US3685282A

US3685282A - Watch escapement mechanism

Info

Publication number: US3685282A
Application number: US50745A
Authority: US
Inventors: Bruce A Kock
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1970-06-29
Filing date: 1970-06-29
Publication date: 1972-08-22
Anticipated expiration: 1989-08-22

Abstract

A shock resistant watch of relatively few parts and consequent inexpensive construction employing a dumbbell balance freely pivoted on a staff with the only connection between the balance and the staff being a leaf spring. The entire gear train of the watch is arranged on two shafts and the minute and hour hands are both driven directly by an intermediate wheel. The entire watch is assembled without screws, nuts or bolts.

Description

United States Patent Kock [54] WATCH ESCAPEMENT MECHANISM [72] Inventor: Bruce A. Kock, 6017 Ocean View Dr., Oakland, Calif. 94618 [22] Filed: June 29, 1970 [21] Appl. N0.: 50,745

Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 726,347, May 3, 1968, Pat.

[52] US. Cl ..58/l18 [51] Int. Cl. ..G04b 15/00 [58] Field of Search ..58/116-l24 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,364,143 12/1944 Horton et al ..58/117 X 681,006 8/1901 Thim ..58/1l8 3,425,212 2/1969 Verde ..58/1l6 1 1 Aug. 22, 1972 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 7,456 5/1837 Great Britain ..58/1 17 Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson Assistant Examiner-George H. Miller, Jr.

Attorney-Flehr, Hohbach, Test, Albritton and Herbert [57] ABSTRACT A shock resistant watch of relatively few parts and consequent inexpensive construction employing a dumbbell balance freely pivoted on a staff with the only connection between the balance and'the staff being a leaf spring. The entire gear train of the watch is arranged on two shafts and the minute and hour hands are both driven directly by an intermediate wheel. The entire watch is assembled without screws, nuts or bolts.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTED M1822 rm SHEEI 1 OF 3 Fig.1

INVEN'TOR. Bruce A Kock "5244, 34.444 m f M Attorneys PATENTEDmsze m2 SHEET 2 [IF 3 INVESTOR.

Bruce A. Kock orneys PATENTEDauszz m2 SHEET 3 BF 3 INVENTOR.

Bruce A. Kock I rrorneys WATCH ESCAPEMENT MECHANISM CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a division of application Ser. No. 726,347, filed May 3, 1968, now US. Pat. No. 3,613,353.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the past, design of watches and watch movements has been concentrated in the area of increasing the accuracy while reducing the size of the overall watch. This concentration, of course, has not only resulted in a relatively high cost of manufacture in watches but has also severely complicated the problem of making the watch shock resistant. Despite the trend reduce the size of watches, the design has been primarily such that each gear or wheel is secured to an independent shaft demanding numerous shaft bearings to be critically located. The watches of the prior art also utilize the escapement regulated gear train to drive only the hour hand directly. A second gear train drives the minute hand from the hour hand.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION AND OBJECTS A watch incorporating an adjustable dumbbell balance freely pivoted on its staff with the only connection between the balance and the staff being a leaf spring.

It is a general object of the invention to provide a watch having relatively few and easily assembled parts.

It is another object to provide a watch utilizing a dumbbell balance in combination with a leaf spring.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a watch in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a portion of the watch shown in FIG. 1 illustrating the gear train;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a dumbbell balance used in the watch of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view along the line 4-4 of FIG. 1 showing the interrelationship of the minute and hour wheels with the intermediate wheel; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view along the line 5- 5 of FIG. 2 showing the gear train of the watch.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to the figures, the watch may include a case 11 having a crystal 13 upon which a clock dial is imprinted. The watch further includes a top plate 15 and a bottom plate 17 which are held in spaced parallel relationship to each other by means of a number of stud posts 19 secured to the top plate 15. The studs 19 are frictionally held in the holes 21 in the bottom plate 17 so as to provide a secure assembly of the watch. The holes 21 are tangentially slitted to provide spring tongues 22 which grip the ends of the posts 19.

