US3545196A

US3545196A - Computer clock timer

Info

Publication number: US3545196A
Application number: US750153A
Authority: US
Inventors: Philip Vazzano; William A Wagner
Original assignee: Thomas International Corp
Current assignee: Thomas International Corp
Priority date: 1968-08-05
Filing date: 1968-08-05
Publication date: 1970-12-08
Anticipated expiration: 1987-12-08

Description

Dec. 8,1970 P. VAZZANO ETAL 3,

COMPUTER CLOCK TIMER Filed Aug. .5, 1968 3- Sheets-Sheet 1 W5 i I I I FIGI INVENTORS. PHILIP VAZZANO WILLIAM A. WAGNER ,l/v fl/Mfl I WMM ATTORNEYS.

MINUTES P.VAZZANO ETAL Dec. 8, 1970 COMPUTER CLOCK TIMER Filed Aug. 5, 1968 5 S -SheetS-Sheet Dec. 8, 1970 P. VAZZANO ETAL 3,545,196

COMPUTER CLOCK TIMER Filed Aug. 5, 1968 3 SheetsSheet 5 N O N United States Patent O 3,545,196 COMPUTER CLOCK TIMER Philip Vazzano, Des Plaines, and William A. Wagner,

Park Ridge, Ill., assignors to Warwick Electronics Inc.,

a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 5, 1968, Ser. No. 750,153 Int. Cl. G04c 21/16; G04f 3/04; G04]: 13/00 U.S. CI. 58-19 17 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A computer clock timer having mechanism and a control circuit controlling an electrical device, such as a radio, for turning on and off the device including manually settable mechanism for setting an amount of elapsed time in either hours or minutes with visual indication of the elapsed time set both as an absolute time in the future and as an interval of time from the present and, additionally, with means for controlling an alarm with a snooze control mechanism operating in conjunction with the minute setting time mechanism and a master control for the electrical device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a computer clock timer which not only performs the normal functions of a clock but has mechanism associated therewith to set up elapsed time intervals in terms of hours or minutes providing at the end of said elapsed time for operation of an electrical device to be controlled, such as a radio, to provide for turning off and/ or on the radio.

To the extent known, previous timers have provided for setting of an elapsed time interval to control operation of a device; however, the known timers have not accomplished all of the features embodied in the apparatus disclosed herein in a manner which provides many different functions by a simple mechanism and which provides versatility in optionally either turning on or off the controlled device.

SUMMARY An object of this invention is to provide a new and improved computer clock timer providing for accurate setting and display of an elapsed time interval for control of an electrical device to provide for either turning on or off the device at the end of the interval.

Another object of the invention is to provide a computer clock timer wherein the timing of the turning on of an electrical device, such as a radio, can be set by advancing a mannually controlled hour control shaft having indicator mechanism associated therewith which indicates the desired interval of time both as an absolute time in the future and as an interval of time from the present.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a computer clock timer having clock mechanism with both hour and minute control shafts having control cams thereon and which are manually settable to determine an elapsed time interval and with an hour control lever and a minute control lever associated with their respective cams and with switch means including a normally open switch and a normally closed switch and wherein operation of one of said control shafts and its control cam causes movement of the associated lever to change the state of one of the switches and after an elapsed time interval the control cam is brought back to an inactive position to cause the associated lever to restore the associated switch to its normal state.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a computer clock timer as defined in the preceding para- Patented Dec. 8, 1970 graph wherein the timer further includes additional controls to provide for on and off operation of the electrical device to the controlled independent of the clock, a snooze control mechanism acting through the minute control shaft to provide an added additional interval of time before the alarm associated with the clock mechanism again operates and a master control mechanism for the clock alarm.

Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

DRAWING DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the computer clock timer with parts thereof broken away;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing the mechanism of the computer clock timer and the mounting frame therefor which is disposed within the casing of the computer clock timer and with the front mounting plate of the frame removed and as taken generally along the line 22 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the mounting frame and mechanism of the computer clock timer as removed from the casing;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the mechanism as viewed in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of the minute control mechanism, shown apart from the other mechanism in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of the hour control mechanism, shown apart from the other mechanism shown in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 7 is a diagram of the circuit including the switch means operated by the computer clock timer mechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT While this invention is susceptible to embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail an embodiment of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

The computer clock timer, as shown generally in FIG. 1, has a box-like casing indicated generally at 10 which houses the components of the devices and which has a front face defined by a display panel 11 having a centrally located set of indicia indicated generally at 15 which coact with an hour hand 16 and a minute hand 17 to provide a timepiece.

Two sections are provided for setting an elapsed time interval, with the hour setting section having visible indicators at the right-hand side of the display panel 11, as seen in FIG. 1, and with the minute setting section being positioned at the left side of the display panel. In connection with the hour setting section, the display panel has a half-circle opening 20 and a window opening 21 behind which are disposed a pair of

circular indicating discs

22 and 23. The indicating disc 22 has an exposed area equal to one-half its total area, as shown in FIG. 1, of a color which can be neutral or the same as that of the remainder of the display panel face when positioned as shown in FIG. 1 and with the other half of the disc having a contrasting color, as indicated at 24, whereby setting of an elapsed time interval of a number of hours by rotation of a knob will cause a corresponding portion of the colored part 24- to advance into the area of O the opening 20 with the leading edge of the colored part lying adjacent one of the hour indicia disposed about the semicircular opening 20. This provides a visual indication as to the interval of time from the present that has been set in by rotation of the knob 25.

The disc 23 associated with the window 21 has indicia thereon running from the numbers 1 through 12 and this disc is driven normally in timed relation with the clock whereby the number appearing centrally in the window 21 will correspond to the actual clock time. Upon rotation of the knob 25 and through mechanism to be described, the disc 23 can be advanced an amount to move an indicia into the window area in advance of the actual clock time and with the indicia indicating the actual elapsed time set in as an absolute time in the future as distinct from the interval of time from the present indicated by the indicator member 22.

The minute setting section comprises a manually rotatable knob 30 which upon rotation will cause movement of

indicator discs

31 and 32 relative to a semi-circular opening 33 and a window 34 respectively formed in the display panel 11 to permit visual exposure of part of the discs through the respective openings. The disc 31 similarly to the hour indicating disc 22 has one-half thereof formed of a neutral color or one closely similar to that of the display panel and the other half is formed of a contrasting color, as indicated at 35, whereby rotation of the knob 30 advances the colored segment into the opening 3 3with the leading edge of the colored segment lining up with one of the minute indicia exposed about the periphery of the opening 33 to provide an indication as to the elapsed time set into the computer clock timer as an interval of time from the present. A second reading of elapsed time as an interval of time from the present is obtained by the disc 32 in association with the window 34. Simultaneous rotation of this disc with the disc 31 causes one of the indicia running from to 55 on the disc 32 to be exposed through the window 34.

Additional controls in addition to those obtained from selective rotation of the knobs and include a depressible alarm controlling member 40, a depressible radio controlling member 41 and a depressible snooze control member 42.

The basic clock mechanism is conventional and may be briefly described for clarity.

This mechanism includes a motor 45 having an output gear 46. This output gear 46 (FIG. 4) meshes with a gear 47 integral with a gear 48 which drives a pair of

integral gears

49 and 50 with the latter gear meshing with a gear 51 to provide the drive to the minute hand 17 of the clock.

The hour hand 16 of the clock is driven from a gear 52 integral with the previously-referred to gear 51 which meshes with a gear 53 integral with a gear 54. The gear 54 meshes with a gear 55 on the shaft driving the hour hand. The aforesaid gears are rotatably mounted on pins extending between a front mounting plate 58 and a rear mounting plate 59 of a mounting frame which can be fastened into the casing 10.

