EP1319998A1 - Leuchtzeiger und diese aufweisendes Anzeigegerät, insbesondere für eine Uhr - Google Patents

Leuchtzeiger und diese aufweisendes Anzeigegerät, insbesondere für eine Uhr Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1319998A1
EP1319998A1 EP01204843A EP01204843A EP1319998A1 EP 1319998 A1 EP1319998 A1 EP 1319998A1 EP 01204843 A EP01204843 A EP 01204843A EP 01204843 A EP01204843 A EP 01204843A EP 1319998 A1 EP1319998 A1 EP 1319998A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
needle
light
head
reflectors
axis
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP01204843A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP1319998B1 (de
Inventor
Yvan Ferri
Jean-Jacques Born
René Viennet
Joseph Ricchiuto
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Asulab AG
Original Assignee
Asulab AG
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Asulab AG filed Critical Asulab AG
Priority to DE60139263T priority Critical patent/DE60139263D1/de
Priority to EP20010204843 priority patent/EP1319998B1/de
Publication of EP1319998A1 publication Critical patent/EP1319998A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1319998B1 publication Critical patent/EP1319998B1/de
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G04—HOROLOGY
    • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
    • G04B19/00—Indicating the time by visual means
    • G04B19/30—Illumination of dials or hands
    • G04B19/305—Illumination of dials or hands the hands carrying the light source

