US1109141A - Pivot-bearing for watch-movements. - Google Patents

Description

O. OHLSON.

PIVOT BEARING FOR WATCH MOVEMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 12, lQlL 1, 1 O9, 141. Patented Sept. 1, 1914.

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OLOF OHLSON, OF WEST NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 WALTI-IAM WATCH COMPANY, OF WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

PIVOT-BEARING FOB WATCH-MOVEMENTS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OLOF OI-ILSON, of WVest Newton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pivot-Bearings for lVatch-Movements, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to an improved mode of setting the bearings for the train wheels of watch movements in the plates of such movements, and to the novel combination between a watch plate and the bearing, produced by this method.

Briefly stated, the invention consists in forming the plates of the watch movement frame with holes to receive the pivot bearings, which holes are plain, that is pass entirely through the plates and are of uniform diameter from end to end, without the usual shoulder at either end; and securing the hearings in such holes in a manner which permits of their subsequent endwise adjustment, by indenting the opposite faces of the bearin and thereby crowding the material thereof into tight frictional engagement with the walls of the holes.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated in detail part of a watch movement to which my invention is applied, together with a tool for setting the bearings, to illustrate the manner in which the invention is carried into effect.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan view of so much of a watch movement frame as is material to illustrate the invention. Fig. 2 is a section on an enlarged scale taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional View of a tool employed to set the bearing in the top plate; Fig. 4 is a similar view of a tool adapted to set the bearings in the bottom or pillar plate, and Fig. 5 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale of the operating part of one of the dies or punches employed with the tool.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

The bearings employed in high grade watch movements to hold the staff PlX OtS of the train wheels are usually stones or jewels, and are commonly called jewels, hence in the following description I shall refer to such bearings by this name. It is to be understood, however, that this term is descriptive merely, and not intended as a limitation. The ewel is held in a metallic Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 12, 1911.

Patented Sept. 1, 1914. Serial No. 638,119.

ring which is called the setting and is mounted in the plate of the movement frame.

In the accompanying drawings a represents the bottom plate of the watch movement, which is also termed the pillar plate, and 5 represents one of the top plates.

0 represents a jewel bearing or jewel, d represents the setting therefor, and e represents one of the train wheels of the watch movement.

The plates have alined holes f and g in which respectively two jewels are mounted so as to provide bearings for the pivots h on the ends of the staff of the wheel. The holes 7 and g are plain holes, that is, they extend entirely through the plates 0 and b. and are of uniform diameter throughout, without having the shoulder at one end, which has hitherto been found universally in watch movements as manufactured. The jewel, instead of being retained in the plate by resting against such shoulder at one end, and by a screw or a lip of the plate at the other end, is held by expansion of its setting into frictional engagement with the walls of the hole. Such expansion is produced by cooperation of opposed punches or dies 7', one of which is shown in Fig. 5, which dies are of such diameter that they can enter the holes f and g, and each of which has on its end a sharp-edged rib is of which the inner face In is straight, that is parallel to its axis, and the outer face k inclined. When two such tools are pressed against opposite faces of the jewel setting (l, they form circular indentations Z and m. The stock of the setting outside of these indentations or grooves is forced outwardly and crowded against the surrounding walls of the hole, into such close frictional engagement that the jewel is held securely in place. Owing to the described form of the lip 7c the displacement of the stock of the setting is wholly outward, so that as great pressure may be applied by the punches j as is necessary to secure the desired degree of frictional contact without liability of crowding the setting against the jewel and crushing the latter. At the same time the jewel may be shifted endwise to the extent necessary to take up end shake of the wheel.

In mounting the jewels in the to plate or plates a tool such as shown in Fig. 3 is used. This tool has a base n, the upper surface of which supports the movement plate,

complemental punch or die moves.

movement frame consisting of the top and and adj ustably mounted in such base so that it projects above the supporting surface thereof, is one of the punches or dies An overhanging head 0 has a guide in \vhicql 1 a bottom plates secured together, is laid' on the supporting surface of the base with the bottom plate downward. The lower die then projects through the hole f in the bottom plate into the hole 9 of the top plate, the distance being regulated by adjustment of the die, so that the jewel will be mounted in approximately the position required for the particular wheel to be held thereby.

he upper punch is then pressed against the jewel setting, with the result previously clescribed.

