WO2000070409A1

WO2000070409A1 - Universal timepiece

Info

Publication number: WO2000070409A1
Application number: PCT/KR1999/000308
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yoon-Hyoung Eo; Jang-Sung Choi
Original assignee: Eo Yoon Hyoung; Choi Jang Sung
Priority date: 1999-05-19
Filing date: 1999-06-17
Publication date: 2000-11-23
Also published as: KR19990068432A; AU4802899A

Abstract

Disclosed is a universal timepiece including a circular hour plate (1) which rotates once per 24 hours and a 24-divisional scale having the same angles with respect to the center at an end portion. Also included is a bottom plate (2) on which the names of the main cities of the world, scales and the relative longitudes according to the longitudes of the cities are designated. The timepiece plate rotates to indicate the time. The present time for the main cities of the world can be immediately appreciated by using the timepiece of the present invention.

Description

UNIVERSAL TIMEPIECE

Rar.kground of the Invention

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a universal timepiece, and more particularly, to a universal timepiecefrom which the time at any cities can be immediately determined without any operation of the timepieceand which rotates once per 24 hours and includes a circular hour plate in which a 24 divisional scale having the same angles with respect to the center of the hour plate at the end portion thereof, are designated, and a bottom plate which has the names of the main cities in the world indicated on the circumference having the international date line according to the longitudes thereof.

2. Description of the Prior Art

The worldwide time being used is an apparent solar time for the present time. That is, one day is from the culmination of the sun to the next culmination of the sun and one hour is the time obtained by dividing thus obtained one day by 24. And one minute is obtained by dividing one hour by 60. The noon (12 o'timepiecein the daytime) at the longitude of 0 is the time when the sun is culminated at the Greenwich Observatory in England. At this time, the place where the longitude is 180 is defined as midnight (12 o'timepiecein the nighttime) and as the international date line. For 24 hours, the earth rotates around the sun by 360 , therefore, the longitude of 15 corresponds to one hour.

Meantime, the sun moves from the east to the west from the view of on the ground. Therefore, the time at the place located west from the Greenwich Observatory, is late by the time corresponding to the longitude _ 15, while the time at the place located east from the Greenwich Observatory, is early by the time corresponding to the longitude _ 15. For example, when the Greenwich Observatory is noon, the time at Baghdad is 3 o'timepiecep.m. and the time at Tokyo is 9 o'timepiecep.m. Both of these cities are located at the east of the Greenwich Observatory. On the contrary, the time at New York is 7 o'timepiecea.m. and the time at Sydney is 10 o'timepieceof the previous day. Both of these cities are located at the west of the Greenwich Observatory.

Through the high level of civilization of the traffic and the communication, the opportunity of travelling all the countries of the world and interchange with other regions of the world through a telephone or internet, are frequent in modern times. Accordingly the need for knowing the correct time for each regions of the world is increased.

With the change of the times, various methods for indicating the present time of each region of the world are provided. Among the methods, the simplest one is using 'table of universal time difference'. In this table, the main cities of the world are recorded and the time of each city is indicated below the name of the city in 24 lines with an hour unit. However, the calculation of the time for a specific city utilizing the table of the universal time difference, is very complicated and the possession of the table is not an easy task. As an alternative option, an electronic timepiecein which the present times of the main cities of the world has been memorized, is suggested. This timepieceindicates the time of the other city without any calculation but needs a separate operation. In addition, some of the offices which has a large amount of interchanges with foreign countries, various timepieces designating the times of various cities are installed. In this case, the problems of consuming the space and cost, remains. Recently, a product for automatically designating the present time of a city located at the longitude passing a reference line by rotating a terrestrial globe, has been developed. However, the large volume disables the possession from the user.

Summary of the Invention

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to solve the problems of the conventional techniques and provide a universal timepiecehaving new functions, of which possession is advantageous and which immediately indicates the present time of the main cities of the world without a separate operation. To accomplish the object, there is provided in the present invention, a timepiececomprising a circular hour plate 1 which rotates once per 24 hours and has a 24 divisional scale having the same angles with respect to the center at an end portion thereof, and a bottom plate 2 in which the names of the main cities in the world and scales according to longitudes of the cities are designated in a relative positions and on a circumference having the international date line. The timepieceindicates the time through the rotation of timepieceplates.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The above object and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment for a combination of an hour plate, a minute plate and a bottom plate in the timepieceof the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates another embodiment of a combination of an hour plate, a minute plate and a bottom plate in the timepieceof the present invention; and FIG. 3 illustrates the state of the timepieceof the present invention at a specific time.

Detailed Description of the Invention Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The timepiece of the present invention comprises a circular hour plate 1 which rotates once per 24 hours, a 24 divisional scale having the same angles with respect to the center at an end portion thereof, a bottom plate 2 in which the names of the main cities in the world, and scales according to longitudes of the cities designated in a relative positions and on a circumference having the international date line. The timepieceindicates the time through the rotation of timepieceplates.

The timepieceof the present invention can include a circular minute plate 3 which rotates once per hour and has a 12 divisional scale having the same angles with respect to the center at the end portion of the plate.

