so constructed, that the dial is limited inits rotation to one revolution, it can be readily seen that as the dial 18 is indexed so that a particular indicia on the graduated scale '70 registers with an indicator 72 the tuning devices will always be found in the same position for this particular indicia. If the gear ratio is greater than two to one the dial should preferably also be operated through a speed reducing mechanism so that it will not turn more than one complete revolution for each one-half revolution of the rotors of either the tuning Variometers or the tuning condensers. If this is done and if the dial is limited in its rotation to one revolution it can be readily seen that as the dial 18 is indexed the rotors will always be found in the same position for this particular setting of the dial.

Although' we have disclosed a'dial mounted on the instrument board, it is to be understood that A the dial can just as well be mounted elsewhere',

as for example, on'the steering mechanism with only a slight modification, or it Amay be mounted in the rear compartment. Y

While the form'of embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, itis to be understood that other forms `might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

l. A control ldevice for a radio receiver having tunable means and a rotary shaft for supporting same, Vcomprising in combination, means for rotating the shaft including a quilljournaled in the sidewalls of the radio Casement, a gear fixed to the exposed end of said quill, reduction gears secured for meshing the said gear at substantially diametric points thereof, an oscillatable linkpivotally mounting one of said reduction gears, and means biasing onev of saidgreduction gears away n from one of said diametric points said reduction gearshaving their hubs meshing with said first gear and providing toothed spurs overlapping the end of said quill, a pilot shaft with a mating gear having its bearing in said quill and intermeshing n g with said toothed spurs, and means for rotating said pilot shaft including a iiexible driving element, whereby said tunable shaft will be driven at substantially half the rate of speed with which the exible shaft is driven.

2. A control device for a radio receiver having tunable means and` a rotary shaft for supporting same, comprising in combination, means for rotating the shaft including a quill journaled in the side walls of the radio easement, a gear Xed to the exposed end of said quill, reduction gears secured for meshing the said gear'v at substantially diametric points thereof, said reduction gears having their hubs meshing with said first gear and providing toothed spurs overlapping the end of said quill, a pvoted link journaled about said quill and supporting one of said reduction. gears, means for urging said pivoted link and its reduction gear out of diametric alignment with its companion reduction gear, a pilot shaft fixed for same, comprising in combination, means for roe tating the shaft including a quill journaled in the side walls of the radiocasement, a pilot shaft supported for rotation axially of Vthe V'quill shaftv and speed reducing means coupling the pilot shaft for rotation of the quill shaft including a spur gear carried by the quill shaft and a pinion provided by the pilot shaft, intermediate gears each comprising a pinion and a toothed spur for meshing respectively with the quill gear and pilot gear, means pivotally supporting said intermediate gears at substantially diametrio pointsl with re? i spect to said quill gears, and means for preventing back lashing or lost motion between the pilot gear and the quill gear including means for oscillating the pivot of one of said intermediate gears lli) from its diametric relation with respect to said HERMAN SCHWARZE. YL /iUi-nfmcs M. PERKINS.

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