The minute control section includes a minute control shaft 60 to which the control knob 30 is attached and which carries the indicator disc 31. When no elapsed time has been set in by manual rotation of the minute control shaft 60, this shaft is not rotated by the clock mechanism; however, the shaft will rotate when an interval of time has been set into the minute control section. This drive is through a drive train including a pick-off gear 61 meshing with the gear 50 of the clock mechanism which engages a gear 62 loosely mounted on a pin 63 extending between the

mounting plates

58 and 59 and which is spring urged by a spring 64 toward a pair of

gears

65 and 66 fixed to the pin for rotation therewith. The

gears

65 and 66 mesh with

gears

67 and 68 respectively, and which are fixed to the minute control shaft 60. When no elapsed time is set in by manual rotation of the minute control shaft 60 this shaft is held immovable by means to be described which also holds the

gears

65 and 66 immovable, with the result that the gear 62 is free to be rotated by the clock mechanism since it is only frictionally engaged with the gear 65. When the minute control shaft 60 is free to rotate, the friction engagement between the

gears

62 and 65 is sufficient to cause this rotation by the clock mechanism. The indicating disc 32 providing a reading for minutes set into the minute control section is carried on the pin 63 thereby disc 32 is rotated at the same time that the disc 31 mounted on the minute control shaft 60 is rotated both upon manually setting in elapsed time by rotation of the knob 30 as well as gradually reducing this indication of time by the drive through the clock mechanism. Time is set into this section by rotating the knob 30 which rotates shafts 60 and 63.

The hour control section includes an hour control shaft 70 extending outwardly from the mounting plate 58 and carrying the knob 25 and which has the indicating disc 22 afiixed thereto. The hour control shaft 70 is not rotated by the clock mechanism unless an elapsed time interval has been manually set into the hour control section. When this occurs, the hour control shaft 70 is rotated through a drive train from the clock mechanism including a pick-off gear 71 which rotates a gear 72 floatingly mounted on a shaft 73 and engaging with the gear 74 rotatable on a pin 75. The gear 74 has a gear 76 rotatable therewith which meshes with a gear 77 fixed to the control shaft 70. When the hour control shaft 70 is in inactive position when no elapsed time has been set, there is a cut-out 78 in the gear 77 which precludes engagement with the teeth of gear 76 whereby rotation of the

gears

74 and 76 of the drive train from the clock mechanism will not impart rotation to the gear 77 and the hour control shaft 70. In order to limit the rotation of the hour control shaft 70 to one-half revolution which provides a full twelve-hour elapsed time indication, a pin 79 extends rearwardly from the front mounting plate 58 and fits into a semi-circular slot 79a in the gear 77 to resultingly limit the extent of rotation of the hour control shaft 70. The indicator disc 23 which provides an indication of elapsed time as an absolute or actual time in the future is fixed to the shaft 73 and, when no elapsed time has been set in by rotation of the hour control shaft 70, is clutched to the drive gear 72 by a drive disc 80 fixed to shaft 73 and having a detent '81 engaging in a notch 82 in the drive gear, as shown in FIG. 3. This engagement is normally maintained by a spring 83 urging the detent and notch into engagement with each other. This assures that during operation of the computer clock timer operation of the clock mechanism will resultingly cause simultaneous rotation of the hour indicating disc 23 so that the time appearing as indicated by the clock hands 16 and 17 will also appear in the window 21 on the display panel 11.

In order to set in an elapsed time interval as a matter of hours or fractions thereof, the hour control shaft is axially movable in a front to rear direction by pressing the knob 25 to urge the hour control shaft rearwardly within a bushing 85 and against the urging of a spring 86. This moves the gear 77 rearwardly into alignment and meshing engagement with a gear 87 fixed to the shaft 73 and resulting rotation causes movement of the indicator disc 22 on the hour control shaft and the indicator disc 23 on the shaft 73. This also causes the detent 81 to move out of the notch 82 since the disc 80 carrying the detent is rotated while the gear 72 having the notch is held against rotation by the clock mechanism. This requires relative movement between the disc 80 and gear 72 as permitted by flexing of the spring 83 therebetween and as soon as the elapsed time interval has expired the detent 81 and notch 82 will again be in alignment and caused to mesh by the spring 83 whereby as a result the disc 23 will again rotate with the clock mechanism but, up until that time, has remained stationary.

