US3564836A - 7-day automatic alarm clock - Google Patents

Abstract

A 7-DAY AUTOMATIC ALARM CLOCK WHICH CAN BE PRESET TO THE DESIRED DAILY ALARM TIME AND CAN ALSO BE PROGRAMMED SO THAT THE ALARM WILL RING ONLY ON THE DESIRED DAYS OF THE WEEK.

Description

"Feb, 23, 1971 R BOYLES 3,564,836

7-DAY AUTOMATIC ALARM CLOCK Filed May 7, 1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 t r zosmao les,

Attorney "Feb; 23; 1971 I R. L. BOYLES I 3,56 I

7 13A! AUTOMATIC ALAR CLOCK Filed May 7, 1969 I 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor= Eobert L. Boyles.

9 R. BOYLES 7'DAY AUTOMATIC ALARM CLOCK 5 SHeets-Sheet 3 Filed May 7, 1969 SAT. :00 am.

SAT 2 00 RM.

sun, 2:00 RM.

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Htborngg MON. 2 00 A. M.

Feb. 23, 1971 R. sovuzs ,5 8

4 V-DAY. AUTOMATIC ALARM CLOCK Filed May 7, 1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Inventor 1 Robert L. 50 125 zw/pfz Attorngq Feb; 23, 197

Filed May 7, 1969 R. L. BOYLES 'I-DAY AUTOMATIC ALARM CLOCK 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 T ig, IZ.

l L M5 /Z 5 Inventor.-

Robert L. Bosles Attorney United States Patent Ofice 3,564,836 7-DAY AUTOMATIC ALARM CLOCK Robert L. Boyles, Wayland, Mass., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed May 7, 1969, Ser. No. 822,659 Int. Cl. G04b 23/08 US. Cl. 58-17 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A 7-day automatic alarm clock which can be preset to the desired daily alarm time and can also be programmed so that the alarm will ring only on the desired days of the week.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an alarm control mechanism, and more particularly, to a 7-day automatic alarm clock which can be programmed so that the alarm will ring only on the desired days of the week.

With such a mechanism, a person may set the alarm time in the usual manner, and then actuate levers or buttons corresponding to the days of the Week so that the alarm may be automatically reset after it has been manually shut off. The appropriate day buttons or levers can be preset days in advance to provide for automatic on operation or to omit alarm on operation on any day or any number of days in any desired combination thus eliminating the necessity of manually setting the alarm in the evening upon retiring. Accordingly, a weekly cycle of operation can be preset to be repeated week after week until a change is made in the setting. The only daily chore required is that of manually turning olf the alarm after it has sounded. While the components of such an alarm clock have taken various shapes and forms and have been combined with each other in a number of different Ways, it is especially desirable that their number be reduced to a minimum, and that they be sturdily constructed and reliably assembled to each other. It is also desirable to provide a 7-day automatic alarm which may be housed in a relatively thin clock casing. It is also most important that the operating parts be attractively arranged and displayed so that they will be readily understood and easily operated. A reliable, low cost 7-day alarm clock mechanism which may be readily added to a prior alarm clock is especially desirable.

Correspondingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a 7-day automatic alarm clock mechanism having a minimum number of parts which may be easily incorporated in an alarm clock.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a simple 7-day alarm clock construction which may be housed in a relatively thin casing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with one of the aspects of this invention, a cam gear wheel is rotatably mounted on a clock supporting structure and an alarm mechanism is provided for causing an audible sound at preset times. An intermediate lever is positioned between the continuously rotated cam gear wheel and the alarm for permitting sounding of the alarm at the preset times, and a manually operable alarm shut off lever is provided for restrain- 3,564,836 Patented Feb. 23, 1971 ing vibratory movement of the alarm. A day wheel having a plurality of movable abutment members mounted thereon is also mounted on the supporting structure, and an indexing lever is positioned between the continuously rotated gear and the day wheel for moving the day wheel at one revolution in a number of days. A trip lever is uniquely positioned between the abutments on the day wheel and the alarm shut off lever, and the abutments are arranged to move the trip lever as the day wheel is rotated by the indexing lever. The trip lever is arranged with respect to the alarm shut off lever so that it moves the alarm shut off lever out of engagement with the alarm mechanism when one of the abutments engages and moves the trip lever. Each of the abutments is movable relative to the day wheel so that one Or more of the abutments may be moved out of the path of the trip lever to thereby allow the alarm shut off lever to remain in engagement with the alarm mechanism.

By this arrangement, each of the operating abutments may be preset to be out of the path of the trip lever in order to omit automatic operation of the alarm on any day or any number of days in any desired combination. The cycle will be repeated until a change in a setting of the abutments.

With this construction, the day wheel may be located at the front of the clock so that it is readily accessible and may be easily operated.

