US2306070A - Electric time-instrument system - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 22, 1942. w w LUNDEN 2,306,070

ELECTRIC TIME-INSTRUMENT SYSTEM Filed Feb. 4, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet l qgi H .IIIIIIJ IIIIIIIIEIIIIIIIIIIH IIIIIIII Dec; 22, 1942. w. w. LUND EN 2,305,070

ELECTRIC TIME-INSTRUMENT SYSTEM Filed Feb. 4, 1942 SSheets-Sheet 2 some 77 i529 a 71 78 qo l fzecfrz cpowerfoam 8? l 5% INIIIIIIHIIIHHILO Patented Dec. 22, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT ELECTRIC TIME-INSTRUMENT SYSTEM Walter W. Lunden, Hampden, Mass, assignor to The Standard Electric Time Company, Springfield, Mass, a corporation of Connecticut Application February 4, 1942, Serial No. 429,451

Claims. (Cl. 5824) This invention relates to improvements in electric time-instrument systems in which one or more time-means are controlled by a master time-instrument.

One object of this invention is to provide an improved electric time-instrument system in which one or more time-means are so controlled in their timing and resetting phases from a master'time-instrument that at least one of the timemeans can be periodically corrected without ever running it backwards.

With the above and other objects in view, as will appear to those skilled in the art from the present disclosure, this invention includes all features in the said disclosure which are novel over the prior art.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of the present disclosure, in which certain ways of carrying out the invention are shown for illustrative purposes:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of time-means made in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2' is a sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View on line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the reset-cam and the minute-timing cam;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the one-way driven cam;

Fig. 6 is a schematic view illustrating one way of carrying out the present invention; and

Fig. 7 is a schematic view similar to Fig. 6 of a modified construction.

In the description and claims, the various parts are identified by specific means for convenience, but they are intended to be as generic in their application as the prior art will permit.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral It) generally designates a time-recorder of usual construction and I! generally designates a motor-driven timing-and-resetting unit attached to the time-recorder.

The time-recorder if) has a frame which in cludes a plurality of frame-plates l2, l3 and I4 suitably connected together by means including .pillars 1.5.

A shaft I5 is rotatably mounted in the frameplates 12, I3 and l 4 of the recorder and has rigidly secured thereto a ratchet-wheel ll adapted to be engaged by a pawl l8 pivoted on a lever [9 which has its lower end mounted with freedom for rotary movement on the shaft i8. A spring interconnects the pawl l8 and lever 59 to yieldingly hold the pawl in engagement with the teeth of the ratchet-wheel H. A pivoted holding-pawl 2| is yieldingly engaged with the teeth of the ratchet-wheel ll by a spring 22. At the left end of Fig. 1, the shaft It has a gear-wheel 23 rigidly secured thereto. A gear-wheel 24 rotatably mounted On an arbor 25 is in driven engagement with the gear 23, and in conjunction fit) with other well-known drive-means serves to drive the time-recording wheels Z6, 21 and 28 of the recorder in any usual or well known way.

The gear-wheel 23 on the shaft l6 also is in driving engagement with a gear-wheel 29 thereabove which is rigidly secured to a shaft 30 rotatably mounted in the frame-plates l2 and i3. A gear-wheel 3! rigidly secured to the shaft 30 drives a gear rigidly secured on the minutearbor 33 which has a usual minute-hand 34 rigidly secured thereto. An hour-hand 35 is secured on an hour-sleeve 36 which can be driven by any usual gearing well known to those skilled in the art. A dial 3'! also forms part of the recorder clock.

