EP0634711A1 - Annual calendar mechanism for timepieces - Google Patents

Abstract

The annual calendar mechanism includes a calendar-entraining wheel (18) fitted with a finger (17) capable of entraining a calendar wheel (19) one notch at the end of each month. An annual wheel (25), entrained two notches once a month by a long tooth (23) carried by an intermediate wheel (21) itself enmeshing with the calendar wheel (19), includes a plate (27) carrying five teeth (28). If one of these five teeth, corresponding to one of the months with fewer than thirty-one days, shows up in the path of the finger (17), the annual wheel (25), from being driven becomes driving and entrains, via the intermediate wheel, the calendar wheel an extra notch. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to an annual calendar mechanism for a timepiece, this calendar being displayed, for example, through a window pierced in a dial or on divisions applied to a dial opposite which points a hand. This mechanism comprises a mobile date trainer making a revolution in twenty-four hours, said mobile being equipped with at least one finger capable of driving with a step and once a day a date wheel comprising thirty-one teeth, said wheel controlling the display of the date.

A date mechanism which broadly meets the definition just given is known for example from documents CH-A-538 136 and CH-A-661 171 (US-A-4 676 659). In these documents, there is also a twenty-four hour date driving wheel provided with a finger or a long tooth which drives a date disc bearing thirty-one indications. However, the finger does not directly drive the disc but an intermediate mobile which, for its part, drives this disc. This is of course an ordinary, non-perpetual calendar mechanism. At the end of the thirty-day months and at the end of February, it is then necessary to make a manual correction if one wishes not to lose the date.

Mechanisms with a perpetual calendar have been known for a long time, where a device automatically operates all the changes, be it months comprising twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty or thirty-one days. These mechanisms are described in detail in the book entitled "Modern watches-calendar" by B. Humbert - Editions Scriptar SA Lausanne 1953 (English version: "Modern calendar watches", Lausanne 1954). Thus, a perpetual calendar watch does not require manual correction of the date display at the end of the counting months less than thirty-one days. Similarly, every four years, at the advent of the leap year and in February, the watch will display the number twenty-nine before indicating the first of March.

Without going into details, we will mention here a mechanism using a cam of the month making a turn in four years. This cam has more or less deep notches: the solid parts correspond to the months of thirty-one days; shallow notches in the months of thirty days; three very deep notches in February of the common years (twenty-eight days) and the intermediate depth notch in February of the leap year. On this cam acts the spout of a lever returned by a spring. The depth of penetration of the spout will determine how much advance should be printed on the date indicator at the end of each month.

The mechanism briefly mentioned above uses levers and return springs, which leads to a relatively complicated construction which in turn requires a relatively large number of parts. On the other hand, it will be mentioned that such mechanisms do not always have safe operation, particularly if shocks are applied to the timepiece.

To obviate the aforementioned drawbacks, the present invention proposes to use only gears to the exclusion of all levers or rockers, these gears, on the one hand, being prevented from any untimely rotation even if shocks are applied to the timepiece and, on the other hand, having a clearly simplified construction and reduced height, all the more so since the date of the invention is limited to the automatic advance of the date only for the months of thirty days , the resetting must be done manually at the end of February. It is therefore an annual calendar and not perpetual.

To achieve this goal, the annual calendar mechanism according to the present invention is characterized in that the date wheel drives an intermediate wheel comprising thirty-one teeth of which thirty are truncated, the non-truncated tooth driving two steps and once per months a first board of an annual wheel carrying twenty-four teeth, this annual wheel comprising superimposed and jointly a second board carrying five teeth each corresponding to the months of less than thirty-one days, each of these teeth being arranged to be on the way of the finger of the mobile date trainer at the end of the months mentioned to drive the annual wheel by one step, which has the consequence of driving the date wheel by one more step at the end of said months, via said intermediate wheel.

• la figure 1 est une vue en plan d'une montre présentant un quantième à aiguille selon un premier mode d'exécution simplifié de l'invention,
• la figure 2 est une vue en plan du mécanisme de quantième équipant la montre de la figure 1,
• la figure 3 est une vue en plan d'une montre présentant un quantième à aiguille rétrograde et à affichage des jours et des mois selon un second mode d'exécution plus complet de l'invention,
• la figure 4 est une vue en plan du mécanisme de quantième équipant la montre de la figure 3 montrant la situation des rouages le 30 avril à 23 heures,
• la figure 5 est analogue à la figure 4, la situation des rouages étant celle présentée le 30 avril à minuit,
• la figure 6 est analogue à la figure 4, la situation des rouages étant celle présentée le premier mai,
• la figure 7 est analogue à la figure 4, la situation des rouages étant celle présentée le 31 mai.
• la figure 8 est une coupe selon la ligne VIII-VIII de la figure 4,
• la figure 9 est une coupe selon la ligne IX-IX de la figure 5,
• la figure 10 est une coupe selon la ligne X-X de la figure 4 et
• la figure 11 est une vue en plan de la roue annuelle de la figure 4 qui explique la fonction de cette roue par rapport aux mois de l'année.

