US320699A

US320699A - Watch-key

Info

Publication number: US320699A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1885-06-23
Anticipated expiration: 1902-06-23

Description

(No Model.)

:ELMQLF- 1). ROBERTS.

WATCH KEY..

Patented June 23, 1885.

@Moerg UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DUDLEY ROBERTS, OF IVALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS.

WATCH -KEY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320,699, dated June 23, 1885.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, DUDLEY Bonnn'rs, of W'altham, in the county of Middlesex, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in \Vatch-Keys; and I do hereby declare the same to be described in the following specification and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 is a side view, and Fig. 2 a longitudinal section, of a watch-key provided with my invention, the nature of which is defined in the claim hereinafter presented.

In the drawings, A denotes a Watchkey, and B the handle, the upper end of the shank or stem (0 of the key being conical to extend into a correspondingly-shaped recess, 1), in the handle. A screw, 0, provided with anieked head, 0, extends through the handle length- Wise of it and screws into the shank or stem of the key. The handle at its upper end is socketed or countersunk to receive the head of the screw.

On screwing in the screw so as to force the handle against the shank, such handle on being revolved will,by friction against theshank, revolvethe key, especially when it is in engagement with the winding-arbor of a watch. If the friction is a little more than sufficient to cause the key to revolve the arbor, the handle, on the arbor being wound up,will revolve on the key, without causing the latter to overstrain the mainspring or the mechanism actuated by the arbor.

The cone on the shank or stem and the conical recess in the handle, into which the cone extends and fits, answer two purposesviz., to extend or increase the frictional surfaces in cont-act, and to pivot the handle on the stem as well as on the connecting-screw. By so pivoting the handle on the stem, the liability of such handle, when revolved to loosen the screw, is greatly lessened if not entirely avoided.

My improvement is applicable to the stem of a ste1n-winding watch, in which case the said stem would have to be madein two parts like the key shank or stem and handle, and they be connected by a screw arranged in them as described with respect to the said key stem and handle. The usual ratchet would be applied to the handle, and the milled head carrying the pawl to take into the said ratchet would be adapted to turn on the handle, all of which will be readily understood by watchmakers.

I do not claim in a watch-key or watch the combination of the key head and barrel with a screw connecting them, and with a spring to be forced by such screw against the head or barrel, in order to produce friction to hinder the turning of the head relatively to the barrel. In my watchkey I have no spring, such key being in three parts only, instead of four, as it must necessarily have when the spring is employed; and, furthermore, I have no auxiliary or clamp screw to keep the screw from being revolved in the barrel.

I claim- A watch-key consisting of the shank or stem to, having the conical end, in combination with a cylindrical handle, B, having the recess Z), such recess corresponding with and" receiving the conical end of the shank a, and the screw 0, passing through the handle B into the shank (6, whereby the stem and handle are held by the contact of their conical end and recess without other instrumentality, all as fully set forth.

DUDLEY ROBERTS.

Vitncsses:

R. H. EDDY, S. N. PIPER.