EP2686743B1 - Timepiece - Google Patents

Description

Technical area

The present invention relates to the field of mechanical watchmaking. It relates more particularly to a complicated timepiece providing entertainment to a user.

State of the art

A priori, the primary function of timepieces is to provide hourly information. The traditional mechanisms of watchmaking have also been taken over to offer more playful mechanical systems, such as automatons or music boxes.

Moreover, some watches of the state of the art include, in addition to the usual mechanisms for displaying time indications, complications allowing a user to have a game in his watch. A remarkable achievement, known as the Vintage 1945 Jackpot Tourbillon is, in addition to a fine watchmaking piece, a masterpiece of miniaturization, including a slot machine game. The mechanism is triggered by pulling a lever on the right side of the case. A rack then rises along the movement to move three rolls, each of them bearing the five symbols: spades, heart, tile, horseshoe and bell. Going down, the rack activates the stoppers who stop the rollers one by one while simultaneously sounding a ring. Of the 125 possible combinations, only the three aligned bells represent the jackpot.

The present invention aims to propose a new entertaining timepiece.

Disclosure of the invention

• un cadran muni d'une pluralité de guichets,
• des systèmes d'ouverture et de fermeture d'au moins certains desdits guichets actionnés par des organes de commande,
• une pluralité de disques d'affichage portant des représentations de cartes à jouer, pour être visibles au travers desdits guichets, les disques étant pivotés sur des axes perpendiculaires au plan du cadran, et
• un système de mise en rotation et d'arrêt aléatoire des disques.

More specifically, the invention relates to a timepiece with a mechanical deck of cards. To make such a game, the timepiece comprises:

• a dial with a plurality of wickets,
• systems for opening and closing at least some of said windows operated by control members,
• a plurality of display disks bearing representations of playing cards, to be visible through said windows, the disks being pivoted on axes perpendicular to the plane of the dial, and
• a system for rotating and stopping the disks randomly.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, the card game is a blackjack game. The dial is pierced by three wickets for the bank, distributed in a first zone of the dial, and four wickets for the player, distributed in another area of the dial. For the bank and the player, two of the counters are closed during the drawing of the cards and can be opened on command, by actuating, respectively, first and second control pushers.

Brief description of the drawings

• les figures 1 et 2 proposent des illustrations du mécanisme selon un premier mode de réalisation de l'invention,
• la figure 3 montre une vue en gros plan d'une partie du mécanisme,
• la figure 4 montre le côté fond du mécanisme selon l'invention,
• la figure 5 représente une pièce d'horlogerie selon un premier mode de réalisation de l'invention,
• les figures 6a, 6b et 7 proposent des variantes de l'invention.

Other details of the invention will emerge more clearly on reading the description which follows, made with reference to the appended drawing in which:

• the figures 1 and 2 propose illustrations of the mechanism according to a first embodiment of the invention,
• the figure 3 shows a close-up view of a part of the mechanism,
• the figure 4 shows the bottom side of the mechanism according to the invention,
• the figure 5 represents a timepiece according to a first embodiment of the invention,
• the Figures 6a, 6b and 7 propose variants of the invention.

Mode (s) of realization of the invention

The timepiece according to the invention is equipped with a mechanical deck of cards. As will be understood later, this card game is independent of the time base and watch movement to which it can be attached. This movement can provide hourly information and display it by means of needles or other conventional organs and will not be described in the present description. Advantageously, but not exclusively, the card game mechanism according to the invention is arranged in a modular manner on the basic movement. In such a configuration, the various elements of the mechanism are mounted on the module frame.

To leave visible only the cards drawn during the game, the timepiece according to the invention comprises a dial 10 provided with a plurality of windows 12. The following description relates to a particular embodiment illustrated in the drawing. , in which the realized card game is a blackjack game. In this game, the player and the bank choose, after the distribution of the cards has been made, to discover cards (that is, in a real game, to return them), to reach 21 points by adding the value of each visible map. To reproduce this peculiarity of the game, the windows 12 can be closed or left open by means of opening and closing systems 14 actuated by control members. In the game of blackjack, only some of the windows 12 are provided with an opening and closing system 14, others are left open permanently.

