US3768318A

US3768318A - Rapid-release escapement for timing programmers

Info

Publication number: US3768318A
Application number: US00226910A
Authority: US
Inventors: R Gazzani
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-02-27
Filing date: 1972-02-16
Publication date: 1973-10-30
Anticipated expiration: 1990-10-30
Also published as: GB1347947A; FR2127756A5; DE2207147A1; IT989573B

Abstract

A rapid-release escapement according to the invention comprises a wheel having two rings of teeth, which is driven by a driving toothed wheel provided with an axial pin having a short nib and a long nib, opposite by 180*, the first of which engages the lower ring of teeth and the second of which engages both rings of teeth of said double toothed wheel. A stopping lever device is provided for stopping said double toothed wheel, said stopping lever device having two thin vertical ribs adapted to engage the teeth of said double toothed wheel.

Description

States tet [1 1 RAPID-RELEASE ESCAPEMENT FOR TIMING PROGRAMMERS [76] Inventor: Renato Gazzani, via Maria 10C,

Frosinone, Italy 22 Filed: Feb. 16, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 226,910

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Get. 30, 1973 Primary Examiner-Milton Kaufman Attorney-Marshall et al.

57 ABSTRACT A rapid-release escapement according to the invention comprises a wheel having two rings of teeth, which is driven by a driving toothed wheel provided with an axial pin having a short nib and a long nib, opposite by l80-, the first of which engages the lower ring of teeth and the second of which engages both rings of teeth of said double toothed wheel. A stopping lever device is provided for stopping said double toothed wheel, said stopping lever device having two thin vertical ribs adapted to engage the'teeth of said double toothed wheel.

8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures RAPID-RELEASE ESCAPEMENT FOR TIMING PROGRAMMERS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a rapid-release escapement, particularly for timing programmers, that generates pulses of differential durations, especially adapted for use in linen washing machines, dish washing machines and like.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART An escapement for timing programmers is described in US. Pat. No. 3,672,234; more particularly, said patent relates to a rapid-release escapement, in which the time period between the pulses, i. e. the step-by-step advancement of the excapement, is not identical for each pulse. Namely, the time interval concerning a group of pulses can be any integral multiple of the time interval concerning another group of pulses.

The escapement according to the above patent is further characterized in that the allotment of the individual pulses to the first or to the second group of pulses does not need to be in a specific sequential order; in fact, the desired succession order of pulses can be preestablished at the designing stage.

In programmers according to the above cited patent an advancement arrangement is embodied which provides for the automatic stopping of the advancement movement in any pre-established point of the cycle as well as the restarting thereof after a fixed and preset time interval, by means of very simple device.

A further feature of the above excapement consists in that any overstep is prevented by means of a mechanicallycertain as well as inexpensive arrangement, said overstep being a common drawback in .rapidrelease escapements of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The rapid-release escapement according to this invention sharesall the advantages of the escapement according to the above previous patent; furthermore this invention has the same objects and obtains the same results by using completely different means.

More particularly, this invention relates to a rapidrelease escapement provided with a device that is adapted to prevent any overstep and that works upon the double toothed wheel generating the differential duration pulse sequences, so as to keep said wheel stationary during the time intervals between each step and the next one. i

The above mentioned stopping device consists of a lever pivoted at an end and urged to rotate by means of a spring that applies its urging force to the central BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Further objects and advantages of the escapement according to the invention will be evident fromthe following disclosure in connection with the attached drawings in which the preferred embodiment is shown and in which:

FIG. I is a partial view from above of the escapement according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view from above of the escapement base member having the stopping device as well as the driving toothed wheel mounted thereon;

FIG. 3 is a view from below of the driving toothed wheel; and

' FIG. 4 is a view from below of the stopping device as well as of the driving toothed wheel according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The escapement according to this invention comprises a toothed wheel 10 provided with two rings of teeth, an upper ring and a lower ring, the teeth of which are so arranged as to provide the desired sequences of pulses with differential durations. The wheel 10 will be hereinafter designated with the term double toothed wheel," in order to point out that it has two series or rings of teeth.

