US843887A - Stop-watch. - Google Patents

Description

STOP WATCH.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 19,1906.

2 SHEETS-:SHBET 1.

THE NORRIS PETE TUN D C No. 843,887. PATENTED FEB. 12, 1807.

A. GERSON. STOP WATCH.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.19,1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I fla'hivi Q2/ 002? ADOLPH GERSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

STQP-WATGH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 12, 1907'.

Application filed February 19, 1906. Serial No. 301,722.

1'0 (06/, whont it 'H'Mt con/writ.-

Be it known that I, AnoLPn GERsoN, a resident of New York city, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stop-Watches, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple positive combination of parts which will be inexpensive for the operation and control of a seconds-hand or pointer of a stopwatch or chronograph.

My improvements are applicable to the ordinary watch-movements, and in the accompanying drawings only enough of a watch mechanism is shown to show an operative connection between my improvements and the movement.

1 will now proceed to describe my invention in connection with the accompanying 1 drawings, forming part of this specification,

wherein- Figure 1 illustrates a face view of a watch, showing the pointer. Fig. 2 is an enlarged rear view of a watch embodying my improvements, the bridge being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross-section hereof, the section being taken on a line a a in Fig. 2. Fig. 4- is an enlarged diagrammatic view of my improvements and shows the mechanism in the position following the throwing out of the pinion upon the rocking spindle. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the starwheel. Fig. 6 is a detail fragmentary view of the idle gear, seconds-hand wheel, and the rocking spindle, which forms part of my im provement. Fig. 7 is an enlarged diagrammatic view of the position of the mechanism after having been operated to throw the pointer back to the zero-point; and Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail view of the winding-stem and cooperative elements for operating the star-wheel.

Like numerals of reference indicate corre- 3 spending parts in the several views.

Reference belng had to Fig. 2, 1 indicates the ordinary watchcase, which contains the movement, which, together with other parts, i

(not shown) is composed of the usual balancewheel 2, having a hair-spring 3. The balance-wheel 2 operates the escapement 4, which in turn operates the escapementwheel 5, which, as usual, operates the secondshand gear 6. The seconds-hand or pointer 7 is mounted upon a spindle 8, which in turn is fastened to an idle gear 9. Normally the l l l l l l l with the watch mechanism, and in order that the said idle gear can be placed in communication with the mechanism I employ a rocking spindle 10, which carries pinions 11 and 12 and has its lower end supported by a bracket 13. As will be seen by Fig. 6, the spindle 10 is capable of a rocking movement toward or away from the idle gear 9. The pinion 11 is meshed with the seconds-hand gear 6 permanently, the teeth of the pinion 11 and gear 6 being sufficiently deep to permit of this; but aside from this fact the movement at the meshing-point of these gears is very slight. The upper end of the spindle 10 is loosely fitted within the end of a lever 14, which is pivoted to the back 15 of the watch, as at 16. The lever 14 is of a spe cialdesign and comprises the members 17 and 18, the end of member 17 carrying the spindle 10 and being also provided with a spring-finger 19. The finger 19 impinges upon the bridge 20, the end 21 of which receives the end of the idle-gear spindle 8. The member 8 of the lever 14 terminates in circular arm 22, which is concentric with the peripheral surfaces of the arms 23, 2 1, and 25 of a star-wheel 26. It will be seen by Fig. 5 that the arm 25 is somewhat shorter than the arms 23 and 24.

In the operation of my improvement there is but one point in the rotation of the-starwheel 26 at which the pinion 12 will engage with the idle gear 9, and that point is illustrated in Fig. 2, wherein the short arm 25 of the star-wheel 26 has been thrown into position with respect to the circular arm 22 to permit the lever 1 1- to be operated by the spring-fmger 19 thereupon, whereby the pinion 12 is caused to mesh with the gear 9. In other words, in this figure the pinion 12 is meshed with the idle gear 9. The purpose of the short arm 25 is to allow the spring-finger 19 to throw the pinion 12 into mesh with the idle gear 9. l i' hen the starwheel 26 is further rotated, the finger 24 will impinge the circular arm 22, and thereby operate the lever 14 and throw the pinion 12 out of mesh with the idle gear 9. (See full lines, Fig. 4-.) Fig. 4; illustrates the pointer 7 at rest and corresponds with the position as illustrated in Fig. 1, which indicates thirty s conds. During the rotation of the star-wheel 26 from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig. ithe pin 27, which is carried by the arm 23, travels in a slot 28, provided in one gear 9 is stationary and out of connection member 29 of a lever 30, the member 31 of lIC said lever terminating in a nose 32, which is designed to impinge upon a heart-cam 33, fastened to the idle gear-spindle 8. When the star-wheel 26 is rotated from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig. 4, the pin 27 will cause the nose 32 of the lever 30 to recede from the cam 33, and when the pinion 12 has been entirely thrown out the nose will be in a position as shown by full lines in Fig. 4. Further movement of the star-wheel 26 will cause the lever 30 to impinge the heart-cam 33, and a continued movement will cause the nose 32 to force the cam 33 around to the Zero-point 34, which corresponds to the zero-point (one second) of the dial 35. (See Fig. 7.) When the cam 33 is at its Zero-point, one cycle of operations has been accomplished, and this cycle is sub divided into three phases namely, starting the pointer, stopping the same, and returning it to the zero-point. When the arm 24 has been carried from the position corresponding to the dotted-line position of the lever 30, the short arm 25 will come into place. The springfinger 19 will then throw the pinion 12 into mesh again and the pointer 7 will start. The starwheel 26 is pivoted, as at 36, to the back 15 of the case 1, and the lever 29 is pivoted as at 37.

