US3263532A

US3263532A - Main spring winder

Info

Publication number: US3263532A
Application number: US388517A
Authority: US
Inventors: Amberg Leonard
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1964-08-10
Filing date: 1964-08-10
Publication date: 1966-08-02
Anticipated expiration: 1983-08-02

Description

ug- 29 1966 L. AMEL-:RG

MAIN SPRING WINDER Filed Aug. lO, 1964 INVENTOR. Eon/02a AMBER@ ONJ m\w xyv M bwk I@ MMLM.

United States Patent O 3,263,532 MAIN SPRING WINDER Leonard Amberg, P.0. Box 94, Redwood Falls, Minn. 56283 Filed Aug. 10, 1964, Ser. No. 388,517 7 Claims. (Cl. til-7.5)

This invention relates to means for Winding Watch springs, and more particularly to means for pre-winding the main springs of watches, so that the wound spring may be inserted within the main spring barrel of a Watch in the process of making or repairing the Watch.

Conventional spring winding tools comprise a straight shaft or rod having a laterally projecting hook or pin adapted to be engaged in a hole near the inner end of the spring. With hook engaged in the spring opening, the shaft is rotated to wind one revolution of the spring over another and smaller revolution, until the Whole spring is tightly Wound helically. After the spring has been cornpletely Wound around the shaft of the tube, it is slipped olf the end of the shaft into the main spring barrel of the watch. Such a tool was shown in Patent No. 1,812,494 to McFarland.

With such a tool the second spring revolution may be deformed by passing over the end of the hook. This often injures the spring to the extent that the Watch keeps imperfect time, and if the hook is excessively long, it may even break the spring.

On the other hand, if the hook is so constructed that it projects from the shaft only a distance approximately equal to the thickness of the main spring, it is diicult to keep the spring engaged with the hook while the first revolution of the spring is being wound on the shaft. This is lparticularly true after the tool has been used suiciently to wear down the pin so that it is slightly rounded at its corners. This means that the life of such tools is very limited. In summary, the tool with a long hook is impractical to use due to the danger of spring injury, and a tool With a short hook is unsatisfactory due to the excess time it requires to use and also due to the frequent replacement because of wear.

In a main spring Winder of the present invention, a spring winding shaft or rod is slidably and rotatably mounted with respect to a at disc. A cam protrudes from the rod and a pin extends from the disc in interfering or mating relationship With the cam. The disc is rotatably and slidably mounted in a cylinder Which is provided with a wall port. The main spring to be pre- Wound is inserted through the wall port to position the inner end thereof between the cam and pin and the rod is rotated to force the spring against the pin. The pin, spring end, cam and rod will lrotate with respect to the cylinder wall port and the spring will be Wound around the rod until it is entirely within the cylinder. The rod and cam are then removed and the cylinder and spring inserted into a Watch barrel. The disc is held down against the spring as the cylinder is removed from the barrel, thus installing the spring within the barrel.

A primary object of this invention is, therefore, to provide a means for pre-Winding a watch spring and inserting it within the main spring barrel of a Watch Without injury to the spring.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a means for pre-Winding a Watch spring quickly and easily.

A further object of this invention is to provide a means for pre-winding the main springs of Watches and inserting them in the Watch wherein such means will not Wear out easily.

An object of the invention is to provide a tool which can be used to pre-Wind Watch springs in either clock- Wise or counter-clockwise direction with equal facility.

Another object of this invention is to provide a means Patented August 2, 1966 for quickly and easily winding springs around a removable core.

In the drawings,

FIG. l is a longitudinal sectional View of a main spring Winder made according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the Winder of FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view showing in perspective a Well of the Winder into which a main spring is to be Wound and showing also in perspective a cap member adapted to be associated with said Well during the Winding process;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 4-4 in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the Winder of the invention showing its association With a fully wound main spring and a main spring barrel into which it is to be inserted.

