US3665698A - Electromechanical clockwork with decoupling mechanism - Google Patents

Electromechanical clockwork with decoupling mechanism Download PDF

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Publication number
US3665698A
US3665698A US90572A US3665698DA US3665698A US 3665698 A US3665698 A US 3665698A US 90572 A US90572 A US 90572A US 3665698D A US3665698D A US 3665698DA US 3665698 A US3665698 A US 3665698A
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United States
Prior art keywords
pinions
clockwork
lever
driven gear
pinion
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Expired - Lifetime
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US90572A
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English (en)
Inventor
Peter Dome
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.)
Tissot SA
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Fabrique dHorlogerie CHS Tissot et Fils SA
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G04—HOROLOGY
    • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
    • G04B27/00—Mechanical devices for setting the time indicating means
    • G04B27/004—Mechanical devices for setting the time indicating means having several simultaneous functions, e.g. stopping or starting the clockwork or the hands

Definitions

  • ABSTRACT A continuously operating rocking member coacts with a pair of meshing pinions to step a gear train of a clockwork for a watch, one of the gears of this train being in mesh with the first pinion and being also positively' coupled with the seconds hand of the watch incorporating the clockwork.
  • Attorney ELECTROMECHANICAL CLOCKWORK WITH DECOUPLING MECHANISM My present invention relates to an electromechanical clockwork for a timepiece, including a driving mechanism serving to step an input element of a gear train in the rhythm of the oscillation of a balance wheel acting upon a rocking lever or the like, a source of electric energy being provided to compensate for frictional losses and to keep the system going.
  • Such an electromechanical clockwork must be provided with means similar 'to those of ordinary clocks and watches for resetting the hands of the timepiece upon decoupling them from their driving mechanism to which they may be connected by a normally engaged friction clutch.
  • the gear trains used in such clockworks generally form a stepdown transmission between a relatively fast-moving gear, positively coupled with the seconds hand, and slower-moving gears coupled with the minute and hour hands, respectively.
  • Conventional decoupling mechanisms designed to permit a resetting of only the latter hands, nevertheless may transmit a residual torque to the gear operatively engaging the seconds hand. This may lead to a temporary jamming which could arrest the drive if the latter is not of the self-starting type.
  • the continuing advance of the seconds hand usually prevents precise synchronization with, say, a radio signal.
  • An important object of the invention is to provide simple and reliable means in an electromechanical clockwork of this general type for enabling resetting of the hands with avoidance of the aforestated drawbacks and without interruption in the operation of the stepping drive, thereby avoiding difficulties which could arise upon the restarting of that drive.
  • a related object is to provide means for arresting a fastmoving gear, coupled with the seconds hand, in a desired position of that hand (e.g. at seconds) during the resetting of the minute and hour hands.
  • the second pinion may or may not remain in close mesh with the first pinion on being moved out of the range of the drive member by the resetting control.
  • the second pinion may be mounted on a planet carrier fulcrumed on the axis of the first pinion for displacement by the resetting control; in the second instance, this control may act upon an independently fulcrumed lever with an extremity carrying the second pinion.
  • this latter lever may have three arms, one of them supporting the second pinion while another carries the detent for the driven wheel and a third one yieldably abuts a fixed stop to hold the system in its operative position in which the teeth of the second pinion lie in the swing path of the drive member.
  • the swing of the control lever into its alternate position should be limited to prevent complete separation of the two pinions, thereby facilitating their return to normal operative engagement.
  • a suitable backstop designed to immobilize the two meshing pinions in the limiting positions of the rocking member, may also be restrained by the control lever in the disengagement position against excessive disalignment with the teeth of the second pinion.
  • FIG. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic plan view of a clockwork embodying my invention, shown in normal operating position;
  • FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1, showing the clockwork in a disengaged position to permit resetting of the hands of an associated timepiece;
  • FIG. 3 is a detail view illustrating a modification.
  • the system shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises an electromechanical stepping drive represented schematically by the outline l of a balance wheel which oscillates in conventional manner with electrical energy supplied by a source 100.
  • This source may include means for electromagnetically picking up and feeding back, with intervening amplification, pulses periodically generated by the balancing wheel in the rhythm of its natural frequency.
  • the wheel 1 has a shaft 2 carrying two rollers 3 and 4, the former being provided with a pin 3a engaged by a bifurcate end 7 of a rocking lever 5 while the latter has a cutout 4a clearing a point 8 on that lever.
  • the magnet helps retain the lever 5 in either of its two limiting positions, with the pole shoes 10a and 10b acting as end stops.
  • a projection 11 on lever 5 serves as a stepping pawl cooperating with two meshing pinions 12 and 13, pinion 13 having a fixed axis represented by a shaft 19 and being in mesh with a larger gear 14 which is part of a conventional gear train as used in a clockwork to drive the minute and hour hands of a timepiece.
  • the shaft 14 of gear 14 is operatively correlated with an associated seconds hand indicated diagrammatically at 14'.
  • Pinion 12 has a shaft 18 carried on an arm 20 of a lever L having two further arms 21 and 22 as well as a fixed fulcrum on a pivot 23.
  • Another lever L is swingable about a fixed fulcrum 24 which also forms an abutment for the lever arm 21, the latter being elastically yieldable to enable a swing of the lever L in a counterclockwise sense about its fulcrum 23 with development of a restoring force as indicated by an arrow F.
  • Lever L has a stud 27 which normally is out of contact with lever arm 22 (FIG. I) but bears upon this arm in a position of disengagement (FIG. 2) into which the lever L, may be removed manually through the intermediary of the usual resetting pin on the winding crown of the watch, this resetting mechanism being represented in the drawing by a stem 31 engaging an extremity L, of the lever L,.
  • a recess 26a in lever L forms a shoulder 26 confronting a lug 15a on a disk 15, rotatable about a fixed pin 17, on which another lug serves as a backstop for the teeth of pinions 12 and 13 when these pinions are in their meshing positions of FIG. 1.
  • the dial of the watch has been illustrated diagrammatically at 40 in FIG. 1; the gear train driving these hands has been symbolized by a line 41 including a clutch 42 for decoupling the input element 14.
  • the lever L may be replaced by a lever L pivoted on the shaft 19 of pinion 13 which permanently meshes with the gear 14 (not shown in this Figure).
  • An extremity of lever L carries the shaft 18 of pinion 12 which is in constant close mesh with pinion 13 and which is normally maintained in the path of pawl 1 1, against a stop 35, by the force of a spring 32 coiled about shaft 19, disengagement being again achieved by a displacement of stem 31.
  • the same stem, or an extension thereof, may carry a detent similar to projection 25 (FIGS. 1 and 2) for arresting the gear 14.
  • a conventional pawl 33 biased toward the teeth of pinion 13 by spring 34, takes the place of backstop 16 of the preceding embodiment.
  • FIG. 3 operates in essentially the same manner as that of FIGS. 1 and 2, except that the axial spacing of the two pinions 12, 13 is constant.
  • a clockwork for a timepiece having a gear train with an input element for the displacement of its minute and hour hands release means for decoupling said input element from said hands preparatorily to a resetting thereof, and a seconds hand positively coupled with said input element, comprising:
  • oscillatory drive means for stepping said gear train including a swingable pawl member
  • said driven gear constituting said input element
  • control means coupled with said release means for moving the other of said pinions into an inoperative position, out of the sweep of said pawl member upon decoupling said driven gear from said minute and hour hands.
  • control means comprises a lever with a first arm supporting said other of said pinions and with a second arm bearing said detent means, said lever having a fulcrum remote from the axis of said one of said pinions whereby said pinions move apart in said inoperative position.
  • a clockwork as defined in claim 4 wherein said yieldable stop means comprises an elastic third arm on said lever bearing upon a fixed stop.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Electromechanical Clocks (AREA)
  • Measurement Of Unknown Time Intervals (AREA)
US90572A 1969-11-22 1970-11-18 Electromechanical clockwork with decoupling mechanism Expired - Lifetime US3665698A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CH1735369A CH516185A (fr) 1969-11-22 1969-11-22 Pièce d'horlogerie