It can also be appreciated that the improved 7-day alarm clock is achieved without the use of gearing which restricts the relative positioning of the parts. Seven day automatic operation is achieved by the use of a relatively simple, easily formed indexing lever and a trip lever. Thus, an exceedingly simple, unique 7-day alarm clock construction has been achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Other objects and attendant advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded front perspective view of a 7-day alarm clock constructed in accordance with my invention showing the alarm set to sound at 7:00 a.m. every morning except Sunday with the parts in their 6:00 a.m. Saturday positions;

FIG. 2 is a partial rear perspective view of the alarm clock shown in FIG. 1 with the parts in the same positions shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial rear perspective view of the alarm clock shown in FIG. 1 with the parts in the alarm sounding position at 7:00 a.m. Saturday;

FIG. 4 is a partial rear perspective view of the alarm clock shown in FIG. 1 with the alarm in the manual shut olf position at 7:01 a.m. Saturday;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of the alarm clock shown in FIG. 1 illustrating in particular the 7-day wheel and the parts in their Saturday 2:00 pm. positions;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary cross sectional view similar to FIG. 5 with the parts in their Saturday 8:00 pm. positions;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary cross sectional view similar to FIG. 5 with the parts shown in their Sunday 2:00 a.m. positions;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary cross sectional view similar to 'FIG. 5 with the parts shown in their Sunday 2:00 pm. positions;

"FIG. 9 is a fragmentary cross'sectional view similar to FIG. with the parts shown in their Monday 2:00 am. positions;

FIG. is a top plan view of the alarm clock shown in FIG. 1 with portions of the outer casing broken away to show details of construction;

FIG. 11 is a rear elevational view of the alarm clock shown in FIG. 1;

, FIG. 12 is a partial front elevational view of the clock shown in FIG. 1 illustrating the 7-day programming mechanism; and

vF-IG. 13 is a cross sectional view of the 7-day programming mechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawing and first particularly to FIGS. 1 and 10, there is shown an alarm clock which includes my unique 7-day programming mechanism. As shown in FIG. 10, an alarm clock may be located in the left portion of a relatively thin clock casing 1 and as illustrated, a 7-day programming control 3' may be positioned at the right side of the casing.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the alarm clock may be driven by a conventional timing mechanism including a self-starting synchronous motor. Portions of the motor stator magnet core and energizing coil are shown at 2 and 4 respectively. A resilient magnet vibrator 6 operated by leakage flux from the motor is arranged to have its free end portion 8 vibrate against a stator portion 10 and produce an audible alarm at all times when the motor is energized unless the vibrator is prevented from vibrating by one of the alarm control parts to be described.

A supporting structure including a base plate 12 and a front plate 14 spaced from plate 12 and arranged genmechanism. A cam gear member 16 having a projecting cam portion 18 located thereon is rotatably mounted on the supporting structure of the clock framework. The cam portion 18 comprises an abrupt axially extending surface 20 located on one side thereof and a sloping surface 22 located on the other. A second cam gear member 24 having abrupt cam surfaces formed by a slot 26 is also rotatably mounted on the clock supporting structure as shown in the drawings, and is axially movable to actuate the alarm mechanism. The angular position of cam gear 16 is manually adjustable by means of gearing and a rotatable alarm time set knob 23. The position of cam gear 16 and the alrm set time is indicated on the face of the clock by indicating hand 25 in a manner well known in the art. Also, in a manner 'well known in the art, cam gear member 24 is driven by the timing mechanism of the clock through a suitable gearing arrangement so that it makes one revolution every twelve hours, and its position is indicated on the face of the clock by hour hand 27.

The resilient vibrator arm 6 may be utilized to spring load the axially movable cam gear 26 into engagement with the cam gear 16 through a suitable lever mechanism such as bell crank 28 which is pivoted to the base plate 12 by means of ears 30 and pivot pin 32, all shown in FIG. 2. Bell crank 28 transmits the spring force of vibrator arm 6 to the' end of shaft 34 which is attached to the twelve hour cam gear member 24. Accordingly, when the timing mechanism of the clock drives the twelve hour cam gear 24 to a position where the abrupt cam surface 20 becomes aligned with the abrupt surface formed by the slot 26, the vibrator arm' 6 acting through the bell crank 28 rapidly forces the twelve hour cam gear member 24 toward the time set cam gear member 16 to the position shown in FIG. 3. In this position, the vibrator arm 6 is unrestrained and is free to vibrate under the influence of the continuously applied electromagnetic forces to give an audible alarm signal.

The structure so far described is illustrated and described in greater detail in U.S. Letters Pa NO- 2, 68, 32,

4 issued Oct. 23, 1956 to D. E. Protzmann et al. and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.