The motor-driven timing-and-resetting unit I I has a frame including two plates 38 and 39 secured together in spaced-apart relation by spacing-means including pillars 40. The frame of the motor-driven unit I i is secured to the frame of the recorder-unit It in any suitable way. A shaft ii is rotatably mounted in the frame- plates 30 and 39 and has a gear-wheel 42 rigidly secured thereto, the gear-wheel 4-2 being drivable in either of opposite rotary directions by means of a reversible electric motor 43 driving through a train of reduction-gears 44. Also rigidly secured to the shaft 4! is a timing-cam 45 and a resetcam 45. A driving-cam 41 is mounted for free rotation on the shaft M and has a coupling-lug 4,8 secured on one face thereof adapted to be engaged and driven by a complemental couplinglug 49 secured on the adjacent face of the resetcam 46. A shaft 50 is rotatably mounted in the frame- plates 38 and 39 and has secured thereto an arm which has a pawl-shaped end or nose 52 adapted to cause the arm 5| to be swung out by the nose 52 being engaged by each of the camfaces 53 of the teeth 54 of the cam 41 as the latter is rotated. Any reverse rotation of the cam Al is prevented by the nose 52 of the arm 50 engaging against one of the locking-faces 55 of the cam 41. Also rigidly secured to the shaft 50 is an arm 55 which has pivoted to its lower end, a link 5i which in turn is pivoted to the lever l9. When the driving-cam M is driven counterclockwise (Fig. 2), the successive cam-faces 53 successively swing the lower end of the arm 56 to the left and thus through the link El correspondingly swing the lever 19 to the left against the action of the spring 58 which interconnects the lever H with any suitable portion of the frame of the recorder l0.

The timing-cam 45 in the particular construction illustrated is so driven by the gearing from the motor 43 that it makes two revolutions per hour, and inasmuch as the cam 45 is provided with thirty cam-teeth 59, each cam-tooth 59 during the rotation of the cam 45 closes the electricswitch contacts 60 of the switch 6| once per minute and breaks these contacts once per minute, as will be hereinafter set forth.

The reset-cam 46 has a time-advancing surface 62, a neutral surface 63 and a time-retarding surface 64. A switch 65 has two spaced- apart contacts 66 and 61, and an intermediate movable contact 68 adapted to be moved into electrical engagement with either contact 66 or 61, depending upon what surface portion of the resetcam 46 the contact-arm end 69 rests, as will be more fully hereinafter set forth.

The motor 43 (illustrated schematically in Fig. 6) is a Barber Coleman reversible induction motor, which has a power-coil l9 which has one end connected to the line-wire l2 and has the other end connected to switching mechanism adapted to connect with the line-wire H, as hereinafter set forth, .the line-wires H and 12 re ceiving power from any suitable power source such, for example, as a 115-volt alternating electric current, and the motor has two pairs of directional coils l3 and 14. This motor has the characteristic that when the power-coil alone is excited by current from the line-wires H and T2, the motor does not run but merely stands still. But when the pair of directional-coils 13 is short circuited on itself, this causes the motor to run in one direction, which causes the clock hands 34 and 35 to rotate clockwise, and when the pair of directional-coils 14 instead of coils i3 is shortcircuited on itself, the motor runs in the opposite direction. But if neither of the pairs of the directional-coils are short-circuited, then the motor does not run in any direction.

A usual master clock 15 receives electric current from any suitable source as, for example, from a 115-vo1t alternating-current source over the wires 16 and 1.2, which may be from the same source that supplies current to the power-coil of the electric motor. The master clock 15 can be connected by two wires 18 and 19 to a plurality of usual secondary clocks 89 which are adapted to be actuated in timekeeping relation with the master clock as, for example, to be actuated every minute to move their hands forward, and to periodically reset them to correct time, all as is well understood to those skilled in the art.

The wires 18 and 79 also are connected to the coil or coils 8! of an electromagnetic relay 82 having opposite magnetic poles 63 and 84 adjacent which are respectively located armatures 85 and 86. The master clock normally sends a relatively-low voltage current over the wires 13, 79 at intervals of one minute for the timekeeping or timing function, and once an hour sends a higher voltage current over the wires 18, 79 for resetting purposes. The armature 85 of the relay 82 is so constructed that it will be actuated by either the low or the high voltage current through the relay so that at every time a current either of low or high voltage is sent over the wires '18, 19, the armature 85 will be drawn by the pole 93 to cause the armature 85 to engage the electric contact 8'! to thus permit current to pass from the line-wire ll through the armature 85 and across the contact 8'! and along the wire 88 to the power-coil 7'9 of the motor. But the armature 86 is so constructed or biased or spaced from the magnetic pole 84 that it will not be actuated by the lower Voltage current applied to the relay, but only by the higher voltage current. The armature 86 is normally engaged with the electric contact 69 to normally close the circuit through the directional coils 7.3 of the motor 43, and when the armature 86 is attracted by the magnetic pole 84 to cause it to engage the electric contact 99, the circuit of the directional coils 73 is opened by virtue of the armature 86 breaking contact with the contact 89, and the making of contact of the armature 86 with the contact 96 places the middle or neutral contact 9| of the directional coils 13, 14 of the motor 43 in contact with the intermediate electric contact 68 mounted on the spring-arm 69 of the switch 65, so that if the end of arm 69 rests upon the cam-surface 53 as shown in Fig. 6, then neither pair of directional coils 13 or 14 will be short-circuited and the motor 43 will not run in any direction. But if the end of arm 69 rests upon the cam-surface 62, then the contacts 68 and 67 will be closed with the result that the directional-coils 13 will be short-circuited to cause the motor 43 to run in the time-advancing or clockwise direction. Or ii the end of arm 69 rests upon the cam-surface 64, then the contact 68 will be permitted to spring into engagement with the contact 66 to shortcircuit the coils 14 which will result in the motor running in the time-retarding or counterclockwise direction. The cam-surface 63 is made relatively short as it is merely for the purpose of maintaining the contact 68 at neutral position at the fifty-ninth minute so that when the next normal clock-advancing impulse passes through the system, the time mechanisms will be ad vanced one minute to be just exactly on time.