The invention will now be explained with the aid of the description which follows and of the drawings which illustrate it by way of example in which:

• FIG. 1 is a plan view of a watch presenting a date with a hand according to a first simplified embodiment of the invention,
• FIG. 2 is a plan view of the date mechanism fitted to the watch of FIG. 1,
• FIG. 3 is a plan view of a watch showing a date with a retrograde hand and displaying days and months according to a second, more complete embodiment of the invention,
• FIG. 4 is a plan view of the date mechanism fitted to the watch in FIG. 3 showing the situation of the gear train on April 30 at 11 p.m.
• FIG. 5 is similar to FIG. 4, the situation of the cogs being that presented on April 30 at midnight,
• FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 4, the situation of the cogs being that presented on May 1,
• Figure 7 is similar to Figure 4, the situation of the cogs being that presented on May 31.
• FIG. 8 is a section along the line VIII-VIII of FIG. 4,
• FIG. 9 is a section along the line IX-IX of FIG. 5,
• Figure 10 is a section along line XX of Figure 4 and
• Figure 11 is a plan view of the annual wheel of Figure 4 which explains the function of this wheel with respect to the months of the year.

The plan view of FIG. 1 shows a watch fitted, apart from the hour hands 70, minutes 71 and seconds 72, with a date hand 16 indicating the dates 63 distributed uniformly around a dial 15. The time setting can be done by means of the crown 61. This embodiment does not show either the day or the month and its mechanism, therefore simplified, appears in FIG. 2. This simplified mode has been chosen to explain the he invention in what is essential, but it will be observed that without the display of the month, it would be difficult to put back to the date a watch which has been stopped for a long time. This is therefore more of a textbook case chosen to describe the very basis of the invention.

The mechanism of FIG. 2 mainly presents four mobiles which entirely define the invention, namely a mobile calendar driver 18, a calendar wheel 19, an intermediate wheel 21 and an annual wheel 25. The arrows indicate the direction of rotation of the mobiles for each of them.

The mobile date trainer 18 makes a turn in twenty-four hours and is activated by a movement classic or electronic watchmaking which is located under the plane of FIG. 2 and is therefore not apparent. To this mobile 18 is attached a finger 17 capable of driving one step and once a day the date wheel 19 comprising thirty-one teeth 20. FIG. 2 shows that the date wheel 19 directly carries the hand date 16 which could be replaced by a date disc whose indications would appear through a window, or which could control a retrograde date system as will appear below. In turn, the date wheel 19 drives the intermediate wheel 21 which carries thirty-one teeth of which thirty 22 are truncated. The thirty-first non-truncated tooth 23 drives a first board 24 of an annual wheel 25 carrying twenty-four teeth 26 and advances this annual wheel 25 two steps and once a month. On this first board 24 is mounted in superposition and jointly a second board 27 which carries five long teeth 28 each corresponding to the months of less than thirty-one days, namely the months of February, April, June, September and November (see also Figure 11). It is arranged that each of these teeth 28 is on the path of the finger 17 of the movable calendar coach 18 and this at the end of the months which have just been mentioned. Consequently, the annual wheel is driven by one step, which results in driving, via the intermediate wheel 21, the date wheel 19 by an additional step at the end of the cited months of thirty days. Thus the annual wheel 25, which normally is driven once a month by the intermediate wheel 21, becomes a driving wheel by the action of the finger 17 and advances the date wheel 19 by one step.

FIG. 2 also shows that a jumper 30 is disposed on the toothing 26 of the first board 24 of the annual wheel 25, first to position it angularly when it is not actuated, then to prevent it from turning when it is engaged neither with the finger 17, nor with the non-truncated tooth 23. In the same FIG. 2 we also see that a jumper 31 is arranged on the teeth 20 of the date wheel 19 to position it angularly when it is not actuated, this allowing perfect indexing of the date hand 16 opposite the date indications 63.

