My 1980's Tangential Tone Arm and my 2010 improvement

[Straight Tracker]

Hello All,

In the 1980's I designed and built a Tangential Tone Arm. I patented it at the time, but the patent has since expired. I didn't pursue the idea, because CD's came on the market at just about that time. Having recently found out that vinyl is still very much around, I decided earlier in 2010 to improve the Tone arm. I am going to attach some photos, a magazine article and some drawings to explain how it works and then I'll make some comments about the new version of the Tone arm.

Sincerely,

Ralf

The first picture shows the original 1980's prototype.

The next three picture show the tone arm on a Micro-Seiki turntable in the:

A) Rest position,

B) The start of play position,

C) The end of play position

The Magazine Article is from the 4-22-1985 issue of Design News.

And the following three PDF files show how the geometry was developed.

[Straight Tracker]

Here are the first three pictures which should have been in my first post. Ididn't realize I could only upload three pictures per post.

Ralf

[Straight Tracker]

Here are three more images.

Ralf

[Straight Tracker]

Three more images.

Ralf

[Straight Tracker]

And one more image.

Ralf

[neutron7]

that is beautiful. !

[Straight Tracker]

Hi All,

In the late eighties I made an attempt to improve my tone arm but I couldn't get away from the overhead track upon which the carriage travels. It still looked too cumbersome, mechanically speaking. The attached pictures show the front and back of the tone arm base and track housing unit. The actual tone arm itself was never made. The large brass unit hanging from the track, is a dummy weight representing the tone arm to be. The transparent cover on top allows the reference arm and its associated cams to be viewed. All my tone arms have and will have this reference arm and associated cams in common.

Ralf

[Straight Tracker]

Thank you neutron7

Ralf

[Shaun]

I think I like it! I'm sure you could still make some money off the idea today, especially considering the form factor.

[Shaun]

Do those last two pictures represent the actual scale of the improved arm (minus wand & headshell)? Amazing! Any chance you can put them side by side?