Referring to the drawings the main spring Winder 9 includes a cylindrical main body 10 and an integral cylindrical collar 17 of slightly greater diameter than the body. The body 10 is provided With a cylindrical axial bore 20 in a central portion thereof and enlarged cylindrical axial bores 18 and 19 adjacent the bore 20 at opposite end `portions thereof. Bore 18 opens to the collar '17 at a first end of the body 10, and bore 19 extends to a second end of body 10.

A plunger `rod 21 extends slidably through bore 20 and through enlarged bores 18 and 19. A first plunger piston 27 is mounted upon the right hand of rod 21 as seen in FIG. l and slides Within bore 19. Piston 27 extends outward of bore 19 and, as shown, is integral With an enlarged plunger head 23. A compression coil spring 22 is located in the bore 19 with its end abutting the left end Wall of the bore 19 as seen in FIG. l and the end Wall of the piston 27, respectively.

A second plunger piston 28 is integral With the left end of rod 21 as seen in FIG. l and slides within bore 1S. A pusher head or disc 16 is integral with the left end of the piston 28 and slides within collar 17. It is provided with an axial hole 29 and has a face 40.

A cap 11 has a cap rod 12 and a knurled Winding handle 14 in axial alignment With each other and extending outward from opposite sides thereof. A rounded cam 13 protrudes laterally from the lrod 12. Rod 12 is of dimension to be slidable into and out of hole 29. A pin 15 protrudes from the face 40 of Ipusher head 16 to be in interfering or mating relationship to cam 13 when rod 12 is in hole Z9.

Operation In operation, the cap 11 is turned by hand with respect to the main body 10 through the instrumentality of handle 14 and an outer knurled portion 26 of body 10. The pin 15, as shown, is an extension of plunger piston 28 with approximately 2% of the extending portion cut away. A main spring entrance port 24 is provided in the cylindrical side Wall of collar 17, and it is through this port that the spring passes while being wound.

The normal relationship of the parts just prior to assembly of the device and introduction of a spring to be Wound is shown in FIG. l. With the parts in this position, spring 22 is urging the rst plunger piston 27 in direction away from the collar 17 so that the pusher head 16 is seated in contact With the interior end of the collar 17. The outwardly facing surface 40 of the pusher head or disc 16 is inside of and spaced from the outer end edge of the collar 17 sufficiently to permit insertion of a main spring 25 inside of the collar 17 outward from the pusher head 16.

In order to wind the main spring inside of the collar 17, the inner end of the main spring 25 is inserted through port 24 to position against the inner face of the pin 15. Rod 12 is fitted into hole 29 thus bringing the cap 11 down into covering relationship to the outer end edge of the collar 17, as best seen in FIG. 2. Handle 14 and consequently cap 11, rod 12 and cam 13 are turned with respect to the main body 10 of the spring Winder in the direction in which the main spring 25 is to be wound until cam 13 presses the watch spring 25 against pin 15. As further torque is applied to the handle 14, the watch spring 25 is rmly held between cam 13 and pin 15 and the entire assembly including cap 11, rod 12, cam 13, pusher head 16, and plunger piston 28 together with the end of watch spring 25, turn with respect to the collar 17 and its port 25 within the main body 10. The main spring Z is, therefore, drawn in through the port 24 and wound around the pin 19 and rod and cam assembly in the manner as shown in FIG. 4.

Once the entire spring is wound within collar 17, the inner end of the spring is released by turning cap 11 slightly in a reverse direction. Rod 12 and cam 13 are then loose and may be easily withdrawn. The main spring can then be removed by moving the plunger head 23 in direction toward the collar 17 against the action of coil spring 22 thus forcing the pusher head 16 in direction toward the outer end of the collar 17. The main spring 25 will be forced out of collar 17 ahead of the pusher head 16.

