US3470687A

US3470687A - Date and day correcting device of a calendar timepiece

Info

Publication number: US3470687A
Application number: US686936A
Authority: US
Inventors: Tsuneyoshi Ono; Noriyuki Kamijo; Chihiro Ootsuki
Original assignee: Suwa Seikosha KK
Current assignee: Suwa Seikosha KK
Priority date: 1966-12-15
Filing date: 1967-11-30
Publication date: 1969-10-07
Anticipated expiration: 1986-10-07
Also published as: CH596593B5; CH1443474A4; CH1754867A4; GB1140930A

Description

Oct. 7, 1969 Tsunsvosv-u ONO ETAL 3,470,687

DATE AND DAY CORRECTING DEVICE OF A CALENDAR TIMEP IECE Filed Nov. 30, 1967 7 Sheets-Sheet l 2 9 1 J Iii l I ,7/ 1 In @I Ci u f5 O M 8 7 /6 lnl v /0 HWHIEJI I x /8 1H] i :H a M ()lml I.) ,7

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DATE AND DAY CORRECTING DEVICE OF A CALENDAR TIMEPIECE Filed Nov. 30, 1967 7 SheetS- -Sheet 2 FIG. 2

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DATE ANDv DAY CORRECTING DEVICE OF A CALENDAR TIMEPIECE Filed Nov 30, 1967 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 Oct. 7, 1969 TSUNEYOSHI ONO mm. 3,47

DATE AND DAY CORRECTING DEVICE OF A CALENDAR TIMEPIECE Filed NOV. 30, 1967 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Oct. 7, 1969 TSUNEYOSHI ONO ETAL 3,470,687

DATE AND DAY CORRECTING DEVICE OF A CALENDAR TIMEPIECE Filed Nov. 30, 1967 7 Sheets-Sheet s Oct. 7, 1969 TSUNEYOSHI ONO ETAL 3,470,687

DATE AND DAY CORRECTING DEVICE OF A CALENDAR TIMEPIECE Filed NOV. 30, 1967 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Oct. 7, 1969 TSUNEYOSHI ONO EIAL 3,470,687

DATE AND DAY CORRECTING DEVICE OF A CALENDAR TIMEPIECE Filed NOV. 30, 1967 7 Sheets-Sheet '1 F I G. 8

4 q, I 'T)\\\\\:/\, I! 44 47 M xii" 46 I )--55 50 45 .7 Q in A??? 5/ m h [ll 53 59 b J 'I I O il 49 HMOI HH! United States Patent 3,470,687 DATE AND DAY CORRECTING DEVICE OF A CALENDAR TIMEPIECE Tsuneyoshi Ono, Suwa-shi, Noriyuki Kamijo, Tatsunomachi, Nagano-ken, and Chihiro Ootsuki, Suwa-shi, Japan, assiguors to Kabushiki Kaisha Suwa Seikosha Filed Nov. 30, 1967, Ser. No. 686,936 Claims priority, application Japan, Dec. 15, 1966, 41/ 114,064, 41/ 114,066, 41/114,068 Int. Cl. G04b 19/24 U.S. C]. 58-58 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Background of the invention The present invention relates to a date and day correcting device of a calendar timepiece, more particularly to a calendar watch in which date and day can be corrected instantaneously by turning the winding stem fitted with the crown.

Watches with date and day indication have recently become popular and various calendar watches are overflowed in the market. In a calendar watch date and day should be corrected whenever the watch stops running, as when the user fails to wind the watch or after repair. Various day correcting devices have been developed wherein the day indication is advanced by turning the hands by means of the crown, the day indication is corrected by pushing in and pulling out of the crown, or an additional button for day correction is provided. In most calendar watches the day indication is corrected by turning the hour hand and the minute hand by means of the crown. These conventional devices are inconvenient in that the mechanism becomes complicated as an additional button for date and day correction is necessary and correction is time consuming. The known calendar watches do not incorporate both date and day correcting device in one single arrangements.

Brief description of the drawings For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plane view of a first embodiment of the calendar watch according to the invention disposed in the calendar correcting position:

FIG. 2 is a plane view of the calendar watch of FIG. 1 disposed in the hand setting position;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the calendar watch of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plane view of a second embodiment of the calendar watch according to the invention disposed in the calendar correcting position;

FIG. 5 is a partial plane view of the calendar watch of FIG. 4 disposed in the hand setting position;

FIG. 6 is a plane view of a third embodiment of a calendar watch according to the invention disposed in the date correcting position;

FIG. 7 is a plane view of the calendar watch of FIG. 6 disposed in a day correcting position; and

,. ICC

FIG. 8 is a plane view of the calendar watch of FIG. 6 disposed in the hand setting position.