7-DAY PROGRAMMING .MECHANISM According to this invention, there is combined with the aforedescribed alarm clock elements a uniquely designed and positioned 7-day alarm programming mechanism. This improved 7-day programming mechanism does not interfere with any of thepreviously described clock elements except to the extent that operation of the 7-day programming mechanism automatically resets the alarm on the days selected. I

The improved 7-day programming mechanism includes a uniquely formed and positioned vibrator shut oif lever 36 which is used for manually shutting olf the alarm, manually resetting the alarm, and automatically resetting alarm with the 7-day programming mechanism. Moreover, the unique shut off lever 36 is readily connected to and supported by existing clock structure without requiring the use of additional pivot pins or other similar supporting members.

The manually operable shut off lever 36 may be integrally molded of plastic, and as illustrated moreparticularly in FIG. 2, it includes a central sleeve portion 38, a radially extending vibrator shut off arm portion 40, and a manually actuable radially extending portion 42 along with a crank arm 44 which extends outside of the clock casing, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. In addition, a radi-' ally extending automatic reset arm portion 46 is integrally formed with the manually operated shut off lever 36 and With particular reference to FIGS. 2, 10, and 11, elongated spacer posts 48 and 50 are fixed to the front plate 12 of the clock and are provided with screw receiving apertures 52 at their rear ends for connecting the clock movement to the clock casing 1. My improved manually operable alarm shut off lever 36 is mounted on the existing spacer post 50. Thus, the sleeve portion 38 of the shut off lever is provided with an axial bore 39 which is slightly larger than the diameter of the spacer post, and a coil spring 58 is provided for resiliently urging the shut off lever rearwardly against the inside rear wall'of the clock casing.

It can be appreciated that the parts are assembled by placing the coil spring 58 over spacer post 50, placing the sleeve 38 over the spacer post 50, and then inserting the entire clock movement within the casing 1. Thus, the crank arm 44 extends through a circular slot 60 in the casing; and the screw receiving apertures 52 at the ends of spacer posts 48 and 50, respectively, are placed in line with the screw receiving apertures 62 formed in the clock casing. Naturally, screws 66 and 68 complete the assembly.

Referring now to FIG. 2, it can be seen that if the manually operable shut off lever is moved to the right to the off position shown in FIG. 4, the sleeve 38 is rotated about the spacer post 50, and the end of the radial shut off arm 40 will be brought into engagement with the vibrator arm 6 forcing it out of engagement with the bell crank 28 thereby not only restraining further vibratory movement of the vibrator arm but also removing the spring force of the vibrator arm 6 from the projecting shaft 34 of the cam gear member 26. Thus, when the user shuts oif the alarm mechanism by moving the shut off lever to the right to the position shown in FIG. 4, continued rotation of the cam gear 24 by the timing mechanism can force the cam members 16 and 24 apart to the position shown in FIG. 2 through the interaction of the slanting or curved surface 22 on the cam 18 and the edge of slot 26 without having to work against the spring force of the vibrator arm'6. That is, the vibrator arm 6.

load on the end of shaft 34 which is fixed to cam gear wheel 24.

After the alarm has been moved to the shut off position illustrated in FIG. 4 and the cam members 16 and 24 have been moved apart from each other, and it is desired to reset the alarm so that it will sound again at the same time the next day, the manually operable crank arm 44 may be simply moved to the left as shown in FIG. 2 to reset the alarm by removing the end of alarm shut off arm 40 from vibrator arm 6. In this position, the alarm cannot immediately sound since the vibrator arm 6 is held up and away from the field structure 2 by the bell crank lever 28 and the end of shaft 34.

7-DAY PROGRAMMING MECHANISM SUBASSEMBLY My unique 7-day programming mechanism which is provided for selectively moving the automatic reset arm 46 of the vibrator shut off lever 36 to remove the shut off arm 40 from under the vibrator 6 in order to reset the alarm will now be more particularly described.

The principal parts of the 7-day programming mechanism can be completely preassembled as a separate unit including a front plate 70, a base plate 72 and a plurality of spacer posts 74 and 76 for connecting the plates to each other. The mechanism for resetting the alarm on the days selected includes a 7-day wheel 75 which is rotated at one revolution each seven days and has seven operating pins 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83 and 84 corresponding to Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday mounted thereon. The pins operate a trip lever 85 on the days selected to reset the alarm.

The 7-day wheel may be integrally molded of ABS plastic or other suitable material and as shown more particularly in FIG. 13, it includes a sleeve 87, centrally positioned radially extending annular abutment member 86, and two discs 88 and 90 arranged on opposite sides of the annular abutment. Front disc 88 includes seven angularly spaced apertures 92, 94, 96, 98, 100, 102 and 104 corresponding to the day of the week operating pins 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83 and 84 and the rear disc 90 also includes seven angularly spaced apertures 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116 and 118 corresponding to the days of the week.

