US3559396A - Variable loudness alarm mechanism - Google Patents

Variable loudness alarm mechanism Download PDF

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Publication number
US3559396A
US3559396A US803355*A US3559396DA US3559396A US 3559396 A US3559396 A US 3559396A US 3559396D A US3559396D A US 3559396DA US 3559396 A US3559396 A US 3559396A
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
alarm
clock
slider
spring
loudness
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US803355*A
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English (en)
Inventor
William C Wingler
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
General Electric Co
Original Assignee
General Electric Co
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by General Electric Co filed Critical General Electric Co
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of US3559396A publication Critical patent/US3559396A/en
Assigned to CHASE MANHATTAN BANK, N.A., THE reassignment CHASE MANHATTAN BANK, N.A., THE SECURITY INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: FREDERIKSPLEIN HOLDING 1970 B.V., TIMEX CLOCK COMPANY, A DE CORP., TIMEX COMPUTERS LTD., A DE CORP., TIMEX CORPORATION, A DE CORP., TIMEX ENTERPRISES, INC., A BERMUDA CORP., TIMEX GROUP LTD., A BERMUDA CORP., TIMEX MEDICAL PRODUCTS LTD., A BERMUDA CORP., TIMEX N.V.
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G04—HOROLOGY
    • G04C—ELECTROMECHANICAL CLOCKS OR WATCHES
    • G04C21/00—Producing acoustic time signals by electrical means
    • G04C21/16—Producing acoustic time signals by electrical means producing the signals at adjustable fixed times
    • G04C21/18—Producing acoustic time signals by electrical means producing the signals at adjustable fixed times by mechanically unlocking an electromechanical vibrator, e.g. actuated by the leakage flux of the electric driving means