A second embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 3 to which correspond the mechanisms of FIGS. 4 to 10. This second mode is distinguished from the first by the fact that it includes discs for day displays 37 and month 32, a mobile date trainer 18 carrying two fingers 17 and 41 and, incidentally, a retrograde date hand 62. As can be seen in FIG. 3, the indication of day 73 appears in a window 74 and the indication of month 75 in a window 60. Days 73 and months 75 are affixed respectively to the discs 37 and 32 which appear, without indication, in FIGS. 4 to 7.

Figures 4 to 7 show the annual calendar mechanism at different times, from April 30 at 11 p.m. to May 31, times which will be reviewed below. We will now define what these figures have in common.

As in Figure 2, we find in Figures 4 to 7 the date driving wheel 18 (axis 7), the date wheel 19 (axis 1), the intermediate wheel 21 (axis 5) and the annual wheel 25 (axis 6). It will be observed that the mechanism includes a display of the months comprising a star 33 with twelve teeth 34 (axis 3), indexed by a jumper 35. The star 33 carries the disc for months 32 whose indications 75 (not shown in FIGS. 4 to 7) appear in the window 60 visible in FIG. 3. The star 33 is controlled once a month by a finger 36 secured to the intermediate wheel 21. It will also be observed that the mechanism includes a display of the days of the week comprising a star 38 with seven teeth 39 (axis 4) indexed by a jumper 40. The star 38 carries the disc for days 37, the indications 73 (not shown in FIGS. 4 to 7) appear in the window 74 visible in FIG. 3. The star 38 is ordered once per day by the finger 17 of the movable date trainer 18. Thus this finger 17, by turning, first advances the date wheel 20 by one step by pushing one of the teeth 20 of said wheel and then advances the star 38 by one step by pushing one of the teeth 39 of said star.

As already mentioned above, the mobile date trainer 18 carries a second raised finger 41 (see section of FIG. 8), intended to drive the teeth 28 of the second board 27 of the annual wheel 25. In this construction, the angle made by the two fingers is of the order of 75 ° and is intended for a rapid passage from the 30th of a month to thirty days to the first of the following month, while in the execution of FIG. 2 comprising only a finger, several hours are necessary to operate this passage in two stages.

It has already been mentioned that the second embodiment has a retrograde date system. This is an arbitrary choice, foreign to the present invention, this date may be with a needle over 360 ° or even at a window. This retrograde date has a wheel 43 integral and coaxial with the date wheel 19, the teeth 44 of which mesh with the teeth 52 of a retrograde wheel 51 (axis 2) returned by a spiral spring 53. The retrograde wheel 51 is held in place by a plate 50 which is crossed by the axis 2 on which is fitted the date hand 62 (see also section of FIG. 10). Such a mechanism was described in application CH-A-681,761 on behalf of the same applicant. There is therefore no reason to return to it here.

Figures 4 to 7 finally show that the mechanism is provided with a rapid correction system 42 for the indication of the date. This system known per se comprises a first pinion 56 (axis 9) controlled by the crown 61 of the timepiece. This pinion is engaged with a second sliding pinion 54 (axis 8) whose teeth mesh with the teeth 20 of the date wheel provided that the crown is driven in a determined direction. If the crown is driven in the opposite direction, the sliding pinion 54 emerges from the toothing 20. The figures show that the pinion 54 is held in height by a blade 55 fixed to the plate by a screw 14.

We will now review Figures 4 to 7 one by one to explain how the annual calendar works. The arrows affixed in FIG. 4 indicate in which direction each of the mobiles turns.

Figure 4 shows the status of the mechanism on April 30 at 11 p.m. The date hand indicates April 30. The finger 41 of the driving mobile 18 is on the path of a long tooth 28 of the second board 27 of the annual wheel 25. The non-truncated tooth 23 of the intermediate wheel 21 is in abutment on the side of one of the teeth 26 of the first plate 24 of the annual wheel 25. The finger 36 of the intermediate wheel 21 penetrates between two teeth 34 of the star 33. The disc 32 displays the month of April.

Figure 5 shows the status of the mechanism at midnight on April 30. The finger 41 of the driving mobile 18 has pushed the tooth 28 of the second board 27 of the annual wheel 25 by one step making this wheel 25 driving and therefore pushing in turn the non-truncated tooth 23 of the intermediate wheel 21 which is progressing with a step advancing the date wheel 19 by one step, the end of the step being provided by the jumper 31 coming to rest in the space between two teeth 20. The date hand displays the 31. The finger 36 of the intermediate wheel bears against a tooth 34 of the star 33 (see also section of Figure 9). Disk 32 still displays April. The finger 17 of the driving mobile 18 approaches a tooth 20 of the date wheel which it will strike in a few moments (see also section in Figure 9).