A unique arrangement is provided for holding the operating pins in an inner or outer position. As shown in FIG. 13, each pin is provided with a radially inwardly extending abutment 120 for cooperating with the annular abutment 86. Each pin is also provided with a stop wall 122 for abutting the inside surface of disc 88, and a stop Wall 124 for cooperating with the outside surface of disc 88. Moreover, the pins are formed of acetal plastic or other suitable resilient material and they are formed to be relatively thin in the vicinity of the abutment portion 120. With this arrangement, when a day of the week operating pin is pulled out, its abutment 120 moves on the annular abutment 86 thereby forcing the central portion of the pin radially outwardly, and upon continued movement the pin snaps forwardly with the abutment 120 resting on the forward surface of annular abutment 86 and the stop wall 122 of the pin in engagement with or close to the inner surface of disc 88. In a corresponding manner, when the pins are pushed inwardly, the central portion of the pin is forced radially outwardly by the interaction of the annular abutment 86 and the abutment 120 until the abutment 120 rests on the inner surface of annular wall 86 and the stop wall 124 of the pin abuts the outside surface of disc 88.

In order to mount the wheel and the pins, an axle 126 may be staked or otherwise secured to the base plate 72 and the sleeve 85 may be provided with a central bore 128 so that it may be positioned over the axlej126. In order to complete the 7-day wheel, suitable indicia corresponding to the days of the week may be directly inscribed on the outwardly protruding end portions of the pins or as shown more particularly in FIG. 12, an escutcheon plate 130.may be fixed to the outer surface of disc 88 and suitable indicia corresponding to the days of the week may be inscribed on the escutcheon plate adjacent to the corresponding pull pin. As shown, am. and pm. indicia may be inscribed on a stationary escutcheon plate 131 in order to indicate the am. and p.m. positions of the pull pins on the 7-day wheel.

Trip lever is positioned between the operating pins on the 7-day wheel and the reset arm 46 of the vibrator shut off lever 36 to remove arm 40 of the vibrator shut olf lever from vibrator 6 to reset the alarm. As shown more particularly in FIGS. 1 and 13, the trip lever 85 includes an arm 134 which is positioned between base plate 72 and rear disc of the 7-day wheel. Thus, arm 134 is placed in the path of the end portions of the operating pin abutments. The trip lever 85 also includes a generally horizontal arm 138' which is placed above the arm 46 of the shut off lever 36 for moving the arm 46 downwardly to thereby rotate the shut off lever to the alarm set position.

A pivot pin 140 may be provided for mounting the trip lever 85 on the base plate 72 of the 7-day programming mechanism. As illustrated more particularly in FIG. 13, the trip lever may be provided with a bored sleeve for receiving the pivot pin 140. Thus, the pivot pin may be fixed to the base plate 72 and the trip lever 85 positioned over the pivot pin for rotary movement thereon. A washer .144 may be fixed to the forward portion of the pivot pin for confining movement of the trip lever between the washer and the inner surface of base plate 72. With this construction, when any one of the day operating pins is placed in its inner position, as illustrated by pin 79 in FIGS. 2 and 8, the pin is in position for actuating the trip lever to thereby actuate the alarm set lever 36 to reset the alarm.

A generally elongated indexing slider lever is provided for moving the 7-day wheel at one revolution every seven days. To achieve this, the slide 150 is placed in the path of a cam pin 152 on the 12-hour gear 24 which is rotated at one revolution every twelve hours to thereby move the 7-day wheel two increments each day and one revolution in seven days.

The elongated slider 150 is mounted on the same pivot pin 140 which is used for mounting the trip lever 85, and as illustrated more particularly in FIGS. 2 and 13, it is provided with a generally longitudinal slot 154 which forms guide surfaces for cooperating with pivot pin 140, the inner surface of washer 144 and the front wall of the sleeve portion 135 of the trip lever. With this construction, the pivot pin 140 and washer 144 holds the slider 150 on the 7-day indexing mechanism, and the 7-day mechanism including front plate 70, base plate 72, the 7-day wheel, the trip lever 85 and the indexing lever 150 may be readily transported from one part of a factory to another in order to subsequently be connected to the alarm clock.

As shown more particularly in FIG. 1, when the subassembly 7-day indexing mechanism is assembled to the clock mechanism, the indexing slider lever 150 may be conveniently held on the clock mechanism by a spacer post 156 which is provided with a groove 158 for receiving a bifurcated end portion 160 of the indexing lever 150. Then the front plate 70 of the 7-day programming mechanism may be readily spot welded at 159 or otherwise secured to the front plate 14 of the alarm mechanism. A generally vertical notch 162 extends upwardly in the indexing lever 150 for providing guide surfaces on the indexing lever 150 for movement by the 12-hour cam gear pin 152.

