US1907133A

US1907133A - Alarm clock

Info

Publication number: US1907133A
Application number: US416349A
Authority: US
Inventors: Wehinger Frederick
Original assignee: WATERBURY CLOCK Co
Current assignee: WATERBURY CLOCK Co
Priority date: 1929-12-26
Filing date: 1929-12-26
Publication date: 1933-05-02
Anticipated expiration: 1950-05-02

Description

May 2, 1933. F. WEHlNGER ALARM CLOCK Filed Dec. 26, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l May 2, 1933. WEH|NGER 1,907,133

ALARM CLOCK Filed Dec. 26, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 2, 1933 FREDERICK WEHINGER, OF WATERBURY,

CLOCK COMPANY, OF W'ATERBURY,

PATENT FFEQE CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO WATERBURY CQNNECTIC'UT, A. QGRTEORATION ALARM oLocK Application filed December 26, 1929.

My invention relates to an improvement in alarm clocks, the object being to produce a simple, reliable and convenient mechanism therefor, designed to sound a relativelybrief warning-alarm, and, at the termination of a predetermined interval thereafter, the ,final or full-alarm.

With these ends in view, my invention consists in an alarm-mechanism having certain details of construction and combinations of parts as will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in rear elevation of an alarm-clock embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a view in front elevation of the movement and bell thereof as detached from the clock-case;

Fig. 3 is a broken view in vertical tran "11550 verse section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, showing the short warningalarm control-pin engaged with the control-slide;

Fig. lis a corresponding view but showing the parts in the positions due them after the sounding of the warning-alarm and before the sounding of the full-alarm with the long full-alarm control-pin engaged with the control-slide;

Fig. 5 is a detached perspective view of the alarm-cam wheel and its double alarmcam;

Fig. 6 is a similar view of the alarmescapement wheel;

Fig. 7 is a detached perspective view of T735 the alarm-control slide;

Serial No. 416,849.

warnin -a arm dwell 18 and a full-alarm drop 19 di ectly beneath which is the lowpoint 20 the cam-rise 21 which merges at about the point 22 into a relatively-long dwell 23 which terminates at the warningn drop 1? aforesaid. ris thus constructed, JllG alarm-cam 15, though but a single elen ent, operates a double cam, the drop from its long dwell 23 to the start 20 of the rise 21 being divided in o two stages by the short warningalarm dwell 18. The alarmcam as thus constructed is operated by an alarm cam finger 2% projecting radially from a collect 25 staked upon the forward end of an alarm-set-staff 26 having bearing near its forward and rear ends, respectively, in the front and

back plates

27 and 28 of the clockmovement and provided at its projecting rear end with a finger-button 29 by which the staff is turned for setting the alarm. The alarm-wheel 16 is mounted, as usual, upon the forward end of the alarm-set-staff 26 with freedom for rotary and axial sliding movement thereupon and, as common in alarm clocks, it meshes into the minutepinion 30 of the usual dial-work of the timetrains of such clocks.

The axial movement upon the staff 26 of the alarm-wheel 16 and hence of the alarmcam 15 is provided for, as usual, by a flat sheet-metal alarm-cam-spring 31 secured at its outer end by a screw 32 to the front movement-plate 27 and having an elongated clearance-opening 33 through which the staff 26 passes. This spring, as common in such alarm-mechanisms, engages with the inner face of the alarm-wheel 16 and exerts a constant effort to move the same and the double alarm-cam 15 axially outward upon the stafi' 26 so as to maintain the shaped outer edge of the cam in constant engagement with the alarm cam-finger 2 f aforesaid.

t its free end the spring 31 is formed with a rectangular notch 34 producing complementary fingers 35 respectively entering notches 36 in the opposite edges of a flat sheet-metal rectangular alarm-control slide 37 bearing at its outer end in a slot 38 in an arm 39 offset from a bracket 40 secured by screws 41 to the front movement-plate 27. At its inner end the said control-slide 37 has bearing in a slot 42 in the said front movement-plate. The control-slide as thus constructed and mounted has rectilinear movement in a plane parallel with the axis of the clock-movement, its projecting inner end alternately co-acting with a short warning-alarm control-pin 43, and a longer fullalarm control-pin 44. Both of the pins are carried by and project forwardly from an alarm-escapement wheel 45 also carrging a rearwardly-projecting alarm-shut-o pin 46. The alarm-escapement wheel 45 co-acts, as usual, with a verge 47 on an oscillating verge-shaft 48 mounting a hammer-arm 49 carrying a hammer 50 located adjacent to the inner face of the flange 51 of the bell 52.