The step-by-step advancement of the double toothed wheel 10 is carried out by means of a driving toothed wheel 17. An axial pin 22 is provided on the toothed wheel 17 and has two nibs extending therealong, opposite by to each other, namely a short nib 23, which can be engaged with the lower ring of teeth of the double toothed wheel 10, and a long nib 24, adapted to be engaged with the lower ring of teeth as well as with the upper ring of teeth of said wheel 10. In the time interval between a step of advancement and the next one, the

nib

23 or 24 is stationary and engaged between the teeth of the double toothed wheel 10. In this manner the stopping of the double toothed wheel 10 is'effected and an overstep is prevented.

By overstep is meant in this specification an uncontrolled undesired advancement of the double toothed wheel 10 by more than one tooth.

The escapement according to this invention is different from the escapement as described in the above cited previous patent in the means by which the stopping of said double toothed wheel 10 is effected and an overstep is prevented. The arrangement by which said object is obtained in this invention will be now more particularly described referring to the drawings.

The double toothed wheel 10 receives its motion alternately from

nibs

23 and 24 of the driving toothed wheel 17, which receives in turn its motion from a transmission train, as described in the above cited patent. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the main features of said driving toothed wheel 17 are said two

nibs

23, 24 and the lower cam 18, provided with two inversely symmetrical lobes. The rest and operative positions of the driving toothed wheel 17 are determined by wound spring 19 acting alternately on the lobes of said cam 18.

The operation is designed such that, as can be seen from FIG. 1, in the rest position,

nibs

23 and 24 are not engaged between the teeth of said double toothed wheel 10. At each rotation by an arc of 180 of the driving toothed wheel 17, said

nibs

23 and 24 alternately are engaged with the teeth of said double toothed wheel 10, cause it to rotate by one tooth and then are disengaged therefrom.

The overstepping of said double toothed wheel 10 is prevented by the arrangement to be described. Said arrangement comprises a lever 50 that is pivoted at an end on pin 51 fixed to the programmer housing. A small coiled, pressure spring 52 urges lever 50 to rotate; and applies its urging force approximately on a central portion thereof. The other end of lever 50 has a catch 53 that, in its rest position, is abutted against the pin 22 of the driving toothed wheel 17; it should be noted, however,.that the rest position of lever 50 is better defined by a stop member 58.

Lever 50 has two thin

vertical ribs

54 and 55 which are engaged with the teeth of said double toothed wheel said

ribs

54 and 55 being arranged on said lever 50in a position corresponding to stop element 58, which is fixed to the base of the programmer housing. This arrangement is shown in FIG. 1.

Before describing the operation, reference will be made to FIG. 3, in which it is shown that the driving toothed wheel 17 has two driving

studs

56 and 57 depending from cam 18. The profile of the

above studs

56 and 57 is extremely important, in fact it is to be pointed out that the radial surfaces of

studs

56 and 57 have the profile of a circular arc, the central point of which is the center of said driving toothed wheel 17.

Considering the rest position shown in the Figures, it is seen that said ribs 54, 55am engaged between the teeth of the double toothed wheel 10 and said catch 53 contacts the leading edge of one of said driving studs provided on said driving toothed wheel 17, e.g. stud 56 I in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 4 it is seen that the driving toothed wheel 17 rotates in a clockwise direction, whereby the catch 53 will be raised by stud 56. The subsequent swing of lever 50 around pin 51, against the force of said spring 52, causes the ribs54 and 55 to disengage from said double toothed wheel 10.

However, in this condition, said double toothed wheel 10' is not freely rotatable, in view of the fact that it is in any case retained stationary by resilient pawl 59 as described in the above mentioned patent.

Continuing the clockwise rotation (in FIG. 4), the point of catch 53 will slide along the radial surface of stud 56 and, owing to the circular arc shape of said radial surface, said lever 50 will not be angularly moved any more. The positions of said dirving

studs

56 and 57 with respect to the lobes of cam 18 are such that, as soon as the release of driving toothed wheel 17 occurs, and after the one step advancement of double toothed wheel 10 occurs as well, catch 53 snaps past the near edge of stud 56 resetting lever 50 to its rest position, under the pressure of spring 52.

Vertical ribs

54 and 55 are positively engaged between the teeth of said double toothed wheel 10, thereby preventing any overstep.