Figure 6 shows the status of the mechanism on May 1 at 8 p.m. The finger 17 of the driving mobile 18 has advanced the date wheel by one step releasing the retrograde wheel 51 which returns to its starting point. The date hand displays the 1. By progressing by one step, the date wheel 19 has advanced the intermediate wheel 21 by one step which in turn advances the star 33 by one step. The month disc displays May. The finger 17 passing clockwise from the position it had in FIG. 5 to the position that it occupies in FIG. 6 not only made the date wheel 19 advance by one step, as we have just said, but advanced the star of days 38 by one step, disc 37 now displaying the next day. During the operations described in connection with FIG. 6, the annual wheel 25, not driven, remained stationary. Figure 6 also shows, partially torn, the dial 15 of the timepiece with the indications 64 of the date. The calendar hand 62 is also partially suggested.

Figure 7 shows the status of the mechanism on May 31 at midnight. The date hand displays the 31 and the finger 17 of the driver 18 is about to push a tooth 20 of the date wheel 19 on the following date. The finger 41 has not encountered in its passage a long tooth 28 of the second plate 27 of the annual wheel 25. So for this month the date hand will successively indicate the 30 and the 31 before displaying the 1st June.

FIG. 11 is a partial resumption of FIG. 4. It shows the annual wheel 25 and partially the driving wheel 18 and the intermediate wheel 21 in engagement with said annual wheel. It can be seen that the long teeth 28 of the second board 27 are placed around this board successively at 60 °, 60 °, 90 °, 60 °, 90 °. Yes these teeth which represent the months of February, April, June, September and November, are on the path of finger 41 of the driving wheel 18, the date will quickly go from 30 to 31, then from 31 to the 1st of the following month, as this was explained above. At the end of May, it is a short tooth 26 of the first board 24 which is an extension of the finger 41. Nothing therefore happens. The months of June and September are represented by the long teeth 28 between which are arranged the short teeth 26 which represent the months of July and August. Likewise the long teeth of September and November (months to thirty days) are separated by the short tooth of October (months to thirty-one days) the cycle continues with the months of November and February, separated by the months of December and January and ends with the months of February and April, separated by the month of March.

Finally, it will be mentioned that the mechanism can be completed by a wheel making a turn in four years, resembling the annual wheel 25 and engaged with it to make the system perpetual, that is to say taking into account, every year the number of days carried by the month of February, either 28, or 29 if it is a leap year.

Claims (7)

Annual calendar mechanism for a timepiece, this calendar being displayed through a window (60) pierced in a dial (15) or on divisions (63, 64) applied to the dial opposite which points a hand (16,62), this mechanism comprising a date driving mobile (18) making a turn in twenty-four hours, said mobile being equipped with at least one finger (17) capable of driving one step and once daily a date wheel (19) comprising thirty-one teeth (20), said wheel controlling the display of the date, characterized in that the date wheel (19) drives an intermediate wheel (21) comprising thirty-one teeth of which thirty (22) are truncated, the non-truncated tooth (23) driving two steps and once a month a first board (24) of an annual wheel (25) carrying twenty-four teeth (26), this wheel annual comprising superimposed and jointly a second board (27) carrying five den ts (28) each corresponding to the months of less than thirty-one days, each of these teeth being arranged to be on the path of the finger (17) of the mobile date trainer (18) at the end of the months mentioned to cause the annual wheel (25) of one step, which results in the drive of the date wheel (19) of an additional step at the end of said months, via said intermediate wheel (21). Mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that a jumper (30) is arranged on the toothing (26) of the first board (24) of the annual wheel (25) to position it angularly when it is not actuated . Mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that a jumper (31) is arranged on the teeth (20) of the date wheel (19) to position it angularly when it is not actuated. Mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that the five teeth (28) of the second board (27) of the annual wheel (25) are arranged around said second board successively at 60 °, 60 °, 90 °, 60 ° and 90 °. Mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a display (32) of the months comprising a star (33) with twelve teeth (34) indexed by a jumper (35), the star being controlled once a month by a finger (36) secured to the intermediate wheel (21). Mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a display (37) of the days comprising a star (38) with seven teeth (39) indexed by a jumper (40), the star being controlled once a day by the finger (17) carried by the mobile date trainer (18). Mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a rapid corrector (42) engaged on the date wheel (19), said corrector being controlled by the crown (61) which the timepiece presents.

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