US1081052A - Electrically-operated alarm-clock. - Google Patents

Description

w. P LOCKE. v ELEGTRIGALLY OPERATED ALARM CLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 10, 1912.

Patented Dec. 9, 1913.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1.

W. P. LOCKE. ELEGTRIGALLY OPERATED ALARM CLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 10 1912.

Patented Dec. 9, 19 13.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W. P. LOCKB. ELEGTRIGALLY OPERATED ALARM GLOOK. APPLQIGATION FILED MAY 10, 1912.

1,081,052. Patented Dec. 9, 1913.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

, Illinois,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE."

WILLIAM P. LOCKE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, 'ASSIGNOR OF ONE-TKIBD T0 JACOB A. KBESS AKD ONE-THIRD TO FRANK A. MQGOWAN, BOTH OF CANTON, OHIO.

ELECTBIGAELY-OPERATED ALARM-CLOCK.

Patented Dec. 9, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM P. Looms, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in thecounty" of Cook and State of have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrically-Operated Alarm-Clocks, of which the following is :1

specification.

The present invention relates to that class of electrically wound clocks which derive their winding force from a galvanic battery or other similar source of power through the medium of magnetic coils, certain contacts being successively closed and opened by the movements of the clock train.

The invention relates specifically to clocks of that class to which is added an automatically resetting and intermittent electric alarm, which having been set for a particular hour requires no further attention, but will sound every day at that hour.

The above pointed out objects together with other objects readily apparent to those skilled in the art I attain by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawing, although my invention may be embodied in a variety .of other mechanical forms, the construction illustrated being chosen to illustrate the invention in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the clock frame and winding coil base. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the alarm contact drawings.

device. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of Fig. 1 showing the arrangement of the clock train and the different parts belonging thereto. Fig. 4 is a rear view in detail elevation of the front frame showing the driving lever and its different parts and accessories. Fig. 5 is a horizontal elevation of contact springs in posit-ion on lower half of holder blocks. Fig. 6 .is a detached vertical elevation of the contact springs, holder and retainin bridge. 7 is a front elevation of the c ock case an dial. FigfB is a diagram showing the electrical circuits and circuit contacts and connections between the clock mechanism,

cal detail elevation of alarm hand'dial.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding partsin all the figures of the Referring to Figs. 1 and a it will be noted that the clock tram shown is of the marine escapement type such as are used the better grades of sprin actuated manually wound alarm clocks. fiut it will be understood that the present invention is not necessarily confined to the particular type shown, owing to the fact that by a proper arrangement of the various necessary arts the operating princi les involved wouFd be identical in adeadt pendulum escapement. I

In the accompanying drawin s, 1 represents a clock frame constructed in the usual manner and so arranged that the various parts can be connected and assembled as usual. The clock train is so designed and arranged that the gear wheel 1 and its stafi' make a complete revolution every minute. Mounted upon the staff is a drop cam 2 made of nonconducting material upon which ride the contact sprin 3 and 4, and an eccentric cam 6 through w ich a contact is made with the spring 5. The contact springs 3, 4 and 5 are held in an insulating holder or retamer 7 mounted upon the adjustable bridge 8 which has formed thereon lateral extensions 8 through which passes the frame sup porting post 9. The bridge 8 is provided with the longitudinal extension 8', which is tapped to receive the adjusting screw 10,

which passes through the slot 11, best illustrated in Fig. 1, in the rear frame plate. This arrangement allows a close adjustment of the pressure ofthe contact springs upon the cam 2 and the eccentric 6'. It will be understood that the spring 4 when properl adjusted is slightly shorter than the next ad jacent spring 3 and is provided with an extension 4, overlapping and slightly above the latter when in normal position.

The contact springs 3, 4 and 5 are secured in the holder 7 as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. The holder 7 is composed or made u of two sections of insulating material w ich are provided with interlocking tongue and groove connections, and the sprl lie snug] in the grooves of the lower ha f and are rlgidly he (1 in position b the pressure on them of the tongues of t eupper half through the medium of the screws (1 and b, which pass through the washer plate a and the two halves of the holder into the adjustin' bridge 8. That section of each spring w ich lies in the holder is enlarged and has a recess on that side which is in line with the full length. of the spring, said reccsspermitting a o ngitudinal ad ustment without -1 danger of contact between the springs and retaining screws. The springs have short extensions 03, e and f projecting above the holder to which the conducting wires are secured.

