DE3708578A1 - CLOCK FOR TIME DISPLAY IN SHORT-TIME UNITS LIKE HOURS, MINUTES OR SECONDS - Google Patents

Abstract

A watch provides all the technical conditions necessary for problem-free improved introduction of summer time without abrupt major time changes. An accessory for commercially available watches can display any desired time, in addition to the standard time (t) displayed by the watch, so that the deviation from the standard time (t), starting from one day (day A) determined from a date A on the calendar to another day (day B) determined from a date B on the calendar of each calendar year, corresponds to a first discretionary function (f1(t)) of the standard time elapsed since day A which can be adjusted on the watch, and thereafter, i.e., from day B to the corresponding day A of the next calendar year, the displayed time deviates from the standard time (t) such that the deviation corresponds to a second discretionary function (f2(t)) of the standard time elapsed since day A which can be adjusted on the watch.

Description

The application concerns a watch with the features according to the generic term of claim 1. However, the invention is basically applicable on all kinds of commercially available watches, for example in the form of a Wrist watch, pocket watch, car watch or the like.

The watch can be mechanical, electrical, electronic or other Operated in a manner.

Clocks of this type with double time display are known in which by a simple switching process instead of a first one set time either a second previously on the clock set time can be displayed.

The optional second time is at the first time in the Relationship, that you give her a firm, respective attitude corresponding amount of time ahead - or lagging behind. The double time display allows air travelers, for example, on the one they carry Both the time that applies to the place of departure as also the possibly different time, which applies to the place of arrival read.

In a number of countries, including most European countries So-called summer time has been introduced for the summer months of the calendar year.

Main goal for the z. Currently in Germany as well as in other countries Existing daylight saving time regulations are in response to those for the latitude of our country over the calendar year significant fluctuations in daily sunrise and sunset times that for the main human activities  Set up the relevant time of day so that the Play main activities mainly in the bright phase of the day. In Germany, the sunrise times are between June and December by more than 4 hours apart.

One hoped from the introduction of the summer time regulation. a. a significant energy saving that has been proven in limited Scope could also be achieved.

Fig. 1 illustrates in schematic form the effects of the current summer time regulation. The ordinate shows the twenty-four hours of a calendar day. The abscissa corresponds to the time period of a year, whereby the calendar day of the year on which the light phase is shortest was placed in the zero point.

The solid bottom line corresponds to the daily sunrise time, the solid line of the daily sunset time. At Neglecting the influence of the twilight phases is between the two solid lines that are considerable over the year Fluctuates daily bright phase.

If you take the activities of human activity relevant to the energy industry Life for the daily between the dashed lines Period, it becomes clear that in the summer months part the daily light phases, namely the shaded area, would remain unused if there were no daylight saving time regulation.

This stipulates that on a largely arbitrarily fixed day A , which is around Easter, usually a Sunday, the clocks are set for the likewise largely arbitrary period of one hour. This measure is canceled about half a year later on a day illustrated with B in FIG. 1.

Due to the summer time - as Fig. 1 shows - the daily light phase is better used in the time of the year between calendar days A and B , because the activities relevant to the energy industry now take place in the daytime between the lines shown in dash-dotted lines in Fig. 1.

The current summer time regulation is unsatisfactory in several respects. On the one hand, it has to be carried out twice Jump in time, which for some of the population has difficulty in changing brings with it. Think z. B. on animal husbandry Farmers whose animals are not readily available today Accept food one hour earlier or later tomorrow, give milk, Laying eggs etc. On the other hand and here in opposite directions is the time jump of an hour not even big enough to look for energy An optimal energy saving result to effect.

Hence the need for an improved summer time regulation, for example, one with no erratic, but gradual, extended transition from normal time to summer time and back to normal time. The improved summer time regulation should be the energy industry Optimally take account of aspects without doing so for parts of the population associated with changeover problems of any kind to be.

The object of the invention is therefore to create a watch from a technical point of view all prerequisites for problem-free Introduces improved daylight saving time regulation.

In a broader sense, the object of the invention is to create a watch that makes it possible, in addition to normal time - that's in Germany Central European Time (CET) - to display a fictitious time  according to the individual wishes of the user of the watch the year according to a certain wanted rule from the normal time deviates. There should be a wide range of wanted rules for the deviation can be realized and the clock is nevertheless easier Way can be set and operated.