The hour control section and minute control section provide for the control of an alarm associated with the clock mechanism and also for the control of an electrical device, such as a radio. This control is carried out by means of control cam and lever system and a circuit including switch means. The mechanism associated with the minute control section is shown in FIG. 5 wherein the minute control shaft 60 has a control cam 90 fixed thereto, with a notch 91 in the periphery thereof. The surface of this cam is followed by a minute control lever pivoted to the mounting plate 59 by a pin 92 and having an arm 93 with an end 94 for following the contour of the cam 90. The other arm 95 of this lever has a bent end 96 associated with a normally open switch 97 and, as shown in FIG. 5, when the lever is pivoted by movement of the cam 90 to a position to remove the notch 91 thereof from the end 94, the end 96 of the lever is elevated to depress the switch button and change the normal state of the switch 97 to a closed position. A spring 98 assists in causing the end 94 of the lever to follow the cam periphery. An intermediate part of the other arm 95 underlies an alarm control lever 99 pivoted between the mounting

plates

58 and 59 and having an upper, laterally-turned end 100 overlying a vibratory member 1 which, when vibrated, causes an audible alarm signal. As shown in FIG. 5, when the arm 95 of the lever is elevated it coacts with the lower end of the alarm control lever 99 to pivot the later lever and depress the vibratory member 101 so that the alarm will not sound.

The cam and lever mechanism associated with the hour control section includes a control cam 110 fixed to the hour control shaft 70 and having a two-step notch 111 which coacts with an end 112 of one arm 113 of a lever pivoted to the mounting plate by a pin 114 and with the other arm 115 of the lever extending to a position underlying a normally closed switch 116 mounted on the frame plate 59. The lever arm end 112 is urged toward the cam by a spring 117. When no elapsed time is set in and the control cam 110 is in inactive position, the end 112 of the lever is in the notch 111 and the switch 116 is not contacted so that it remains normally closed. As shown in FIG. 6, when elapsed time has been set in by rotation of the hour control shaft 70 the notch 111 leaves the end 112 to pivot the arm 115 of the lever upwardly to change the state of the switch 116 to open. As the clock mechanism causes the cam 110 to rotate toward its inactive position, the return of the lever arm 113 will be in two steps because of the two-step notch 111 which provides a sequence in operation between the electrical device to be controlled and the clock alarm. An intermediate part of the arm 115 underlies the alarm control lever 99 and when the arm is elevated the vibratory member 101 is held out of operative position. Upon reaching the first step of the notch 111, the arm 115 will lower sufliciently to return the switch to its normally closed state, but the alarm lever 99 will not release the vibratory member 101 until the end 112 has fully seated in the deeper part of the notch 111.

Referring to FIG. 7, a suitable circuit is shown for controlling the operation of an electrical device, such as a radio 150. The clock motor 45 is across both

sides

151 and 152 of the line with a Wire 153 extending directly to the radio. The normally open switch 97 and normally closed switch 116 are disposed in parallel by means of

wires

154, 155, 156 and 157 with the

wires

156 and 157 extending from the switches to the radio.

The snooze control member 42 embodies a plunger 160 movably guided on the front mounting plate 58 by a pair of guide pins 161 and 162 engaged in

slots

163 and 164 in the member. This member is shown in elevated position in FIGS. 1 and 2 and is yieldably retained in this position by a spring 165 acting between the mounting plate and a connection at one end to the plunger 160. In its upper position, the position is defined by engagement of the

slots

163 and 164 with the

pins

161 and 162, respectively, and a rearwardly extending lug 166 struck out from the plunger engages a shoulder 167 on the gear 68 to prevent rotation of the gear and the minute control shaft 60 afiixed thereto by the clock mechanism. Depression of the snooze control member to the limit position defined by the

pins

161 and 162 causes rotation of the gear 68 and minute control shaft 60 to a predetermined degree to index the minute control cam 90 and operate the associated control lever. As previously described, this rotation also rotates the

indicator discs

31 and 32 to provide a visible indication of the elapsed interval in terms of minutes. The radio control member 41 embodies a plunger 170 mounted to the front mounting plate 58 by pin and

slot connections

171, 172, 173, and 174, with this plunger being yieldably maintained either in upper or lower position by an over-center spring mechanism (not shown) connected thereto. The lower end of this member has a lateral finger which underlies the normally closed switch 116, as shown in FIG. 6, to permit operation of the radio when depressed and to turn off the radio when the member is in its upper position.