The tool used for mounting jewels in the bottom. plate has a threaded annular flange 79 upon which is screwed a gage plate Q and in which are mounted spring-elevated pins '1", in addition to the punches or dies 7'. The bottom plate, from which the top plate has been removed, is laid in an inverted position within the flange 7) and resting on the pins 7, and so placed that the hole in which the jewel is to be mounted is over the punch j. The gage plate g which had previously been removed is now applied to the flange and screwed down until its gaging surface bears against the edge of the flange. Such gaging surface then bears against the rim of the watch plate and presses the latter down against the yielding resistance of the springpressed pins 7. Then the upper punch is employed in the manner just described to secure the jewel in coiiperation with the lower punch.

The positions of the jewels in both plates are gaged with reference to the same edge of the bottom plate, that is, the dial edge, for when mounting a jewel in the top plate, the movement frame rests with this dial edge on the base it and in setting a jewel in the bottom plate the latter is held with the dial edge against the gage plate 9. In the one case the fixed die is adjusted to project a specified distance above the supporting surface of the base, and in the other case the corresponding die is adjusted at the required distance below the face of the gage plate Q when the latter is screwed against the flange 7). These adjustments are so made that the alined jewels in the top and bottom plates are at exactly the correct distance apart to accommodate the standard staff to be applied thereto. ln practice the distance be tween these jewels is designed to be about three thousandths of a centimeter greater than the length of the staff between the pivot shoulders to give the necessary freedom of movement.

The action of the punches is not only to displace the metal and to secure the setting of the same diminished.

in place, but it is also to level the setting. As the plates in which the jewels are to be set are held in an accurately determined position, and the punches adjusted with respect to tiese positions, the act of securing the jewels also adjusts their planes into exact parallelism with the plates wherein they are contained, bringing the holes in the jewels which receive the staff pivots in exact alinement. This is a result which is not so accurately secured by the modes at present employed of fastening jewels in watch plates.

After the jewels have been mounted the wheels are put in place and tested for end shake. In case any of the staffs should vary from the standard length, an adjustment of one or the other jewels to give the correct amount of end shake may be readily made by simply moving the jewel the necessary distance in either direction in its hole. The frictional engagement between the jewel set ting and walls of the hole is not too great to permit of such adjustment, while it is at the same time sufficient to retain the jewel with the necessary degree of security after the ustment has been made.

By this invention the assembling and finishing of watch movements may be more easily and quickly effected, and the cost This is due principally to the following facts: first, that the jewels need. not be removed from the plates after they have once been moimted; second, which is a corollary of the first, that there is no danger of confusing the jewels and remounting them in the wrong holes; third, that the jewels and their setting can be completed and given their final finish in bulk instead of individually, at reduced expense; fourth, that end shake adjustments of the jewels may be made without either cutting the jewel settings or danger of injuring any part thereof, or of the plates; and fifth, that the final finish such as stoning and the ornamental damaskeening, may be given to the top plates before the jewels are mounted.

It is to be understood that this invention applies to mounting bearings of all kinds for time pieces, whether such bearings are jewels held in metallic settings, or consist entirely of metal bushings or rings.

1 claim,

1. The combination with a watch movement plate having an aperture therein, of g a pivot bearing, and a setting therefor located within said aperture, said setting be ing distorted between the center and the perimeter thereof, and in a direction to take the pressure off of said bearing, to cause said setting to frictionally engage the wall of said aperture.

2. The combination with a watch movement plate having an aperture therein, of a pivot bearmg, and a setting therefor 10- cated within said aperture, said setting being provided with an annular indentation between the center and the perimeter thereof distorting the setting in a direction to take the pressure 011' of said bearing and to cause said setting to frictionally engage the wall of said aperture.

3. The combination with a watch movement plate having an aperture therein, of a pivot bearing, and a setting therefor located within said aperture, the opposite faces of said setting being provided with annular indentations between the center and the perimeter of the setting distorting the latter in a direction to take the pressure off of said bearing and to cause the setting to frictionally engage the wall of the aperture.

4. The combination with a watch movement plate having an aperture therein, of a pivot bearing, and a setting therefor located within said aperture, said settin being provided with annular indentations etween the center and the perimeter thereof to cause the setting to frictionally engage the wall of the aperture, the sides of the indentations toward the bearing being parallel with the axis of the latter, and the outer sides of the indentations being, inclined to distort the setting outwardly and in a direction to take the pressure off of said bearing.

5. In a watch movement the combination with oppositely arranged plates, of staff pivot bearings, and settin for said bearings, said settings being istorted between the centers and the perlmeters thereof and in a. direction to take the pressure ofl of OLOF OHLSON.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR H. BROWN, J. M. MURPHY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for live cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0.

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