Description of the preferred embodiments The details of this invention will be described hereinafter in connection with the accompanying drawings. In FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 the winding stem is designated by the numeral 1 while 2 represents a yoke, one end of the setting lever 3 engages stem 1 while the other end is formed with

shoulder parts

4 and 5. Mounted on stem 1 is a clutch wheel 6. The watch was provided with setting Wheel 7 and lever 8 pivoted on the axis of the setting wheel. One end 9 of lever 8 engages with the setting lever, while idler 10 is rotatably nrounted on the other end of said lever for pivoting thereby. Said idler is shown in FIG. 1 in engagement with the setting wheel. Spring 11 is biased to rotate lever 8 in the clockwise direction. Also provided are date Wheel 12, minute wheel 13, and daily star 14 which is fixed to the day dial on which days are printed (not shown). The date and day correcting devices include date correcting clutch wheel 15 and date correcting wheel 16 which rotates only when the date correcting clutch wheel turns in the clockwise direction, and does not rotate when the date correcting clutch wheel turns in the counter-clockwise direction. In the same manner, the day correcting wheel 18 rotates when the day correcting clutch wheel 17 turns in the clockwise direction, while it does not rotate with the turning of the day correcting clutch wheel in the counter-clockwise direction. Date correcting clutch wheel 15 and day correcting clutch wheel 17 are always in engagement with each other while the idler 10 engages either of the date correcting clutch wheel 16 or the minute wheel 13 according to the displacement of the lever 8. Date correcting wheel 16 and day correcting wheel 18 engage with the date wheel 12 and the daily star 14 respectively.

The winding stem is adapted to assume three different positions (not shown) by means of the well known setting lever spring. In the first position, where the stem pushed in most deeply, the clutch wheel 6 engages with the winding pinion (not shown) in a manner well known in the prior art to wind the mainspring instead of the setting wheel. In the third position, as shown in FIG. 2, where the stem 1 is fully pulled out, one end of the lever 9 is fitted in the shoulder part 4 of the setting lever 3 and the idler 10 engages with the minute wheel 13. In this position, the hands can be set by turning stem 1. In the second position, as shown in FIG. 1, where the stem is pulled out only one step, one end of the lever 9 engages with the shoulder part 5 of the setting lever, and the idler 10 engages with the date correcting clutch wheel 15. Turning of the stem to the counterclockwise direction now rotates the date correcting clutch wheel to the clockwise direction and the date correcting wheel rotates to the clockwise direction to rotate the date wheel in order to correct the date indication. Under this condition the day correcting clutch wheel rotates to the counter-clockwise direction while the day correcting wheel does not rotate, thus the day dial is free from correction. On the other hand, turning of the stem -to the clockwise direction rotates the date correcting clutch wheel to the counterclockwise direction and the day correcting clutch Wheel rotates to the clockwise direction, so the day correcting wheel as well as the daily star rotate to the clockwise direction to correct the day indication, while the date correcting wheel does not rotate and the date dial is free from correction. In this manner by turning the Winding stem to the counter-clockwise direction the date indication is corrected instantaneously and the day indication is also corrected instantaneously by turning the stem to the clockwise direction.

In FIG. 4 and 5, the winding stem 19 with the crown has a clutch wheel 23 mounted thereon for longitudinal displacement therealong and rotation thereby. Setting lever 20 is mounted rotatively with a setting lever pin 21 and engages with the winding stem 19. Yoke spring 22 positions the setting lever 20. Yoke 24 rotates around a pin 25 and engages with the setting lever 20 to set the position of the clutch wheel 23 along winding stem 19. Correcting lever 27 engages with the setting lever 20 and rotates around a pin 28. Idler 29 is rotatively mounted on lever 27 for pivoting thereby. Spring 30 biases the yoke 24 and the lever 27. Transmitting wheel 31 has calendar correcting wheel 32 fixed thereto. The watch is provided with setting wheel 26 and date wheel 33. Date jumper 34 is provided for setting the position of the date wheel 33 and is rotatable by means of screw 35. Date jumper spring 36 biases the date jumper 34 toward date wheel 33. Daily star 37 has day wheel 38 fixed thereto. Daily jumper 39 rotates around a screw 40 to set the position of the daily star 37, and is biased by day jumper spring 41. Minute wheel 42 is arranged on the same plane with the idler 29 and engages with the hour wheel and the cannon pinion (neither of them are shown). Daily star 37, calendar correcting wheel 32 and date wheel 33 are arranged in the same plane to engage with each other. The relation between dimensions a, b, c and d shown in FIG. 4 are selected so that a b and c d.