The staff 12 of the intermediary gear 13 has mounted thereon a fine toothed ratchet wheel 14 engaging which is the pawl 15 mounted on the sickle shaped driving lever 16. This sickle'shaped driving lever. 16 is connected at the-lower portion of the front frame 1 and secured thereto by the large headed shoulder screw 17. Mounted on the driving lever 16 a short distance above the screw 17 is the power maintaining pawl 18. This pawl has at its upper end a ratchet wheel engaging point 19 engaging the teeth of the ratchet wheel 14. The pawl 18 is provided with a longitudinal slot '20 through which extends the screw 21 pivotally connecting said pawl to the lever 16. It will .be understood that said slot will permit a longitudinal as well as rocking movement of said pawl. Through an integral angle portion 22 at the lower extremity of the pawl 18 passes the T head adjusting screw 23, to which is attached one end of the power maintaining spring 24 the other end being attached to the shoulder screw 21. The tension of the spring is adjusted by the knurled thumb nut 25 which has a lip 25*" extending over the edge of the angle 22 to prevent accidental rotation. The spring 26 being in the split stud 27 bears on the pawl 18 when the lever 16 has reached the end of its stroke while the pawl 15 is driving the clock train, thereby causing a positive engagement of the spur of the pawl 18 with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 14. The spring 28 serves a like purpose with the pawl 15, but its pressure is constant. The extension of the lever 16 below the screw 17 corresponding to the handle of the sickle, has a curved edge 16 which bears against the extension 29 of the armature 30. The armature 30 is provided with integral angled ears 31 and 32 through which the hinge pin 36 extends, said pin also extending through the stationary cars 33 and 34 formed integral with the base plate 35, thus hinging the armature 30 to said base plate. The coil spring 37 serves to keep the armature against the curved edge 16 of the lever 16. The base plate 35 is provided with an integral coil supporting flange 38 to which are connected the magnet coils 39 and 40. An ear 41 also formed from the base plate 35, holds the socket head screw 42 in which is secured a rubber cushion 43 to act as a silencing butter for the armature 30, the screw 42 permitting adjustment of said cushion and the lock nut 44 securing same in fixed adjustment. The extensions 45 and 46 of the base plate 35 provide the means whereby said plate is sebushing 55.

cured to the posts 47v and 48 of the clock frame. To the front end of the post 48 is secured the bracket 49 carrying the driving spring 50, one end of said sprmg being at tached to the extension 16 of the driving lever 16, and the other end thereof to the bracket by the adjusting screw '51 and the lipped nut 52.

Upon the hour hand sleeve 53 is firmly secured the pinion 54 which has an insulating Meshing with--the pinion 54 is the alarm timing gear 56 which has the circumferential contact spring 57 attached to its outer face. This spring has the section of the face adjoining its free end covered by an insulating material 58, said insulation not fully extending to the free end, but permitting the end 57 to extend a short distance beyond the insulation. The spring has a narrowed section 57 extending from,

the section 57 by which it is attached to the gear 56, to .the section of said spring which is covered by the insulating material 58. A slight bend at the junction of section 57 and the insulated section throws the end 57. a short distance from the face of the ear'56.

In Fig. 2 it will be noted that t e gear the alarm hand-setting staff 64. Secured firmly to said staff and at a short distance outward from. the face of the gear 56 is the alarm contact finger 65. To the forward end of said staff is secured the alarm hand 65" adapted to sweep-the alarm dial 65". The alarm stop 59 is provided with the vertical extension 66, a portion of which is bent outward at substantially right angles and the end of which projects through the slot 67 located at the top of the front of the clock case 67 as shown in Fig. 7. The horizontal extension 68 of the alarm stop 59 enters the blades of the knife switch 69 mount- The ed on the insulating standards ,70. two stop pins 71 and 72 regulate the throw of the alarm stop; insulating sleeves on said stop pins preventing an electric contact through the same. The br cket 73 in conjunction with the apertures 74 and 75 in the base plate 35 serves to attach the mechanism of the clock to its casing.

It is obvious that the construction does not necessarily require any particular style of clock case, although for convenience and appearance it is desirable to make provision for the concealment of the batteries when they are .to be located and contained within the clock case. As the clock is designed to operate on two ordinary dry cells the defigures and graduations on a sign shown inFig. 7 which allows the concealment of one cell in each of the columns is preferably though not necessarily, employed.- The dial 75 does not differ from the established and well known styles with the exception of the alarm setting dial, which is divided into two twelve hour periods as shown in Fi 9, which figure is somewhat enlarged. he half of the alarm setting dial which carries the hours from midnight to noon marked a. m. has dark light back ground; the other or second half from noon to midnight has marked thereon p. m. wit-h light figures and graduations on a dark back ground, thegraduations being in fifteen minute periods. To the rear of the case or concealed therein is a ong or other alarm 72" actuated by the or inary electric ball mechanism which is common and well known and needs n description as the alarm within itself forms no specific part of the present invention except that an alarm of some kind must necessarily be present.

