US360078A - abell - Google Patents

Description

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J J. ABELL & C. B. GIPFORD. PRIMARY ELEGTRIO CLOCK.

No, 360,078.- Patented Mar. 29, 1887.

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J. J. ABELL & 0. B. GIFFORD. PRIMARY ELEGTRIG CLOCK.

No. 360,078. PatentedMar. 29, 1887.

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UNITED STATES PATENT- OFFICE.

JOHN JAMES ABELL AND CLARENCE BED GIFFORD, OF COLESBURG, KY.

PRIMARY ELECTRIC CLOCK.

SPECIFIC ION forming part of Letters Patent No.360,078, dated March 29, 1887.

Application filed November 27, 1836. Serial No. 220,074. (X modcll) .T 0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JOHN JAMES ABELL and CLARENCE BEN GIFFORD, citizens of the United States, residing 'at Colesburg, in the county of Hardin-and State of Kentucky, have invented new and useful Improvements in Electric Clocks and Electric-Clock Systems, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in electric clocks and electric-clock systems; and it consists in the circuit including the secondary cloeks'and the primary clocks having the devices to close the said circuit at suitable regular intervals of time;

It further consists in the combination, in a clock, of the escapement-wheel, the anchor, and the spring to move the escapement-wheel during the interval when it is disengaged by the points of the anchor.

Our invention further consists in the peeuliar construction and combination of devices, that will be more fully set forth hereinafter, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is I a diagram of an electric-clock system embodymounted on the arbor a, and is also provided with thirty teeth. The front end of the arbor a extends through a hollow spindle, e, that projects from the front side of the frame in which the clock mechanism is mounted. A coiled hair-spring, f, has its inner end at tached to the arbor a,and its outer end attached to the ratchet-wheel, and thereby, when the ratchet-wheel is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3 and independently of the arbor a, the spring will be coiled or wound. A gravity-pawl, g, is pivoted to a fixed point and engages the ratchet-wheel, so as to prevent retrograde rotation thereof.

Near one end of the arbor a is a pinion, 71, which meshes with a gear-wheel, i, on a shaft, 70, the said shaft being connected to the hollow sleeves that carry the minute and hour hands by suitable gear-wheels, which need not be more particularly described herein, as they are of the usual construction and arrangement.

Attached to the clock-frame is an electro magnet, Z, and journaled in the said frame is a rock-shaft, m, carrying an armature, a, that is opposed to the poles of the electro-magnet. The vibration of the armature is limited by adjustable stops a and a". Pivoted to the armature is a gravity-pawl, 0, that also engages the ratchet-wheel. An anchor, 19, is attached to the armature and is vibrated thereby, the said anchor having the points 1) and p to engage the teeth of the escapement-wheel.

A retracting-spring, 1, is adapted to draw the armature from the magnet when the latter is demagnetized, and a tension device, 8, is provided to regulate the strength of the said spring.

The ratchet-wheel d has on one side a projceting contact-point, t, that is adapted to contact with a point, a, once at each rotation of the said ratchet-wheel. The point a is carried by the anchor and moves therewitl1,and is within the path of the point t whelrthe arma ture is attracted by the electro-magnet. The points i and to form the terminals of the circuit 1;, in which is included the electromagnet w of one or more secondary Clocks, 13. A. battery, x, or other suitable source of electricity, is also included in the circuit '0.

The secondary clocks are similar in construction to the primary clocks hereinbefore described, with the exception that the minutehands thereof are so geared to the armatures of their electro-magnets that the said hands will be moved 011 their dials through the space, indicating a minute every time that their armatures are attracted.

It will be of course understood that the secondary clocks are not provided with secondhands, and hence do not mark intervals of time less than one minute in duration.

C represents a pendulum such as described in Letters Patent of the United States No. 351,239, granted to us October 19, 1886. This pendulum swings once every second, and is adapted at each vibration in one direction to close the circuit 2, which includes the battery a and the ,electro-magnet of the primary clock.

