US97186A - Improvement in indicator for main-spring- of watches - Google Patents

Description

J. GARDNER, Jr.

INDICATOR FOR MAIN SPRING 0P WATOHES.

Patented Nov. 23, 1869.]

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JOSEPH GARDNER, JR., or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent N 97,186, dated November 28, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN INDICATOR FOR MAIN-SPRING 01- WATCHES.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same .To all to whom these presents shall come:

Be'it known that I, JOSEPH Gsnoxsn, Jr., of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have made an invention of a new and useful Improvementin W'atches; and do hereby declaretlie following to, be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, due reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a face or dial-view of a watch, containing my invention Figure 2 being a like view of its face-plate, and

Figure 3, a vertical section of its wimling-arhor, barrel, and adjuncts.

The invention herein described, and comprising the subject-matter of these Letters Patent, relates to means whereby persons may assure themsclves instantly whethertheirwatches be wound up or the contrary, or in what degree of tension, between each extreme, the spring may be at the time of observation.

My invention has reference to a class of watchmovements containing a going-barrel, so called, in which the arbor is stationary, while the barrel-and main gear revolve about it, and consists 'in' providing. such barrel and arbor with an index-pointer and scale, and an actuating-medianism, so arrangcd, that upon winding up or contraction of the main-sn'ing of the watch, the index-pointer shall stand at the beginning of the scale, which is impressed or printed upon the dial thereof, the subscqucnt running down or expansion of the spring causing the pointer to traverse the scale, as hcrcinal'tcr explained.

In the drawings bct'orc alluded to as accompanying this specification, and which illustrate my inventionadenotes the main bed or face-plate of a watch, and b, thc stop-works platc, thc barrcl hcing shown at c, its arbor at (I, and main-spring at 1', such constituent parts being formcd and arranged in manner similar to like parts inothcr waichcs ot' the class.

As my invention is conlincdto such parts, and has no local rcfcrcncc to othcr portions ol' the watch, i'urther refcrcncc to its general organization is not con-' sidercd pertinent to this specification.

In carrying out my ohjcct, I bore a hole, f, axially through thc arbor (I, and within the bore I insert loosely a rod, 1 provided with a head, 71, corresponding in size and form .with that of tho arbor against which it -abuts, the two heads lin'ining in union the winding-portion of such arbor.

The smallcr extremity of the rod y, at-its point of protrusion from tho arbor and plate, has allixed to it a pawl, i, the. parts bring so arranged, that although 'at other times independent oi the arbor, upon application and turning of thc kcy, the pawl and its rod shallbe forced to travcl with such arbor, since the rotation of the key, in winding the arbor, must also wind the rod, as it covers the heads of both;

Such pawl i meshes into the teeth j-j, &c., of a toothed wheel, 1:, the latter being mounted upon a short post or stud, l, which is attixerl at its base to the platc a, and projecting outwardly through the dial in of the watch, where it is furnished with a hand or indcx-pointcr, n, a circle of divisions or index-scale, 0, being described concentrically aboutsuch post and upon the face of the dial.

A spring-stop, p, is aflixed .to theplate a, and alongside of the wheel 1:, and taking into its interstices, to prevent slipping and irrcgular rot-atipn of the latter,

and to insure proper presentation ot'"its teeth to thc action of the pawl. \Vithin a circular and concentric channel, q, cut

within that face of the barrel-head next adjacent to elling in a circular path of movcmcnt, in union with the barrel, will cause intcrmittciit rotary movements of the wheel, a shortsegmcntal aperture, 3, being cut through the plate a, to allow access to thewhecl or the spring-catch, such catch, at other times, being depressed by impinging against the boundary of the aperture. Y v

The above description embraces the mechanical construction and arrangement of parts constituting my invention, and will. enable watolnnakers or rcpaircrs of average acquiremcnts to construct and apply them.

Upon applying the kcy, to wind the watch, care should be taken that it covers both the head of the rod and of thc arbor;

The mechanism is so arranged, that although indcpcndcnt ot' the arbor, the action of the'kcy, in winding the latter, shall otnccessity prodnccacorrespond-- ing rcrolutioi'i of the rod and its pawl, with resulting. intermittcutpartial rotations of the wheel and indexpoint-er or hand, the teeth of the wheel being gradnatcd to the length and power of the spring, since the functions of the-two should be so calculated and adjusted, that upon completion of the winding up of the spring, the pawl shall havc effected ncarly, but not quite a revolution oftheiinlcx-pointor, which, at this time, should stand at the zero or starting-point of the divisional-y scale.

Upon removing the key, the pawl, bcforc forced by it to travel with the arbor, has no further action, and

permits the barrel to tiavelwithout actuating it.

A. relaxation of the spring, during the twenty-f0nr hours, or the running-time ot' the watch, will, as a matter of coursc, under the last-mentioned condition of parts, producc a retrograde movement of the barrel, and, by means of its spring-catch r and toothed wheel 70, cause a partial rotation of the index-pointer, or oneof sufficient extent to cause it to stand at or about at the end of its scale.

An inspection of the index-pointer will at once enable the observer to determine whether the watch is wound or not. e

1 am aware that an index-pointer has heretofore been applied, for a similar purpose to mine, directly to the arbor of awatch, in which a fusee and chain are employed, in which case the; arbor travels.

The application'of a device to effect this purpose, in a. watch containing a. going-barrel, necessitated a compact and delicate, though not complicated mechanism, such 'as is hereinbefore explained.

Having thus described the nature, as well as the purposes and advantage of my invention,

What I believe to .hc novcl and original with myself, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

Claim.

I claim, as a means of determining'the' degree of tension of the main-spring of a time-piece, the organization and arrangement of the tubular arbor and the rod g, the pawl 2', the toothed wheel 7:, spring-catch 1-,

or its equivalent, and the index-pointer and scale, the

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