It will be understood by the description of the various constructions above pointed out and explained, the primer aim of the invention is to produce a c ock of the class described designed to operate an' alarm, the combination to require the least possible attention, thereby eliminating as much as possible any annoying results arising from inattention and forgetfulness. A secondary aim and purpose is to produce a clock of the character described, the cost ofwhich will not be prohibitive to general use; that is tosay to produce a clock that is comparatively cheap taking into consideration the advantages attained.

It will be understood that the renewal of batteries is an item of some expense in mechanism operating thereby, and therefore it is desirable to limit the number to as few as possible, having, in view the practical operation of the clock. As most electrically operated clocks are designed for business and commercial purposes, the item as ,to cost is not of such consideration as would be given to it inthe average household.

Practice does not permit an extensive movement of an armature from the core heads of its magnetic coils. It has been the general practice to center the driving mechanism 0n the minute hand staff or a similar purchase as the movements involved are oomparatively short,but these shorter movements are gained at the expense of increased power as it is well known that with every multiplication of the gears from the escapement increased power ecomes necessary to drive the train. I have therefore centered the driving mechanism on a gear intermediate of that on the minute hand staff, and that which corresponds to the escape wheel in a pendulum escapement. By this arrangement-less driving power is required; but a greater movement of the driving mechanism; but by the peculiar design of the driving lever 16 this is accomplished without a proportionate increase in the move ment of the armature from the magnetic coils.

Fig. 4 shows this lever in the position it occupies just after a contact has been made through the winding coils 39 and 40. The spring 50 is then in its expanded or tension position and through the lever 16, pawl 15 and ratchet 14 it tends to revolve the intermediary wheel 13, settingthe train in motion. This movement continues until the gear 1 has made a complete revolution when the winding contact is made and the cycle repeated. From an inspection of Fig. 4'it will be apparent lower extension of the lever 16, drawn through the point of contact-between the said lever 16 and thearmature 30 is considerably shorter than the radius 16 of'the upper extension of said lever 16 drawn through the point-of contact between the thereby the movement imparted to the armature 30 will be considerably less than the movement imparted to the ratchet 14. The extent as well as the rate of movement imparted to the armature 30 are'furt-her decreased by the point of contact between the armature 30. and lever 16 following the de creasing arc of the curved edge 16 of the lever 16. As the armature swings away from the coils 39 and 40 the distance increases between its point of contact with the curved edge 16 and the centering screw, 17 therefore the leverage is increased. The construction as shown therefore gives an increasing leverage to compensate tosome extent for the decreasing magnetic force as well as a means for retarding the rate of decrease of the magnetic force in proportion to the extent of movement of the correlating arts.

When the lever 16 through the pawl 15 and ratchet 14 is driving the gear 13 the sliding pawl 18 moves lengthwise by the tension of spring 24, until the lower end of slot 20 engages the supporting screw 21, when it is carried along the spur 19 dropping intosuccessive engagement ratchet wheel 14 and is held there in positive engagement by the spring 26 when the driving lever has reached the end of its movement. Then the winding contact being made, the lever 16 is thrown in opposite direction to its former position. The point of the slide pawl 18 being in engagement with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 14, said pawl cannot immediately follow the returning motion. Hence it follows that the screw 21 moves to the upper end of slot 20 thereby increasing the tension of spring with the teeth on the that the radius 16 of the pawl 15 and ratchet 14. It is evident that- 24;. This tension or power is transmitted tothe ratchet wheel 14 maintaining the driving power on the clock train when said power is not being developed through the pawl 15. It is evident that, thereby, the train has a constant driving power which otherwise would be broken during the interval required for the lever 16 to return to its initial or starting position.

Referring to Fig. 8, 2 represents the batteries or generator of the electric circuit which flows through the line A into the contact spring 4. At a certain point in the revolution of the cam 2 the spring 4; drops from the projection of said cam, the extension 4* then coming into contact with the spring 3. This permits the current to flow through spring 3, the line B, through the winding coils 39 and 40 and return by line C to generator 2. As the coils 39 and 40 are energized the armature 3O throws the driving lever 16, thereby winding the driving s ring 50, the slide pawl 18 maintaining the riving power as previously described. A further revolution of the cam 2 allows the spring 3 to drop from the projection of the cam when the normal position of the springs 3 and 4 is renewed thereby breaking the es tablished circuit. When the projection of the cam 2 has made approximately one-fourth of a revolution from the point where a contactis established through springs 3 and 4,

. the eccentric cam 6 makes a contact with the spring 5 and this contact is maintained until projection of cam 2 is approximately withln one-fourth of a revolution of the point where the springs 3 and 4 make the aforesaid contact. But the contact established by the eccentriccam 6 and spring 5 does not complete an entire circuit until the following contacts with which it is in series are made.