The operation of our invention is as follows: When the circuit a is open, at each alternate movement of the pendulum the spring 7 retracts the armature,thereby moving the anchor against the stop n and causing the point p to engage a tooth of the escapement -wheel. When the pendulum swings in the contrary direction during the ensuing second of time, the circuit 2 is closed, the cores of the electromagnet Z are magnetized, and the armature it attracted thereby, thus causing the point p to disengage the tooth of the escapement-wheel with which it is in contact, thereby releasing the escapement-wheel, and causing the hairspringf, in its natural tendency to uncoil, to move the escapement-wheel in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3 a distance corresponding to one-half a tooth, when it is engaged by the point p" of the anchor. The pawl g prevents the ratchetwheel from retrograding while the pawl 0 is slipping back on the same when the armature is attracted. At the ensuing stroke of the pendulum, when the circuit 2 is broken, the armature is retracted by the spring r, and causes the pawl o to turn the ratchet-wheel d loosely on the arbor a in the direction opposite that indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3 adistance corresponding to half a tooth, while the escapement-wheel is held fast, thus winding the hair-spring sufficiently to compensate for the slight previous uncoiling action thereof, hereinbefore described, and consequently preserving the tension of the spring f, so that its strength will be at all times sufficient to propel the train. At each stroke of the pendulum the secondhand of the primary clock is moved over the dial a corresponding distance, and as the gears which actuate the hour and minute hands are connected with the second-hand arbor a, as shown and hereinbefore stated, it follows that the said hour and minute hands will be correspondinglymoved on the dial. At each complete revolution of the ratchet and escapem ent wheels of the primary clock, which occurs every minute, the point t, which is carried by the ratchet-wheel, comes in contact with the point a and closes the circuit 12, thereby cansing the electro magnets of the secondary clocks to be magnetized and attract their armatures, and thus move their hands through a space on the dials corresponding to a minute of time. This causes the primary and secondary clock mechanisms to move synchronously.

The primary clock is provided with the second-hand moved synchronously with the pendnlum, in order that any inaccuracies may be noted and the pendulum regulated by the means described in our before-mentioned Letters Patent, so as to cause the system of clocks to indicate precisely the correct time.

The loose ratchet-wheel on the arbor a and the hair-spring connecting the said ratchetwheel to the said shaft cause the escapementwheel to be positively impelled at each movement of the anchor, so that it will be impossible for the points or teeth of the anchor to fail to move the eseapementwheel, and thus impair the accuracy of the clock.

\Ve do not desire to limit ourselves to the precise construction hereinbefore described, as it is evident that modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, we claim- 1. In the escapement mechanism of a clock, the combination of the escapement-wheel, the anchor, the ratchet-wheel free to move independently of the escapement-wheel, the pawl movable with the anchor and engaging the ratchet-wheel, the detent to prevent retrograde movement thereof, and the spring connecting the ratchet-wheel and the escapement-wheel to move the latter during the instant that it is disengaged by the anchor, substantially as described.

2. In the escapement mechanism of a clock, the combination of the escapement-wheel, the anchor, the rotating wheel (Z, independent of the escapement-wheel, and the spring connecting the said wheel d and the escapement-wheel to move the latter during the instant it is disengaged by the anchor, substantially as described.

3. In a primary electric clock, the combination of the anchor, the escapement-wheel movable by the anchor, and the spring 1', and electro-magnet to operate the latter, the ratchet wheel (1, independent of the escapement-wheel and having the contaet-point't, forming the terminal of the electric circuit, the detent to prevent retrograde rotation of the ratchet-wheel, the pawl carried by the anchor and engaging the ratchet-wheel, the spring connecting the ratchet-wheel and the escapement-wheel, for the purpose set forth, and the vibrating point it, carried by the anchor and forming the other terminal of the circuit, and adapted to come in contact with the point i at regular intervals of time, for the purpose set forth, substantially as described.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we have hereto affixed our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN JAMES ABELL. CLARENCE BEN GIFFORI). Witnesses:

W. T. SAMUELS, JOHN B. QUioeINs.

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