GB1287642A - Electric timepiece - Google Patents

Abstract

1287642 Clocks and watches EBAUCHFS S A 23 Feb 1970 [17 March 1969] 8614/70 Heading G3T An electric timepiece having a first base-plate 4, which carries a vibrator 6 and ratchet wheel 36, and a second base-plate 1, which carries hands and motionwork, is so arranged that the plates 1, 4 may be separately fitted with their respective components and tested before being assembled in the timepiece. The two sub-assemblies are connected by an intermediary which comprised a wheel 58, meshing with a pinion 57 on the ratchet wheel 36, and an elongated pinion 59 which meshes with a wheel 62 of the motionwork. When the subassemblies are separate, the pinion 59 is supported by a bearing 60 in a plate 37 carried by the baseplate 4. The ratchet wheel 36 is driven by a pawl 39, fixed to one arm 11a of the vibrator 6, and is restrained by a second pawl 42 mounted on an adjustable plate 43. The adjustment is carried out using a gauge (49) Figs. 4 and 5 (not shown) substituted for the ratchet wheel 36 and which is kept in a compartment 50 of the plate 4 and becomes available when the plates 1, 4 are separated. Electronic blocks 21, 22 are carried by the plate 4 and are connected respectively to a battery contact plate 20 and to the mass of the movement. The latter connection, via a pin 27 and springs 28, is only made in the inner (rest) and intermediate (date-setting) positions of a setting stem (34) Fig.1 (not shown). In the outer (hand setting) position of the stem (34), the spring 28 is moved inwardly away from the pin 27 by a displaceable member 29. During hand setting, slipping occurs at a friction clutch formed by an arched, resilient washer 69 which urges a wheel 69 against a disc 70 which is rigidly connected to a pinion 71. A similar friction clutch, formed by a washer 63, a wheel 62, and a pinion 64, protects the ratchet mechanism 36, 39 when seconds hand 56 is being placed in position. A wire spring 66 bears on a pulley 67 to act as a brake for the seconds hand.