US27023A - Eugene m - Google Patents

Description

E. M. & J. E. MIX.

Calendar Clock.

' No. 27,023. Patented Jany 31, 1860.

N. PETEES FnmO-Lmwgmphcr. \Vashinglcm D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EUGENE M. MIX AND JAMES E. MIX, OF ITHACA, NEIV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO V. T. HUNTINGTON AND HARVEY PLATT, OF SAME PLACE.

CALENDAR-CLOCK.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 27,023, dated January 1 1gip 3 eissued October To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EUGENE M. Mix and JAMES E. Mix, both of Ithaca, in the county of Tompkins and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Calendar-Clocks; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1, is afront view of those parts of a calendar movement which are necessary to illustrate our invention. Figs. 2, and 3, are transverse vertical sections of the said movement both taken near the shaft of the day of the month index but one exhibiting the part-s on one side of the plane of section and the other the parts on the opposite side. Fig. 1, represents a back view of the day of the month wheel, and the mechanism for operating it. Fig. 5, is an end view of the month roller and of the mechanism for operating it. Fig. 6, is a side view of the year wheel. Fig. 7, a side view of the four year wheel.

Similarletters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

Our invention consists in certain novel means of governing the movements necessary at the changes of the months, more especially the variable movement in the change from February to March, which are less liable to get out of order than the mechanism heretofore used for the purpose and hence more reliable and certain in their operation.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, is a frame furnished with posts, r A, A A A A*, A A, A A A to support the several parts of the calendar movement, said frame being intended to be arranged below the clock movement. B, is the day of the week roller having the names of the days inscribed upon its periphery; and C is the month roller, having the names of the months inscribed upon its periphery. These rollers are arranged end to end, but at some distance apart, bet-ween center screws, screwing into the posts A, A, A A

D, is the arbor which carries the index 6, pointing to the numbers 1 to 31, marked at equal distances apart in a circle inscribed on the dial E. This index and dial are omitted in Fig. 1, to expose the working parts behind it but the index and circle of figures, are represented in that figure in red color. The said arbor D, is arranged between the rollers B and C, with its axis at right angles to their axes, and supported partly by a set screw (Z, in the post A and partly in a bearing in the post A, and it has secured to it the day of the month wheel F, (best shown in Fig. which has its circumference divided into thirty-one (31) teeth, of which twenty-eight (28), are of uniform depth or projection, the twenty-nii'ith projects not so much, the thirtieth still less, and the thirty-first least of all as shown in the last mentioned figure. The said arbor D, is also furnished with a ratchet wheel D, of thirty one teeth, and with a snail cam D the latter for actuating the mechanism by which the movement of the month roller C, is effected, and the former having applied to it a pawl 6', (Figs. 1 and 2) for preventing the day of the month wheel E, and index Z), from turning the wrong way, the said pawl being attached to the post A, and having a hook 0, attached to it to catch against the said post in case of its being subjectto any tendency to lift it too high.

G, (Fig. 2) is the twenty-four hour wheel geared with the clock movement in such a manner as to be caused to rotate once in twenty-four hours. The arbor G, (Figs 1 and 2), of this wheel is supported in bearings in the top of the post A, and it carries the cam G from which all the working parts of the calendar mechanism derive motion. This cam once during every one of its diurnal revolutions, raises slowly and lets fall quickly a lever H, which works on a fixed fulcrum f, in the post A and it is by the quick descent of this lever that the movements of the several parts are effected.

The day of the month wheel F, derives motion from a click I, (best shown in Fig. 4) that is suspended by a pin 9, from a lever I, that is fitted to oscillate freely upon the arbor D. The said click when it is moved upward with the said lever, passes freely over the teeth of the wheel F, but when it is moved downward engages between the teeth and turns the wheel. The lever H, is made to operate this lever I, by means of a rod a, which is connected with the latter lever, but which passes up through a hole in the former one and is furnished with a knob a above. The lever H, in its upward movement, coming in contact with the knob a, raises the said rod a, and with it the lever and pawl; and in its downward movement it allows the lever I, and its pawl I, and the rod a, to drop by their own weight, which is suflicient to make the click I, turn the wheel F, as far as permitted by a detent J, which is attached to the post A said detent being raised from between the teeth of the said wheel to permit the necessary movement thereof by a projection h, on the lever I, coming into contact with it as the said lever rises, and being allowed to drop again with the said lever as the latter descends. The wheel F, is only moved farther than the distance of a single tooth, at the termination of the months of less than thirty-one days, when it has to be moved the distance of one two or three teeth according as the month has thirty, twenty-nine or twenty-eight days, and such further movement is governed by the year wheel K, the leap year wheel L, the three shorter teeth of the wheel E and an arm J, rigidly attached to the detent J.

The year wheel K, is made of a thin plate of brass or other metal and secured to one end of the month roller C, the circle of the said wheel being divided into twelve equal parts representing the months as shown in Fig. 6, and the divisions representing the seven months of thirty-one days being made to present themselves less prominently in the circumference of the wheel than those representing the shorter months, but all the latter including that representing the month of February being equally prominent. This wheel, rotating with the month roller, makes one twelfth part of a revolution at the end of every month and therefore completes its revolution every year.

