US2162166A

US2162166A - Clock with attachment

Info

Publication number: US2162166A
Application number: US125462A
Authority: US
Inventors: Gorrien John
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1937-02-12
Filing date: 1937-02-12
Publication date: 1939-06-13
Anticipated expiration: 1956-06-13

Description

June 13, 1939. J. GORRIEN CLOCK WITH ATTACHMENT Filed F'eb. l2, 19157 2 Sheets-Sheet l IN VEN TOR. r'omP/EN A TTORNEY J. GoRRll-:N 2,162,166

CLOCK WITH ATTACHMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. l2. 19257 Fly@ NVENTOR. JOHN Gone/EN Bxl/9.

ATTORNEY Patented June 13, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 7 Claims.

This invention relates to a clock with attachment useful for a variety of purposes, but as disclosed herein more especially adapted to the purpose of notifying or reminding persons, such as hotel clerks, of the time at which to perform some particular service, as, for example, to call a patron of' a hotel at a previously stated time.

Hotel clerks have many diiferent duties among which are the noting of instructions each night from many hotel patrons that the patrons are to be awakened next morning at stated times, some, say, at 7:00 a. m., some at 7:15, some at 8:00, etc. The clock with attachment herein presented has been especially designed to notify or remind hotel clerks at set times when calls of patrons are to be made, although it is to be understood that the device of the invention can be employed for a number of different purposes, as for instance, to notify or remind a person at a predetermined appointed time when any duty or act is to be performed.

An object of the invention is to provide a clock With attachment adapted to the purpose of notifying or reminding persons of the time when services or acts are to be performed, and which clock with attachment Will be of novel and improved construction.

A further object is to provide a device of the present character wherein will be incorporated various improved features and characteristics of construction novel both as individual entities of the device and in combination with each other.

A further object is to provide a clock with attachment of quite simple construction which will by concurrent reference to both thc hour and the minute hands of a clock be adapted to notify or remind persons at accurate, predetermined times when services or acts are to be performed.

And a further object is to provide a clock with attachment for notifying or reminding persons of the time When services or acts are to be performed which will include adjustable mechanism through the instrumentality of which the exact time, or minute, at which the clock with attachment is intended to give notification to or remind a person of the time When a service or act is to be accomplished can be accurately controllably Varied.

With the above objects in View, as well as others which will appear as the specification proceeds, the invention comprises the construction, arrangement and combination of parts as now to be fully described and as hereinafter to he specifically claimed, it being understood that the disclosure herein is merely illustrative and intended in no Way in a limiting sense, changes in details of construction and arrangement of parts being permissible so long as within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims which follow.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a device or clock with attachment made according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view, taken substantially on line 2-2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail View disclosing the manner in which the clock with attachment of Figs. l and 2 is by concurrent reference to both the hour and the minute hands of said clock adapted to notify or remind persons of the time when services or acts are to be performed;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view, taken substantially on line 4-4 in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a View corresponding generally with the disclosure of Fig. 3, but including modified or adjustable mechanism for varying the times, or minutes, at which a clock with attachment made according to the invention can be` made to notify or remind persons of the time when services or acts are to be done;

Fig. 6 is a sectional View, taken substantially on line 6 6 in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary elevational View of the modified or adjustable mechanism of Figs. 5 and 6 as it would appear from the right hand side of said Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged elevational View of one of duplicate jacks or plugs which the device employs;

Fig. 9 is an elevational view of the current conveying portion or element and the spreader member of the jack or plug of Fig. 8 with the insulating nger piece of said jack or plug removed therefrom;

Fig. 10 is an elevational view of the spreader member of the jack or plug removed from the current conveying portion or element of Fig. 9; and

Fig. 1]. is an end elevational View of the jack or plug of Fig. 8 as it would appear from the top side of the sheet.

The disclosure as made is of an electric clock l5, although it will become apparent hereinafter that the clock employed could be mechanically, or spring, driven. The clock frame is as illustrated of insulating material. A usual case i6 of the clock is secured upon the forward member Il 0f the frame as at I8, and said forward member Il includes a front surface l@ providing a dial or clock face. A hollow shaft 2i! driven by mechanism (not shown) within the case i5 nxedly supports or carries a usual hour hand iii of clock, and a shaft 22 within the hollow shaft 5 and driven` by mechanism within said iiXcdly supports or carries a usual minute of the clock. The hour hand and the minute hand 23 bear customary relation to the dial or clock face E9. As shown, said hour nd travels over said dial or clock face at location between the minute hand and the dial or clock face. That is, said minute hand is at the outer side of hour hand. The arrangement is such that at the locations of mounting the hour .and the minute hands upo-n their respective shafts said heur and minute hands are constantly in light rubbing engagement with each other, as enoted t hour and minute hands are constructed of meta or of other material having capacity to conclue electrical current. The shafts and may b of insulating material, or insulatively supporte within the case l5.

