USRE510E - Improvement in watches - Google Patents

Description

2 Shets-Sheet 2.

G. P. REED.

Watch. No. 510. Y f Reissued Nov. 24, 1857.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.V

IMPROVEMENT IN WATCH ES.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 171,055, dated April 14, 1857; Reissue No. 510, dated November 24, 1857.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE l). REED, of Waltham, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Watches and I do hereby declare that the saine is fully described and 'represented in the following specilication and the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l exhibits the under side of a pillarplate of a watch, and shows the bridge and mechanism applied to it, as will be hereinafter described. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the said pillar-plate and the barrel for containing the mainspring, such section being taken through the centers of the said plate and barrel. Fig. 3 is a top view of the nlain gear, the retaining-power ratchet and pawl, and the winding or barrel-arbor ratchet and pawl. Fig. 4 is a top view ofthe stop-works. Fig. 5 is a verticalsection of them and the bridge. Fig. 6 is a top view of the pillar-plate, a-ll the parts of the different gures being drawn on a scale three times the usual size. In the drawings, A denotes the pillarplate and B the barrel for containing the inainspring, the latter not being represented in the drawings. This barrel is formed with a projecting flange, a, for the purpose of enabling it to be fastened to the pillar-plate, into and through which it extends, as shown in the drawings, the said pillar-plate being formed with a round hole havin g a diameter equal to that of the barrel and for the reception of the barrel.

In Fig. 6 I have shown a top view of the pillar-plate, such also representing the capplate b of the barrel. This cap-plate is made in one solid-piece with the barrel, and both are secured in place by two screws, c c, extend.

ing through the flange a a, (which is an eXtension of the cap-plate,) and being screwed into the pillar-plate so as to confine the barrel to the pillar-plate.

C is the winding-arbor, which steps or is pivoted into the cap-plate b, and turns in a bridge, d, arranged parallel to and with respect to the pillar-plate, and fas tened to it by posits. The stop-wheels E F are placed in sunken recesses made in the bridge-plate, as shown at d c.

G is the main gear, which is arranged so as to constitute a cap or bottom to the barrel. H

is the ratchet of the maintaining-power; I, the I .ing-power, a2, is applied to the winding-arbor and rnain gear, as will be hereinafter described, such being lfor the .purpose of keeping the watch in motion while it is being wound up. The winding-arbor and main wheel are com bined in essentially the same manner as the main wheel and common fusee of a watch, excepting that with regard tothe part M of the winding-arbor which is within the barrel and around which the mainspring is coiled. It is stepped on the other portion of the arbor like a collar, and fastened there by a lpin or key, j', such part serving both as a shoulder for the support of the main wheel and also to support the winding-arbor. The thickness of the part M should be such as torbring the main wheel just out of contact with the rim of the barrel, so that the said main wheel may turn freely and serve as a cover or bottom to the barrel.

The advantages of the abovedescribed arrangement of parts, are as follows: As the barrel is stationary and the main wheel made to revolve with the winding-arbor, (such barrel, as watches are usually constructed, generally rotating with the main wheel While the winding-arbor is stationary,) there is no danger in case of breakage of the mainspring that the sudden and violent recoil of such spring will do injury to the'train of the Watch, as the arbor and ratchet under such circumstances are left free to turn backward without exerting any force on the mainLgear-wheel. In those watches having revolving barrels the reverse is the case, as the violent recoil of the spring often bends or breaks the teeth of the main wheel, as well as those of the other wheels of the train.

By arranging the barrel Within the pillarplate as described such barrel is so supportedV by such plate as to entirely prevent it from being burstopen by such a recoil of the mainspring (an accident which frequentlyhappens) when the barrel rotates and is arranged entirely outside of the pillar-plate. This `ar rangement also enables the watch to be made thinner, comparatively speaking, as while the watch is being wound up the winding-arbor rotates in one direction, and in the opposite hour-hand of the watch.

as it runs down. I am enabled to employ a bridge and arrange the stop-workstherein as described, the same enabling me to make the bridge as well as the stop-works so thick and strong as to prevent all liability of derangement of them; When the stop-works are arranged on the head of a rotary barrel inthe usual way, it becomes necessaryto .make the same so thin that it has no substantial fastening and is liable to get out of order. When the force of winding is brought up by the stop` works, the extra force is exerted on the bridge and does not disturb the motions of the balance ofthe watch. The reverse of this is true when the barrel rotates, the extra force being exerted on the train andinipartin'g tothe balance an increased and unnatural motion. As the stop-works are exposed on the bridge, they constitute a good indicator of the time which may have elapsed since `the watch was wound up. ,A `The lower barrel-head, b, is represented in Figs. 2 and 6 as formed with, a sectoral' recessl orspace fr, for the receptionof thedial` wheel gear or that wheel which operateswthe This recess enables theywatch to be made thinner than would otherwise be the case. In consequence of applying thevbarreltofthe pillar-plate in the manner described we are enabled to form the said barrel or its head bviwith such a recess, whereas,` if Ithe barrel rotated,A the hour-hand wheel crV gear would vhave to'be arranged entirely above the barrel, and thus the watch, as a` natural consequence,would have to be made thicker.

`From the above it will be seen that one great advantage resulting fromsrny improvement is the reduction of the thickness of the watch. 1 s y Fig. 7 is an inside viewof the main gear- Wlieel, showingthe retainingor,,maintaining power spring, et?, as` arrangedfin, an annular recess., b2,formed in thel said wheel. In this tgure the loose end of the spring is shown as provided with a small projection, 02,'which, when the wheel is in place, extends into a corresponding hole made in the rctainin g or maintaining power ratchet, H, and thus connects such ratchet with the said spring.

In tlie use of the fixed barrel, as the barrelarbor is turned in one direction while the watch is being wound, and in the opposite direction while the watch is running or in operation, it becomes necessary, in some way, di-

rectly to apply-to such barrel the retaining orY maintaining power, for, unless the same is effected, the watch will be liable to stop while it is being wound up. In order to obviate this difficulty I have made use /of the same kind of retaining-'power which is employed in the common fusee-watch, and this I have applied directly to the fixed barrel, as above explained or exhibited. In applying the retaining-power to the fixed barrel in the manner shown, such differs from the application of ittoa common i'usee. In both cases the retaining-power spring is bent or receives its force from the Inainspring of the watch. In the i'usee it receives such power by means of a chain which runs from the outside of ainoving barrel (which contains the mainspring) to the outside of the insee-wheel.` l,

. In my application oi' thev retaining-power to the fixed barrel, the retainingpower spring receives its force directly from `the barrel-arbor around which the inainspring is coiled.

` What therefore I claim is- 1. The arrangement ofthe barrel in respect to the pillar-plate so that it shall extendf through the plate and be fastened to the dial sideofit. y s f 2. Arranging the inainV gear-wheel with the retainingpower and barrelarbor so that the said wheel shallserve the purpose of a barrelhead or cover to the barrel.` 4

3. "Ihe application ofl the retaining-.power directly to tbe ixed barrel, substantially as specified. Y

Witnesses:

R. ILEDDY, F. I). HALE, Jr.

eno. r. anni).

Images