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a needle comprising a part made of a transparent material capable of being illuminated so that the needle becomes bright and visible even in the dark, especially in a device analog display such as that of a timepiece.
  • the invention also relates to an analog display device for a room. horology, comprising such hands.
  • the invention further relates to a watch comprising such a display device.
  • a goal additional consists of arranging a needle of transparent material so as to especially illuminate certain parts of the body of the needle, so that its position be clearly visible to the observer even if the power available to illuminate the needle is weak.
  • the present invention relates to a needle for an analog display device, especially in a room timepiece, comprising a piece of transparent material which forms a body and a needle head, said head being centered relative to an axis of rotation of the needle and arranged to receive a light flux on its underside and distribute at least part of this flow in the transparent material, characterized in that the head of the needle comprises a plurality of reflectors distributed in said head and arranged to reflect a part of said luminous flux towards the body of the needle.
  • a display device for luminous hands for a timepiece comprising: a dial; needles coaxial arranged above the dial and each comprising a piece in transparent material which forms a head and a needle body, the respective heads needles being superimposed and attached to respective shafts to rotate around a common axis of rotation; and a stationary light source arranged to illuminate all of the needle heads from below by means of a luminous flux substantially parallel to the axis of rotation; the device being characterized in that at at least two of the needles are made in accordance with the first aspect of the invention.
  • the reflectors are located roughly the same distance from the axis of rotation, but this distance is different from one needle to another to avoid a reflector a lower needle completely masks a reflector of the overlying needle.
  • the reflectors can advantageously be distributed in the head of the needle not only near the body of the needle, but also in parts of the head located at a distance from this body. Intercept a share of the axial luminous flux over different regions around the needle head provides several advantages.
  • the reflectors may have a larger total area and therefore intercept more light than a reflector placed opposite the body of the needle as provided for in document WO 96/02810.
  • the light source is formed by two or more small elements, spaced from each other around the axis of rotation, an adequate distribution of the reflectors provides a intensity of reflected light which varies less, during the rotation of the needle, than with a single reflector located opposite the body.
  • some of the reflectors can advantageously have different respective orientations, which allows light to be preferentially directed towards certain regions of the needle, either to illuminate more specifically these regions, or to obtain a fairly uniform light distribution taking into account the shape of the needle.
  • FIG 1 there is shown schematically the outer contour of the case of a wristwatch 1 provided with a time display device including in particular a dial 10, an hour hand 11 and a hand minutes 12, these needles being fixed to respective coaxial shafts 13 and 14 driven by a clockwork movement not shown, in order to revolve around their common axis 15.
  • the dial 10 is placed on a dial support 16 and these two elements have a central hole 17 in which is fixed a light guide 18 formed by the wall of a cylindrical tube of transparent material, which extends around shafts 13 and 14.
  • the light source 21 is formed by a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) 23 which are distributed around the shafts and mounted on the printed circuit board 20 according to the SMD technique.
  • Diodes 23 are preferably in number of three and are distributed uniformly around the axis, in this case at 120 ° from each other. They are all on at the same time time, for example thanks to a control circuit mounted on the card 20 and set action by means of a manual organ such as a push button of the watch.
  • the watch movement can be of any type. If he is electronic, it can be mounted either on the underside of the circuit board printed 20, or another card located below.
  • the hands 11 and 12 are intended to be internally illuminated by the light source 21, to facilitate the reading of the time and in particular to make it time possible in the dark.
  • the dial is not illuminated in the example shown here, but it can be expected, as will be explained later.
  • the hour hand 11 has a central metal sleeve 26 and a part 27 ( Figure 4) of transparent material which forms an elongated body 28 and a head circular 29 of the needle, the head 29 having a central hole 30 in which is fixed the sleeve 26.
  • the part 27 can advantageously be a part molded in material synthetic, for example PMMA, produced by overmolding on the sleeve metallic. The latter is fixed on the corresponding shaft 14 in the manner usual.
  • the body 28 of the needle preferably has a triangular shape or trapezoidal in plan, but other shapes are possible as required.
  • the minute hand 12 conventionally arranged above the hour hand 11, also includes a central metal sleeve 32 and a part 33 of transparent material (FIG. 3) comprising an elongated body 34 and a circular head 35 provided with a central hole 36 where the socket 32 is fixed.
  • This part transparent 33 can be made in the same way as part 27 on the other needle, with a head of the same size but a longer body.
  • the upper side of the head 35 of the minute hand is covered with an opaque cover 37 which has been omitted in Figures 2 and 3 to clarify the drawings.
  • reflectors 40 are distributed in the head 29 of the hour hand 11, around the central hole 30 of this head. In the present case, these reflectors are eleven in number and are all located approximately the same distance R1 from the axis of rotation 15. Likewise, several reflectors 41 are distributed in the head 35 of the minute hand 12. In the present case, the reflectors 41 are new and are located substantially at the same distance R2 from the axis 15. This distance R2 is smaller than R1, so that each reflector 41 can always receive a part of the axial light flow coming from the light guide 18 through the needle of the 11 hours, without risking being entirely in the shade of one of the reflectors 40 of this needle. Such a risk is also avoided by the fact that the number and distribution reflectors are different from one needle to another.
  • Each of reflectors 40 and 41 is preferably formed by an oblique surface of a hollow 43 (FIG. 6) in the form of dihedral formed in the transparent head of each needle, one of the faces of the dihedral forming the oblique reflector and the other face 44 of the dihedral being substantially vertical, that is to say parallel to the axis of rotation 15, in order to intercept as little as possible of the flow axial light.
  • the other faces 45 of each hollow 43 are also vertical for the same reason.