The timepieceof the present invention is different from the conventional timepieces which are provided with an hour hand, a minute hand and a second hand and of which plate is divided into 12 sections. The hour hand rotates two times per day, the minute hand rotates 24 times per hour and the second hand rotates once per minute for indicating the time. The timepieceof the present invention has no hand and the specific hour is indicated by hour plate 1 which has a 24 divisional scale and rotates once per day instead of the rotation of the hour hand. The specific minute is indicated by minute plate 3 which has a 12 divisional scale and rotates once per hour. The specific time can be appreciated by reading the numerals in hour plate 1 and minute plate 3 which coincides with a time deciphering line 5 designated on a timepiececase or a glass cover. At this time, between the 24 divisional sections, minuter divisional lines can be designated for determining the minute or for correctly reading the minute only with hour plate 1 , as occasion needs. At each divided section or between the divided sections of hour plate 1 , the numerals from 0 to 24, or the numerals from 0 to 12 and continuously from 1 to 1 1 can be designated. For illustrating ante meridian hours and post meridian hours, the numerals from 0 to 12 corresponding to the ante meridian hours and the numerals from 1 to 11 corresponding to the post meridian hours can be designated by using different colors. For another case, a red dot which means the sun, may be indicated instead of the numeral 12 for immediately appreciate the culmination time of the sun, that is, the noon.

The rotation of hour plate 1 can be a continuous analog-type rotation or a digital-type rotation in which hour plate 1 rotates one scale per one hour. A minute plate 3 of the present invention can be designated by the numerals of 0, 10, 20, ...50 or by the numerals of 0, 15, 30 and 45, as occasion needs.

The terms of 'timepiecewise' and 'countertimepiecewise' mean the rotational direction of the hands and the counter direction thereof for the common timepieces, in this specification. The rotational directions of hour plate 1 and minute plate 3 can be optionally determined. When each plate rotates countertimepiecewise, the order of the designating numerals of hour plate 1 and minute plate 3 should be timepiecewise, while each plate rotates timepiecewise, the order of the designating numerals of the plates should be countertimepiecewise. Accordingly, the rotational directions of the plates can be the same timepiecewise direction or the same countertimepiecewise direction. Of course, hour plate 1 and minute plate 3 can rotate to the opposite directions. However, when hour plate 1 rotates countertimepiecewise, the cities positioned in the west in a bottom plate 2 should be positioned counterclokwise, and when hour plate 1 rotates timepiecewise, the cities positioned in the west in bottom plate 2 should be positioned timepiecewise.

The size of hour plate 1 can be larger or smaller than that of minute plate 3. And bottom plate 2 can be small enough for being provided at the inner portion of hour plate 1 or minute plate 3 (FIGs. 1 and 2). In the present invention, bottom plate 2 can be fixed or rotatable by a manual operation. When bottom plate 2 rotates, hour plate 1 should keep an interlocking state for rotating to the same correct degrees.

Although the preferred embodiment of the invention has been described only for the structure and the rotating velocity of each plate, it is understood that the present invention should not be limited to the preferred embodiment, but various changes and modifications can be made by one skilled in the art within the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed. That is, the timepieceof the present invention can be operated by a mechanical manner through the combination of a driving apparatus and sawtooth having a predetermined rotating ratio. Further the recognition of the data from the timepieceof the present invention can be implemented through an electronic manner using a display device such as an LCD(liquid crystal display device) or a CRT(cathod ray tube).

The method for obtaining various information by using the timepiecehaving the above-described constitution according to the present invention, will be described. For the sake of the convenient explanation, it is regarded that each plate in the timepiecerotates countertimepiecewise and hour plate 1 is larger than minute plate 3, while bottom plate 2 is smaller than minute plate 3 and is positioned at the center portion. First, the present time of a specific city, for example, Seoul and Tokyo is adjusted to the scale of Seoul Tokyo on bottom plate 2 by controlling hour plate 1 and minute plate 3. At this state, hour plate 1 and minute plate 3 rotate in a predetermined velocity to indicate the present time of each city corresponding to the scale illustrated on bottom plate 2. Accordingly, a user can immediately appreciate the present time of the main cities in the world without making any operation onto the timepieceof the present invention. If the user moves from Seoul to Seattle, the present time at Seattle is the indicated time of the scale corresponding to Seattle on bottom plate 2. Therefore, any operation is not needed. Only for the visual convenience, the rotation of bottom plate 2 along with hour plate 1 is allowed so that the scale corresponding to Seattle indicates 0 o'timepiecedirection. The 0 o'timepiecedirection does not mean the direction of the timepiecein the present invention, but means the direction of the common timepieceof which hand rotates twice per day.

Meantime, the region located from the noon (12 o'timepiecepost meridian) scale of hour plate 1 to international date line 21 of bottom plate 2 toward countertimepiecewise direction, is late by one day than the other region in the timepieceof the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a timepiecestate for a specific time. From this drawing, it can be immediately appreciated that for the present time in Seoul of 3 o'timepiece48 minutes p.m., the time in Honolulu is 8 o'timepiece48 minutes p.m. of the previous day, the time in New York is 1 o'timepiece48 minutes at dawn and the time in London is 6 o'timepiece48 minutes at dawn.

Accordingly, the user can advantageously appreciate the present time of the main cities of the world.

Fffect of the Invention

The timepieceof the present invention includes an hour plate 1 which rotates once per 24 hours, a minute plate 3 which rotates once per hour and a bottom plate 2 on which the relative longitudinal positions of the main cities of the world are designated. The present time of the cities of the world can be advantageously indicated anytime.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A timepiece for indicating time through a rotation of plates, said timepiece comprising: a circular hour plate which rotates once per 24 hours and has a scale at the ends thereof having 24 divisions of the same angle with respect to the center of said hour plate; and a bottom plate indicating the names of main cities in the world and a scale having relative positions according to the longitudes of said cities on a circumference indicating a date line.

2. A timepiece according to Claim 1 , comprising a circular minute plate which has a scale of 12 divisions having the same angle with respect to the center.

3. A timepeice according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein the rotation of said plates is accomplished by means of a mechanical or electronic method.