It can be appreciated that as the cam gear pin 152 is rotated against the generally curved guide surface 170, it moves the indexing lever 150 to the right as shown in FIG. 1. Similarly, it can be appreciated that when the cam pin 152 engages the left guide surface 171, the indexing lever 150 is moved to the left as shown in FIG. 1. As shown more particularly in FIG. 1, pawls 174 and 176 are formed at the right side of the indexing lever 150 for moving the 7-day wheel 75 one increment every twelve hours. With this arrangement, it can be appreciated that the indexing wheel 88, 90 will be moved fourteen increments in seven days and in order to insure that the 7-day wheel will be moved precisely the correct amount during each incremental movement, fourteen notches 180 are formed at the outer periphery of the rear disc '90 of the indexing wheel for cooperating with a spring loaded detent lever 182.

As shown more particularly in FIG. 2, detent lever 182 is provided with a bored sleeve 184 and is mounted between the front plate 70 and the base plate 72 of the 7- day indexing lever on a spacer post 76. A suitable spring 188 is positioned between the detent lever 182 and a spacer post 74 for resiliently urging the detent lever 182 against the outer periphery of rear disc 90. The spring is of 'suflicient force so that the detent 194 will always be positioned within one of the fourteen notches, thus insuring 'that the 7-day wheel has been moved precisely the correct amount by the indexing lever 150 and twelve hour gear cam 152.

OPERATION Customarily, a person gets up at the same time each morning and if, for example, it is desired to have the alarm ring at 7:00 am. every morning, the operator rotates knob 23 to set the alarm hand 25 to the 7 oclock position. In order to automatically reset the alarm so that it will ring at 7 :00 am. every day of the week, all of the day pins are pushed inwardly. With this setting, cam pin 152 on the twelve hour cam gear 24 moves the indexing lever 150 back and forth twice in each 24 hours, thereby moving the 7-day wheel two steps. During this movement, one of the operating pins 79 will be brought into engagement with the lower surface of arm 134 of the trip lever and rotation of the 7-day wheel by the indexing lever will cause the operating pin 79 to lift arm 134, thereby pivoting the trip lever about pivot pin 140 to lower generally horizontal arm 138 as shown in FIG. 9. It can be appreciated that this movement will cause arm 138 of the trip lever to abut and move the alarm shut off lever 46, until arm 40 has been removed from the vibrator 6 to thereby reset the alarm. Accordingly, the alarm is now in position to be actuated by the bell crank lever 28, and at 7:00 oclock in the morning, the abrupt cam surface becomes aligned with the abrupt cam surface formed by slot 26 and the vibrator arm 6 acting through the bell crank lever 28 rapidly forces the twelve hour cam gear member 24 toward the time set cam gear member 16 to the position shown in FIG. 4. In this position, the vibrator arm 6 is unrestrained and is free to vibrate under the influence of the continuously applied electromagnetic forces to give an audible alarm signal.

When the alarm has sounded, the operator simply rotates the alarm shut off lever to the off position to thereby move the shut off arm 40 into engagement with the vibrator arm 6 forcing it out of engagement with the bell crank 28 and restraining further vibratory movement of the vibrator arm. With all of the operating pins 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, and 84 in their innermost positions, the indexing lever 150 will move the 7- day wheel 88, 90 one step between 12:00 noon and 2:00 p.m., and another step between 12:00 midnight and 2:00 am. to thereby actuate the trip lever 85 to reset the alarm every day of the week so that the alarm will sound at 7:00 am. every morning.

Should an operator desire to discontinue the early morning rising on a Sunday, for example, he would merely pull out the Sunday operating pin 78. With this setting, after the alarm has run at 7:00 am. on Saturday morning, the operator would shut olf the alarm by rotating the shut off lever to the off position to thereby place shut off arm 40 under the vibrator arm 6. Thus, between 12:00 noon and 2:00 pm. on Saturday, the cam pin 152 on the twelve hour gear would move the 7-day wheel one step and again between 12:00 midnight and 2:00 am. Sunday morning the cam 152 on the twelve hour cam gear would move the indexing lever 150 and the 7-day wheel another increment. However, with reference to FIGS. 2, 7, and 13, it can be appreciated that the Sunday pull pin 78 will have been moved to the position illustrated in 'FIGS. 7 and 13 wherein stop wall 122 is in contact with the inner wall of disc 88 and the rear end of the pull pin is substantially in line with the inner wall of wheel 90, thus the abutment portion 125 of the pull pin is spaced from the arm 134 of the trip lever and cannot actuate the trip lever arm 134 as it normally would between 12:00 midnight and 2:00 am. Sunday morning. Thus, the alarm shut off lever 38 remains in the alarm shut off position to which it had been moved at 7:01 am. Saturday morning by the operator after the alarm had sounded to awaken him.