The representations of the cards are arranged on a plurality of display discs 16. The discs are positioned in correspondence with the windows 12, so that the representations of a disc are visible through one of the windows 12, when it is open. The disks are pivoted on axes perpendicular to the plane of the dial 10.

The timepiece according to the invention further comprises a system for rotating and stopping randomly 18 disks, allowing the display disks 16 to stop in random positions. Thus, we obtain random card distributions, which allows a renewal of the prints.

According to the illustrated embodiment, the system for rotating and stopping randomly 18 disks comprises a spring member, advantageously taking, but not limited to, the shape of a spiral spring 20, mounted in a drum 22, pivoting around a tree 24, like a barrel. The spiral spring 20 is thus fixed, at a first end, on the shaft 24 around which pivots the transmission board 32 and, at a second end, on the drum 22. This spring member can be armed by an armature pawl 26, provided with a spout 27 capable of cooperating with a stud 29 protrudes on the drum 22. The barrel has two pawls 31, visible on the figure 4 , acting on the shaft 24 to adjust the pre-armature of the spring 20. However, the barrel is not provided for the spring stores long-term energy beyond the pre-arming energy. Thus, when the spring 20 is armed, it disarms as soon as the pawl 26 no longer retains the drum and provides all the energy stored during the arming.

The armature pawl 26 is preferably manually operated. It is pivotally mounted on a rocker 28, actuated by a winding pusher 30. When a user actuates this pusher, it arms the spring member by driving the drum in one direction. After having made a determined race, the spout 27 unclips and the pawl 26 free leaves the spring 20. The energy provided by the pressure of the pusher is released suddenly by bringing the drum in the other direction. A rest position is advantageously defined by a stop.

The timepiece further comprises a transmission board 32 integral with the drum for receiving the energy that is transmitted by the spring member when it is released. Other methods of fixing the spring could be envisaged, by fixing the second end on a pin secured to the transmission board, or directly fixing the spring on the transmission board.

The transmission board 32 comprises a succession of toothed sectors 34 interrupted by non-toothed sectors 36. The toothed sectors 34 and the non-toothed sectors 36 are positioned so as to be respectively in engagement or not in engagement, of integral wheels 38 and coaxial display disks 16, synchronously. Thus, the transmission board 32 is connected kinematically with the display discs 16 sequentially. More specifically, the toothed sectors 34 of the transmission board 32 each engage a wheel 38 synchronously. Likewise, the toothed sectors 34 leave the contact of these wheels 38 synchronously. The gear ratios between the wheels and the toothed sectors 34 are optimized to give a rotation speed adapted to the disks, favoring the renewal of the prints. When the drum is in the rest position, the non-toothed sectors 36 are opposite the wheels 38, leaving free the rotation of the wheels 38 and display disks 16.

Thus, when the spring member is armed, the toothed sectors engage with the wheels 38 and drive slowly in a first direction. Then, when the spring member is released after being armed, the toothed sectors gear with the wheels 38 and drive the rotating discs in the other direction, with all the force transmitted by the spring member. When the drum is returned to its rest position, the display disks 16 can rotate freely, under the effect of their inertia, apart from the friction of a jumper spring 40 arranged to stop the disks. In addition to the friction that it generates, the jumper spring 40 also defines the stopped position of the disc 16, so that the card representations are well positioned next to the window 12. According to the number of representations of cards on the disc , the jumper spring 40 acts on a star 41 integral with the disc or directly on the wheel 38.

In the example of blackjack, three display disks 16 each having 6 card representations, visible behind three wickets 12 grouped in an area of the dial 10, define the games of the bank. Four display disks 16 each having 8 · card representations, visible behind four wickets 12 distributed in another area of the dial 10, define the player's games. The different springs of the jumpers 40 having different behaviors, the discs are braked differently, which allows to vary the combinations whose total number of possible variants is 884'736, which guarantees the interest of the game. In practice , the bank can have 216 play combinations and the player, 4096.

