JP2009216629A - Timepiece device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a timepiece device having an improved time display function in a dark place. <P>SOLUTION: This timepiece device includes a dial 100 having a light emitting part, a light emitting means 500 for irradiating light to the light emitting part, and an hour hand 210 and a minute hand 220 rotating on the dial. The hour hand and the minute hand are rotated around a common rotating shaft A, and a dimension L2 from the rotating shaft to the tip of the minute hand is longer than a dimension L1 from the rotating shaft to the tip of the hour hand. As the light emitting part, the first ring part 110 and the second ring part 120 which are concentrical around the rotating shaft are provided, and the radius R1 of the inner circumference of the first ring part is set smaller than the dimension L1 from the rotating shaft to the tip of the hour hand, and the radius R2 of the inner circumference of the second ring part is set larger than the dimension L1 from the rotating shaft to the tip of the hour hand and smaller than the dimension L2 from the rotating shaft to the tip of the minute hand. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a timepiece device having a function of illuminating a dial.

  As a method for illuminating the dial plate, a method is known in which a fluorescent material is provided on the dial plate as a light emitting portion, and the light emitting portion is irradiated with ultraviolet rays. The fluorescent material emits light by luminescence. That is, it is excited by light of a specific wavelength such as ultraviolet rays and emits visible light. Note that a normal fluorescent material has a short emission life in which emission of visible light stops immediately when excitation light is stopped. However, there are those that have a long emission lifetime, that is, those that emit light by storing light, and this is called a phosphorescent material.

By using a fluorescent material for the dial, it is possible to improve the time display function in a dark place. There is also an advantage that the decorativeness is improved. This type of timepiece is also disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 4.
JP-A-7-55958 JP-A-9-26484 JP-A-11-281864 JP 2000-292558 A

  In recent years, the functions and designs of watches have been diversified, and as described above, the method for illuminating the dial is also required to make it easier to check the time, taking into account the decorativeness. Yes. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a timepiece device having an improved time display function in a dark place.

  The invention described in claim 1 of the present application is a timepiece device including a dial plate provided with a light emitting portion, light emitting means for irradiating the light emitting portion with light, and hour and minute hands rotating on the dial plate. The hour hand and the minute hand rotate around a common rotation axis, and the dimension from the rotation axis to the tip of the minute hand is longer than the dimension from the rotation axis to the tip of the hour hand. Comprises a concentric first ring part and a second ring part centered on the rotation axis, and the radius of the inner periphery of the first ring part is smaller than the dimension from the rotation axis to the tip of the hour hand. A timepiece device having a configuration in which the radius of the inner periphery of the second ring portion is set to be larger than the dimension from the rotating shaft to the tip of the hour hand and smaller than the dimension from the rotating shaft to the tip of the minute hand. It is.

  The invention described in claim 2 of the present application includes a dial having a light emitting portion provided with a fluorescent material, light emitting means for irradiating the light emitting portion with light that excites the fluorescent material, and rotation on the dial. The hour hand and the minute hand rotate around a common rotating shaft, and the tip of the minute hand from the rotating shaft is larger than the dimension from the rotating shaft to the tip of the hour hand. The light emitting portion includes a first ring portion and a second ring portion that are concentric with the rotation axis as a center, and the radius of the inner periphery of the first ring portion is the rotation The dimension from the shaft to the tip of the hour hand is set to be smaller, and the radius of the inner periphery of the second ring portion is larger than the dimension from the rotating shaft to the tip of the hour hand and the tip of the minute hand from the rotating shaft. Set smaller than the dimension up to Configuration which is a timepiece device.

  The invention described in claim 3 of the present application is the timepiece device according to claim 2, wherein the fluorescent material is a phosphorescent material having a long emission life.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the timepiece device which improves the time display function in a dark place can be obtained.

  A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The timepiece device 1 of this example is an analog type radio wave correction clock that receives a standard time radio wave and automatically corrects a display time. The timepiece device 1 includes a control means (not shown) that stores a required program for controlling the timepiece device 1, a dial plate 100, hands 210, 220, and 230 disposed on the front face of the dial plate 100. The movement 300 that rotates the hands 210, 220, and 230, and the housing 400 that houses them are provided. The dial plate 100 is covered with a transparent cover 410 supported on the front surface of the housing 400. Reference numeral 10 in the figure denotes an antenna for receiving standard time radio waves.