In order to set the alarm and 7-day programming mechanism, an operator may first set the appropriate hour and minute position by rotating a time set knob 35 in the rear of the clock in a conventional manner. Then, conventionally, he will set the alarm set time by rotating knob 23 also located at the rear of the clock. Now, let us assume that the operator desires to start the clock on Friday evening and finds that the 7-day programming wheel is in the Tuesday a.m. position, In this event, with the unique mechanism of applicant, it is merely necessary to rotate the 7-day wheel 75 clockwise from the Tuesday a.m. position to the Friday p.m. position. Thus, the unique 7-day mechanism may be readily set from the front of the clock for continuous, automatic 7-day programming operation.

From the foregoing description, it will be appreciated that my improved 7-day programming mechanism is achieved with the use of a minimum number of parts which are uniquely connected to each other so that the 7-day programming mechanism may be readily connected to an existing alarm structure. In order to connect the 7-day mechanism to an existing alarm clock, it is merely necessary to place the bifurcated end 160' of the indexing lever 150 over a spacer stud 156, and connect the front plate 70 of the 7-day programming subassembly to the front plate 14 of the clock.

It can also be appreciated that the parts are related so that the 7-day mechanism may be located at one side of the alarm clock so that the clock and 7-day mechanism may be housed in a relatively thin clock casing 1 as shown in FIG. 10.

It can also be seen that the operating parts of an alarm clock which include my improved 7-day programming mechanism are attractively arranged and displayed so that they may be readily understood and easily operated. The 7-day wheel and the pins mounted thereon are readily accessible and viewed from the front of the clock. It is merely necessary to pull out one of the pins 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, and 84 in order to omit operation of the alarm on the day selected.

It can also be appreciated that the unique 7-day mechanism includes a minimum number of relatively easily manufactured parts which are readily connected to each other. The 7-day wheel, for example, including the annular abutment 86 and the apertured discs 88 and 90 is formed from a single piece of molded plastic. The indexing lever may be stamped from a single piece of sheet metal, and both the indexing lever 150 and the trip lever 85 are mounted on a readily formed pivot pin 140. Thus, an exceedingly simple, yet reliable, 7-day programming mechanism has been achieved.

What I claim is:

1. An alarm clock comprising:

(a) a supporting structure for mounting a timing mechanism;

(b) a cam gear wheel rotatably mounted on said supporting structure and continuously rotated as a function of time by said timing mechanism;

(c) an alarm mechanism;

(d) an intermediate lever having a first portion operably connected to said cam gear wheel and a second portion operably connected to said alarm mechanism for restraining or permitting sounding of the alarm mechanism at preset times;

(e) a manually operable alarm shut off lever, said shut off lever having a portion thereon engageable with said alarm mechanism to restrain sounding of the alarm mechanism;

(f) a day wheel mounted on said supporting structure,

said day wheel having a plurality of movable abutment members mounted thereon;

(g) an indexing lever positioned between said continuously rotated gear wheel and said day wheel, said cam gear wheel being arranged to move said indexing lever back and forth once each revolution of said cam gear wheel, and said indexing lever cooperating with said day wheel for rotating said day wheel one revolution in a number of days;

(h) a trip lever positioned between the abutments on said day wheel and said alarm shut off lever, said abutments being arranged to move said trip lever as said day wheel is rotated by said indexing lever, and said trip lever being arranged to move said alarm shut 01f lever out of engagement with said alarm mechanism when one of said abutments engages and moves said trip lever; and

(i) each of said abutments being movable relative to said day wheel so that one or more of said abutments may be moved out of the path of said trip lever to thereby allow the alarm shut off lever to remain in engagement with said alarm mechanism to restrain sounding of the alarm mechanism.

2. An alarm clock comprising:

(a) a supporting structure;

(b) a cam gear wheel rotatably mounted on said supporting structure and driven at one revolution in twelve hours;

(c) an alarm mechanism having a resilient vibrator arm for causing an audible sound upon vibration thereof;

((1) an intermediate lever pivotally mounted on said supporting structure and having a first portion engaging said cam gear wheel .and a second portion engaging said vibrator arm for restraining and permitting vibratory movement of said vibrator arm at the preset time;

(c) a manually operable alarm shut off lever, said shut 01f lever having a portion thereon engageable with said vibrator arm to restrain vibratory movement thereof and to force said vibrator arm out of engagement with said intermediate lever;

(f) a 7-day wheel mounted on said supporting struc ture, said 7-day wheel having a plurality of movable abutment members mounted thereon;

(g) an indexing lever mounted on said supporting structure and positioned between said twelve hour gear and said 7-day wheel;