An annular member 25 of insulating material is suitably supported, in any convenient manner, as by gluing, or otherwise, upon the front surface of the forward member El of the clock frame in surrounding relation to the dial or clock face. The annular member 25 integrally carries an annular flange 2S of reduced thickness which extends inwardly of said annular member. The annular flange 25 is in the plane of the annular member 25 and is arranged adjacent the forward surface of said annular member so that an annular pocket 2l, defined by the annular member 25, the annular flange 25 and an annular portion of the front surfaceof the forward. member I1, is provided.

The inner marginal portion of the annular flange 26 integrally supports an inwardly extending annular element 2B arranged in the plane of the annular member 25 and the annular flange 26 and situated adjacent the forward surface of said member 25 and its annular flange 25. The annular element 28 is of considerably less thickness than the annular flange 25. A glass cover 29 for the dial or clock face and the clock hands 2l and is of circular conformation, and an annular marginal portion 55 of said glass cover is seated against the inner surface of said annular element 28 adjacent an annular transverse shoulder 3i of the annular flange 26. The marginal portion 30 is secured to the annular element 28 in any convenient manner, as by gluing, or otherwise. The body portion of the glass cover 29 as disclosed bulges outwardly, or forwardly, in direction away from the dial or clock face and the hands 2l and 25. Said dial or clock face is marked in hours and minutes in a well known manner.

Lead wires

32 and 33 from a source (not shown) of electrical energy are secured to the case ifi by means of binding posts 34 and 35. Electrical current carried by said

lead wires

32 and 33 is adapted to actuate clock mechanism within the case I5 in a manner which, as such, forms no explicit part of the invention. Suffice it to Say that through the instrumentality of electrical current carried by the

lead wires

32 and 33 the hour and minute hands 2i and are driven at intended and proper rates of speed, said minute hand as illustrated being adapted to make one complete revolution while said hour hand is traveling one-twelfth of a revolution.

A transformer suitably and conveniently mounted within the frame of the clock I5 includes a primary 35 and a secondary 3l. A lead wire 38 extends from the binding post 34 to one side of the primary 36 and a lead wire 39 extends from the other side of said primary to the binding post 35.

The annular flange 26 upon the annular member 25 includes a series `of equally spaced apart openings 40 each with metallic eyelet 4l, or other tubular conducting element, arranged therein. The eyelets or tubular conducting elements 4I are disposed concentrically of the shafts 2i! and 22'. Said eyelets or tubular conducting elements may be spaced apart any preferred distances. As disclosed, there are forty-eight openings 4l] each with eyelet or tubular conducting element 4l. The outer end of each eyelet or tubular conducting element is enlarged, as at 42, and engages the front surface of the annular member 25 and the annular iiange 26. The inner end portion of each eyelet or tubular conducting element lies in the annular pocket 2l', and the inner ends of the eyelets or tubular conducting elements terminate in spaced relation to the inner surface of the annular member 25 and the front surface of the forward member l1 of the frame of the clock. See Figs. 2 and 4.

An annular member or plate 43 of metal, or of other conducting material, is suitably secured to the inner surface of the annular member 25, as by gluing, or otherwise, and includes an inner, annular marginal portion 44 lying in the annular pocket 2l. As disclosed, the annular member or plate 53 and its inner, annular marginal portion 44 are in contiguous relation to the front surface of the forward member l1 of the frame of the clock and in spaced relation to the eyelets or tubular conducting elements 4l. The inner, annular marginal portion 4 4 of the conducting member or plate 43 includes openings 45 in substantial alinement with the openings through the eyelets or tubular conducting elements 4l, there being an opening 45 corresponding to each eyelet or tubular conducting element. The arrangement is such that the openings 45 are a triiie off-set with respect -to the openings or passageways through the eyelets or tubular conducting elements 4l. The front surface of the forward member il of the clock frame includes openings 4E in alinement with the openings or passageways through the eyelets or tubular conducting elements and in alinement with the openings 45, there being an opening 46 corresponding to each substantially alining set of openings 4l] and 45.