  • the transparent part forming the body 28, 34 and the head 29, 35 of each needle is flat, so that the thickness of the head is the same as that of the needle body.
  • the reflectors 40 and 41 can extend to across the entire thickness of this piece and are tilted at about 45 ° from axis 15 and to the light beam, to reflect the light from the latter towards the interior of the body of each needle.
  • the reflectors 40 and 41 generally have different orientations, on the one hand to distribute the light reflected in the body of the needle and, on the other hand, so that the light reflected by the most distant reflectors from the body passes as much as possible between reflectors located closer to the body. This is why these are more widely spaced than the former.
  • the reflectors distant from the body are oriented so as to avoid returning the light to the central hole 30, 36 of the head.
  • An opaque coating preferably reflective, is applied to the surface device 46, 47 of each needle head 29, 35 to prevent light leakage outward at this location.
  • a needle as described here can also be made of glass cut and polished.
  • any light ray arriving from below on a reflector in a direction substantially parallel to the axis 15 undergoes a total internal reflection, provided that the refractive index of the material transparent is greater than ⁇ 2, which is the case for PMMA, for various types of glass and other transparent materials which can be used to make such needles.
  • the total internal reflection allows more light energy to be directed towards the body the needle that you could not do with metal reflectors.
  • the guide Light 18 can also be made from one of the materials mentioned above.
  • the three light-emitting diodes 23 are small and therefore almost point. Each of them emits light with a strong predominance in the axial direction, that is to say parallel to the axis 15. A part of the light which is not parallel to this axis can be reflected by total reflection inside the guide 18 by the cylindrical faces of it. A reflective coating can be applied to the lower part of the lateral surfaces of the guide, where the incident rays are too obliques to fulfill the condition of total internal reflection. However, the intensity of the light coming out of the upper surface of the guide towards the needles is not not uniform all around the beam.
  • the distribution of reflectors 40 and 41 is chosen so that the share of reflected light in each needle varies relatively little during rotation of the needle. This distribution therefore depends on the number of diodes forming the source bright 21.
  • the light guide 18 As the light guide 18 is fixed relative to the diodes 23, it is possible to give it an optical configuration tending to produce at its output a optimal light beam, either to standardize the light intensity around the perimeter of the beam, so that most light rays have an axial direction at their exit from the guide.
  • the underside of the guide may have opposite of each diode a form producing a lens effect, in particular in the form Fresnel lenses. Similar arrangements can be provided on the face upper part of the guide.
  • the reflectors 41 are closer to the axis 15, while the reflectors 40 of the other needle are further from the axis.
  • the hole 30 of the lower needle 11 is larger and therefore could hardly be bypassed by the reflected light if the reflectors 40 were close to it.
  • the light intensity in the axial beam is a little bit larger near the interior, it is better to use this part of the beam to illuminate the needle higher, taking into account the dispersion and light losses in the head of the lower needle.
  • a more effective solution is to visualize the body of the needle using one or more light scattering surfaces which are preferably inclined in relation to the general plane of this body, in order to receive light directly from the reflectors, and are covered with white or colored paint, or fluorescent paint.
  • the painted areas also facilitate daytime visibility of the needle.
  • Figures 5 to 7 show an example of the arrangement of such surfaces diffusing 50 which are formed by the inclined sides of a groove 51 formed in the underside 52 of the body 28 of the hour hand.
  • the groove 51 can be formed during the molding of the transparent part.
  • Its layout preferably follows outer contour of the body 28 so that the observer can see substantially the same needle shape day and night.
  • this arrangement allows placing opaque structural or decorative elements in the middle area of the body the needle.
  • the paint can be applied simply in one coat, as it is represented by a bold line in the drawings, or fill the entire groove.
  • the other needle will be provided with a similar groove, but having a different layout.
  • diffusing surfaces 54 are formed directly by inclined sides of the underside of the body 28 of the needle.
  • the number of luminous needles is not limited to two.
  • a watch with a second hand in the center it can also be bright and made according to the principles set out above, so that the three coaxial hands are lit by the same axial light beam.
  • a non-luminous central second hand carried by a shaft which crosses the sleeve 32 and the cover 37 of the minute hand 12.
  • a needle produced according to the principles of the present invention can also be used as single hand of any indicator, for example on the dashboard of a automobile.
  • the plurality of reflectors distributed in the head of a needle according to the invention may also include reflectors arranged along the peripheral surface of the needle head and having an inclination close to 45 °.
  • this peripheral surface will preferably have a serrated shape, so that these reflectors direct the reflected light towards the body of the needle.
  • the body of the needle can have a variable thickness, for example thanks to a lower face which rises towards the point of the needle and which reflects upwards the incident rays.
  • This side inclined longitudinally may also have diffusing surfaces.
  • a thin plastic needle body is relatively deformable, in particular by thermal effects, provision can be made for stiffen by means of external or internal metallic elements, for example a radial bar welded to the central bush.
  • the light source 21 can be in other forms. We can in particular to use elongated or even annular light sources, to ensure better uniformity of light intensity around the axis.
  • the dial support 16 could be made of transparent material and combined with guide 18 in order to conduct part of the light from the source 21 below the dial to make certain light openings of the dial and / or hour markers arranged thereon.
  • the annular light guide 18 could be rotatable and secured to the nearest transparent part of the needle, in this case the hour hand 11 in the example of figure 1, in order to avoid a loss of light between these two elements.
  • the manufacture of this part would be more expensive than that of a flat needle.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Details Of Measuring Devices (AREA)
EP20010204843 2001-12-13 2001-12-13 Leuchtzeiger und diese aufweisendes Anzeigegerät, insbesondere für eine Uhr Expired - Lifetime EP1319998B1 (de)