(h) a cam member fixed to said twelve hour gear for moving said indexing lever back and forth once each twelve hours;

(i) a pawl formed on said indexing lever for cooperating with said 7-day wheel for rotating said 7-day wheel one revolution each seven days;

(i) a trip lever positioned between the abutments on said 7-day wheel and said alarm shut 01f lever, said abutments being arranged to move said trip lever as said 7-day wheel is rotated by said indexing lever, and said trip lever being arranged to move said alarm shut ofi? lever out of engagement with said vibrator arm when one of said abutments engages and moves said trip lever; and

(k) each of said abutments being movable relative to said 7-day wheel so that one or more of said abutments may be moved out of the path of said trip lever to thereby allow the alarm shut off lever to remain in engagement with said vibrator arm.

3. An alarm clock comprising:

(a) a supporting structure including a front plate;

said vibrator arm to restrain vibratory movement thereof and to force said vibrator arm out of en gagement with said intermediate lever;

(f) a 7-day wheel mounted on said supporting structure, said 7-day wheel having a plurality of axially movable index pin members mounted thereon, each of said index pin members extending in front of said front plate where they may be pushed in or pulled out to thereby set the desired day-to-day operation of the alarm clock;

(g) an indexing lever mounted on said supporting structure and positioned between said twelve hour gear and said 7-day Wheel;

(h) a cam member fixed to said twelve hour gear for moving said indexing lever back and forth once each twelve hours;

(i) a pawl formed on said indexing lever for cooperating with said 7-day wheel for incrementally rotating said 7-day wheel one revolution each seven days;

(j) a trip lever positioned between the abutments on said 7-day wheel and said alarm shut ofi? lever, said abutments being arranged to move said trip lever as said 7-day wheel is rotated by said indexing lever, and said trip lever being arranged to move said alarm shut off lever out of engagement with said vibrator arm when one of said abutments engages and moves said trip lever; and

(k) each of said pin members being movable relative to said 7-day wheel so that one or more of said pins may be moved out of the path of said trip lever to thereby allow the alarm shut off lever to remain in engagement with said vibrator arm.

4. An alarm clock comprising:

(a) a supporting structure including a spacer post;

(b) a first cam gear wheel rotatably mounted on said supporting structure;

(c) a second cam gear wheel rotatably mounted on said supporting structure in coaxial relationship with said first cam gear wheel and axially movable with respect thereto;

(d) one of said cam gear wheels being caused to rotate by said timing mechanism;

(e) means for manually adjusting the relative angular position of said cam gear wheels with respect to each other;

(f) an alarm mechanism having a resilient vibrator arm for causing an audible sound upon vibration thereof;

(g) a bell crank lever pivotally mounted on said supporting structure and having a first portion engaging said second axially movable cam gear wheel and a second portion engaging said vibrator arm for restraining vibratory movement thereof;

' (l) a pawl formed on said indexing lever '(h) a. manually operable alarm shut off lever, said shut off lever having a portion thereon engageable with said vibrator arm to restrain vibratory movement thereof and to force said vibrator arm out of engagement with said bell crank lever;

(i) a 7-day wheel mounted on said supporting structure, said 7-day wheel having a plurality of movable pull pin abutment members mounted thereon, each of said pull pin members corresponding to a specific day of the week;

(j) an indexing lever, an end portion of said indexing lever being bifurcated for straddling said spacer post, whereby said indexing lever is mounted on said supporting structure and positioned between said twelve hour gear and said 7-day wheel;

' (k) a cam member fixed to said twelve hour gear for moving said indexing lever back and forth once each twelve hours;

for cooperating with said 7-day wheel to move said 7-day wheel two increments each day to rotate said 7-day wheel one revolution each seven days;

(m) a trip lever positioned between the pull pin abutments on said 7-day Wheel and said alarm shut off lever, said pull pin abutments being arranged to move said trip lever as said 7-day wheel is rotated by said indexing lever, and said trip lever being arranged to move said alarm shut off lever out of engagement with said vibrator arm when one of said abutments engages and moves said trip lever; and

' (n) each of said pull pin abutments being movable relative to said 7-day wheel so that they may be selectively moved out of the path of engagement with said trip lever to thereby allow the alarm shut off lever to remain in engagement with the vibrator arm to thereby prevent vibration thereof on the days selected to be skipped.