This object is achieved in that an additional device on a commercially available watch is such that a time at the normal time (t) can be displayed in such a way that its deviation from the normal time (t) is determined by a calendar date A. Day (day A) of each calendar year beginning, up to a determined by a calendar date B day (day B) of each calendar year of a selectable and on the clock adjustable first function (f ₁ (t)) of the normal time elapsed from day A. (t) , and thereafter, ie from day B to the corresponding day A of the following calendar year, the displayed time differs from the normal time (t) in such a way that the deviation of a second function that can be selected and set on the clock ( f ₂ (t) ) corresponds to the normal time (t) elapsed from day A , where

• a) at least one time displayed on days A matches the normal time (t) ,
• b) the deviation determined according to the first function (f ₁ (t)) for at least one time displayed on days B is equal to the deviation determined according to the second function (f ₂ (t)) ,
• c) days A and B can also be selected and set on the clock,

and where

• d) once the days A and B and the two functions (f ₁ (t) , f ₂ (t)) on the clock have been set, the same automatically repeats the time display optionally used to display the normal time (t) , until a new and possibly different setting is made.

Advantageous configurations of the clock according to the invention are specified in subclaims 2 to 10.

It is clear that the clock according to the invention easily meets the needs of its user for an individually selectable, normal time alternative display, because a variety of desired time deviation rules can be set by simply setting the days A and B or the functions f ₁ (t ) and f ₂ (t) can be realized. The time deviating from the normal time (t) runs continuously and without time jumps.

This offers the possibility of using the clock according to the invention in the context of an improved summer time control, in which the optionally displayable time, for example in winter, corresponds to the normal time, while it then corresponds in a gradual transition to a summer time which deviates from the normal time, one after From an energy-economic point of view, a more favorable, ie greater, maximum deviation than that which can now be introduced under the now unsatisfactory summer time regulation, without this being associated with conversion difficulties for the population, because there are no large abrupt jumps in time. For example, it would be possible to set days A and B to coincide with the beginning or end of a desired daylight saving period. The functions f ₁ (t) could be set as a sine or cosine function which runs more or less parallel to the curve of the daily sunrise times and whose function value on days A and B is zero, ie the summer time would be on days A and B. match normal time. The function f ₂ (t) could be entered as a constant zero, which means that the "winter time", beginning with day B and up to the following calendar date A , would be displayed without deviation and as identical to normal time. The clock according to the invention can also be easily adapted to other than the previously described improved summer time regulations.

Of course, the clock according to the invention can also be advantageous can be used without presupposing a political decision improved daylight saving time regulation has been introduced as a general rule. It is easily for freelancers, pensioners, pensioners, self-employed, Farmers, individual farms and generally for everyone those who look at the timing of their daily activities can essentially divide freely, for example in the sense of a individually introduced improved summer time regulation applicable.

It is understood that the invention includes a number of special cases. It is Z. B. conceivable to set days A and B so that they fall on the same calendar date. The function f ₁ (t) could be the same as the function f ₂ (t) . The functions f ₁ (t) and f ₂ (t) can be any function according to the mathematical function type; e.g. B. Polynomials.

Furthermore, in a modification of the invention it would be possible in general to specify any number "n" of days A ₁, A ₂ ... to A _n instead of just two days A and B and to assign time deviation functions f ₁ to the respective periods between these individual days ( t) , f ₂ (t) , ... to f _n (t) .

It would also be conceivable for the clock according to the invention to have an influence leap year correction of optional leap years scheduled time. The leap year correction could e.g. B. be such that the clock on February 29 of the leap year the display of the optional time from February 28 is repeated unchanged  and on the other days of the leap year as well as in one Indicates non-leap year. In this way, one could do the same Time display for the same calendar days of each year, leap years included, achieve.

Equipped with the features according to one or more of claims 3 to 10, the watch according to the invention can be adapted extremely easily and with only a few adjustment processes to the needs of its user for an optional time display which differs from normal time (t) .

A preferred embodiment of the invention is shown below with reference to FIG. 2.

