Classifications

• • 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
  • G04B37/00—Cases
  • G04B37/22—Materials or processes of manufacturing pocket watch or wrist watch cases
  • G04B37/225—Non-metallic cases
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T29/00—Metal working
  • Y10T29/49—Method of mechanical manufacture
  • Y10T29/49579—Watch or clock making
  • Y10T29/49584—Watch or clock making having case, cover, or back
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T29/00—Metal working
  • Y10T29/49—Method of mechanical manufacture
  • Y10T29/49588—Jewelry or locket making
  • Y10T29/49597—Ornamental stock making
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/16—Two dimensionally sectional layer
  • Y10T428/163—Next to unitary web or sheet of equal or greater extent
  • Y10T428/164—Continuous two dimensionally sectional layer
  • Y10T428/166—Glass, ceramic, or metal sections [e.g., floor or wall tile, etc.]
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/25—Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or component and including a second component containing structurally defined particles
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/8305—Miscellaneous [e.g., treated surfaces, etc.]

Definitions

• a number of materials, both metallic and nonmetallic, are suitable for use independently in the manufacture of artifacts which may be subjected to corrosion and abrasion.
• Such materials may be either metallic or nonmetallic and include, as examples. plastics, stainless steel and ultra-hard alloys. Conditions are particularly severe where such materials are used in watchcase components, where they are subjected to corrosion and to abrasion.
• Those materials which do not have the necessary hardness and abrasion resistance or which are not attractive in appearance may undergo surface treatment such as corrosion-proofingas by electroplating, the alumite treatment and even coating with a paint.
• paint itself while it may be attractive in appearance, is hardly abrasion resistant.
• the range of materials, whether used independently or with surface treatment is relatively limited.
• Hard rock, minerals, seashells and inorganic pigments are first reduced to fine powders and then arranged in patternsin which the various powders are either blended or unblended.
• the powders are then treated to make the particles adhere to each other.
• the treatment may consist of sintering, where the materials can be raised to a sintering temperature without destruction of the color, or bonding by the use of adhesives.
• the pattern may be arranged on the surface of a base metal to which it is bonded either by sintering or by the use of an adhesive, or the powders after bonding may be self-supporting if the item fabricated thereof is thick enough.
• Suitable artifacts for the use of such materials are watchcase components such as a dial, a bezel, an exterior case body, a coating on an exterior case body, indicia and items of costume jewelry.
• an object of the present invention is the production of artifacts of improved appearance from minerals, rocks, inorganic pigments and seashells.
• Another object of the present invention is the production of artifacts such as exterior watch components using minerals, rocks, seashells and inorganic pigments in powdered form.
• An important object of the present invention is to provide artifacts which are decorative and which are formed of colored minerals, rocks, inorganic pigments and seashells in powdered form where the various powders are arranged in decorative and attractive fashion.
• the invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessing the features, properties, and the relation of elements which will be exemplified in the article hereinafter described, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.
• DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Artifacts, and especially exterior components of 5 watch-cases, are made from powders derived from a variety of materials.
• the powders are bonded together either by use of an adhesive or by sintering.
• the powders may be applied to a base metal; if sintering is to be used the method of bonding of the powder to itself and to the base metal, then the base metal must have a higher melting point than the sintering temperature of the powder orpowders used.
• the powder or powders may be bonded to the base metal support by the use of a suitable adhesive. Where the powders are used in sufficient thickness, components free of any support may be formed.
• the method of providing adherence between particles of powder is by sintering, where appropriate, or by the use of suitable adhesives.
• the rocks may be eruptive, sedimentary or metamorphic in origin.