'The alarm-shut-ofi' pin 46 aforesaid c0- acts with the sto -tooth 53 of an alarmshut-ofl' lever 54 pivotally hung between its endsupon a pivot 55 in the front movementlate 27. At its upper end the said lever is gent rearwardly to form an operating-finger 56 projecting through a slot 57 (Fig. 1) in the back 58 of the clock-case 59, so as to be available for manual manipulation by the user of the clock. At its lower end the said lever is provided with a rearwardlyturned operating-finger 60 positioned for enga ement b the outermost convolution of the alarm-spring 61 for the automatic operation of the lever, so that, in case the lever is not manually operated for shutting off the full-alarm, the same will be ultimateliy shut of by the alarm-spring as it expan s into engagement with the said finger 60 as the alarm-train runs down, whereby the lever is rocked on the pivot 55 to bring its stoptooth 53 into the path of the alarm-stoppin 46.

To suit the tastes of individual users of the clock, I provide means for regulating the volume of sound from the maximum, to the minimum that will answer the purpose. For this purpose I locate within the bell (Figs. 10 and 11 an alarm-muffler lever 62 hung at its inner end on a pivot 63 and at its outer end carrying an alarm-mufller plate 64 furnished with a fastening-arm 65 by which it is secured by rivets 66 to the free end of the lever, the plate 64 being positioned to lie alongside the inner face of the flange 51 of the bell but not concentric therewith. An operating-arm 67 secured to the outer end of the lever 62, passes rearwardly through a clearance-slot 68 (Fig. 1) in the back 58 of the clock-case 59. By means of this operating-am the mufiler-plate 64 may he cleared entirely from the bell-hammer 50 which is then free to impinge directly upon the flange of the bell so as to produce the maximum volume of noise. As the lever 62 is moved upward by its operating-handle 67, the end of the mufller-plate 64 is advanced at an angle between the bell-hammer 50 and the bell-flange 51, whereby the distance between the hammer and flange is progressively increased with the effect of correspondingly decreasing the effective force of the hammer upon the bell-flange and correspondingly reducing the volume of the sound, since the impact of the hammer is then transmitted through the mufller-plate and a progressively-longer section thereof.

The other details of the clock chosen for the illustration of my invention may follow approved practice and do not call for detailed description.

Coming now to the operation of my improved alarm-mechanism, let it be assumed that the parts thereof are in their normal positions (Figs. 2 and 3), the shut-oil lever 54 bein in its retired position and the inner en of the control-slide 37 being engaged by the short warning-alarm controlpin 43. Now in the running of the timetrain of the clock, the alarm-cam wheel 16 is rotated and hence the double alarm-cam 15 beneath the cam-finger 24 on the alarm set-staff 26. As soon in the rotation of the cam 15 as the warning-alarm drop 17 passes fully from under the cam finger 24, the alarm-cam wheel 16 and the alarm-cam 15 will be snapped axially forward on the stafi 26 by the alarmcam-spring 31 until the short warning-alarm dwell 18 is brought into engagement (Fig. 4) with the rear face of the said finger 24, whereby the controlslide 37 is moved outwardly sufiiciently to disen age its inner end from the short warning-a arm control-pin 43, releasing the escapement-wheel 45 to the action of the alarm-spring 61, for clockwise rotation until the full-alarm control-pin 44 is brought into engagement with the now partially-retired control-slide 37. The parts of the mechanism now occup the positions in which 't are shown in ig. 4. During this interva in which a partial rotation only of the escapement-wheel 45 takes place, a warningalarm of short duration is sounded.

