US1416176A - Hand and indicator for watches and like articles - Google Patents

Description

wncumz. HAND AND INDICATOR FDR WATCHES AND LIKE ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 14. I921.

1,416,176. Patented M y 16,1922;

INVENTOR.

M? a I UNITED srarss PATENT i HERMANN 1*. 01mm, or HARTFORD, cominc'rrour, ASSIGNQR To -AMERICAN RADIUM COMPANY, on NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION on NEW onx.

HAND AND INDICATOR FOR WATCHES AND LIKEiAIUIICLILS.

To all whom it may concern i Be it known that I, HERMANN F. CUNTZ, a citizen ofthe UnitedStates, resident of the city of Hartford, county of Hartford, and State'of Connecticunhave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hands and Indicators for Watches and like Articles, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, illustrative of particular embodiments of my'invention, this being a division of my application Serial No. 482,095, filedJuly 2, 1921, allowed October 3, 1921.

This invention relates to indicators such as the hands of clocks, watches, gauges, meters and other devices, and instruments, and for like or similar devices, as may appear fromthe' following specification. Particularly in such indicators the inventionrelates to providing them in a form or construction permitting advantageous equipment with luminous material, so that the indicators or hands may be readily visible and readable at night and at the same time affording accurate and easy reading or readily discerning of an indicator or indicators and their position withrespect to graduations by outside light such as by daylight orwhen visible by ordinary illumination. a

The application of luminous material involving compounds of radio-active andradi0-responsive material, has heretofore been practised by embodying such permanently luminous compounds in a recess in the hands 1 of instruments and particularly in. watch and clock hands so that a suflicient bulk of the material is held spread over a suflicient area to provide an amount of luminosity to anextent and for a suflicient distance'suitable for the particular instruments or case involved; or in some cases the permanently self-luminous compound is spread over the surface of a: hand with suitable protective covering to keep it in place. A reasonable area is required with a considerable width with respect to the length in a line intended to be luminous in the dark, sufficient to pro vide visible luminosity at a distance of a foot or several feet or yards,depending Speeification of Letters Patent. Patented Ma 16 1922;

Original application filed July 2, 1921, Serial No. 482,095. Divided and 14, 1921. Serial No. 507,743. I

upon the particular use to which the permanently illuminated article is adapted. In view of the relatively larger width of line required for this darlrtime luminous effect, the indicator, hand or pointer are of a greater width than permits accurate reading in the daytime or under conditions of ordinary outside illumination. It, therefore, becomes aproblem to provide such devices with permanently luminous material in a manner whereby accurate reading of the time or accurate reading of instruments, as to; the registration of pointers with graduations, can be assured or in any event can become a matter of greater accuracy than has heretofore been the case by day and night. I i i In the case of pointers or indicatorsand hands for watches,a broad surface 'covered with radio-luminous material, backed up by a relatively dark background involves all the inaccuracy incident to, a broad line compared with a very fine hair line or narrow marker which should be used in ordinary or full illumination for accurate determination of calibration registration. I, therefore, provide a pointeror hand with surface of a relatively suilicient widthcto carry'an ample area of radio-luminous material for the desired degree of visibility in the darkness, but I provide medially orin the axis of such a pointer or hand, a narrow contrasting line of non-luminous material and of contrasting color with the luminous ma; terial in the daytime or when subject to out side illumination. Such central line of nonluminous material provides for accurate reading in the daytime and the provision of such a line whether on the pointer, calibration,marking or numerals, supplements this application filed October the art heretofore known by giving to the use of radio-luminous compound on instruments and other devices an assurance of accuracy for ordinary reading by outside light which has not heretofore been the case.

The subject-matter of this application involves hands or indicators readable in the daytime as well as the dark which have particular structural advantages, and may be selt-luminized part of their length and structurally improved in other parts, as will hereinafter appear.

Emboeiments oft my invention are shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan ViO\V ot a pointer or hand constructed to hold radio-luminous material on, a portion of its length with. the other non-luminous portion structurally eooperating for advantages inv manuttacture, durability and strength, or otherwise.

Fig. 2 a side elevation of the pointer or hand shown in Fi 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan View of a similar pointer or hand slightly modified as to the day and night reading; parts.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the seli-luminous portion of the pointer or hand as shown on the other figures.

As shown, the hand orpointer is of thin material such. as steel or other metal, and has the material at the hub a pressed to form a channel for part of the length adjacent to the hub with the top side N and with the lateral flanges N; Approaching the other end of the hand, the strip is depressed. or, conversely, ridge 0 is crimped or pressed up to the level of the surface N, forminga metal ridge preferably in. the centre or axis, that is in a line radial to the centre of the hub. This ridge O runs to the tip a, as shown inv Figs. 1 and 2, or to such extent as may be desired for any particular case with reference to the arrangement shown of the tip structure, as, for example, shown in Fig. 3, or otherwise. In Fig. 3, the ridge 0 extends through the major part of the 'adio-luminous field Q, but not to the tip a, there being}; lateral flanges C-C flanking the tip, which term means of more seeurely holding a desired coating of radioluminous compound at the tip without its axis being interrupted by the medial ridge.