The alarm control member 40 embodies a plunger mounted similarly to the

control members

41 and 42 by pin and slot connections, indicated generally at 181 and 182 and being yieldably retained in either an upper or lower position by an over-center spring mechanism (not shown) connected thereto and having a laterally extending finger 183 at its lower end which underlies the alarm control lever 99. In its upper position, as shown in FIG. 2, the finger 183 positions the control lever to hold the vibratory member 101 inoperative. When the alarm control member 40 is in its lower position it permits the alarm to operate, subject to other conditions.

In operation of the computer clock-timer, the radio can be manually operated by depression of the radio control member 41 to permit the normally closed switch 116 to be closed and close the circuit shown in FIG. 7. This operation occurs as a result of there being no elapsed time set in in either the minute control section or hour control section, so that the switch 97 is open and the hour control lever arm 115 is out of contact with the switch 116.

For automatic turn-on of the radio, without operation of the alarm, the radio control member 41 is depressed and the alarm control member 40 is in its up position and the knob 25 is rotated to obtain the desired elapsed time interval, as indicated by the

indicator discs

23 and 22, with the discs indicating both the number of hours to elapse before the radio goes on and also indicate the absolute time when the radio will go on. This operation positions the hour control lever and the arm 115 thereof to open the normally closed switch 116 so that both of the

switches

97 and 116 are open. After the hour control cam 110 returns to its inactive position with the notch 111 receiving the end 112 of the control lever, the arm 115 lowers to permit the switch 116 to go closed and the radio goes on.

For an hour alarm only, the radio control member 41 is up and the alarm control member 40 is pushed down and the hour control knob 25 is rotated to set the desired time. This elevates the control arm 115 of the hour control lever to a position to pivot the alarm control lever 99 to a position to hold out the vibratory member 101 and, when the hour control cam 110 returns to inactive position, the alarm control lever 99 is released and the vibratory member 101 can become effective. This can occur because the alarm control member 40 has been depressed to render it ineffective to control the alarm control lever 99.

For automatic turn-on of the alarm and radio, the radio control member 41 is depressed, the alarm control member 40 is depressed, and then a desired amount of time is set in on the hour control section by rotation of the knob 25. As the elapsed time decreases, the radio will turn on as the end 112 of the hour control lever moves into the first step of the notch 111 to return the switch 116 to closed position and after an additional interval of time, when the end 112 moves into the final step of the notch 111, the movement of the control lever arm 115 will be suflicient to permit the vibratory member 101 to operate to sound the alarm.

When the alarm is ringing, either with or without the radio playing, the alarm can be turned off for an interval of time by depressing the snooze control member 42 which will operate the minute control lever through rotation of the minute control cam 90 to pivot the alarm control lever 99 and stop the alarm until the minute control cam 90 has returned to an inactive position, Operation of the snooze control member 42 has no effect on the radio.

Automatic radio turnoff operation utilizes the minute control section by rotating the knob 30 to set the desired interval of time and with the radio control member 41 in an elevated position to place the control of the radio under the normally open switch 97 which is closed by the minute control lever arm 95 when time is set into the minute control section. Once the elapsed time is over, the lever arm 95 moves away from the switch 97 to return it to its normally open condition and, since the normally closed switch 116 is held open by the radio control member 41 being up, the radio will turn off.