The upper and lower plates include openings 23 and 25, respectively, for rotatably receiving the shaft ends 27 and 29 of an arbor member 31. In addition to the shaft ends 27 and 29 the arbor member 31 includes a mainspring arbor 33, a first wheel 35 and a wheel supporting arbor 37. The various parts of the arbor 31 may be formed as unitary element.

Freely rotatable about the mainspring arbor 33 is a mainspring barrel 39 which includes not only a barrel portion 41 but also a tooth portion 43. Restrained between the arbor 33 and the barrel 41 is the mainspring itself 45, one end of which is secured to the barrel by means ofa hook 47 fitted through a slit 48 in the barrel. The other end of the spring is secured to the arbor by means of a hook 49 fitted into a slit 50.

Also freely rotatable about the arbor 31 is a third wheel 51 including a pinion portion 53 and a large gear portion 55. As can be seen most clearly in FIG. 5 the shaft portion 27 of the arbor 31 extends through the upper plate 15 and has frictionally secured thereto still another gear, the clutch gear 57. Although it normally follows the arbor 31 the clutch gear 57 can be made to slip by excessive force.

The top plate 15 also includes a downwardly extending stud 59 which fits into an opening 61 on a raised portion 63 of the lower plate 17. A second wheel 65 having a large gear portion 67 and a pinion portion 69 is rotatably mounted on the stud 59. Also rotatably mounted on the stud 59 is a wheel 71 including a pinion 73 and an escape wheel 75.

As will be seen hereinafter the mainspring barrel 39 is held fast such that the gear train thus defined is propelled by the mainspring 45. The mainspring rotates the arbor 31, the large gear 35 of which rotates the second wheel 67 through the pinion portion 69 of the latter. The large gear portion 67 of the second wheel 65 rotates the third wheel 51 by its engagement with the pinion portion 53 thereof. The large gear portion 55 of the third wheel engages the pinion 73 of the wheel 71, the escape wheel 75 cooperating with an escape pallet to retard movement of the gear train as will be described hereinafter.

As intermediate wheel 77 having a large gear or minute drive portion 79 and a pinion or hour'drive portion 81 is rotatably secured to the top plate 15 by means of a post 83 frictionally engaged in a slitted opening 84 in the same manner as the posts 19 in the holes 21. The wheel 77 is positioned such that the large gear 79 engages the clutch gear 57.

A crown 85 having a crown stem 87 is rotatably received between

bearing blocks

89 and 91 on the lower and upper plates 17 and 15, respectively. An extension 93 of the stem is rotatably received in a bearing 95 on the lug 97 extending downwardly from the top plate 15. The stem 87 includes a pair of annular grooves 99 and 101 which alternately cooperate with a finger 103 resiliently extending from the bearing block 89. Referring to FIG. 5, the grooves 99 and 101 serve to positively position a gear 105 affixed to the stem 87 either in engagement with the teeth 43 of the mainspring barrel as shown in solid lines or alternately with the large gear 79 of the intermediate wheel 77 as shown in phantom lines.

In the solid line position of the gear 105 rotation of the crown will cause rotation of the mainspring barrel in the direction to cause winding of the mainspring 45. Reverse rotation of the spring barrel 39 is prevented by means of a finger 107 upset from the lower plate 17 as shown in FIG. 2. The finger 107 engages the gear 43 and not only permits its unidirectional rotation while the watch is being wound but also prevents the barrels rotation while the watch is running.

With the crown withdrawn from the watch, that is moved to the position shown in phantom line, rotation of the crown causes rotation of the intermediate wheel 77 so as to permit setting of the watch hands in a manner to be described hereinafter. Rotation of the intermediate wheel 77, however, likewise causes rotation of the clutch gear 57. Since the clutch gear 57, however, is affixed to the stem 27 of the arbor 31 only by friction, rotation thereof does not cause rotation of the arbor itself. Rotation of the arbor is restrained by the escape mechanism as well as by the finger 107.