The annular member 25 includes an annular channel or concavity 4'5 therein which suitably houses a lead wire 43. Said lead wire 48 spans the complete circumference of the annular channel or concavity 41, or, stated differently, the lead wire 48 may be continuous.

Conducting strips 49 are disposed in spaced apart relation about the inner surface of the annular flange 25 and are supported upon said annular fiange in `any suitable and convenient manner. as by gluing, or otherwise. By way of eX- ample, there may be four conducting strips 49 spaced at equal distances apart, including a conducting strip adjacent each of "3, "6, 9 and 12 on the dial or clock face. Each conducting strip includes a body portion. extending alc the annular flange 25 circumferentially th.,h eof and a tail or flange portion 5i) of the conducting strip situated in a passageway 5I of the annular member 25 and conductively engaging the continuous or circular lead Wire 48. Each passageway extends from the annular pocket 25 to the annular channel or concavity 41. As very clearly shown in the drawings, the conducting strips 49 and their tails or flanges 50 are in spaced relation to the eyelets or tubular conducting elements 4|, as well as in spaced relation to the annular conducting member or plate 43 and its inner, annular marginal portion 44.

The minute hand 23 is adapted to successively wipe over the body portions of the conducting strips 49 as said minute hand advances, as will be very clear from Figs. 2, 3 and 4. The hour hand 2| has a radial conducting extension 52 secured thereto and including a shaped spring member 53 arranged in the annular pocket 21 and adapted to successively wipe over the eyelets or tubular conducting elements 4| as said hour hand advances. The construction of the shaped spring member 53 desirably is such that there is contact between said spring member and each eyelet or tubular conducting element engaged by the spring member for several, or a few,

' minutes of time.

A buzzer 54, or other signaling, notifying or reminding apparatus,y is conveniently situated within the frame of the clock adjacent the transformer and the case I6. A lead wire 55 extends from one side of the secondary 31 of said transformer to the buzzer or signaling apparatus 54. A lead wire 56 extends from said buzzer or signaling apparatus to a binding post 51. The binding post 51 is as illustrated constituted as a screw bolt extending through the forward member |1 of the frame of the clock and through the annular conducting member or plate 43 and entering the annular member 25. Said binding post or screw bolt 51 has conducting engagement with said annular conducting member or plate 43. The screw bolt 51 can assist in supporting the annuar conducting member or plate 43 in position and additional screw bolts of the same general character can also pass through the members |1 and 43 and enter the member 25 and assist in supporting, or support, the annular conducting member or plate, as will be understood.

A lead wire 58 in electrical engagement at 59 with the continuous or circular lead wire 48 extends from said continuous or circular lead wire tothe side of the secondary 31 of the transformer opposite the side to which the lead wire 55 is connected. The annular conducting member or plate 43 is cut away at 60 to allow passage of the lead wire 58 and to be clear of said lead wire.

Jacks or plugs of the device, adapted separately to provide conducting connection between any selected one of the eyelets or tubular conducting elements 4| and the annular conducting member or plate 43, are each of construction as clearly illustrated in Figs. 3, 4 and 8 to l1. A U-mernber of each jack or plug includes closely adjacent. parallel legs 6| connected by a base 62. Each leg 6| is curvilinear in cross section, and the free end portions of said legs 6| diverge slightly. That is, the legs 6| are in slightly divergent relation to each other at their free end portions. Concave parts of the legs 6| face each other and said legs lie in a single plane. The free ends of the legs 6| are at equal distances from the base 62 and adjacent each other, and each of said free ends is of rounded conformation, as indicated at 63. The U-member is in the instance of each jack or plug of resilient metal, or of other resilient conducting material. A spreader member 64 for the legs 6| is seated between the concave portions of said legs against the base 62. Said spreader member is as disclosed of about one-half the length of the U- member. An insulating nger piece 65 of each of the duplicate jacks or plugs is tightly secured upon the portion of the U-member which houses the spreader member.