The embodiment of FIGS. 4 and operates as follows. By pulling out the winding stem 19 one step the clutch wheel 23 engages with the setting wheel 26 due to the operation of setting lever 20 and the yoke 24. In this position turning of the stem 19 to the counter-clockwise direction rotates the calendar correcting wheel 32 to the clockwise direction through the idler 29 and the transmitting wheel 31. Thus the daily star 37 which engages with the calendar correcting wheel 32 is driven to the counter-clockwise direction to correct the day wheel 38 instantaneously. Under this condition the date wheel rotates to the clockwise direction, but its rotation does not exceed one day due to a b relation, thus only day correction is obtained. In the same manner turning of the stem 19 to the clockwise direction the calendar correcting wheel 32 rotates to the counter-clockwise direction and the date wheel 33 engaged with the said calendar correcting wheel 32 rotates to the counter-clockwise direction. Under this condition the daily star 37 rotates to the clockwise direction but its rotation does not exceed one day because of c d relation. Thus only date is corrected. The hands are set in another position where the stem is pulled out two stages. In this position setting lever 20 oscillates the correcting lever 27 to disengage the idler 29 from the transmitting wheel 31 and the said idler engages with the minute wheel 42, thus hand is set by the minute wheel train (not shown).

The calendar correcting wheel 32 in this embodiment may have a form of click with one or several projections. Although in this embodiment the calendar correcting wheel 32 is engaged directly with the date wheel 33 and the daily star 37, it is allowed to provide an intermediate piece such as an intermediate wheel for transmitting rotation.

In FIG. 6, 7 and 8, setting lever 43 is engaged with the winding stem by a pin, while clutch wheel 44 is fitted on the end of said winding stem. Yoke 45 engages is a groove provided on the clutch wheel 44 while setting wheel 46 is driven rotatively by the clutch wheel. Lever 47 is pivoted on the axis of setting wheel 46, and has idler 48 rotatably mounted thereon for pivoting thereby. In this embodiment, the watch includes a second setting wheel 49 and a minute Wheel 50. Date correcting wheel 51 is constructed in one body with a second idler 53 engaged with the idler 48 in the position depicted in FIG. 6. Said date correcting wheel and second idler are mounted by means of pin 52, in an elliptic hole formed in date correcting lever 54. Said date correcting lever is rotatable around the fulcrum 55. The date correcting lever 54 is given torque in the counter-clockwise direction by a spring 56. Also provided is a day correcting wheel 57, a daily star 58 rotating with the day wheel, and a date wheel 59.

The embodiment of FIGS. 6-8 operates as follows. When disposed in the date correcting position of FIG. 6, turning the crown in the counter-clockwise direction rotates clutch wheel 44 which in turn rotates setting wheel 46 in the direction of the arrow. Idler 48, engaged with the setting wheel 46 is also rotated to rotate second idler 53 which in turn rotates date correcting wheel 51 in the direction of the arrow. In this position force is applied on pin 52 through the engaging point between the idler 48 and the second idler 53 in one tangential direction, to press said pin against one end of the elliptic hole of the date correcting lever 54. Thus the date correcting wheel 51 is supported in engaged position with the date wheel and rotates the date wheel in the direction of the arrow, to correct the date indication.

As shown in FIG. 7, turning of the crown to the clock wise direction rotates the setting wheel 46 to the counterclockwise direction, to rotate idler 48 to the clockwise direction, and second idler 53 and date correcting wheel 51 to the counter-clockwise direction. Therefore the force applied on pin 52, on which the second idler 53 and the date correcting wheel 51 are mounted, is applied in the opposite direction to that of the date correcting posiion to press said pin against the other end of the elliptic hole. Under this condition the date correcting wheel disengages from the date wheel and the date correcting wheel engages with the day correcting wheel 57. In this position the daily star 58 rotates to correct the day indication. FIG. 8 shows the watch disposed in the hand setting position. The winding stem is pulled out one more stage from date and day correcting position of FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. In this position the side of the setting lever 43 presses the free end 60 of the lever 47 and the lever 47 rotates on the axis of the setting wheel 46. Idler 48 is pivoted on the said lever 47 out of engagement with the second idler 53 and the idler 48 engages with the second setting wheel 49. The hand setting train is established independent of the date and day correcting train. In this manner, rotation of the winding stem to the right or left is transmitted from clutch wheel 44 through setting wheel 46, idler 48 and second setting wheel 49 to minute wheel 50 and the hands can be set by the known hand setting device. In the position where the winding stem is pushed in most deeply (not shown) the setting lever 43 and the yoke 45 cooperate with each other to disengage second idler 53 from the idler 48 and setting wheel 46 from the clutch wheel 44. In this position the date correcting wheel comes inside of a pitch circle of the date wheel and does not interfere with date changing. That is to say that since the hand setting train and the date and day correcting train are independent from each other, turning of the winding stem is confined only to driving the clutch wheel 44. Therefore the mainspring is wound by the known motor spring mechanism, through clutch wheel 44, winding pinion (not shown) and crown wheel. The date and day correcting device according to this invention is applicable to automatic winding watches as well as manual winding watches. In the embodiment of FIGS. 6-8, the two setting