- 5. An alarm clock comprising:

(c) an alarm mechanism including a resilient vibrator arm mounted on said base plate for causing an audible signal upon vibration thereof;

(d) an intermediate lever having a first portion operably connected to said cam gear wheel and a second portion operably connected to said vibrator for restraining and permitting vibratory movement of said vibrator at the preset time;

(e) a manually operable alarm shut off lever, said shut olf lever having a portion thereon engageable with said vibrator arm to restrain vibratory movement thereof;

(f) a 7-day mechanism supporting structure including a front plate and a base plate;

(g) a 7-day wheel. mounted on said 7-day mechanism base plate, said 7-day wheel having a plurality of movable abutment members mounted thereon;

a (h) an indexing lever having a bifurcated end portion (i) a trip lever positioned between the abutments on said 7-day wheel and said alarm shut off lever, said abutments being arranged to move said trip lever as said 7-day wheel is rotated by said indexing lever,

12 and said trip lever being arranged to move said alarm shut off lever out of engagement with said vibrator arm when one of said abutments engages and moves said trip lever; and

(j) each of said abutments being movable relative to said 7-day wheel so that one or more of said abutments may be moved out of the path of said trip lever to thereby allow the alarm shut off lever to remain in engagement with said vibrator arm.

6. An alarm clock as defined in claim 5 wherein a pivot pin is fixed to the base plate of said 7-day mechanism and said trip lever is mounted on said pivot pin.

7. An alarm clock as defined in claim 6 wherein said pivot pin extends forwardly from the base plate of said 7-day mechanism, a washer is fixed to the end of said pin, and said indexing lever is sandwiched between said washer and said trip lever.

8. An alarm clock as defined in claim 7 wherein four teen notches are formed in the outer periphery of said 7-day wheel, said notches corresponding to am. and p.m. portions of the 7 days of the week and the 7-day mechanism includes:

(a) spring biased detent means fixed to the base plate of said 7-day mechanism, said detent means being positioned in one of said notches for holding said 7-day wheel in an appropriate am. or pm. position of one of the days of the week as said indexing lever moves the 7-day wheel one-fourteenth of a revolution every twelve hours.

9. An alarm clock as defined in claim 5 wherein the front plate of said 7-day mechanism is fixed to the front plate of said clock supporting structure and said indexing lever extends from the abutments onsaid twelve hour wheel to said cam gear wheel in order to connect said 7-day mechanism to the clock structure.

10. An alarm clock comprising:

(a) a supporting structure;

(b) a cam gear wheel rotatably mounted on said supporting structure and driven at one revolution in twelve hours;

(c) an alarm mechanism having a resilient vibrator arm for causing an audible sound upon vibration thereof;

(d) an intermediate lever having a first portion operably connected to said cam gear wheel and a second portion operably connected to said vibrator arm for restraining and permitting vibratory movement of said vibrator arm at the preset time;

(e) a manually operable alarm shut off lever, said shut oif lever having a portion thereon engageable with said 'vibrator arm to restrain vibratory movement thereof;

(f) a 7-day wheel mounted on said supporting structure, said 7-day wheel including a sleeve axle having a centrally positioned radially extending annular abutment member and two discs axially arranged on said sleeve on opposite sides of said annual abutment, each of said discs including 7 equiangularly spaced apertures positioned between the center of each of said discs and the outer periphery of the discs, 7 axially movable index pin members inserted within the apertures formed in said discs, each of said index pin members having a radially inwardly extending albutment formed thereon for cooperating with the annular abutment formed on said sleeve so that each of said index pin members may be readily snapped into one of two positions, an in position wherein the abutment on the pin abuts an axially inner surface of said annular abutment and an out position wherein the abutment on said pin is in contact with an outer surface of said annular abutment;

(g) an indexing lever positioned between the twelve hour gear and the 7-day wheel, said twelve hour gear being arranged to move said indexing lever back and forth once each twelve hours and said indexing lever cooperating with said 7-day wheel trip lever to thereby allow the alarm shut ofi? lever for rotating said 7-day wheel one revolution each to remain in engagement with said vibrator arm. seven days; 7

(h) a trip lever positioned between the index pins on References Cted said 7-day wheel and said alarm shut oif lever, said 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS indexing pins being arranged to move said trip lever 2 5 2 712 7 95 Gilson as said 7-day wheel is rotated by said indexing lever, 2, 4 59 7 1953 Bower 5 5 and said trip lever being arranged to move said 2,651,166 9/1953 D rfin 5v 17 alarm shut oif lever out of engagement with said vibrator arm when one of said index pins engages 19 RICHARD WILKINSON, Pflmary Examiner and moves said p lever; and L. R. FRANKLIN, Assistant Examiner (i) each of said index pins being movable relative to said 7-day wheel so that one or more of said C X-R- index pins may be moved out of the path of said 15 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE (569 CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3.564.836 Dated February 23, 1971 Inventor(5) Robert L. Boyles It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

' Column 8, line 105 "inner" should read outer column 12, line "twelve hour" should read 7-day Signed and sealed this 21 st day of September 1 971 ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Acting Commissioner of Pat t SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. Attesting Officer

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