For convenience, the two cams 45 and 46 toether may be referred to in the claims as second time-means, and the one-way-driven ratchetlike driving-cam 41 may be referred to as third time-means. It is to be noted that the entire recorder-unit I 0, including the hand reset-lever I9, could also be viewed as third time-means.

Operation During normal operation of the time-instrument system, the master clock will at regular intervals such, for example, as each minute of time, send out a time impulse of about one second duration. This time impulse in addition to advancing the hands of each of the secondary clocks 89 one minute, also acts upon the relay 82 to cause the armature 85 to close the contact 81 which causes electric power from the wires H, '12 to energize the power-coil 10 of the motor 43, and since the pair of directional-coils 13 of the motor is short-circuited on itself through the contact 89 and armature 86, this causes the motor 43 to start rotating in the timekeeping or clockwise direction with the consequence that the finger 92 of the switch 6| is caused to ride up one of the inclined surfaces of a cam-tooth 59 of the timing-cam 45 to thus close the contacts 60 of the switch 6| so that the motor 43 continues to have power supplied to its power-coil 10 so that the motor 43 continues to run even after the timing impulse from the master clock has ceased and has permitted the armature 85 to swing away from the contact 81. The motor continues to operate until the finger 92 again descends into a notch between two teeth 59 of the timing-cam 45, whereupon the contacts 60 again open, thus stopping the motor 43. As the ratchet-like drivingcam 41 has the same number of cam-teeth as the timing-cam 45, each time the mechanism causes the timing-cam 45 to rotate a distance of one tooth as just described, the driving-cam 41, by virtue of engagement of the coupling-lugs 48 and 49, will rotate a distance of one too -l1 and cause a cam-face 53 of a tooth '54 to swing the arm 5|, link 51, lever l9 and the connected parts heretofore fully described, to result in the hands 34, 35 of the clock being advanced one minute and in the printing- wheels 26, 21 and 28 also being advanced one minute of time.

When the master clock reaches the fiftyninth minute, a higher voltage current is sent out over the wires 18 and 19 to reset the secondary clocks and also to so actuate the relay 82 and the associated mechanism to properly reset the second time-means which includes the cams 45 and 46, and the third time-means 41, as hereinbefore mentioned, which will now be fully set forth. The higher voltage reset electric impulse that is sent over the wires 18 and T9 is a long impulse which may, for example, be of twenty seconds duration, and which in any event will be well under one minute and ordinarily under one half-minute in duration, so as to complete the resetting operation in ample time not to interfere with the next minute-interval timingor timekeeping impulse. If the shaft 4! and the cams 45, 46 and 41 are in slow-time position, then the finger or end of contact-arm 69 will be resting upon the time-advancing surface 62 of the resetcam 46, thus closing the contacts 68 and 61. And as the higherwoltage current through the relay 82 will draw both the armatures 85 and 86 in toward their respective poles 83 and 84 to close the armatures 85 and 86 respectively with the contacts 81 and 90, this will supply power to the power-coil 76 of the motor 43 and will shortcircuit the directional-coils 13 of the motor to cause the motor to rotate in a direction to ad- Vance the time position of the shaft 4! and the cams 45, 46 and 4! until the end of arm 69 comes to rest upon the cam-surface 63 of cam 46 which causes the contact 58 to move to neutral position which stops the rotation of the motor 43 and all associated parts, which action occurs upon the fifty-ninth minute so that at the next minute impulse the time mechanisms are advanced to the sixty-minute 0r upright position and are all at correct time-indicating or timing position.