Definitions

  • a mounting plate of the alarm clock is formed with an elongated slot
  • a front casing wall of the clock is also provided with a slot
  • a unique slider is located between the front mounting plate and the front casing wall.
  • the elongated slider includes an integrally formed fiat guide wall, an integrally formed toothed rack extending rearwardly from the guide wall and an integrally formed actuating lever extending forwardly from the guide wall.
  • the slider is positioned on the clock so that the guide wall is located between the front mounting plate and the front casing wall, the rack extends behind the mounting plate, and the actuating lever extends forwardly in front of the front casing wall.
  • Gear means extends from the toothed rack to the means for adjusting the spring.
  • FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of an electric clock incorporating the variable loudness alarm mechanism of this invention
  • FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the electric clock with the casing partially removed;
  • FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the principal components of the variable loudness alarm mechanism and the vibrator of the alarm.
  • FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the clock mounting plate.
  • an electric clock 2 comprising a plastic casing 4 having an open front which is closed by a transparent front casing crystal wall 6 making visible a dial face *8 located behind the front casing wall.
  • the clock mechanism comprises a supporting structure including a base plate 10 and a front mounting plate 12 spaced from the base plate and arranged generally parallel thereto for supporting the clock mechanism.
  • the base plate 10 and front mounting plate 12 are maintained in spaced relation by a number of studs and spacer posts including those indicated at 14.
  • the clock is provided with hour, minute and second hands 16, 18 and 20, respectively, driven by a plurality of concentric shafts which extend through a center stack bushing 22 which is attached to the front mounting plate 12.
  • the timing device may include any suitable form of timer motor, here shown as a self-starting synchronous motor 24, a field coil 26 of which is connected to a source of regulated frequency alternating current.
  • a resilient magnetic vibrator 28 operated by leakage flux from the motor is arranged to have its free end portion 30 vibrate against a stator 32 and produce an audible signal at all times when the motor is energized unless the vibrator is prevented from vibrating by a lever 34.
  • an adjustable spring 36 is provided for varying the air gap and simultaneously the stiffness of the vibrator 28 to thereby vary the loudness of the alarm.
  • a lever 38 is pivotally supported by a pin 40. Rotation of a cam 42 in an aperture 44 in the lever causes rotation of the lever 38 about the pin 40.
  • the free end of the lever 38 includes a spring engaging means 46 which may be a tab 48 bent at right angles to the lever with a hole formed therein to receive one end of the spring 36.
  • Spring 36 includes a convolute section 50 which is placed over a spacer post. The spring 36 has arms of unequal length. The shorter arm 52 is connected to the spring engaging means 46, 48 of the lever while portion 54 of the longer arm 56 of the spring is positioned to engage the top surface of vibrator 28.
  • Rotation of the cam 42 in a clockwise direction causes the lever 38 to be pivoted counter clockwise, thereby rotating the short arm 52 of the said spring 36 in a clockwise direction.
  • Clockwise rotation of the spring 36 brings portion 54 of the longer arm 56 of the spring into engagement with the top surface of the vibrator 28 to soften or lower the volume of the alarm.
  • the lever system comprising the cam 42, the lever 38 and the spring 36 has a large mechanical ratio such as 18 to 1. This large ratio results from positioning the aperture 44 closer to pin 40 than the spring engaging means 46, 48 and by making the spring arm 52 shorter than the spring arm 56. Slight rotation of the cam 42 will effect a relatively large movement of the portion 54 of the longer arm 56 of the spring. Even though the mechanical tolerances of the dimensions and positions of the alarm mechanism components are large, it is possible to compensate for these large tolerances by bringing the portion-54 of the longer spring arm 56 into contact with the vibrator 28 by a very slight rotation of the cam 42.
  • a unique mechanism is provided for adjusting the position of cam 42 from the front of the alarm clock in order to vary the loudness of the alarm.
  • a pinion gear 60 is fixed to cam 42 so that rotation of the pinion gear will cause corresponding rotation of the cam 42 and an integrally formed rocker lever and sector gear construction 62 is provided for causing rotation of the pinion gear 60.
  • rocker lever 62 is pivoted to the base plate of the clock by a pivot pin 64
  • a sector gear 66 is formed at one end of the rocker for cooperating with pinion gear 60
  • a sector gear 68 is formed at the other end of the rocker for cooperating with a pinion gear 70.
  • pinion gear 70 and a larger gear 72 are integrally formed of plastic material and are suitably mounted between base plate 10 and front plate 12.
  • an integrally formed rack and slider 74 is provided for moving gear 72 and gear train members 70, 68, 66 and 60 for adjusting spring 52 to adjust the loudness of the alarm.
  • movement of the rack slider 74 to the right as shown in FIG. 3 will cause counter clockwise rotation of gear 72 and pinion 70, clockwise rotation of rocker 62 and sector gears 68 and 66, clockwise rotation of pinion 60 and cam 42 to cause lever 38 to be pivoted counter clockwise thereby rotating the spring 36 in a clockwise direction to bring the longer arm 56 of the spring into engagement with the top surface of the vibrator 28 to soften or lower the volume of the alarm.
  • my unique rack slider 74 which is preferably formed of plastic or other suitable material includes a plurality of rack teeth 76 for meshing with gear 72, and an integrally formed control lever 78 which extends through the front wall 6 of the clock for permitting manual setting of the slider.
  • the slider includes a generally vertical front guide wall 80, a generally horizontal central guide portion 82, two upwardly and downwardly extending rear guide tabs 84 and 85, respectively, formed at the right side of the slider, and an up wardly extending guide tab 86 formed at the left side of the slider.
  • an elongated slot 88 is formed in the front mounting plate 12 of the clock for receiving and mounting slider 74.
  • the slot 88 includes upwardly and downwardly extending notches 90 and 92 which correspond to the upwardly and downwardly extending tabs 84 and 85 on the slider and an upwardly extending notch 94 which corresponds to the upwardly extending rear guide tab 86 of the slider.
  • the slider 74 may be readily assembled to the clock without the use of separate fastening devices.
  • the slider 74 is simply aligned with the slot 88 so that tabs 84 and 85 are in line with notches 90 and 92, and tab 86 is in line with notch 94. Then, the slider may be pushed rearwardly to'position the tabs 84 and 86 behind front mounting plate 12, as illustrated in FIG. 2. Movement of the slider to the right, as illustrated in FIG. 4, causes the tabs 84, 85 and 86 to slide on the rear surface of mounting plate 12 to thereby hold the slider on the front plate 12 of the clock.
  • the rear surface of the front guide wall slides on the front surface of front mounting plate 12, the front surfaces of tabs 84 and 86 slide on the rear surface of mounting plate 12, and the top and bottom surfaces 81 and 83, respectively, of the central guide portion 82 slide on the upper and lower inner surfaces 87 and 89, respectively, of the wall which forms the slot 88.
  • a slot- 96 is formed in the bottom portion 98 of the front wall 6 of the clock casing for receiving control lever 78 of the slider 74.
  • the upper portion of the crystal wall 6 is preferably made of transparent material so that the clock indicia may be readily viewed, and the lower portion 98 of the front wall is preferably painted so that the internal mechanism of the clock cannot be seen from the front of the clock.
  • the slot 96 which receives the control member 78 is made long enough to permit a full range of adjustments to the variable loudnessalarm mechanism the left end 97 of the slot 96 is related to the left end of the slot 88 and notches 90, 92 and 94 so that upon movement of the control lever 78 to the left as viewed in FIG. 1, the lever 78 will abut the end 97 of slot 96 before tabs 84, and 86 become in line with the notches 90, 92 and 94 in the front mounting plate 12.
  • the slider 74 is retained on the front mounting plate.
  • the loudness of the alarm may be conveniently set from the front of the clock and after having been set the relative loudness of the alarm will be indicated to the user by simply looking at the front of the clock and observing the relative position of the control lever 78 with respect to the front of the clock and the slot 96 within which it travels.
  • my improved variable loudness alarm mechanism which may be adjusted from the front of the clock includes a minimum number of relatively easily manufactured parts.
  • the integrally formed rocker lever 66 and sector gears 66 and 68 may be formed in a simple casting operation.
  • the gear and pinion 70, 72 may be integrally molded with each other.
  • the unique slider member 74 may be molded of a suitable plastic material, and as previously described may be readily and conveniently connected to the clock without the use of tools or a single piece of fastening hardware.
  • an elongated slider including an integrally formed generally flat guide wall, an integrally formed toothed rack extending rearwardly from said guide wall, and an integrally formed actuating lever extending forwardly from said guide wall, said slider being positioned on said clock with said guide wall being located betwen said front mounting plate and said front casing wall, said rack extending behind said mounting plate and said actuating lever extending in front of said front casing wall;
  • gear means extending from said toothed rack to the means for adjusting the spring so that the loudness of the alarm may be adjusted by manually adjusting the position of said actuating lever at the front of the clock.
  • variable loudness alarm mechanism for use with an alarm clock including a vibrator for sounding an alarm, a spring engaging said vibrator, and an adjustable means to eifect movement of the spring to vary the loudness of the alarm; a mechanism manually movable from the front of the alarm clock for adjusting the spring to vary the loudness of the alarm comprising:
  • an elongated slider including an integrally formed generally fiat guide wall, a central guide portion extending rearwardly from said guide wall, an integrally formed toothed rack extending rearwardly from said guide wall, and integrally formed upwardly and downwardly extending tabs located behind said front guide wall, so that said slider may be positioned on said front mounting plate by inserting said upwardly and downwardly extending tabs within said upwardly and downwardly extending notches and then sliding the slider with respect to said front plate so that the front plate is positioned between the front guide wall of the slider and the upwardly and downwardly extending tabs; and
  • variable loudness alarm mechanism for use with an alarm clock including a vibrator for sounding an alarm, a spring engaging said vibrator, and an adjustable cam for moving lever to effect movement of the spring to vary the loudness of the alarm; a mechanism adjustable from the front of the alarm clock for effecting movement of the lever and the spring to vary the loudness of the alarm comprising:
  • an actuating lever integrally formed with said slider, said actuating lever extending through a front wall of said alarm clock whereby the loudness of the alarm may be adjusted by simply moving the slidable adjustable lever back and forth across the front wall of the clock.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Electromechanical Clocks (AREA)
US803355*A 1969-02-28 1969-02-28 Variable loudness alarm mechanism Expired - Lifetime US3559396A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US80335569A 1969-02-28 1969-02-28