The watch according to the example is a commercially available electronic watch, but with additional means for setting one of the normal time (t) - which is in Germany, the Central European Time - is equipped different, optionally displayable time (t '). The additional device is such that it has a first function

f ₁ (t) = 2 · x · t

and the second function

f ₂ (t) = 2 x (1 - t)

are firmly "wired".  

The variable t is the dimensionless value to be used in the equations for the normal time (t), expressed in the time unit "year", from a day A of the year determined by a calendar date A.

X is a constant that can be set on the clock with different values in the dimension of the time unit "hour", which must be used in the functional equations with dimensions.

Day A can be set on the watch as any calendar day of the year.

The additional device is designed so that it has a set day A according to the same rule

B = Δ + A

always assigns a day B.

In the clock according to the example, Δ has the value "wired" in the additional device 1/2 year, the year taken in normal time (t) .

In FIG. 2, the abscissa represents the normal time (t) on the ordinate on the same scale of the normal time (t) corresponding to a set of clock control different and, optionally, at the normal time (t) displayable time (t ′) .

The clock according to the example can be set in a first setting state so that day A was entered as January 1. January 1 is one of those calendar days of the year when the sunrise is extremely late.

At the same time as day A is set, day B is set in the clock in such a way that it falls on the calendar date that follows day A every 1/2 year. In addition to setting the day A , the clock can still be set in its first setting state so that the constant X was entered with zero hours.

The clock thus set in a first setting state realizes the first and the second with its additional equipment Function in such a way that

f ₁ (t) = 2 · 0 · t = 0

and

f ₂ (t) = 2 · 0 · (1 - t) = 0

is. This means that with the settings made, the optionally displayable time (t ′) for both the period beginning on January 1 of the year and ending with day B , ie, 1/2 year later, as well as following and until is issued on January 1 of the following year with the same deviation 0.

So in this case

t = t ′

or in other words, the optionally displayable time (t ') is identical to the normal time (t) for the entire year, which corresponds to the diagonal solid line in FIG. 2. Of course, the described first setting state of the clock is not suitable for using the clock for the purpose of improved summer time regulation. It only serves to explain the functioning of the clock according to the invention.

In a second setting state of the clock, day A is again entered as January 1, but constant X is entered for 3 hours. The additional device then implements the first and the second time deviation function in such a way that

f ₁ (t) = 2 · 3 · t

and

f ₂ (t) = 2 · 3 · (1 - t)

where, as stated above, the variable t is a numerical value inserted dimensionlessly into the equations but linked to the time unit "year", so that the function values representing the time deviations result in the time unit "hour".

Since f ₁ (t) is the deviation of the optionally displayable time (t ') from the normal time (t) within the period beginning on January 1 and ending with day B , ie 1/2 year later, z. B. for the point in time exactly 1/4 year later than day A (or later than e.g. 0 o'clock on day A) , that the optionally displayable time (t ') at the same time is around that value of the normal time (t) deviates, which results if one uses the value 1/4 for t in the function f ₁ (t) , ie the deviation is

f ₁ (t = 1/4 year) = 2 · 3 · 1/4 = 1.5 hours.

In the same way, for other times after day A (January 1) and before day B (1/2 year after January 1), the deviation of the time that can be displayed (t ′) is shown by the clock. from normal time (t) .

Overall, there is a linear relationship between t and t ' ; such that starting with day A (or 0 o'clock of this day) the optionally displayable time (t ') of the normal time (t) leads increasingly linearly. In particular, the maximum of the advance on day B , ie at 0 o'clock on the day following January 1 1/2 years later, is equal to the value that was entered for the constant X , in the case of the example 3 hours. Corresponding to the second time deviation function f ₂ (t) determined at the same time as the input of the constant X , the lead of the optionally displayable time (t ′) starting with the day B decreases in a linear manner from the value

X = 3 hours

except for the value 0 on day A , which is January 1st of the following year. The watch then repeats the optionally displayable time (t ') in the manner described until it is possibly changed to a changed setting.

In Fig. 2, the dashed line illustrates the time course of the optionally displayable time (t ') for the explained second setting state of the clock. For a better representation, the ordinate values for the respective time deviation (shown in FIG. 2 as the distance between the dashed line and the solid, diagonal line drawn in the direction of the ordinate) are shown greatly exaggerated.