It is possible to additionally provide for turn-on of the radio at an interval set by the hour control section after the radio has been turned off by the minute control section. In order to accomplish this, the radio control member 41 must be depressed, with time set into the hour control section opening the normally closed switch 116. After the time set in the minute control section has elapsed, switch 97 returns to open position, as described immediately hereabove, and the radio remains off, since the hour control lever arm 115 is holding the switch 116 open until the elapsed time set in the hour control section terminates, at which time the switch 116 goes closed to turn on the radio.

The alarm can be set from the minute control section by setting in a desired amount of time to operate the minute control lever which engages the alarm control lever 99 to hold out the vibratory member 101 until the elapsed time has terminated. The alarm control member 40 must also be depressed to remove it from control of the alarm control lever 99.

We claim:

1. A computer clock timer comprising a casing having a display panel, a clock mechanism in said casing with hour and minute hands associated with said display panel a control circuit for controlling the operation of an electrical device such as a radio or the like including switch means, means operated by the clock mechanism for controlling the switch means to either switch on or off the electrical device in response to a settable amount of elapsed time, first adjustable dial means associated with the display panel for indicating said settable amount of elapsed time as an absolute time in the future, and second adjustable dial means simultaneously adjustable with the first adjustable dial means and associated with the display panel for indicating said settable amount of elapsed time as an interval of time from the present, said second adjustable dial means being driven by the clock mechanism whereby the interval of time from the present decreases as the clock mechanism operates.

2. A computer clock timer as defined in claim 1 wherein said switch means includes a pair of switches in parallel with one being normally closed and the other normally open, and said means for controlling said switch means includes means for closing said normally open switch in response to either the operation of a snooze control member or an elapsed minute selector and means for opening said normally closed switch responsive to the operation of an elapsed hour selector.

3. A computer clock timer as defined in claim 2 where 0 in said clock mechanism includes an alarm, and means for permitting said alarm to operate at the end of said elapsed minutes or hours.

4. A computer clock timer comprising, a clock mechanism with hour and minute hands, a circuit including switch means for controlling the on and off operation of a device such as a radio, an elapsed time setting mechanism including an hour setting section and a minute setting section with each section having a control shaft, drive trains connecting the hour and minute control shafts to the clock mechanism to have the shafts rotated in timed relation to the clock, a pair of control cams one on each of said shafts, elements operated by said control cams to control said switch means, and means enabling each of said control shafts and control cams to be rotated independently of the associated drive train from the clock mechanism to permit setting in of a desired elapsed time after expiration of which the control cams will have returned to their initial position as caused by rotation derived from said drive trains.

5. A computer clock timer as defined in claim 4 wherein said means enabling independent rotation of said control shafts includes a slip drive in the drive train to the minute control shaft and means mounting the hour control shaft for axial movement to disengage said drive train.

6. A computer clock timer as defined in claim 5 including a display panel and two different indicator members associated with the hour control shaft to indicate the desired elapsed time both as an absolute time in the future and as an interval of time from the present, one of said indicator members having indicia indicating hours and being on an independent shaft, and means in the drive train to the hour control shaft releasing said independent shaft from rotation by the clock mechanism until the elapsed time has expired whereby said one indicator member always indicates the absolute time in the future.

7. A computer clock timer as defined in claim 4 wherein said switch means includes a pair of switches in parallel, and said elements include an hour control lever associated with the hour control cam and a minute control lever associated with the minute control cam for operating said switches.

8. A computer clock timer as defined in claim 7 including an alarm and an alarm lever for controlling operation of said alarm, said hour and minute control levers each extending adjacent to said alarm lever and in activated positions as set by the control cams engaging and holding said alarm lever in a position to deactivate said alarm, and a manually movable alarm operating member for further controlling said alarm lever.

9. A computer clock timer as defined in claim 8 including a manually movable snooze member operable to rotate said minute control shaft to a predetermined degree to provide a time deferral on operation of said alarm.