  As hands, an hour hand 210, a minute hand 220, and a second hand 230 are provided. The movement 300 is provided on the back portion of the dial plate 100, and is configured to rotate the hands 210, 220, and 230 at a predetermined speed via a pointer pipe 310 protruding to the front side of the dial 100. . In the center of the dial 100, a through hole 101 that penetrates the pointer pipe 310 is provided. The hour hand 210, the minute hand 220, and the second hand 230 rotate around a common rotation axis A.

  As the dial plate 100, a plate having a predetermined shape made of a light guide is adopted. The dial plate 100 includes light emitting units 110, 120, and 130 provided with a fluorescent material. The light emitting units 110, 120, and 130 are provided by applying a paint containing a fluorescent material on the back surface of the dial 100.

  A light emitting unit 500 that irradiates the light emitting units 110, 120, and 130 with light that excites a fluorescent material is provided inside the facing portion of the housing 400. As the light emitting means 500, an LED that emits ultraviolet light, a so-called black light, is employed, and the fluorescent material is excited by the ultraviolet light and emits visible light.

  A plurality of light emitting means 500 are arranged at equiangular pitches around the rotation axis A of the hands 210, 220, and 230. In the illustrated example, three black lights are arranged at intervals of 120 ° toward the center of the dial 100. At the key points of the dial plate 100, end faces 102 having a predetermined shape corresponding to the respective light emitting means 500 are provided. A white sheet 103 is provided on the back surface of the dial 100 so as to cover the entire surface including the light emitting portions 110, 120, and 130. Light that has entered the dial 100 from each end face 102 is provided to the light emitting units 110, 120, and 130.

  Further, an optical sensor 600 for detecting the brightness of the environment is provided on the back of the dial plate 100, and a translucent part 104 corresponding to the optical sensor 600 is provided at an important point of the dial plate 100. ing. The control means starts lighting the light emitting means 500 when the environment becomes dark, and ends the lighting when the environment becomes bright. For example, when the room illumination is turned off at night, the light emitting means 500 is turned on accordingly, and the light emitting units 110, 120, and 130 are illuminated. The light emitting means 500 is turned off when the sun rises and becomes brighter.

  In the case of this example, the light emitting part of the dial plate 100 is provided with a concentric first ring part 110 and second ring part 120 around the rotation axis A, and a time indicator part 130. The first ring unit 110 and the second ring unit 120 are devised to improve the time display function in a dark place.

  As a premise of this example, the hour hand 210 and the minute hand 220 have a dimension L2 from the rotation axis A to the tip of the minute hand 220 longer than the dimension L1 from the rotation axis A to the tip of the hour hand 210. The dimension of the second hand 230 is not particularly limited, but is such that it can be easily determined that the width is narrower than the hour hand 210 and the minute hand 220.

  The radius R1 of the inner periphery of the first ring portion 110 is set smaller than the dimension L1 from the rotation axis A to the tip of the hour hand 210, and the radius R2 of the inner periphery of the second ring portion 120 is set from the rotation axis A. It is set to be larger than the dimension to the tip of the hour hand 210 and smaller than the dimension R2 from the rotation axis A to the tip of the minute hand 220.

  According to such a configuration, even when the hands 210, 220, and 230 cannot be visually observed in a dark place, their positions can be easily recognized. That is, when the first ring part 110 and the second ring part 120 are viewed in a dark place, the first ring part 110 has a portion blocked by the hour hand 210 and the minute hand 220. The second ring part 120 has a portion blocked by the minute hand 220. Therefore, even if the entire hour hand 210 and the minute hand 220 are not visible, it is possible to recognize them while discriminating their positions at a glance. In terms of ease of viewing, it is more effective to make the fluorescent colors of the first ring part 110 and the second ring part 120 different. Further, the first ring part 110 and the second ring part 120 may be formed by a regular pattern.

  In addition, as a fluorescent material, the coating material which mixed the normal fluorescent material with a short light emission lifetime and the luminous material with a long light emission lifetime is employ | adopted. Alternatively, a paint containing a normal fluorescent material having a short light emission life and a paint containing a phosphorescent material having a long light emission life are employed, and these paints are applied to the light emitting portions 110, 120, and 130 in the form of dots, respectively. May be.