Referring particularly to FIG. 4 it is seen that the large gear portion 79 of the intermediate wheel 77 engages a minute wheel 109. The wheel 109 includes a hub 110 and is carried by a shaft 111 formed on the upper plate 15. The shaft 11 is peened or otherwise turned at the top to form a stop 114. The pinion portion of the intermediate wheel 77 engages an hour wheel 115 which has a hub 117 rotatably secured about the hub 110. The hour hand 1 19 is secured to the hub 117.

Referring to FIG. 3 the escapement mechanism is shown to include an upper bridge 121 and a lower bridge 123 having

openings

125 and 127 respectively through which a stud 129 may be passed to frictionally engage an opening 131 in the upper plate. The upper bridge 121 further includes a pair of

arcuate openings

133 and 135 which receive downwardly extending

posts

137 and 139 on the upper plate 15. An upwardly extending lip 141 on the lower bridge cooperates with the rear face of the bridge such that the two bridges may rotate about the stud 129 in a unitary manner when the stud is loose. The

bridges

121 and 123 further include

openings

143 and 145 between which is rotatably mounted a balance staff 147. The balance staff 147 includes an escape pallet 151 and a balance spring 153 which is in the form of a leaf spring. A balance dumbbell 155 is rotatably mounted on the staff 147 and includes downwardly extending lugs 157 between which the leaf spring 153 rides.

In assembly the escape pallet 151 is positioned in engagement with the escapement wheel 75. By rotating the

bridges

121 and 123 about the stud 129, the pallets position with respect to the escape wheel 75 may be adjusted. As the pallet is positioned deeper into the escape wheel, timing of the watch may be slowed whereas a decrease in depth would cause speeding of the timing.

In operation, the watch is wound with the crown positioned as shown in solid lines in FIG. 5. Rotation of the crown caused the spring barrel 39 to rotate thereby carrying one end of the spring 45. The other end of the spring is restrained by the arbor 31 whose rotation is limited by the escapement mechanism. If it is desired to set the hands of the watch, the crown is withdrawn to the phantom line position shown in FIG. 5 where the gear engages the intermediate wheel 77. The intermediate wheel is thus rotated as are the minute and hour wheels and 109 with their respective hands. Rotation of the arbor 31 and unwinding .or overwinding of the spring 45 is prevented by the clutch gear 57 which engages the arbor frictionally together with the escapement which limits rotation of the arbor.

When the watch is running, the finger 107 prevents rotation of the spring barrel 39 such that the spring 45 applies a rotational force to the gear train including thc first wheel 35, second wheel 65 and third wheel 51. he

escape wheel 71 is driven by the third wheel 51 and its rotational velocity is limited by its cooperation with the palate 151 which rocks back and forth clearing individual teeth of the wheel 75. Rocking motion of the pallet 151 is, of course, governed by the dumbbell to which it is coupled by means of the leaf spring 153. In this manner the speed of the entire gear train is regulated thereby providing an accurate timing action.

If the timing action is too fast or too slow, the pallet 151 can be adjusted by loosening the stud 129 and rotating the

bridges

121 and 123 thereabout to vary the interengagement of the pallet 151 and the escape wheel 71. When properly adjusted, the stud 129 may be again tightened to prevent further rotation of the bridges.

Iclaim:

1. In a watch movement, an improved escapement comprising a pallet, pivotal balance means, and spring means interconnecting said pallet and said balance means.

2. In a watch movement, an improved escapement comprising a shaft, means rotatably journaling said shaft, a balance bar freely pivotal on said shaft, an escape pallet fixed to said shaft, and spring means, one end of said spring means being secured to said shaft and at the other end being coupled to said balance bar, whereby movement of said balance bar is transmitted to said pallet.

3. The escapement claimed in claim 2 wherein said spring means is a leaf spring.

4. The escapement claimed in claim 3 wherein said balance bar includes a pair of pins, said leaf spring being slidably engaged between said pins.