wheels

46 and 49 can be replaced by a single setting wheel. Further, the date correcting wheel 51 can be driven directly by the idler 48, and the numbers of teeth in the date correcting wheel depicted is given by way of example and not limitation. Finally, date correcting wheel may not have the elliptic hole and 51 need not be mounted on pin 52 displaceable within the elliptic hole formed in date correcting lever 54. As described hereinbefore the present invention makes it possible to ensure date and day correction easily and instantaneously by turning the winding stem to the right or left. The device consists of a small number of parts and there is no need to provide an additional button or complicated structure to perform the desired function, and accordingly provides substantial advantages over the known arrangement from a manufacturing and assembling standpoint. Since certain changes may be made in the above constructions without departing from the spirit of the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description were shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What we claim is:

1. In a calendar watch having a longitudinally displacable winding stem disposable in a plurality of predetermined positions, a date Wheel and a daily star, the improvement which comprises means for operatively connecting said winding stem with said date wheel and daily star in one of said positions for the selective rotation of said date wheel in response to the rotation of said winding stern in one direction, and the selective rotation of said daily star in response to the rotation of said winding stem in the other direction.

2. A calendar watch as recited in claim 1, wherein said operative connection means includes first and second unidirectional clutch means, each of said unidirectional clutch means including a clutch wheel and a correcting wheel, said correcting Wheel being rotated in response to the rotation of its corresponding clutch wheel in a predetermined direction, one of said clutch wheels being operatively connected to said winding stem when in said predetermined position for rotation thereby, said clutch wheel being connected to the other of said clutch wheels for rotation thereof, each of said correcting wheels being connected to one of said date Wheel and daily star for selective rotation thereof.

3. A calendar watch as recited in claim 1 wherein said operative connection means includes a correcting wheel operatively connected to both said date wheel and said daily star for rotative displacement thereof, said correcting wheel being operatively connected to said winding stem for rotation in response to the rotation of said winding stem in a direction dependent upon the direction of rotation thereof; date jumper means for preventing the incremental rotation of said date wheel in the reverse direction if the distance travelled in said reverse direction is less than a first predetermined distance; and day jumper means for preventing the incremental rotation of said daily star in the reverse direction if the distance travelled in said reverse direction is less than a second predetermined distance, the distance that said date wheel is displaced by each incremental rotation of said correcting wheel being less than said first predetermined distance, the distance that said daily wheel is displaced by one incremental rotation of said correcting wheel being less than said second predetermined distance, each of said date Wheel and daily star advancing incrementally when rotated in their respective forward direction in response to the rotation of said correcting wheel.

4. A calendar watch as recited in claim 1, wherein said operative connection means includes a shaft; a correcting wheel mounted on said shaft for rotation and lateral displacement therewith, mounting means for said shaft adapted to permit the lateral displacement of said shaft and correcting wheel between a first position wherein said correcting wheel is operatively connected to said date wheel and a second position wherein said correcting wheel is operatively connected to said daily star, and means for operatively connecting said shaft and said winding stem in said predetermined position to rotate said shaft and correcting wheel in response to the rota tion of said winding stem and to laterally displace said shaft and correcting wheel to one of said first and second positions when said winding stem is rotated in said one direction and to the other of said positions when said winding stem is rotated in the other direction.

5. A calendar watch is recited in claim 4 wherein said mounting means includes a pivotable lever formed with a slot therethrough the ends of said slot defining said first and second positions.

6. A calendar watch as recited in claim 1, wherein said operative connection means includes a setting wheel operatively connected to said Winding stem for rotation in response to the rotation thereof, a correcting lever mounted for pivoting about the axis of said setting wheel and an idler wheel rotatably mounted on said correcting lever and operatively engaging said setting wheel for rotation thereby, said watch including time indicating means, a minute wheel operatively connected to said time indicating means for setting thereof, and pivoting means responsive to the longitudinal displacement of said winding stern for pivoting said correcting lever at least between a first position when said Winding stem is disposed at said predetermined position at which said idler wheel is operatively connected to said date wheel and daily star for selective rotation thereof, and a second position when said winding stem is disposed at another longitudinal position at which said idler wheel is operatively connected to said minute wheel for the rotation thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 563,268 7/1896 Fazel 5858 2,591,819 4/1952 Huguenin 5858 2,671,307 3/1954 Imhof 58-58 FOREIGN PATENTS 57,935 9/ 1953 France. 1,482,957 6/ 1967 France. l

16,964 6/ 1898 Switzerland. 28 8,312 1/ 3 Switzerland. 425,641 6/1967 Switzerland.

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examine- G. H. MILLER, 1a., Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 5885 .5