10. A computer clock timer having a casing with a display panel, a clock mechanism therein and having hour and minute hands associated with the display panel, a mounting frame in the casing with an hour control shaft and a minute control shaft rotatably mounted thereon, each of said shafts having an indicator member associated with the display panel to indicate the elapsed time set by manual rotation of one of the shafts as an interval of time from the present, an hour control cam on the hour control shaft and a minute control cam on the minute control shaft, a minute control lever and an hour control lever each pivoted on said frame and associated with their respective control cams, a control circuit including switch means on said frame for controlling the operation of an electrical device such as a radio, said control levers being positioned to operate said switch means in response to movement of the levers by the control cams, and drive trains from the clock mechanism to said control shafts for rotating said manually adjusted cams to cause operation of at least one of said levers after an elapsed interval of time.

11. A computer clock timer as defined in claim 10 wherein a secondary minute shaft is rotatably mounted on said frame adjacent the minute control shaft and has an indicia carrying member thereon associated with the display panel to indicate the number of minutes set by rotation of the minute control shaft, and the drive train to said minute control shaft includes meshing gears fixed one to said minute control shaft and one to the secondary minute shaft and a driven gear loosely mounted on the secondary minute shaft deriving rotation from the clock mechanism and frictionally urged against the fixed gear on the secondary minute shaft to yieldably drive both of the minute shafts but permit manual rotation thereof relative to the clock mechanism to initially set in an elapsed time but thereafter have the minute shafts rotate to provide an instantaneous indication of remaining elapsed time.

12. A computer clock timer as defined in claim 11 wherein the gear fixed to the minute control shaft has a notch on a face thereof, and a manually operated snooze control member movably mounted on said frame and having a lug engageable with said notch to rotate the minute shafts and the control cam from an inactive position to set in a predetermined elapsed time when moved in one direction and to otherwise function as a stop to prevent rotation of the minute shafts by the clock mechanisrn.

13. A computer clock timer as defined in claim 12 wherein the switch means includes a normally open switch and said minute control lever closes said normally open switch when the associated control cam is rotated from an inactive position and opens said switch when the control cam returns to inactive position.

14. A computer clock timer as defined in claim 10 wherein a secondary hour shaft is rotatably mounted in said frame, a plurality of parts fixed to said secondary hour shaft including a gear, a drive disc and an indicator member with the latter cooperating with the display panel to indicate a settable mount of time as an absolute time in the future, a shiftable gear in said drive train to the hour control shaft loosely mounted on the secondary hour shaft adjacent the drive disc and yieldably urged toward the drive disc, a coacting notch and detent structure on said drive disc and shiftable gear causing rotation thereof together whereby manually induced rotation of said secondary hour shaft causes rotation of the drive disc relative to the shiftable gear which is held 10 by the clock mechanism to advance the indicator memher on the secondary hour shaft and release the notch and detent structure with this structure remaining released until the elapsed time ends, and means for rotating the secondary hour shaft from the hour control shaft including a gear fixed to the hour control shaft and in the drive train from the clock mechanism, and means mounting said hour control shaft for axial movement to shift the last mentioned gear out of the drive train into mesh with said gear fixed to the secondary hour shaft.

15. A computer clock timer as defined in claim 14 wherein the switch means includes a normally closed switch and said hour control lever opens said normally closed switch when the associated control cam is rotated from an inactive position as caused by manual rotation of the hour control shaft and permits said normally closed switch to close when the control cam returns to inactive position.

16. A computer clock timer as defined in claim 10 wherein the clock mechanism includes an alarm, an alarm lever for controlling operation of the alarm and positioned to be operated by the minute and hour control levers.

17. A computer clock-timer having a clock mechanism, means for setting in intervals of elapsed time including a minute control cam and an hour control cam, a circuit for controlling an electrical device such as a ratio including a pair of switches, and means including an hour control lever for controlling one of said switches and a minute control lever for controlling the other of said switches, said levers being operated by said cams to operate said circuit to control said radio for turn-off after a desired number of minutes of playing and for subsequent turn-on of said radio after a desired number of hours or fraction thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,783,835 3/1957 Poole 5822.9X 3,086,351 4/1963 Boyles 582l.l55UX 3,109,280 11/1963 Ring et al. 5821.l55

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner J. F. GONZALES, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.