We will now describe the opening and closing systems 14 of the wickets 12. These systems each comprise a shutter 42 pivotally mounted under the dial 10 and likely to change between a first position in which it closes the window 12 and a second position in which it leaves the window 12 open. Each shutter 42 is mounted integral with a pinion 44, with which meshes a positioning device.

In the example proposed, the positioning device comprises a rocker 45 provided with a rake 46 in engagement with the pinion 44 mounted integral with the shutter 42 and a probe 48 held in abutment against a cam 50 whose positions are indexed by means of a not shown jumper.

To move from one indexed position to another, the cam 50 is mounted coaxially with a drive star 52, with which the control member cooperates. Advantageously, the control member is a pusher arranged to actuate a lever 54 whose end can cooperate with the drive star 52 to rotate it.

• un premier actionnement de l'organe de commande entraîne le pivotement d'un premier volet d'obturation 42 et l'ouverture d'un premier guichet 12,
• un deuxième actionnement de l'organe de commande entraîne le pivotement d'un deuxième volet d'obturation 42 et l'ouverture d'un deuxième guichet 12, et
• un troisième actionnement de l'organe de commande entraîne le pivotement des premier et deuxième volets d'obturation 42 et la fermeture des premier et deuxième guichets 12.

Whether for the bank or the player, after the distribution of the cards, each has two wickets 12 which are closed, the other wickets 12 remaining open. Thus, the cam 50 is arranged to perform the chronology of the following actions, from an initial position in which the two windows 12 can be closed are closed:

• a first actuation of the control member causes the pivoting of a first shutter shutter 42 and the opening of a first window 12,
• a second actuation of the control member causes the pivoting of a second shutter flap 42 and the opening of a second window 12, and
• a third actuation of the control member causes the first and second shutter shutters 42 to pivot and the first and second windows 12 to close.

One could provide an automatic closing system, whereby, in the event of pressure on the armature pushbutton, a positioning hammer actuates a core located on the cam and automatically causes the shutters to close by positioning the cam.

Thus is proposed a blackjack mechanism, wherein, pressing a push arm 30 allows to "distribute" a new game, for a new part. The bank and the player then have one and two cards respectively visible. By two other pushers acting as control members of the opening and closing systems 14 shutters, the player can discover his cards by operating a push and those of the bank by actuating the other push, depending on the course Game.

On the basis of the mechanism described above, it may be envisaged to make other card games involving successive draws and flips of cards.

For example, one can also perform a game of baccarat, as proposed on Figures 6a and 6b . The player and the bank each have cards distributed over three disks, each disk being partially visible through a window 12 closed by an opening and closing system 14, comprising a movable flap. The disks and shutters are operated in the same way as described above about the game of blackjack. It can be noted that in the variants of blackjack and baccarat, the wickets are arranged concentrically to the movement.

In terms of the course of the game of baccarat, after mixing the cards by means of a system for rotating and stopping random discs 18, similar to that described above, the movable flaps of two cards are opened. player and the bank, respectively by means of a first controller associated with the three wickets of the player and a second controller associated with the three wickets of the bank. Depending on the cards discovered and according to the usual rules of the game, the third card of the player and the bank is discovered or not. Card values are added according to the rule to determine the winner.

In an additional variant proposed to the figure 7 , we realize a poker game, according to the example, a game called "texas hold'em". To maintain interest in the course of games, the distribution of cards must be accurate and include exactly the 52 cards of a complete game, likely to be distributed in the different areas of the game, that is to say to each of the players or at the central part of the game (linked to the dealer) which includes the cards returned later (flop, turn and river).

To do this and unlike the previous examples, the cards are arranged on coaxial discs, allowing the cards of the same disc to appear in the different areas of the game. The cards appear at counters arranged advantageously radially. 12a wickets are provided for players or wickets 12b are provided for cards returned later. Each player is associated with two windows 12a arranged in an area of the dial. The example has two players, but we could have more. These windows may not be covered by moving shutters, but to prevent the cards from being visible to other players, a cache system will be provided. For example, unrepresented slats oriented obliquely, typically at 45 °, and arranged across the window, allow to leave visible disks only player in front of the slats.