  The timepiece device 1 of this example is a radio wave correction timepiece, and automatically receives a standard time radio wave at night when the reception environment is improved. While receiving the standard time radio wave, the light emitting means 500 is turned off to avoid the influence of noise. Here, in the case of only a normal fluorescent material having a short light emission lifetime, the light of the light emitting units 110, 120, and 130 is lost, and the time cannot be confirmed. Therefore, by using a phosphorescent material, it is configured to avoid a situation in which the light from the light emitting units 110, 120, and 130 is completely lost. The light emitting units 110, 120, and 130 emit phosphorescence for a certain period of time even when the light of the light emitting means 500 is cut off, and reception of standard time radio waves is performed during that time. According to such a configuration, a time display function can be ensured even at the time of reception, which is extremely rational.

  As described above, according to the timepiece device 1 of this example, the time display function in a dark place can be reliably improved. The decoration is also beautiful. In addition, it is needless to say that the configuration of each part in the present example can be appropriately changed in design within the technical scope described in the claims, and is not limited to that illustrated in the drawings. For example, the light emitting portion of this example is provided with a fluorescent material, or is configured such that printing or fine unevenness is provided on the back surface of the dial plate, and visible light is irradiated from the light emitting means. May be. That is, the light emitting unit may emit light by reflected light. Moreover, it is also possible to employ an LED that emits ultraviolet light and visible light as the light emitting means, so that the light emitting portion emits light by luminescence light and reflected light.

  The timepiece device of the present invention can be suitably used as a wall clock or a table clock.

1 is a front view showing a timepiece device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a side sectional view showing a timepiece device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a front view which concerns on the Example of this invention and shows a dial plate.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Clock apparatus 10 Antenna 100 Dial 101 Through-hole 102 End surface 103 Sheet 104 Translucent part 110 1st ring part (light emission part)
120 Second ring part (light emitting part)
130 Time indicator part (light emitting part)
210 Hour hand (pointer)
220 minute hand (pointer)
230 second hand (pointer)
300 Movement 310 Pointer pipe 400 Housing 410 Transparent cover 500 Light emitting means 600 Optical sensor A Rotating shaft L1 Dimension from rotating shaft to tip of hour hand L2 Dimension from rotating shaft to tip of minute hand R1 Radius of inner circumference of first ring portion R2 Radius of the inner circumference of the second ring part

Claims (3)

In a timepiece comprising a dial provided with a light emitting unit, light emitting means for irradiating the light emitting unit with light, and an hour hand and a minute hand rotating on the dial,
The hour hand and the minute hand rotate around a common rotation axis, and the dimension from the rotation axis to the tip of the minute hand is longer than the dimension from the rotation axis to the tip of the hour hand,
The light emitting unit includes a first ring part and a second ring part that are concentric around the rotation axis,
The radius of the inner periphery of the first ring portion is set smaller than the dimension from the rotating shaft to the tip of the hour hand,
A timepiece device in which the radius of the inner periphery of the second ring portion is set to be larger than the dimension from the rotating shaft to the tip of the hour hand and smaller than the dimension from the rotating shaft to the tip of the minute hand. . In a timepiece device comprising a dial provided with a light emitting part provided with a fluorescent material, light emitting means for irradiating the light emitting part with light that excites the fluorescent material, and an hour hand and a minute hand rotating on the dial ,
The hour hand and the minute hand rotate around a common rotation axis, and the dimension from the rotation axis to the tip of the minute hand is longer than the dimension from the rotation axis to the tip of the hour hand,
The light emitting unit includes a first ring part and a second ring part that are concentric around the rotation axis,
The radius of the inner periphery of the first ring portion is set smaller than the dimension from the rotating shaft to the tip of the hour hand,
A timepiece device in which the radius of the inner periphery of the second ring portion is set to be larger than the dimension from the rotating shaft to the tip of the hour hand and smaller than the dimension from the rotating shaft to the tip of the minute hand. .   The timepiece device according to claim 2, wherein a phosphorescent material having a long light emission lifetime is used as the fluorescent material.

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