• examples are sulfide minerals and sulfite minerals such as argentite, pyrite and cobalt glance; oxide minerals and hydroxide minerals such as cuprite, tenorite, hematite and spinel; halide minerals such as fluorite and cryolite; carbonate minerals such as dolomite, dialogite and malachite; sulfate minerals such as anhydrite and cyanosite; phosphate minerals and arsenate minerals such as xenotime, apatite and pyromorphite; tungstate minerals and molybdateminerals such as ferberite and cupro-scheelite;v silicic acid minerals such as quartz, ferruginous quartz and rock crystal; silicate minerals such as chrysolite, zircon, garnet, epidote, jadeite, calamite, manganese
• the rocks or minerals are reduced to powder by grinding, and if necessary, ball-milling, after which they may be mixed with a lubricant in order to facilitate compressing. They are then compressed and optionally presintered to prepare a preform. They are then sintered either by themselves or with a suitable binding material mixed into the powder.
• Products made from such rock minerals have high mechanical strength and may be arranged into a variety of patterns, such as stripes, spots and designs of unlimited variety.
• Diorite also known as black granite
• the powder is dried and mixed with a small quantity oflubricant such as a paraffin wax to facilitate compacting in a press.
• Compacting is carried out in a die corresponding to the product which it is desired to make.
• the process is particularly applicable for the manufacture of watchcase exterior components.
• the pressure required for preparing a preform is about 2 tons/cm? Finally, sintering is carried out for a period of about an hour at a temperature of 1,350C.
• the product of the above sequence of operations is finally polished in accordance with conventional processes, taking into account the hardness of the particular object.
• the object can be polished to a high luster having a most attractive appearance.
• the product is extremely hard, so that it is abrasion resistant and is corrosive resistant as well.
• the hardness of an object prepared by sintering diorite is about 750-800 Hv on the Vickers hardness scale.
• the hardness of the sintered object is greater than that of diorite as found, the hardness of the latter being 500-600 Hv on the Vickers scale.
• the forming process makes it possible to prepare objects in a much wider variety of shapes than would be the case with the stone itself.
• complex shapes can be made by the powder process.
• a drop test onto concrete was performed. Watchcases of the sintered product and of natural black granite (diorite) were dropped from a height of 1 meter. The case formed of natural black granite broke at a corner on the very first drop. On the second test, the piece shattered.
• the case formed of sintered black granite according to the present invention withstood the drop test times, making it clear that products prepared in accordance with the present invention may actually be stronger than the natural product itself.
• powders from a variety of colored rock minerals may be used together, either blended or unblended, to give a great variety of patterns.
• the variety can be further increased by combining such powders with inorganic pigments.
• pigments are precipitated barium sulfate, alumina white, titanolith, zinc white, carbon black, chrome black, silicon carbide, slate powder, chromium tin red, umber, iron oxide, yellow lead, zinc chromate, chromium oxide green, cobalt, chrome green, Prussian blue, permane'nt blue, manganese purple, deep cobalt and metallic powder pigments.
• Andalusite one of the silicate materials used as a refractory or in special procelains, is roughly pulverized, mixed with powdered zirconium oxide and placed dry in a ball mill. After grinding to the required degree of fineness, a small quantity of lubricant such as paraffin is added to facilitate forming in a press.
• the composition is formed in a die in the shape of a bezel having an inside diameter of 30mm, using a pressure of 1.8 ton/em
• the preform is then sintered for one hour at the sintering temperature of l,200C.
• the component namely a bezel, produced in accordance with the above procedure is then polished in accordance with the usual techniques.
• the strength is I quite adequate for its projected usage, namely holding a glass in relation to a watehcase.
• the andalusite by itself has a strong red color.
• the color is lightened in proportion to the ratio of the materials used. Consequently, it becomes possible to achieve any shade of red between a deep red and white by suitable adjustment of the ratio of the components to each other.
• a bezel for instance, made by such a technique has excellent light-resistance and heat-resistance, as well as corrosion-resistance. Moreover, it is not easily scratched, since its hardness is between 800 and 1,000 Hv on the Vickers scale. Consequently, such a component satisfies all of the requirements for an exterior component of a timepiece. Similarly, it is suitable for many types of artifacts and costume jewelry. It should be noted that if an attempt were made tofashion directly from the underground mineral a bezel or an other component subjected to substantial mechanical stress, the product would not be nearly so satisfactory as is that made by the process of the present invention.