Priority Applications (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE60139263T DE60139263D1 (de) 2001-12-13 2001-12-13 Leuchtzeiger und diese aufweisendes Anzeigegerät, insbesondere für eine Uhr
EP20010204843 EP1319998B1 (de) 2001-12-13 2001-12-13 Leuchtzeiger und diese aufweisendes Anzeigegerät, insbesondere für eine Uhr

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP20010204843 EP1319998B1 (de) 2001-12-13 2001-12-13 Leuchtzeiger und diese aufweisendes Anzeigegerät, insbesondere für eine Uhr

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1319998A1 true EP1319998A1 (de) 2003-06-18
EP1319998B1 EP1319998B1 (de) 2009-07-15

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EP20010204843 Expired - Lifetime EP1319998B1 (de) 2001-12-13 2001-12-13 Leuchtzeiger und diese aufweisendes Anzeigegerät, insbesondere für eine Uhr

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EP (1) EP1319998B1 (de)
DE (1) DE60139263D1 (de)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2014053338A1 (fr) * 2012-10-04 2014-04-10 The Swatch Group Research And Development Ltd Afficheur horloger lumineux
CN104704431A (zh) * 2012-10-04 2015-06-10 斯沃奇集团研究和开发有限公司 发光游丝
EP3845974A1 (de) * 2019-12-31 2021-07-07 The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd Beweglicher zeiger für eine analoge anzeigevorrichtung

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR732788A (fr) * 1931-09-25 1932-09-26 Elektrozeit Ag Dispositif d'éclairage des aiguilles, notamment des aiguilles des grandes horloges
DE837070C (de) * 1950-02-14 1952-06-30 Eberhard Adam Dipl Ing Uhr mit beleuchteten Ziffern und Zeigern

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR732788A (fr) * 1931-09-25 1932-09-26 Elektrozeit Ag Dispositif d'éclairage des aiguilles, notamment des aiguilles des grandes horloges
DE837070C (de) * 1950-02-14 1952-06-30 Eberhard Adam Dipl Ing Uhr mit beleuchteten Ziffern und Zeigern

Cited By (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2014053338A1 (fr) * 2012-10-04 2014-04-10 The Swatch Group Research And Development Ltd Afficheur horloger lumineux
CN104704431A (zh) * 2012-10-04 2015-06-10 斯沃奇集团研究和开发有限公司 发光游丝
JP2015530596A (ja) * 2012-10-04 2015-10-15 ザ・スウォッチ・グループ・リサーチ・アンド・ディベロップメント・リミテッド 照明された時計ディスプレイデバイス
US9342050B2 (en) 2012-10-04 2016-05-17 The Swatch Group Research And Development Ltd Illuminated timepiece display device
EP3845974A1 (de) * 2019-12-31 2021-07-07 The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd Beweglicher zeiger für eine analoge anzeigevorrichtung
JP2021110728A (ja) * 2019-12-31 2021-08-02 ザ・スウォッチ・グループ・リサーチ・アンド・ディベロップメント・リミテッド アナログ表示デバイスのための移動表示器
US11340557B2 (en) 2019-12-31 2022-05-24 The Swatch Group Research And Development Ltd Moving indicator for an analogue display device
JP7152459B2 (ja) 2019-12-31 2022-10-12 ザ・スウォッチ・グループ・リサーチ・アンド・ディベロップメント・リミテッド アナログ表示デバイスのための移動表示器

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP1319998B1 (de) 2009-07-15
DE60139263D1 (de) 2009-08-27

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