But if instead of the cam 46, and associated parts, having been slow, it has been fast at the time of the reset impulse coming from the master clock then the time-retarding cam-surface 64 will be in engagement with the arm 69, which will result in contacts 58 and 66 being closed, with the consequence that the directional-coils 14 will be short-circuited instead of coils 3, thereby causing the motor to run in the backward or time-retarding direction which will cause the shaft 43 and the cams and to rotate backward until the cam-surface 63 comes beneat-h the finger 69 which causes the contact 68 to be moved to neutral position which breaks the circuit in coils l4 and causes the electric motor to be stopped with the time mechanisms in the fifty-ninth minute position awaiting th i bi tnminute timing-impulse which will place them all on proper time. It will be noted, however, that when the shaft 4! and cams 45 and 46 have been run backward, the cam 41 has not been run backward inasmuch as the coupling-lug 49 will have been moved away from the coupling-lug 48, thus leaving the cam 41, and hands 34 and 35 and the printing-wheels 26, 2'! and 28 of the recorder, in their incorrect fast position, but inasmuch as the cam 45 and the shaft 4! and related parts will now be rotated forward in timing or timekeeping movement once per minute by the minute impulses from the master clock acting in a manner hereinbefore set forth, the reset-cam 4-5 with its coupling-lug 49 will be advanced step-by-step once per minute until the coupling-lug 49 again engages the coupling-lug 48 on the one-waydriven driving-cam 41. The driving-cam 41, and in consequence the associated parts including the clock-hands 34 and and the printing- wheels 26, 21 and 28 of the recorder, will therefore again start moving forward in correct time owing to the hereinbefore described driving action between the coupling-lugs 49 and 48.

Referring to the modified form of the invention illustrated in Fig. '7, the mode of action is essentially the same as that described concerning the construction illustrated in Fig. 6 except that instead of a two-wire system interconnecting the master clock ltd and the secondary clocks 83a, a three-wire system including the three wires 94 and 95 are employed, these three wires also extending to the relay-means which, in this instance, is formed by two separate relay elements. The two wires 83 and 84 are used to send the timekeeping impulses to the secondary clocks 38a and to the relay 82a, and the two wires @3 and 95 are used to send the hourly reset impulses to the secondary clocks 85a and to the relay 821). Thus the relay element or relay 82a by acting on the armature a serves to pull it into engagement with the contact 81a to cause current from. the line-wires "fl and 12 to pass through the power-coil iii of the motor 43, the directional-coils 13 of the motor being closed through the contact-bar 86 carried by the armature 857:1, the mode of operation of the construction illustrated in Fig. '7 being otherwise identical with the mode of operation of the construction illustrated in Fig. 6, during the normal timing operation. When ire-setting current is sent out from the master clock through the two wires 68 and to the relay 3%, the armature 85b is pulled to the left, causing the contact-bars 86 and 81 to respectively engage the contacts 8Tb and 89b. The contact 8127 now performs the function of the contact 81a which the contact 81a of the relay element 82a performed at the minute-impulse times to energize the power coil 1%) of the motor 43, and the contact 8% acts in a similar fashion to the contact 89 of the relay 82 illustrated in Fig. 6, in conjunction with the cam- surfaces 62, and 64 and the contact parts 66, 61, 68 and the arm 68 to short-circuit one or the other or neither of directional- coils 13, 14 of the motor 43 to cause the motor to run in one direction or the other or not to run at all in exactly the same manner as has heretofore been fully set forth in the description of the construction illustrated Fig. 6.

The invention may be carried out in other specific ways than those herein. set forth without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of the invention, and the present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalency range of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein.

I claim:

1. An electric time--instrument system including: master time-means; second time-means; third time-means; electric motor means adapted to drive said secondv time-means in either of forward or backward directions; said second means when it moves forward in normal timing movement, driving said third time-means forward in timing movement, but when said second timemeans moves backward in time-receding movement, it does not drive said third time-mean in any direction, and when said second time-means again moves forward, it does not drive said third time-means forward until said second timemeans has moved forward a distance equal to its previous backward time-receding movement; and electric relay-means adapted to be energized by said master time-means to initiate forward iming movement of said motor-means, the said relay-means also being adapted to be energized by said master time-means to initiate either forward time-advancing or backward time-retarding reset-movement of said motor-means, depending on whether said second time-means is slow or fast.

