GB2171229A - Battery-operated clockwork with a decorative pendulum - Google Patents

Abstract

A battery-operated clockwork with a decorative pendulum has a separate pendulum bearing part (40) and a separate electronics part (22) which can each be positively fastened selectively to the outside of the clockwork housing (10). As a result a clock of this type can be subsequently provided with a decorative pendulum mechanism and an electronic drive (22) for the pendulum in a few simple operations. The pendulum has a permanent magnet attached thereto and the electronic drive (22) includes a drive coil. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Battery-operated clockwork with a decorative pendulum The invention relates to a battery-operated clockwork, especially a quartz clockwork, with a housing and with an electrically driven pendulum which is mounted on the housing by a pendulum bearing and which is driven by means of a coil which is controlled by drive electronics and co-operates with a permanent magnet on the pendulum.

A clockwork of this kind is known from DE-GM 81 04 507. To manufacture this, relatively complicated measures have to be taken when producing the clockwork, in providing the parts for supporting the pendulum, and for driving it electrically by means of the clockwork battery. In particular, it does not seem possible even to use the known clockwork without the pendulum mechanism, without impairing its aesthetic appearance.

A main object of the invention therefore, is to improve a clockwork of this kind so that it can be used directlywithoutthe pendulum mechanism and, alternatively, can subsequently be provided with a complete pendulum mechanism by simple operations.

According to the invention there is provided a battery-operated clockwork, especially a quartz clockwork, with a housing and with an electrically driven pendulum which is mounted on the housing by a pendulum bearing and which is driven by means of a coil which is controlled by drive electronics and co-operates with a permanent magnet on the pendulum, characterised in that a separate pendulum bearing part and a separate electronics part can each be positively fastened selectively to the outside of the housing.

Thus, the same clockwork can be used directly with or without a pendulum mechanism, and in particular, if desired, the clockwork can also be provided subsequently with the pendulum mechanism at minimal cost. All that is necessary is to fix a prepared pendulum bearing part positively to the housing by a simple manipulation, for example by pushing it in, slipping it on or snapping it on, suspending the pendulum on this pendulum bearing part and, in the same way, attaching the electronics part to the housing. The electrical connections of the electronics part then merely need to be connected to the battery of the clockwork. After these simple manipulations have been carried out, the clockwork can be used immediately with the pendulum mechanism which can, if desired, also be removed again in the same simple way.

The pendulum bearing part or the electronics part may be fixed to the housing in a particularly simple way by means of push-in devices or by the snapping-in of retention members.

The design and attachment of the pendulum are particularly simple, an embodiment in which a pendulum bracket interacting with a pendulum bearing and a permanent magnet interacting with the electronics part project perpendicularly in the same direction from the pendulum rod of the pendulum.

This is because the pendulum is suspended and the permanent magnet fitted in the correct position relative to the electronics part simultaneously, when the pendulum is hung, preferably from the rear side of the housing.

The electronics housing is preferably connected to the underside of the housing via a spacing web, so that a recess for the passage of the permanent magnet is formed.

Pendulum weights can be attached in a simple way to the bottom end and/or additionally also to the top end of the pendulum rod by being positively slipped-on the pendulum rod. The pendulum counterweight attached to the top end of the pendulum rod serves to slow down the pendulum swing in a visually agreeable way.

Despite the fact that the pendulum rod is attached to the rear side of the housing, the pendulum weight itself can be located by means of a horizontal support in a plane lying in front of the front surface of the housing, or under the housing.

To compensate for production tolerances, an eccentrically rotatable compensating disc can be provided in a counterbalance pendulum weight located at the top end of the pendulum rod and preferably fastened to the pendulum bracket, and the intended weight compensation of the two pendulum weights can be set by rotation of this compensating disc.

To prevent a pendulum suspended on the clockwork from falling off during transport a slip-on or fixed retaining clip can be provided on the pushed-in bearing part.