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3665698A true US3665698A (en) 1972-05-30

Family

ID=4424777

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US90572A Expired - Lifetime US3665698A (en) 1969-11-22 1970-11-18 Electromechanical clockwork with decoupling mechanism

Country Status (6)

Country Link
US (1) US3665698A (de)
JP (1) JPS494348B1 (de)
CH (2) CH1735369A4 (de)
DE (1) DE2056829A1 (de)
FR (1) FR2068594B1 (de)
GB (1) GB1315689A (de)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3817024A (en) * 1971-12-13 1974-06-18 Citizen Watch Co Ltd Time-setter for an electronic timepiece
US4400091A (en) * 1980-02-05 1983-08-23 Seiko Koki Kabushiki Kaisha Second stop device of clock
EP3786725A1 (de) * 2019-08-26 2021-03-03 Blancpain SA Entkupplung von zwei übersetzungsgetrieben

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR1255852A (fr) * 1960-05-02 1961-03-10 Langendorf Watch Co Perfectionnements apportés aux montres électriques à ancre
US3470687A (en) * 1966-12-15 1969-10-07 Suwa Seikosha Kk Date and day correcting device of a calendar timepiece

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR1255852A (fr) * 1960-05-02 1961-03-10 Langendorf Watch Co Perfectionnements apportés aux montres électriques à ancre
US3470687A (en) * 1966-12-15 1969-10-07 Suwa Seikosha Kk Date and day correcting device of a calendar timepiece

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3817024A (en) * 1971-12-13 1974-06-18 Citizen Watch Co Ltd Time-setter for an electronic timepiece
US4400091A (en) * 1980-02-05 1983-08-23 Seiko Koki Kabushiki Kaisha Second stop device of clock
EP3786725A1 (de) * 2019-08-26 2021-03-03 Blancpain SA Entkupplung von zwei übersetzungsgetrieben
US11733654B2 (en) 2019-08-26 2023-08-22 Omega Sa Disengagement of two gear trains

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
FR2068594B1 (de) 1974-03-01
CH516185A (fr) 1971-05-14
CH1735369A4 (de) 1971-05-14
FR2068594A1 (de) 1971-08-27
GB1315689A (en) 1973-05-02
DE2056829A1 (de) 1971-06-03
JPS494348B1 (de) 1974-01-31

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