US151243A - Improvement in mainspring-indicators for watches - Google Patents

Description

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i G. P. REED. Maln-Sprlng Indicators for Watches. N0,15l,243, PatentedMay26\874 rra rares G EUR@ E l?.

t ED, (TF BSTON, MASSACHUSE"TS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No 151.2413, dated May '26, 18T/l; application iiled August 29, 1871.

To il lwhom it may concern:

Ile it known that I, Geenen P. Renn, of Boston, in the county oi' Suffolk and State of hlassachusetts, have made an invention otl a new and useful Improvement in lVatches; and do hereby declare the ibllowing to be a i'ull, clear, and exact description thereof, due reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this spcciiication, and in which- Figure 1 is a tace view of the lower or main plate of a watch with my improvements applied thereto, Fig. 2 being a dial-face view, showin g the dials and hands impressed thereupon, while Fig. 3 is a vertical section ot' the same.

The purpose of my present improvement is to apply to a watch of my own production, and containing several inventions patented by myself, an up-and-down hand, so calledthat is to say, a hand and dial or scale combined with the dialface, which, being connected with the barrel or mainspring, shall indicate the extent to which the spring may be wound up, and enables the owner of a watch to ascertain at a glance whether or not it requires winding. rIhis invention is adapted to a system oi' containing and winding the mainspring of a watch, and the addition thereto ot a maintaining power for keeping the watch in motion while the spring is being wound up, such as is shown in Letters Patent ci' the United States numbered 17,055, and issued to me on the 14th day of April, 1857, the distinguishing feature ot' which is the employment of a lixed barrel for containing the spring' while the main wheel and arbor revolve.

This invention consists in the combination, with the stationary barrel and rotating' mainwheel arbor projecting through the cap-plate ot' said barrel, of a pinion iixed on said projecting end of said arbor, and a spur-gear mounted and revolving on a post or stationary arbor iixed on thc cap-plate of said barrel, and carrying an index-hand to operate in connection with an upan d-do wn dial, as here inaitcr specified.

The drawings accompanying this specification represent at A the main plate of a watch 5 at I3, the stop-works plate or bridge, at C,

the barrel-arbor, and at I), the barrel oi' a watch, substantially as is shown in Letters Patent hereinbeiore alluded to, the cap-plate of this barrel, which constitutes part thereof, being shown at E as let into the dial side of the plate A, and with the surfaces of the two flush, or thercabont.

In carrying my present improvement into practice, I extend the arbor G through the cap-plate E, and I afiix to it, in close proximity to such cap-plate, a toothed pinion, a, while alongside ci' or above the said pinion, and meshing into it, I dispose a spur-gear, b,

mounted upon a post, c, erected upon the cap-l plate E, as represented. The post c extends through the dial-plate of the watch, which is shown at d, and carries at its extremity, and immediately outside of the dial-plate, a hand or index pointer, c, this hand operating in connection with a segmental concentric dial or scale, f, impressed or engraved upon the dial -face, and diamctrically opposite and above the seconds-hand thereof, this index or scale, as herein shown, being iive-sevenths of a circle. The words Up and Down are impressed or enameled upon the dial-face, one to each end oi" the index, the latter word being at that end of the scale which the hand approaches while the mainspring is relaxing or running down. As betere observed, the number of teeth of the pinion and of the gear are to be so proportioned to the length of the dial f and the number of revolutions ot' the arbor and pinion, that during forty hours7 running, or iive rotations of the mainwheel arbor, the hand c shall travel from the up7 end ot' the scale, which indicates that the spring is wound up, to the down end of such scale, which indicates that the spring is run down to the full extent which the stopworks will allow. For instance, in the present case, the barrel-arbor describes five rotations in forty hours, and the pinion contains eight teeth; consequently, in order that the five rotations oi the arbor shall eii'ect a partial rotation of the gear and hand through the ivesevenths of a circle which constitutes the extent of the dial f, the number ot' teeth upon such gear should be fiityfsix. In this combination, which is the extreme of simplicity, cheapness, and accuracy, the only elements additional to the watch proper are the pinion a, `aear b, hand c, and post c, with the dial and these oeeupy no space of value. The eear and its Supporting-arbor can, by reason of the stationary barrel, be brought near to the Central pinion a, being` mounted on the cap-plate or head itself of the barrel, an arrangement that eonduees materially to the economical results above noted.

I desire to state in conclusion that I do not Claim, broadly, combining au up-and-down hand with a Watch; but* .Vhat I do claim, and desire to Secure by Letters Patent, is-

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