Some embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a partially sectional or cut-away rear view of the clockwork according to the invention with a pendulum mechanism, the pendulum only being shown partially for the sake of greater clarity, Figure 2 is an exploded side view of the clockwork with the pendulum mechanism of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a plan view of the parts illustrated in Figure 2, Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical section through the electronics housing of Figures 1 to 3, with the electronics removed, Figure 5 is a section along the line V-V in Figure 4, Figure 6 is an enlarged partial front view of the clockwork housing with a bearing part, Figure 7 is a side view of the parts illustrated in Figure 6, Figure 8 is a plan view of the parts illustrated in Figure 6, Figure 9 is a side view of the clockwork with the pendulum mechanism, showing beneath the clock three different designs of pendulum weights which can be attached to the bottom end of the pendulum rod, Figure 10 is a partially sectional front view of the pendulum illustrated in Figure 9, with the pendulum weight removed, Figure 7 1 is a section through a pendulum weight attached firmly to the bottom end of the pendulum rod or to a support, Figure 12 is a section through a pendulum weight attached displaceablyto the bottom end of the pendulum rod orto a support, Figure 13 is a partially sectional front view through the clockwork with a pendulum mechanism and a counterbalance pendulum weight, Figure 14 is a side view of the arrangement of Figure 13, also indicating in section two discs of a larger mounting housing, and Figure 15 is a partial representation of the clockwork of Figure 6, which has an upper counterbalance pendulum weight with a rotatable compensating disc.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figures 1 to 3, the quartz-controlled clockwork, not shown in detail, is accommodated in a housing indicated generally at 10. The housing is approximately square in horizontal projection and also contains, among otherthings, a battery 12 for driving the clockwork and the drive electronics 14for the pendulum, which is designated generally by the reference 16. The drive electronics 14 are accommodated in an electronics housing 18 and are connected to the battery 12 by leads 20.The electronics part, indicated as a whole by the reference 22, is accommodated in the electronics housing 18, which is connected to the clockwork housing 10 by a web 24 which has upwardly projecting hook-like retention members 30 which snap into corresponding orifices 32 in the underside of the clockwork housing 10. With this arrangement, during the swinging of the pendulum 16, a permanent magnet 28 which projects perpendicularly near the bottom end 26 of the pendulum rod 27 can swing freely between the underside of the housing 10 and the electronics housing 18.

Because the retention members 30 are snapped in, the electronics part 22 can be fixed to the underside of the housing 10 by means of a simple manipulation. The leads 20 merely have to be connected to the battery 12.

On top of the clockwork housing 10, there are two retention rails 34, into which lateral extension strips 38 of a pendulum bearing part 40 can be positively pushed from the rear, as indicated by the arrow 36 in Figures 2 and 3, and thereby fixed on the housing 10.

The pendulum bearing part 40 has the form of a flat plate on top of which there is a depression 42. In the centre of the depression 42 there is a wedge-shaped bearing projection 44 which extends upwardly. A pendulum bracket 48 projects perpendicularly, parallel to the permanent magnet 28, from the top end of the pendulum rod 17, and a wedge-shaped groove 46 in the underside of the bracket 48 is seated on the bearing projection 44 in such a way that the pendulum 16 can swing about the bearing formed by the bearing projection 44 and the wedge-shaped groove 46. During each zero traverse of the pendulum 16 its permanent magnet 28 received a drive pulse in a known manner from a coil 56 of the electronics part 22.

To secure the pendulum in position during transport, a retaining clip 50 can be attached to the pendulum bearing part 40 in a slip-on or fixed manner, which clip 50 prevents the pendulum 16 from becoming detached from the housing 10 during transport.

The details of the electronics part 22 of Figures 1 to 3 are shown more clearly in Figures 4 and 5. A printed circuit board 54 carrying the essential part of the electronics, especially the coil 56, is inserted frictionally in the direction of the arrow 52 into the electronics housing 18 one side of which is open.