The legs 6| of the U-member of each jack or plug employed are adapted to be inserted, selectively, into and through the eyelets or tubular conducting elements 4|, into' and through the openings 45 in the inner, annular marginal portion 44 of the annular conducting member or plate 43, and into the openings 46 in the frame member |1. The free end portions of the legs ti of each jack or plug are spread apart to such extent that upon insertion of the rounded ends of said legs into` an eyelet or tubular conducting element and into a substantially alining openeach other against their natural resilient tendency to spread. Thus there will be insurance of resilient, pressing engagement of the U-member of each jack or plug with the interior of each eyelet or tubular conducting element 4I. Each jack or plug is inserted into a selected eyelet or tubular conducting element until the insulating nger piece 65 of the jack or plug engages the enlarged part 42 of the eyelet or tubular conducting element, as in Fig. 4. The arrangement is such that as the free ends 63 of the legs of a jack or plug are passed beyond an eyelet or tubular conducting element and into a substantially alining opening 45 in the inner, annular marginal portion 44 of the annular conducting member or plate 43, the diverging, free end portions of said legs commence to spread apart, because of release of said diverging, free end portions by said eyelet or tubular conducting element and the natural resilience of the metal of the U-member. By reason of the spreading apart of the legs, resilient, pressing engagement of the jack or plug with the metal of the annular conducting member or plate 43 at the openings 45 in the marginal portion 44 is insured, as will be understood. Off-setting the openings 45 a trie relatively to the eyelets or tubular conducting elements additionally insures that there will be engagement between the legs and the annular conducting member or plate.

When a jack or plug is arranged in an eyelet or tubular conducting element and in a substantially alining opening 45 in the manner as before set forth, the eyelet or tubular conducting element having said jack or plug is obviously conductively connected to the annular conducting member or plate 43 through the instrumentality of the legs 6| of the jack or plug, which legs are in current carrying engagement with both said eyelet or tubular conducting element and said annular conducting member or plate. See Fig. 4.

The manner in which the device or clock with attachment operates is simply explained. Supposing it to be intended that a notifying or reminding signal be produced at, say, nine oclock, for example, a jack or plug is inserted in the manner as stated into the eyelet or tubular conducting element directly adjacent 9 on the dial or clock face. The buzzer will, then, be caused to sound at nine oclock and at no other time, because electrical connection through said buzzer is also through both the hour and the minute hands of the clock, as well as through the annular conducting member or plate 43 and, separately, through the conducting strips 49. The radial extension 52 will engage said eyelet or tubular conducting element directly adjacent 9 while the minute hand is also in engagement with a conducting strip 49 when and only when said minute hand is at, or fairly close to, l2 on the dial or clock face. Upon engagement of the radial extension 52 on the hour hand 2| with the eyelet or tubular conducting el-ement directly opposite 9 and having a jack or plug therein and also in contact with the annular conducting member or plate 43 while the minute hand 23 is in engagement with the conducting strip 49 adjacent 12 on the dial or clock face, an operating circuit through the buzzer 54 will be made from the secondary 3l of the transformer through the lead wire, 55 to said buzzer, thence from the buz- Zer through the lead wire 59 and the binding post or screw bolt 51 to the annular conducting member or plate 43, thence through the jack or plug in the eyelet or tubular conducting element directly adjacent 9 and this same eyelet or tubular conducting element to the radial extension 52, thence through the hour hand 2l and the minute hand 23 to the conducting strip 49 at l2, and thence through the tail or flange 50 of said conducting strip at l2, the continuous or circular lead wire 49 and the lead wire 58 back to the secondary of said transformer.

In the instance of a signal to be given at any selected time of the clock, the manner of operation is the same as described. For any particular setting of a jack or plug, ther-e is only one of the conducting strips 49 which will be engaged by the minute hand 23 While the radial extension 52 upon the .hour hand 2l is in engagement with an eyelet or tubular conducting element having said jack or plug situated therein. In every instance, the signal is given by concurrent reference to both. the hour and the minute hands of the clock so that th-e occurrence of said signal is at an accurate, predetermined time. Obviously, a plurality of jacks or plugs can be simultaneously positioned in different openings oi the clock. The operation in the case of each inserted jack or plug will be entirely independent of the operation resulting from the insertion of al] other jacks or plugs. That is, insertion of a jack or plug at any opening in the clock. causes notifying or reminding operation to occur independently of notifying or reminding Operation caused by insertion of jacks or plugs in all other openings in the clock.