In order to insert the main spring 25 into a main spring barrel 35, a's seen in FIG. 5, the outer diameter of the collar 17 is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the main spring barrel 35. The collar 17 is inserted inside of the main spring barrel 35, as best seen in FIG. 5, and the main body and the plunger head 23 are moved toward each other to cause the pusher head 16 to maintain the main spring 25 in seated relation inside of the main spring barrel while the collar 17 is removed therefrom. When this happens, the entire main spring 25 is conveniently coiled within the main spring barrel 35 and may be attached to the watch mechanism in the usual manner for subsequent operation.

It is tobe noted that, in the embodiment of the invention as shown, the plunger head 23 is fastened onto the plunger rod 21 through the instrumentality of a snap ring 32 which is seated in a groove 31 provided in the plunger rod.

In the operation of this tool, the pusher head must resist turning movement with respect to the movement of the cap 11, rod 12 and cam 13 sufficiently so that the watch spring will be held between said cam 13 and the pin 15. Resistance to turning moment of this pusher head with respect to the main body 10 is furnished by the friction generated due to the action of the coil spring 22. If this friction is not sufficient, the plunger head 23 may be held by hand as the main body is held by hand.

It is to vbe noted that rotation of the handle 14 in either clockwise or counter-clockwise direction with respect to the main body 10 will be effective to fasten and hold the spring 25 between the cam 13 and the pin 15. Thus one tool suffices to wind watch springs in either left or right hand spirals. This makes possession of duplicate left and right hand tools unnecessary.

What is claimed is:

1. A tool for winding elongated resilient objects cornprising a rotatable disc provided with a relatively small axial bore, a protruding pin integral with said disc in adjacent relationship to said bore, a rod removably and rotatably mounted in said disc bore, and a cam on said rod positioned for mating with said pin as said rod is rotated with respect to said disc when said rod is mounted in said disc bore, said pin and cam further defining means for releasably anchoring an end of the object.

2. The combination as specified in claim 1, a hollow cylinder in surrounding relationship to said disc and mounted for slidable and rotatable movement relative thereto, said cylinder having a wall port through which the resilient object may be drawn.

3. The combination as specified in claim 2, a piston integral with said disc in longitudinal alignment with said axial bore and extending outwardly therefrom at a side of said disc opposite said pin, resilient means normally positioning said cylinder and said disc with respect to each other to have said pin and said wall port in alignment with each other, said piston and disc being slidable longitudinally of said cylinder to position said disc outside of said cylinder.

4. The combination as specified in claim 2, land means for providing a resistance to relative rotational movement between said disc and said cylinder.

5. The combination as specified in claim 3, a cap integral with said rod and .situated to be in closing relationship to an outer end of said cylinder when said rod is mounted in said disc to position said cam in alignment with said wall port.

6. The combination as specified in claim 5 and a handle integral with said cap `and extending outwardly therefrom in longitudinal alignment with said rod on an opposite `side of said cap from said rod.

7. The combination as specified in claim 6, wherein said resilient means further defines means for providing a resistance to relative rotational movement between said disc and said cylinder.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1888 Robbins 81--7.5 9/1955 Rapp 81-7.5

Claims

1. A TOOL FOR WINDING ELONGATED RESILIENT OBJECTS COMPRISING A ROTATABLE DISC PROVIDED WITH A RELATIVELY SMALL AXIAL BORE, A PROTRUDING PIN INTEGRAL WITH SAID DISC IN ADJACENT RELATIONSHIP TO SAID BORE, A ROD REMOVABLY AND ROTATABLY MOUNTED IN SAID DISC BORE, AND A CAM ON SAID ROD POSITIONED FOR MATING WITH SAID PIN AS SAID ROD IS ROTATED WITH RESPECT TO SAID DISC WHEN SAID ROD IS MOUNTED IN SAID DISC BORE, SAID PIN AND CAM FURTHER DEFINING MEANS FOR RELEASABLY ANCHORING AN END OF THE OBJECT.