The details of the pendulum bearing part 40 are shown more clearly in Figures 6 to 8, which show how the pendulum bearing part 40 is pushed into the retaining rails 34 from the rear side of the housing 10 facing away from the hands shafts 58 of the clockwork. Approximately in the centre of the pendulum bearing part 40 there is an aperture 60, into which a lug 62 on top of the housing 10, which lug rises slightly in the push-in direction, snaps to fix the pendulum bearing part 40 in its pushed in position.

Figure 9 shows three different embodiments of a lower pendulum weight 64, 66 and 68, each of which has a cranked support 69,71, the end of which can be selectively pushed frictionally in the direction of the arrow 70 on to the bottom end 26 of the pendulum rod 27. The cranked support 69,71 ensures that each of the pendulum weights 64,66,68 lie in a plane in front of the front surface 72 of the housing 10.

In the embodiment of Figure 11, a lower pendulum weight 74 is connected firmly to the bottom end of the pendulum rod 27. In the embodiment of Figure 12 the pendulum weight 76 is frictionally mounted so as to be longitudinally displaceable on the pendulum rod 27 or on a part connected to a support 69 or71 of Figure 9.

Figures 13to 15 illustrate an embodiment with an additional upper counterbalance pendulum weight 78. In this embodiment, the support 80 of the lower pendulum weight 82 is designed so that the pendulum weight 82 is located beneath the housing 10.

This is expedient in this embodiment, since the housing is mounted in a larger clock case with a transparent disc 86 carrying the clockface 84 and with an additional outer cover disc 88, these discs being shown only partially.

In Figure 15 the counterbalance pendulum weight fastened to the pendulum bracket 48 by a support 90 includes an eccentric compensating disc 94 which is rotatable about a centre axis 92 of the counterbalance pendulum weight 78. The weight consists of heavy material, and by means of a tool (not shown) insertable in two recesses 96, can be rotated into a position to compensate for possible production tolerances of the pendulum, by shifting the centre of gravity of the compensating disc 94.

Claims (11)

1. A battery-operated clockwork, especially a quartz clockwork, with a housing and with an electrically driven pendulum which is mounted on the housing by a pendulum bearing and which is driven by means of a coil which is controlled by drive electronics and co-operates with a permanent magnet on the pendulum, characterised in that a sepa rate pendulum bearing part and a separate electronics part can each be positively fastened selectively to the outside of the housing.

2. A clockwork according to Claim 1,characterised in that the pendulum bearing part is a push-fit into a retaining device on the top of the housing.

3. A clockwork according to Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the electronics part has an electronics housing which can be fixed to the underside of the housing by snap-in retention members.

4. A clockwork according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that a pendulum bracket interacting with a pendulum bearing and a permanent magnet interacting with the electronics part project perpendicularly in the same direction from the pendulum rod of the pendulum.

5. A clockwork according to Claim 4, characterised in that the electronics housing can be attached to and spaced from the underside of the housing by a web provided on the rear of the clockwork housing.

6. A clockwork according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised by a pendulum weight which is slipped frictionally on to the bottom end of the rod of the pendulum.

7. A clockwork according to Claim 6, characterised by a support which is attached to the pendulum rod, projects from the pendulum rod in the same direction as the pendulum bracket and the permanent magnet, and carries a pendulum weight in such a way that the pendulum weight is located in front of the plane of the front surface of the clockwork housing or under the housing.

8. A clockwork according to Claim 6 or Claim 7, characterised in that a counterbalance pendulum weight is attached to the pendulum bracket.

9. A clockwork according to Claim 8, characterised in that an eccentrically rotatable compensating disc is included in the counterbalance pendulum weight.

10. A clockwork according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised by a slip-on or fixed retaining clip for securing the pendulum in position is provided on the pendulum bearing part.

11. A battery-operated clockwork, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.