The leap year wheel L, which is best shown in Fig. 7, has four teeth arranged at equal distances apart, viz, three 6, z', i, of equal length and one i, which is shorter. It is arranged above the axis of and close to the side of the year wheel K, on a fixed stud j, secured in the post A, and has secured to it a spur gear Z, which gears with a spur gear 70, that is secured to the year wheel, the gear Z, having four times the number of teeth that is, has, so that the leap year wheel L, makes precisely one revolution, while the year wheel K, makes four. The arrangement of the gearing is also such that when the division of the year wheel K, representing the month of February comes to the top, one of the teeth z, 2', i, 6*, of the leap year wheel is presented directly over the center of that wheel, the short tooth 75*, being presented only during leap year. The

extremity of the arm J, of the detent J, is turned downward and is situated directly over the year wheel and leap year wheel and is provided with a step formed face m, n, the part m, of which is situated over the wheel K, and the part a, over the wheel L, and the said wheels constitute stops to the said arm J, and thereby regulate the depth to which the detent enters between the teeth of the day of the month wheel F, when it falls to arrest the movement of that wheel. When one of the less prominent divisions of the year wheel representing a month of thirty-one days is presented upward the detent is allowed to drop down as low as the bottom of the teeth of the wheel E, and hence it will prevent the said wheel moving more than one tooth at a time and thirty one days will be indicated by the index 6. lVhen however one of the more prominent divisions representing a month of thirty days is presented the arm J, is stopped by the wheel K, in a higher position and the detent prevented dropping so deeply into the wheel F, as to stop the shortest tooth marked 31, in Fig. 4, and representing the thirty-first day of the month, and hence through the twenty ninth and thirtieth teeth are stopped after the movements of the wheel which take place at the end of the twentyeighth and the twenty ninth days, the thirty first tooth is allowed to pass the detent and the wheel goes on till the first tooth marked 1, in Fig. 4, arrives at the detent and the index I), arrives at one on the dial E.

During the month of February in other years than leap year, one of the longer teeth 2', of the leap year wheel L, is presented under the arm J, and the said arm is arrested by the said tooth in such a position that the detent will stop none but the full lengthed teeth of the wheel F, and hence in the movement of the said wheel which takes place at the end of the twenty-eighth day all three of the shorter teeth pass and the said wheel is not stopped till the tooth 1, arrives at the detent; but in February of leap year the shorter tooth 71*, of the wheel L, is presented to the arm and the detent allowed to fall so much lower that though it will not stop the thirtieth tooth it will stop the twenty ninth.

The month roller 0, and the year wheel K, which it will be recollect-ed is attached to that roller, derive motion, to the extent of one twelfth of a revolution at the end of every month from the snail cam D before mentioned, on the arbor D, through the agency of a lever M, shown in Figs. 1, '2, and 3, a rod 79, shown in Figs. 1 and 5, and a lever N, click P, and-wheel Q, shown in Fig. 5, said wheel having twelve teeth, and being secured to the roller C, and the lever N, being fitted to work on the shaft 9, of said roller, close to said wheel, and having the click P, suspended from it by a pin 8, in such a manner that as the said click rises with said lever it will slide over the teeth of the wheel Q, but that, as it descends with said lever it will engage between the teeth of and move the said wheel and with it the roller C. The lever M, works on a fulcrum in one of the posts A, and is furnished with a rigid downwardly projecting leg h which rests upon the cam D, and it is connected by the rod 79, with the click lever N. The cam by its revolution raises the lever M, and with it the lever N, and the pawl, and when the abrupt step of the cam passes the end of the arm M, the levers drop and the click moves the wheel Q suddenly. The roller C, is prevented moving too far by a detent R, which is raised to permit the necessary movement of the wheel Q, by a projection r, on the lever N, and let it fall again between the teeth as the lever descends; and the said wheel is prevented from being turned backward by a pawl S, which is raised by the action of the teeth themselves, in turning the right way.

The day of the week roller B, is operated by a lever N, and click P, (see Fig. 2) applied substantially like N and P, to operate on a toothed wheel Q, secured on its shaft q, said lever being operated by a rod t, which is operated upon every day by the lever H, in the same manner as the rod a, before described, and the said wheel Q, has a detent R, and a pawl S, like R and S, applied to it to prevent its moving too far at a time or turning back, said detent being raised when the wheel is to be turned, by a projection r, on the lever N.

The wheel Q, has fourteen (14C) teeth and the roller B, has the days of two weeks inscribed upon it and hence the said wheel completes its revolution once in two weeks. The reason for this is that with a wheel of seven (7) teeth, which would be necessary if the roller only had the days of one week upon it, the click P, could not be made to operate with the same degree of certainty.

We do not claim as our invention the day of the month wheel F, having three short teeth, as that is described in Letters Patent, No. 18,665. Neither do we claim the construction of the year wheel K, or the use of a quadrennially revolving wheel with four teeth, representing the four months of February in a bisextile term as these devices are represented in Letters Patent No. 15,637, combined in a difierent manner to that which we have described, but,

that we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

The employment of a year wheel K, and detached leap year wheel L, applied and operating together substantially as described, in combination with a detent J, or its equivalent and a wheel F, of the construction herein specified.

EUGENE M. MIX. JAMES E. MIX.

\Vitnesses LUCIUS G. MIX, 0. G. HOWARD.

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