The wickets 12b of the flop, the turn and the river are associated with an opening and closing system, each with a shutter shutter not shown, operable by a control member. Based on the above description, those skilled in the art will have no difficulty in predicting the cam and toggle systems to flip together the 3 cards of the flop and then, separately, the turn and the river.

To improve the interest of the unfolding of the games and to increase the number of possible combinations of cards and also to prevent the players from guessing the game of the other players from theirs, we have a part of the deck of cards on three 16a display disks. coaxial and advantageously coplanar and the rest of the cards is disposed on an additional display disk 16b, covering at least one of the three discs, said lower. In the example, the additional display disk covers the two lower disks of larger diameter. Display disks can cover the entire movement and be concentric with it to allow the needles to pass through the center of the disks. However, others arrangements are also possible. The 52 cards are divided between the three display disks 16a and the additional disk 16b. The additional display disk 16b also has openings 16c through which the lower disks are visible. Thus, depending on the position of the additional display disk 16b, appear in the windows 12a and 12b, either additional display disk cards 16b, or lower disk cards 16a, visible through the openings of the display disk additional.

Note that in the example shown, the lower display disks 16b carry 16 cards for the two larger diameter display disks and 8 cards for the smaller diameter disk. The additional disk carries 12 cards and 20 openings, arranged on two rings superimposed on the two smaller larger display disks. The two rings of the additional disk and the two smaller display discs of larger diameter therefore each comprise 16 angular portions, each receiving a card or an opening. This configuration allows you to get 32768 different draws, making the gameplay really random.

Like what has been proposed above, each disk is associated with a drive pinion, which can be connected sequentially to a transmission plate driven by a spring member. As mentioned above, it is possible to provide jumper springs acting on the gears to brake and position them. The pinions and the jumpers define an indexing system ensuring that the cards of the lower disks appear well in front of the openings of the additional disk 16b, which is also possible because the two smaller larger diameter display disks and the additional display disk have angular portions of the same dimensions.

This configuration offers nice sized cards and a realistic and varied game, not allowing the player to guess the hand of the other players.

One can also provide a striking mechanism coupled to the game mechanism proposed above, for triggering a gong, for example to the opening or closing of a shutter 42. To do this, the striking mechanism comprises a not shown stamp and a hammer 60 actuated by a lift 62 and positioned to strike the stamp by emitting a sound. The lift 62 is kinematically connected to the control members of the opening and closing systems 14 of the windows 12. For example and advantageously, a ring 64 is rotatably mounted in the center of the game mechanism. It comprises three teeth 66a. , 66b and 66c. A first 66a is intended to cooperate with the lift 62 and the other two 66b and 66c are intended to be pushed, respectively, by a first 68b and a second 68c fingers, connected to the levers 54 of each of the opening and closing systems . It is thus understood that, when one of the levers 54 is actuated, the ring 64 is pivoted and causes the hammer 60 to be actuated by the tooth 66a and the emission of a sound. Similarly, a buzzer could be produced when the armature pushbutton 30 is actuated.

Those skilled in the art will be able to consider possible variants, without departing from the scope of the invention defined by the claims.

Claims (21)

1. A timepiece characterized in that it is equipped with a mechanical card game, and in that it comprises:

   - a dial (10) provided with a plurality of apertures (12),

   - systems (14) for opening and closing at least some of said apertures (12) actuated by control organs,

   - a plurality of display discs (16) bearing depictions of playing cards, to be visible through said apertures (12), the discs being pivoted on axes perpendicular to the plane of the dial (10), and