When it is desired to set the alarm for a certain hour the alarm indicating hand is turned in the direction indicated by the arrow on the dial as shown in Fig. '9 by the thumb nut 76 and the frictional staff 64, until said hand points to the hour desired on said dial. This causes the contact finger. 65 to assume the same relative position. As the alarm timing gear 56 revolves with the clock train its frictional contact with the alarm stop 59 causes the extension 68 of said stop to enter the blades of the switch 69. This revolution of the gear-56 will in due time permit the contact finger 65 to ride on the insulation portion 58 of the spring 57. When the end of said insulation is reached the spring 5 7 will move outward until the exposed end 57 is in contact with the finger 65. A closed circuit is now established through the line A to D, through D to the alarm, from the latter through the line E to spring 5, through the eccentric cam 6 when it is in contact position, into the cam staff into the clock frame through the contact insuring spring 77 through the stafl 64 into the contact finger 65, spring 57, gear 56, stop lever 59,

.switch 69 returning by line F and a portion of C to generator. This alarm will ring intermittently, the circuit bein broken by the eccentric cam 6 for a period before and after the battery energy is desired to operate the winding mechanism. The alarm will so continue to ring until the stop lever 59 is thrown to the right out of contact with the switch 69. If this is not done the circuit will be opened after some time by the further revolution of the gear 56 permitting the end 57 of the contact spring 57 to pass the contact finger 65. When the alarm stop 59 has been moved out of contact as soon as the alarm has sounded, its friction contact with the .gear 56 causes it to begin slowly moving toward the contact position. But before it has reached the blades 69 the spring 57 and contact finger 65 are no longer completing the circuit. Therefore the alarm will not sound again until the gear 56 has made a complete revolution which it does in a period of twenty-four hours. Now it will be evident that the alarm once set for a certain hour will sound at that particular hour every day, without any attention whatever. The only attention necessary bein to stop the alarm after the circuit is closed to prevent unnecessary use of current.

In practice it might occur that in setting the alarm the alarm hand might thou htlessly be 'turned to the left instead 0 to the right. This might result in damage to the contact spring 57 if provision for such a contingency were unprovided. If the alarm contact finger 65 be turned to the left it will pass behind the end 57 a of the spring 57 until it reaches the narrowed section 57 when the elasticity of the said spring will cause it to resume its normal position without injury and further provision is made by having left hand threads on the alarm and minute hand stafi's upon which the knurled thumb nuts 76 and 78 are screwed.

Having fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an electrically wound clock, the combination of a clock train, an alarm'timing gear revolving in a twent -four hour cycle, a circumferential contact spring on said gear, a narrowed section on said spring, an insulating section on said spring, an exposed contact section at the end of said insulat ing section on said spring, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In an electrically wound clock, the combination of a clock train, an intermittent alarm contact device with an alarm timing gear revolving in a twenty-four hour cycle, a circumferential contact spring on said gear, an alarm stop in frictional contact with said gear, an angle on said stop, the end of said angle projecting through the clock case, a lateral extension on said stop,

a switch making contact with said eXtension,.

an insulating support for said switch, insulating stop pins for said alarm stop, substantia 1y as described.

3. In an electrically wound clock, the combination of a clock train, an intermittent alarm contact device with a frictional alarm hand carrying staff, a contact finger secured to said staff, an insulating bushing revolving on said staff, a sleeve on said bushing,-

an alarm timing gear revolving on said sleeve, an alarm stopin frictional contact with Sald gear, a retaining Washer and a frictional disk washer on said sleeve, retaining flanges on said sleeve, substantially as and for the purpose described.

4. In a clock, an electrically operated alarm mechanism including an alarm timing gear making a revolution in twenty-four hours, a contact spring carried by said gear, a staff upon WhlCh the gear revolves and through which the circuit is made, the gear being insulated from the stafl, a contact finger carried by said staff, and a circuit controlling switch, the movable element of which is rictionally bound to said gear so as to be moved thereby toward the stationary element of the switch.

In testimony that I claim the above, I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM P. LOCKE.

Witnesses:

ANNA M. STEIN, F. DANIEL.

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