• artifacts and watch components similar to those described above may also be made from seashells using somewhat similar techniques.
• Many types of shellfish have brilliantly colored shells. in some cases the shells are permeated with the color, so that the shell has essentially the same color throughout, and in other cases the surface color is different from the interior color.
• Such shells are readily pulverized to a fine powder and can be used to produce brilliantly colored artifacts, and especially watehcase components.
• the powder may be sintered. Otherwise, bonding is accomplished by the use of an adhesive.
• Suitable shells are those from shellfish belonging to class polyplacophora, such as subclass paleoloricate, and order lepidopleurida; class gastropoda, such as order archaeogastropoda, and order mesogastropoda; class pelecypoda, such as order dysodonta, and order anomalodesmata; class cephalopoda, such as subclass tetrabranchia and order nautiloidea; and other class scaphopoda and class monoplacophora.
• class polyplacophora such as subclass paleoloricate, and order lepidopleurida
• class gastropoda such as order archaeogastropoda, and order mesogastropoda
• class pelecypoda such as order dysodonta, and order anomalodesmata
• class cephalopoda such as subclass tetrabranchia and order nautiloidea
• other class scaphopoda and class monoplacophora such as sub
• Shells are particularly valuable because of the fact that they provide iridescence. Although they can be blended with any of the colored rock minerals or inorganic pigments, if it is desired to use shell-powder in combination with such materials, it is preferable that they be used side by side rather than mixed. Otherwise, such iridescence as may be present is lost or diluted. Following is an example of the procedure used.
• the shell of perriere a red shellfish
• the shell of perriere has the advantage that the shell is red both on the exterior and the interior thereof. It is roughtly pulverized mechanically an then ballmilled dry. A small quantity of lubricant such as paraffin is added to aid in press-forming. It is compacted in a die having the shape of an indicium to be placed on a watch dial, the indicium measuring 4 X l X lmm. The pressure used is 1.5 ton/cm The material is then sintered for 45 minutes at a sintering temperature of 350C.
• the indicium After polishing by conventional processes, the indicium is placed on a dial and cemented thereto.
• An indicium of the specific material named is brilliant and appears to glow from within in a manner similar to that of a ruby or an opal, so that the ornamental effect is quite striking. The effect is, of course, quite different from that obtained with a plated metal and is generally considered far superior in attractiveness. Moreover,
• Sections to be made of mineral powder are formed by compressing and sintering at the required high temperature, and sections to be made of shell powder are formed and sintered at the relatively low temperature. The parts are then cemented onto the base metal in the form of a mosaic.
• the basic structure can be formed of the rock mineral powder, leaving gaps to be filled in later with shell powder.
• the basic structure is formed of the powder and sintered.
• the shell powder sections are likewise formed and sintered, but of course at a lower temperature.
• the shell powder components are then cemented into place in the complete structure.
• a decorative matrix comprising sintered fines of a naturally occurring rock material, said matrix being characterized by a hardness which exceeds that of an integral fragment of said naturally occurring rock material.
• said fines of said naturally occurring rock material is selected from the group consisting of argentite. pyrite, cobalt glance, cuprite. tenorite. hematite. spinel, fluorite, cryolite, dolomite, dialogite. malachite. anhydrite, cyanosite, xenotime, apatite, pyromorphite, ferberite, cupro-scheelite, quartz, ferruginous quartz, rock crystal, chrysolite, zircon, garnet, epidote, jadeite. calamite, manganese zeolite, and diorite.
• the decorative matrix as claimed in claim 1 including an inorganic pigment randomly dispersed therein.
• the decorative matrix as claimed in claim 3 wherein said pigment is selected from the group consisting of precipitated barium sulfate, alumina white. zinc white, chrome black, silicon carbide, slate powder, rouge, chromium tin red, yellow lead, zinc chromate, chromium oxide green, cobalt, chrome green, Prussian blue, permanent blue and metallic powder pigments.
• the decorative matrix as claimed in claim 1 including a specific distribution of shell fines therein.

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Citations (4)

• 1973
  • 1973-03-06 GB GB1077173A patent/GB1414864A/en not_active Expired
  • 1973-03-23 US US34438873 patent/US3861990A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1973-03-27 FR FR7310902A patent/FR2178032A1/fr not_active Withdrawn

Patent Citations (4)

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