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3559396A true US3559396A (en) 1971-02-02

Family

ID=25186324

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US803355*A Expired - Lifetime US3559396A (en) 1969-02-28 1969-02-28 Variable loudness alarm mechanism

Country Status (4)

Country Link
US (1) US3559396A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
CH (2) CH513449A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
DE (1) DE2009481A1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
FR (1) FR2037145B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4203279A (en) * 1977-10-31 1980-05-20 Minoru Kamiya Timepiece which permits freely adjusting the level of sounds produced therein and given out thereof
US4208867A (en) * 1978-08-17 1980-06-24 Timex Corporation Timing device
CH720532A1 (de) * 2023-02-22 2024-08-30 Richemont Int Sa Steuerungsvorrichtung mit Zahnstange für Uhrmechanismen

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4203279A (en) * 1977-10-31 1980-05-20 Minoru Kamiya Timepiece which permits freely adjusting the level of sounds produced therein and given out thereof
US4208867A (en) * 1978-08-17 1980-06-24 Timex Corporation Timing device
CH720532A1 (de) * 2023-02-22 2024-08-30 Richemont Int Sa Steuerungsvorrichtung mit Zahnstange für Uhrmechanismen

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE2009481A1 (de) 1970-09-17
FR2037145A1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1970-12-31
CH135870A4 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1971-06-15
FR2037145B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1973-07-13
CH513449A (de) 1971-09-30

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AS Assignment

Owner name: CHASE MANHATTAN BANK, N.A., THE

Free format text: SECURITY INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:TIMEX CORPORATION, A DE CORP.;TIMEX COMPUTERS LTD., A DE CORP.;TIMEX CLOCK COMPANY, A DE CORP.;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:004181/0596

Effective date: 19830331