2. An electric time-instrument system including: master time-means; second time-means including switch-mechanism; third time-means; electric motor-means adapted to drive said second time-means in either of forward or backward directions; said second time-means when it moves forward in normal timing movement, driving said third time-means forward in timing movement, but when said second time-means moves backward in time-receding movement, it does not drive said third time-means in any direction, and when said second time-means again moves forward, it does not drive said third timemeans forward until said second time-means has moved forward a distance equal to its previous backward time-receding movement; and electric relay-means adapted to be energized by said master time-means to initiate forward timing movement of said motor-means, the said relay-means also being adapted to be energized by said master time-means to initiate either forward time-advancing or backward time-retarding reset-movement of said motor-means, depending on whether said second time-means is slow or fast; the movement of said second time-means actuating its switch-mechanism which causes said motormeans to continue the forward timing movement initiated by said relay-means during a predetermined distance of movement of said second time-means, whereupon said second time-means actuates said switch-mechanism to cause said motor-means to stop.

3. An electric time-instrument system including: master time-means; which includes timing-movement cam-means and switch-mechanism therefor, and reset-movement cam-means and switch-mechanism ther for; third time-means; electric motor-means adapted to drive said second time-means in either of forward or backward directions; said second time-means when it moves forward in normal timing movement, driving said third time-means forward in timing movement, but when said second time-means moves backward in time-receding movement, it does not drive said third timemeans in any direction, and when said second time-means again moves forward, it does not drive said third time-means forward until said second time-means has moved forward a distance equal to its previous backward time-receding movement; and electric relay-means adapted to be energized by said master time-means to initiate forward timing movement of said motor-- means; the movement of said timing-movement cam-means actuating its switch-mechanism which causes said motor-means to continue the forward timing movement initiated by said relay-means during a predetermined distance of second tin1e-n1eans movement of said timing-movement cam-means, whereupon the latter actuates its switch-mechanism to cause said motormeans to stop; the said relay-means also being adapted to be energized by said master time-means to cause said resetmovement cam-means and its switch-mechanism to cause either forward time-advancing or backward time-retarding reset-movement of said motor-means, depending on the position of said reset-movement cam-means.

4. An electric time-instrument system including: master time-means; second time-means; third time-means; a reversible electric motor adapted to drive said second time-means in either of forward or backward directions; said second time-means when it moves forward in normal timing movement, driving said third time-means forward in timing movement, but when said second time means moves backward in time-receding movement, it does not drive said third timemeans in any direction, and when said second time-means again moves forward, it does not drive said third time-means forward until said second time-means has moved forward a distance equal to its previous backward time-receding movement; and electric relay-means adapted to be energized by said master time-means to initiate forward timing movement of said motor, the said relay-means also being adaoted to be energized by said master time-means to initiate either forward time-advancing or backward timeretarding reset-movement of said motor, depending on whether said second time-means is slow or fast.

5. An electric time-instrument system including: master time-means; second time-means which includes timing-movement cam-means and switch-mechanism therefor, and reset-movement cam-means and switch-mechanisii i therefor; third time-means; a reversible electric motor adapted to drive said second time-means in either of forward or backward directions; said second time-means when it moves forward in normal timing movement, driving said third time-means forward in timing movement, but when said second time-means moves backward in time-receding movement, it does not drive said third time-means in any direction, and when said second time-means again moves forward, it does not drive said third time-means forward until said second time-means has moved forward a distance equal to its previous backward time-receding movement; and electric relay-means adapted to be energized by said master timemeans to initiate forward timing movement of said motor; the movement of said timing-n1ovement cam-means actuating its switch-n onanism which causes said motor to contilrrie the forward timing movement initiated by said relaymeans during a predetermined distance of movement of said timing-movement. cam-means, whereupon the latter actuates its switch-mechanism to cause said motor to stop; the said relaymeans also being adapted to be energized by said master time-means to cause said reset-movement cam-means and its switch-mechai sin. to cause either forward time-advancing or bacnwarr time-retarding reset-movement of said motor, depending on the position of said reset-movemer cam-means.

WALTER W. LUNDEN.

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