   - a system (18) for rotating and randomly stopping the discs.
2. The timepiece according to claim 1, characterized in that said opening and closing systems (14) each include a covering flap (42) pivotally mounted below the dial (10) and able to move between a first position in which it closes the aperture (12) and a second position in which it leaves the aperture (12) open.
3. The timepiece according to claim 2, characterized in that said covering flaps (42) are mounted secured to a pinion (44), with which a positioning device meshes.
4. The timepiece according to claim 3, characterized in that said positioning device comprises a lever (45) provided with a rack (46) engaged with said pinion (44) and a feeler-spindle (48) kept bearing against a cam (50) whereof the positions are indexed.
5. The timepiece according to claim 4, characterized in that the cam (50) is mounted coaxial with a driving star (52), with which the control organ cooperates to pivot the cam from one indexed position to another.
6. The timepiece according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the card game is a blackjack game and in that it comprises:

   - three display discs (16) visible behind three apertures (12) distributed in a first area of the dial (10), defining the bank's hands, two of the apertures (12) being able to be closed using a first opening and closing system (14) actuated by a first control organ, and

   - four display discs (16) visible behind four apertures (12) distributed in another area of the dial (10), defining the player's hands, two of the apertures (12) being able to be closed using two opening and closing systems (14) actuated by a second control organ.
7. The timepiece according to claim 6, characterized in that the cam of each of the first and second opening and closing systems (14) is arranged so as to chronologically perform the following actions, from an initial position in which the two apertures (12) that can be closed are covered:

   - a first actuation of the control organ drives the pivoting of a first flap and the opening of a first aperture (12),

   - a second actuation of the control organ drives the pivoting of a second flap and the opening of a second aperture (12), and

   - a third actuation of the control organ drives the pivoting of the first and second flaps and the closing of the first and second apertures (12).
8. The timepiece according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the game is a baccarat game.
9. The timepiece according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the card game is a poker game.
10. The timepiece according to claim 9, characterized in that it comprises lower display discs and an additional disc at least partially overlapping one of the lower discs and provided with openings through which the overlapped lower disc(s) may be visible and in that the discs may appear in apertures associated with a player or the dealer and in that the apertures associated with the dealer may be closed using an opening and closing system actuated by a control organ.
11. The timepiece according to claim 10, characterized in that the display discs bear depictions of the 52 cards of a full deck of 52 cards.
12. The timepiece according to one of claims 10 and 11, characterized in that the apertures associated with a player include a hiding system.
13. The timepiece according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the system (18) for rotating and randomly stopping the discs comprises:

    - a spring organ,

    - a winding pawl (26) arranged to wind the spring organ and release it abruptly,

    - a transmission plate (32) connected to the spring organ to receive the energy transmitted by the latter when it is released, said plate being kinematically connected with said display discs (16) sequentially,

    and in that each display disc (16) is arranged to be stopped by the friction of a jumper spring, which also defines the stopped position of the disc.
14. The timepiece according to claim 13, characterized in that said transmission plate (32) comprises a series of toothed sectors (34) interrupted by non-toothed sectors (36), said toothed sectors (34) and said non-toothed sectors (36) being positioned so as to be engaged or not engaged, respectively, with gears (38) secured and coaxial to said discs, in a synchronized manner.
15. The timepiece according to one of claims 13 and 14, characterized in that the jumper acts on a star (41) secured to the disc.
16. The timepiece according to claim 14, characterized in that the jumper acts directly on said wheel (38) secured to the disc.
17. The timepiece according to one of claims 13 to 16, characterized in that the spring organ is a spiral spring, fixed at a first end on an arbor on which the transmission plate (32) pivots and at a second end on an element secured to the transmission plate (32) or on the transmission plate itself.
18. The timepiece according to one of claims 13 to 17, characterized in that the winding pawl (26) is actuated manually.
19. The timepiece according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it includes a striking mechanism coupled with said mechanical card game.
20. The timepiece according to claim 19, characterized in that the striking mechanism includes a gong, a hammer (60) arranged to be actuated by a lift (62) and positioned to strike the gong while emitting a sound, and in that said lift (62) is kinematically connected to the control organs of the systems (14) for opening and closing the apertures (12).
21. The timepiece according to claim 20, characterized in a ring (64) is rotatably mounted and includes a first tooth (66a) designed to cooperate with said lift (62), and other teeth (66b, 66c) designed to be pushed when said control organs are actuated.

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