It should be noted that the described second setting state of the clock at the same time as an alternative to the current regulation possible improved summer time regulation corresponds.  

The illustrated examples clearly show that the clock according to the invention, despite a large number of possible variations for the optionally displayable time (t '), is very easily adjustable and is therefore user-friendly.

The complete setting of an optional time (t ′) on the clock that deviates from the normal time (t) according to a desired rule requires only two individual settings, namely one for the date A and another for the value X , which is also in for the user of the watch very clearly indicates the amount of the maximum deviation of the optionally displayable time (t ') compared to the normal time (t) .

Claims (10)

1. Clock for displaying the time in short-term units such as hours, minutes or seconds, with a power supply, a device powered by it for generating a periodically repeating physical event with an adjustable period, if necessary, a counting device for continuously determining the number of those occurring from a zero time physical events, with a display device which, depending on the respective count value of the counting device, indicates the normal time, that is the Central European time in Germany in the short-term units, and with an additional device for setting a time that differs from the normal time, optionally at the normal time displayable time, characterized in that the additional means is arranged such that is displayable to the normal time (t) optionally time (t ') in such a way that its deviation from the normal time (t) with a best by a calendar date a Immten day (day A) of each calendar year beginning, up to a given by a calendar date B day (day B) of each calendar year a selectable and adjustable on the clock first function (f ₁ (t)) of the normal from day A elapsed Time (t) corresponds, and that thereafter, ie from day B to the corresponding day A of the following calendar year, the displayed time (t ') from the normal time (t) so that the deviation of a selectable and at the Clock adjustable second function (f ₂ (t) ) corresponds to the time elapsed from day A (t) , whereby

• a) at least one time (t ′) displayed on days A matches the normal time (t) ,
• b) the deviation determined according to the first function (f ₁ (t)) for at least one time (t ′) displayed on days B is equal to the deviation determined according to the second function (f ₂ (t)) ,
• c) days A and B can also be selected and set on the clock, and whereby
• d) once the days A and B and the two functions (f ₁ (t) , f ₂ (t)) on the clock have been set, the same automatically repeats the time display optionally used to display the normal time (t) , until a new and possibly different setting is made.

2. Clock according to claim 1, characterized in that the optionally displayable time (t ') beginning with the day A and leading to the day B of the normal time (t) occurring thereafter progressively and progressively and that thereafter and up to that corresponding day A of the following calendar year, the advance of the optionally displayed time (t ′) steadily decreases compared to normal time. 3. Clock according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the setting of day B takes place together and simultaneously with the setting of day A , such that a selected and set day A is always a by the relationship B = by the structure of the additional device Δ + A determined day B is assigned, where Δ is an integer number of days. 4. Clock according to claim 3, characterized in that a certain numerical value for Δ is fixed by the structure of the additional device. 5. Clock according to claim 3, characterized in that different numerical values for Δ can be set on the clock. 6. Clock according to one or more of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that certain functions (f ₁ (t) , f ₂ (t)) of the variables t according to the mathematical function type are predetermined by the structure of the additional device and that the setting option of these functions is given by the selectable adjustability of one or more constants contained in them. 7. Clock according to one or more of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the functions (f ₁ (t) , f ₂ (t)) are sine or cosine functions. 8. Clock according to one or more of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the functions (f ₁ (t) , f ₂ (t)) are linear functions. 9. Clock according to claim 8, characterized in that in an assignment of days A and B to each other such that day B is half a calendar year later than day A , the first function f ₁ (t) = 2 · x · t and the second function is f ₂ (t) = 2 · x · (1 - t) , where the variable t is the numerical value to be used dimensionlessly in the equations of the normal time (t) expressed in the time unit year and expired from day A. , and the constant X indicates the numerical value to be used in the equations for a desired maximum advance that occurs after six months. 10. Clock according to claim 9, characterized in that the setting option for the functions (f ₁ (t) , f ₂ (t)) is given by the selectable adjustability of the value for the constant x , while the other mathematical elements of the two linear Functions are predefined by the correspondingly designed additional device.