The continued rotation, under the action of the time-train, of the alarm-wheel 16 and the alarm-cam 15, gradually moves the short warning-alarm dwell 18 out from under the alarm-cam finger 24 sufiiciently to clear the full-alarm-drop 19 from it, whereupon the spring 31 acts to move the wheel 16 and cam 15 further outward until the start 20 of the cam-rise 21 is engaged with 'the inner face of the alarm-cam finger 24. Concurrently with the action above described, the spring 31 has moved the alarm-control slide 37 to the limit of its outward movement, in which its inner end is disengaged from the long full-alarm control-pin 44.

The alarm-train is thus again released, permitting the alarm-escapement wheel 45 to continuously rotate clockwise until the user of the clock manually moves the shutoff lever 54 by its operating-finger 56 to bring the shut-0H tooth 53 of the lever into the path of the stop-pin 46 projecting rearwardly from the escapement-wheel 45, or until the expansion of the alarm-spring 61, acting through the finger 60 of the shut-off lever 54, automatically acts to rock the lever 54 and swing its tooth 53 into the path of the said stop-pin 46.

It may now be noted that the

pins

43 and 44, carried by the escapement-wheel 45, are so positioned relatively to each other and to the pin 46 that when the latter is engaged with the nose 53 of the shutoff lever 54, the short warning-alarm control-pin 43 will be in position to engage with the inner end of the control-slide 37 when the shut-off lever is manually operated to disengage its tooth 53 from the pin 46, so that the parts will be left in readiness to sound the warningfull-alarms in proper sequence, when the action of the time-train automatically releases the alarm-train.

Now in the running of the time-train of the clock, the rise 21 of the cam will slowly ride under the alarm-cam finger 24 and push the alarm-wheel 16 and its cam 15 axially inward on the staff 26 against the tension of the spring 31, whereby the alarm-control slide 37 will be moved inward suificiently to enter the path of the short warning-alarm control-pin 43 to be engaged thereby as soon as the shut-off lever has been swung into its retired position.

In the continued running of the timetrain, the long dwell 23 of the double alarmcam 15 slowly rides under the alarm-cam finger 24 until the warning-alarm drop 17 passes fully from under the finger 24, after which the cycle of operations already rehearsed is repeated.

I claim:

1. In an alarm clock for sounding a warning-alarm followed at a predetermined interval by a full-alarm, the combination with the timeand alarm-trains thereof, of an alarm-control slide limited to rectilinear movement and engageable with a running part of the said alarm-train, means for positively guiding said slide into and out of position for engagement with said part and for supporting same when engaged by said part, and means controlled by the said time-train for causing the said control-slide to retire in a two-step movement.

2. In an alarm clock for sounding a warning-alarm followed at a predetermined interval by a full-alarm, the combination with the timeand alarm-trains thereof, of a twodrop alarm-cam driven by the said timetrain, an alarm-cam spring, an alarm-control slide limited to rectilinear movement and engageable with a running part of the said alarm-train and connected to the said alarmspring for being retired thereby in two stages under the control of the said twodrop alarm-cam, and means for positively guiding said slide in its movement under the influence of said spring and for supporting it when engaged by said running part.

3. In an alarm clock for sounding a warning-alarm followed at a predetermined interval by a full-alarm, the combination with the timeand alarm-trains thereof, of a pair of complementary abutments carried by a rotating member of the said alarm-train; an alarm-control slide limited to rectilinear movement and adapted to be interposed by stages in the path of the two said controlabutments; means for positively guiding and supporting said slide, and means driven by the said time-train for successively disengaging the said slide from the shorter and longer of the two control-abutments to per mit the alarm-train to sound a warningalarm at a predetermined time before the sounding of the full-alarm.

4. In an alarm clock for sounding a warning-alarm followed at a predetermined interval by a full-alarm, the combination with the timeand alarm-trains thereof, of a reciprocating control-slide engageable with a running part of the said alarm-train, guidemeans for the said control-slide constructed and arranged to guide the same in a rectilinear path, an alarm-cam spring connected to the said control-slide for moving the same, and an alarm-cam acting through the said alarm-cam spring and contoured to effect the retirement of the said control-slide to release the alarm-train on two occasions to permit the same to sound a warningalarm and a fullalarm at a predetermined interval thereafter.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification.

FREDERICK VVEHINGER.