Each conducting strip 49 has length so that it is engaged by the minute hand 23 for a few, or several, minutes, and the shaped spring member 53 upon the radial conducting extension 52 is constructed to remain in engagement with each eyelet or tubular conducting element 4! for a few, or several, minutes, as before stated. It will be apparent that 4each signal will be made discernible at an accurate time, or minute, as intended even though the hour hand and the minute hand may not have accurate setting, within limits, relatively to each other. The spring member upon the radial extension 52 may rst engage an eyelet or tubular conducting element 4l with jack or plug set therein, and the minute hand may afterwards engage one vof the conducting strips 49 before engagement between the spring member and the eyelet or tubular conducting element has become broken when a signal is to be given, or the reverse may be the case.

While the conducting strips 13 have some length, they are not so long that the minute hand 23 can traverse any space between adjacent conducting strips 49 during the interval the hour hand is conductively connected with any single eyelet or tubular conducting member 4I. Stated differently, the arrangement-.is such that the minute hand 23 can engage only one of the conducting strips 49 while the hour hand has contact with any one of the eyelets or tubular conducting elements 4I.

In Figs. 6 and 'l there is disclosed a construction in all respects like that hereinbefore described, except that the conducting strips, denoted G6, equivalent to the conducting strips 45, are adjustable circumferentially of the annular iiange 'l, equivalent to the annular flange 26. The adjustment is for the apparent purpose oi' accurately controllably varying the time, or minute, at which the device is intended to produce a signal. Each conducting strip 55 includes an internally threaded boss 68 slidable in an elongated slot 69 in the annular flange G1, and a set screw 'it is for ixing the corresponding conducting strip Se at any position to which adjusted along said elongated slot. Each conducting strip 65 has slidable engagement with a tail or flange 1I, equivalent to each tail or ange 59 and similarly arranged in the annular insulating member 12, equivalent to the annular insulating member 25.

Attention is called to the fact that each of the entities of the present device which in any instance of use of the device can possibly function or serve as a movable element of any electric switch of said device engages its companion stationary element with a wiping action.

What is claimed is:

1. A switch mechanism comprising a plurality of separate tubular conducting elements, a conducting member in spaced relation to said tubular conducting elements, a conducting plug adapted to be set in any selected one of said tubular conducting elements in engagement therewith and in engagement with said conducting member, a plurality of conducting strips arranged in spaced relation to each other, a movable Switch element adapted to successively wipe over said conducting strips, a second movable switch element adapted to successively wipe over said tubular vconducting elements, and said switch element when in engagement with one of said conducting strips while said second switch element is in conducting engagement with one of said tubular conducting elements having a plug therein in conducting engagement with said conducting member being adapted to close a circuit.

2. The combination as specified in claim i, and means for adjusting said conducting strips relatively to said tubular conducting elements.

3. A switch mechanism comprising a plurality of separate tubular conducting elements, a conducting member in spaced relation to said tubular conducting elements, a conducting plug adapted to be set in any selected one oi said tubular conducting elements in engagement therewith and in engagement with said conducting member, a movable switch element adapted to be successively brought into conducting engagement with said tubular conducting elements, a plurality of conducting strips arranged in spaced relation to each other, a second movable switch element adapted to successively engage said conducting strips, and said second switch element when in conducting engagement with one of said conducting strips while said switch element is in conducting engagement with a tubular conducting element having a plug therein and which plug is in conducting engagement with said conducting member being adapted to close a circuit.

4. 'I'he combination as specified in claim 3, wherein said conducting member includes spaced apart openings arranged in a circumference and said tubular conducting elements are arranged in an adjacent concentric circumference, there being a tubular conducting element in alining relation to each of said openings.

5. The combination as specified in claim 3, and means for adjusting said conducting strips relatively to said tubular conducting elements.

6. In a switch mechanism, a plurality of separate tubular conducting elements, a conducting member in spaced relation to said tubular conducting elements, a conducting plug adapted to be set in any selected one of said tubular conducting elements in engagement therewith and in engagement with said conducting member, and

a movable switch element adapted to be successively brought into conducting engagement with said tubular conducting elements.

7. In a switch mechanism, a plurality of separate tubular conducting elements, a conducting member in spaced relation to said tubular conducting elements, a conducting plug adapted to be set in any selected one of said tubular conducting elements in engagement therewith, said conducting plug being adapted to traverse the space between the conducting member and the tubular conducting element in which set and to engage said conducting member, and a movable switch element adapted to be successively brought into wiping engagement with external side surfaces of said tubular conducting elements.

JOHN GORRIEN.