The hour-hand 38 and minute-hand 39 are operated in the usual manner. To operate the star-wheel 26, I make use of the longitudinally-movable winding-stem 40, which is composed of the tube 40 and the spindle 40 rotatably fitted in the said tube. A gear 41 transmits movement to mainspring of the watch from the spindle 40 by means of the pinion 42, which is held against longitudinal movement by the bracket 43, as shown. (See Fig. 8.) The pinion 42 is slidably fitted to the spindle 40", a feather 44 being employed to transmit movement thereto from the spindle 40. The tube 40 is provided with a pin 45, which actuates the plate 46 when the stem 40 is pressed inwardly, thereby actuating the rocking frame 48 by means of the pin 49 thereon. (See Fig. 7.) The frame 48 is pivoted to the watchcase, as at 50. A spring 51 serves to return the plate 46 and stem 40 after the said plate and stem have been released. The frame 48 is provided with fingers 52 and 53. The finger 52 rotates the star-wheel 26, and the finger 53 holds the said star-wheel against a return movement after having been actuated (see Fig. 7) or when the frame 48, plate 46, and stem 40 have been returned by the spring 51.

The operation is as follows: hen the stem 40 is pushed inwardly, the pin 45 upon the tube 40 will force the plate 46 inwardly, which will in turn, by means of the pin 49,

force it to the position occupied. by the arm 23. This action will, by the reaction of the spring-linger 19, cause the pinion 12 to mesh with the idle gear 9. The arm 25 is shorter than the other two arms, as has been stated, and when the said arm 25 comes into position there is enough space between the periphery of said arm and the circular arm 22 to permit the pinion 12 to be thrown into mesh with the gear 9. hen the stem 40 is released, the spring 51 will throw the frame 48, plate 46, and stem 40 back again, in which instance the linger 53 of theframe 48 will b ear against the arm adjacent thereto and hold the star-wheel against backward movement, as in Fig. 7. 1t is obvious that when. the stem 40 is pressed inwardly the spindle 40 will slide in the pinion 42, and the said pinion will be held against lateral movement by the frame 43. In order to wind. the mainspring, it is but necessary to turn the spindle 40 by means of the thumb-wheel, as is usual, the tube 40, however, remaining stationary.

To render clearer the operation of the starwheel 26 (see Fig. '7) by the rocking frame 48, it will be understood that the arms 23, 24, and 25 are spaced about one hundred and twenty degrees apart, and the movement of the frame 48 is equal to about sixty degrees plus the movement required to bring the linger in contact with the arm 25, (in this instance.) When the rocking frame 48 is pushed inwardly by the spindle 40, said -linger 52 will strike the arm 25 and advance it partly to the position occupied by the arm 23. This movement constitutes the inward travel of the finger 23 and will be sufficient to advance the said arm 23 enough to permit the finger 53 upon the return of the frame to get under the said arm 23 and complete the movement of the star-wheel 26. In the meantime the finger 52 will have been returning to its normal position. By bringing the arm 23 to the aforesaid position the pinion 12 will again mesh with the gear 9.

Having now described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination with awatch-movement provided with a longitudinally movable winding-stem, an idle gear, a pointer operated by said gear, a rocking spindle provided with a gear in mesh with the seconds-hand gear of said watch-movement, a pinion carried by said spindle adapted to mesh with said idle gear, a star-wheel having a plurality of arms of different lengths, a lever having at one end thereof a circular arm adapted to impinge upon the periphery of the long arms of said star-wheel, said lever being pivoted intermediate of its ends and adapted to opercause the frame 48 to rock in such a manner ate said rocking spindle and cause the pinion as to cause the finger 52 to strike one of the l carried thereby to mesh with said idle gear arms of the starwheel26. Referring to Fig. 1 when the short arm of said star-wheel is 7, the finger 52 would strike the arm 25 and brought adjacent to the circular arm carried seasev by said lever, a heart-cam carried by said wheel adapted to impinge upon said heartcam and throw said pointer to a zero-point, and means operated by said stem adapted to operate said star-Wheel.

2. In combination with a watch-move- 2 ment provided with a longitudinally-nwvable Winding-stem, an idle gear, a pointer operated by said gear, a rocking spindle provided with a gear in mesh with the seconds.- hand gear of said Watch-movement, a pinion carried by said spindle adapted to mesh with said idle gear, a star-Wheel having a plurality of arms of different lengths, a lever having at one end thereof a circular arm adapted to impinge upon the periphery of the long arms of said star-Wheel, said lever being pivoted intermediate of its ends and adapted to operate said rocking spindle and cause the pinion idle gear, a lever operated by the said star carried thereby to mesh with said idle gear when the short arm ol said star-wheel 1s brought adjacent to the circular arm carried

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