US1148728A - Clock. - Google Patents

Description

. H. THOMPSON;

CLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.19,1915.

Patented Aug.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. THOMPSON, OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR 'IO THOMPSON ELECTRIC CLOCK COMPANY, OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, A CORPORATION OF TENNESSEE.

CLOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 3, 1915.

Original application filed November 9, 1914, Serial No. 871,032. Divided and this application filed March 19, 1915. Serial No. 15,513.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. THOMP- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Memphis, county of Shelby, and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clocks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to clocks.

The present invention is a division of my application, Serial No. 871,032, filed November 9, 191 i, for electric automobile clocks.

While the subject-matter of the present invention is particularly adapted for use as a part of an automobile clock constructed according to the disclosures of my said application, I do not limit myself to its use with the elements, constructions and combinations of the electric automobile clock of that application, except where so recited in the claims, as the present improvements are susceptible of use in connection with any clock.

The clock of my said application, Serial No.' 871,032 is particularly intended for automobile, railway, and marine service in any situation where the clock is subject to vibration, shock or jar. To that end the said clock is disclosed in the said application as having a shell or case, a self-contained clock frame movement carried thereby, contained within the shell or case, and shock absorbing springs interposed between the frame of the movement and the shell or case. A bezel and spacer are employed to hold the clock movement frame in the shell or case and the shock absorbing springs under compression.

In my earlier application, Serial No. 869,014, filed October 28, 1914, the cushioning and shock absorbing springs are shown as combined with the frame of the clock movement and the shell or case substantially as shown in my application, Serial No. 871,032, of which the present application is a division.

The present invention represents improve- -ments comprising removable or releasable stop devices, such as screws, on the shell or case which normally do not engage the frame of the clock movement or resist its tendency to hold the bezel in position, but which will engage the frame of the movement when'the bezel is removed, so that the clock movement will be retained in the shell or case even when the bezel is taken 01f, thus permitting the hands to be set without danger of the entire movement springing out of the shellor case by reason of the expansion of the shock absorbing springs. The stops constituting the present improvements may be loosened or retracted, however, to permit the entire clock movement to be bodily taken out of the shell or case.

The subject-matter constituting the subject of the present invention consists, therefore, in the combination with the shell or case, the clock movement, the cushioning or shock absorbing springs, and the bezel, of releasable means for holding the movement in the shell or case, against the ejecting action of the springs, when the bezel is removed.

I wish it understood that I do not limit the present invention to the electric clock movement and the precise construction and arrangement of the shock absorbing springs set forth in my applications, Serial Nos.

869,014 and 871,032, nor do I, except where expressed in the claims, limit myself to the specific stop screws hereinafter described, because I am well aware that other'releasable, retractable or removable stop devices could be used in the same combination and to obtain the same result.

In the accompanying drawings :Figure 1 is a section through a clock constructed according to the disclosures of my application, Serial No. 871,032, with the present improvements combined therewith; Fig. 2, a similar View the bezel being removed and the stop devices holding the clock movement frame in position; and Fig. 3, a detail section showing the position of the parts when the bezel is unscrewed and removed and the frame of the clock is free of the stops.

The shell or case 1 has a screw-threaded part 2 onto which the bezel 3 screws. There is a spacer shell 6 adapted to engage the dial plate 7 of the frame 8, 9, 11, which carries the clock movement. A plurality of pillars 37 are carried by the plate 11 and are surrounded by coil springs 38 whose inner ends 39 are cramped and engage with the pillars to hold the said springs in position, but at the same time permitting them to freely expand or contract on the pillars. These p g onst tute shock absorb n devices taken out.

which are adapted to pressagainst the rear end of the case 1 and to thereby hold the entire frame of the movement pressed outwardly so that the dial 7 is held against the spacer shell 6.

My present improvements consist in the provision of stops 40 combined with the frame of the clock movement and normally arranged so that they are slightly free of contact with the clock movement frame, the plate 11. thereof, for instance, when the parts are in normal position, as shown in Fig. 1. This freedom from normal engage ment of the stops 40 and plate 11 permits the springs 38 to perform their cushioning and shock absorbing functions and to tightly hold the bezel against unscrewing, under normal conditions. \Vhen the bezel is un-- screwed, were the stops 40not provided, the springs 38 would tend to throw the movement outwardly. Consequently, whenever it was desired to set the hands t1 by first unscrewing the bezel to permit access to said hands, the movement would tend to spring out of the shell or case 1. With the provision of the stops L0, however, thisis prevented. Oonsequently, when the bezel and glass are taken off to set the hands 11, the forward movement of the cloclrframe is ar rested by the stops 40. Ifit is desired to entirely remove the movement from the shell 1, the stops 40 can be retracted until they clear the plate 11, whereupon the entire movement, including the spr1ngs38, can be Preferably, the stops 450 are in the form of *screwswhich are threaded throu h the walls of the shell 1 so that their tips will be in position to engageand ari'est'the plate 11.. I am well aware, however, that these stops could be provided as spring actuat ed, re-

tractable members or as other forms of pins and I do not limit myself to screws except where stated in the claims.

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

1. In a clock, the combination with a shell or case, of a clock movement therein, cushioning spring means interposed between the shell or case and the movement, a dial plate, a removable bezel against which the dial plate of the movement is normally held by said springs, and releasable means for holding the movement in the shell or case when the bezel is removed.

2. In a clock, the combination with a shell or case, of a clock movement therein, cushioning spring means interposed between the shell or case and the movement, a dial plate, a removable bezel against which the dial plate of the movement is normally held by said springs, and retractable stops carried by the case and normally out of engagement rith the frame of the clock movement and adapted to engage said frame when the bezel is removed.

3. In a clock, the combination with a shell or case, of a clock movement therein, cush-' ioning spring means interposed between the shell or case and the movement, a dlal plate,

'a removable bezel against which the dial WILLIAM H; THOMPSON.

" Witnesses V. B. HoUs'roN,

JOHN W. FARLEY.

Cdpies'of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

. Washington, D. C.

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