It will be evident that, in view of the fact-that said double toothed wheel 10 has some teeth missing either from its lower ring or from its upper ring of teeth, it is necessary that lever 50 be provided with at

leasttwo ribs

54 and 55, adjacent to each other and displaced feom one another by the pitch of said rings of teeth of wheel 10.

The preferred embodiment of the stopping device according to this invention has been described hereinabove. However it should be understood that various 4 out departing from the scope of this invention.

What I claim is:

1. A rapid-release escapement for generating pulses with differential durations, comprising a wheel (10) having two rings of teeth, that is driven by a driving toothed wheel (17), said driving toothedwheel (17) being provided with an axial pin (22) having a short nib (23) and a long nib (24), opposite to each other by the first of which engages the lower ring of teeth and the second of which engages both rings of teeth of said double toothed wheel (10), characterized in that it comprises s stopping lever (50), provided with two thin vertical ribs (54, 55), adapted to be engaged between the teeth of said double toothed wheel (10); and further characterized in that said driving toothed wheel (17) has two depending studs (56, 57) operatively cooperating with a catch (53) provided on said stopping lever (50).

2. A rapid-release escapement as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said lever (50) is pivoted at an end on a pin (51) fixed to a housing of the excapement, said lever being urged to rotate by means of a coiled pressure spring (52), that applies its force on the central portion of said lever (50).

3. A rapid-release escapement as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that, in the rest position of the escapement, saidcatch (53) of lever (50) is abutted against the axial pin (22) of said driving toothed wheel (17) and said lever (50) is abutted against a stop member other by a distance identical to the pitch of said double toothed wheel (10).

6. A rapid-release escapement as claimedin claim 1, characterized in that said driving toothed wheel (17) has two studs (56 57) for operation of said stopping lever (50).

7. A rapid-release excape'ment as claimed in claim 6,7 characterized in that radial surfaces of said depending studs (56, 57) are shaped as circular arcs, the central point of which is the central point of said driving toothed wheel (17).

8. A rapid-release escapement as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that the relative positions of said depending studs (56, 57) are such that said lever (50), when operated, disengages said two ribs (54, 55) from the teeth of said double toothed wheel (10) so enabling its step-by-step advancement under the action of said driving toothed wheel (17) and thereafter said lever (50) snaps to its rest position for preventing any overstep.

Claims

1. A rapid-release escapement for generating pulses with differential durations, comprising a wheel (10) having two rings of teeth, that is driven by a driving toothed wheel (17), said driving toothed wheel (17) being provided with an axial pin (22) having a short nib (23) and a long nib (24), opposite to each other by 180*, the first of which engages the lower ring of teeth and the second of which engages both rings of teeth of said double toothed wheel (10), characterized in that it comprises s stopping lever (50), provided with two thin vertical ribs (54, 55), adapted to be engaged between the teeth of said double toothed wheel (10); and further characterized in that said driving toothed wheel (17) has two depending studs (56, 57) operatively cooperating with a catch (53) provided on said stopping lever (50).

2. A rapid-release escapement as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said lever (50) is pivoted at an end on a pin (51) fixed to a housing of the escapement, said lever being urged to rotate by means of a coiled pressure spring (52), that applies its force on the central portion of said lever (50).

3. A rapid-release escapement as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that, in the rest position of the escapement, said catch (53) of lever (50) is abutted against the axial pin (22) of said driving toothed wheel (17) and said lever (50) is abutted against a stop member (58) fixed to the housing of said escapement.

4. A rapid-release escapement as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that sAid two vertical ribs (54, 55) are made in the body of said lever (50) in a position which is opposite to said stop member (58) fixed to the housing of said escapement.

5. A rapid-release escapement as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that said vertical ribs (54, 55) made in the body of said lever (50) are displaced from each other by a distance identical to the pitch of said double toothed wheel (10).

6. A rapid-release escapement as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said driving toothed wheel (17) has two studs 56, 57) for operation of said stopping lever (50).

7. A rapid-release excapement as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that radial surfaces of said depending studs (56, 57) are shaped as circular arcs, the central point of which is the central point of said driving toothed wheel (17).