Thus tl c halt of this torm of handy or pointer nearer the outer end has on its up per surface recesses such as (a), of a siiiilicicnt area. to accommodate an amount of radioluminous material suilicient to assure visi bility in the dark. .he ridge 0 extends the stiflness oi the channel portion ll-N, to the very tip, or as far as may he desired, while providing, recesses on either side ot the medial ridge to accommodate the selt-lun'iinous material it provides a structure that does not increase the thickness of? the hands beyond the thickness of the portion near the hub or what may be required for strength in such parts. i

It will thus be seen that the constructions described provide a ridge or ridges intermediate the side edges of a hand or pointcr, which aid to secure, and which can. serve to assure uniform thickness of the 'radio-lui'ninous material applied to the surface of the base. l urthermorc, the ridge of rigid material forms the upper limit; of the hand structure with the base at the bottom, so that both top and bottom are protected during the operation oil? the hands or pointers against interfering objects which might otherwise dislodge the radio-liuninous material in the absence oi the protecting ridge. T he structure also serves to accommodate most advantageously the application of radio-luminous material. in different ways, as, for example, the principal ingredient, namely, the radio-respoi'isive material may be very quickly applied to hands of my construction, because the ridge in its various arrangements serves to control the thickness and assure the ehiciency of the application of material. either in base or other term with entire uniitormi 1:3 throughout the length of the hand which it is desired to cover; there alter the radio-active material of tar lesser relative quantity may be readily dusted onto the surface or sprinkled on to the radiomesponsi to or sub-eompoimd, as it is sometimes called. And in any finishing operations the manipulation of the tools will be subject to the control of the ridge in conjunction with the lateral borders of the hands, whereby unifiiirmity o't finish with economy in the operation is a result of great advantage from manutacturiug or studio work standpoint.

It will also he realized that a narrow line provided in the structure of hands or dials as heretofore described, as well as many modL tications thereof, supiiilies a daytime yisibility of a fine hair line which may he so narrow that it will in no way interfere with the luminosity in darkness oil? the adjacent radio-luminous areas. The light emission from radio-luminmis areas is such that with a total area, and with a width of luminous line in proportion to its length, sufficient tor the desired legibility in the dark for a watch or clock or any other particular use, means that such light emission will have substantially the value of the entire area of the hand or figure, and tor night observation the narrow uncoated central ridge will not appear, i. e., it will practically he bridged by the light emission, from the adjacent luminous areas.

onrersely, hands or figures constructed and termed as heretofore described may he ol" white or light tints matching the adjarcnt enamel color of: a dial umlerlying the hand. in which cases watches or clocks with their reading parts so constructed will hare in daytime a substantially invisible breadth oi hand, but a narrow clearly visible line, even a hair line, will constitute the central, indicating or reading marking: for the hand and for the dial marking or figure with justas great accuracy for daylight use as any o'dinary watch, clock or other indicating ,i to

device,and with no apparent increased breadth in the markings or hands during daytime reading. The embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings is particualso to the very tip. In structures heretofore used a luminous dot has been placed midway between the tip and the hub affording no directional vision aid, and also leaving a bare pointer. forming a long sec tion of the tip entirely devoid of radioluminous night reading area. I i i The revolutionary development "involved in the introduction of readable-in-the-dark watches, clocks, compasses and other indicating instruments and devices, is well known to have involved at first the serious objection of makingvery broad hands and either large dots! for graduations or broad figures in order to provide a sufficient area so that the permanent self-luminosity or radio-luminous material would serve the night reading object. The clumsiness of such structures impeded for yearsthe more general adoption of the day and night reading-parts of timepieces and other instruments, and the necessity for providing means so that the same night visible instruments would be ac curately, readable by day, led to the provision of a border, or more properly two borders, one on either side of the self-luminous area. Such borders on broad hands were an initial objection criticised as clumsiness, which the general usefulness of the self-luminous markings has but vpartially overcome. Initial attempts in the case of some instruments led to the use of a contrasting background, so that the white hand was bordered by a dark background but this only made day reading relatively visible but still involved the broad and inaccurate mark which is white for dayreading and has the same objections for many classes of timepieces as well as other devices. Added to the solution of the problem of producing reading parts of timepiecesor other devices which can be accurately read in the daytime, it will be seen that the structures heretofore described have many added advantages, such as assuring uniformity in the amount or depth of the coating of radio-luminous material, and stiffening the pointers and permit-ting the use of the thinnest obtainable sheet material for the base of hands or pointers in order to'reduce the total thickness of the hands as well as to provide uniformity throughout the length of area of the luminous surfaces. Other advantages will be appreciated in the practice'of' this invention, facilities formanufacture, as well as economies and speed of production with uniformity of product, add to the value and durability and other characteristics of the finished product.

While various modifications may be made in the structure and arrangement as well as the material and use of the articles, of which specific embodiments have been heretofore.

described, I do not confine my invention to the specific forms shown in the accompanying drawing and herein specified in detail, but what I' claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: y

1. An article of the character described comprising a base flanged from the hub for a portion of its length and having a ridge.

extending the remaining portion through the axis to form lateral recesses on either side and radio-luminous material embedded in said lateral recesses below the planeof the top of the ridge.

2. A hand or indicator for watches and like articles, comprising a metal strip with a channel section forming the portion from the hub part of the length, and a radial ridge extending the major part of the remaining length of the hand, flat areas on either side of said ridge and radio-luminous material co'ating'said side areas to a depth not exceeding that of the ridge.

3. A hand or pointer of the character de scribed, comprising a non-luminous portion extending from thehub part way toward the tip, a liuninous area of greater width forming the remaining length of the'hand to the tip, a non-luminous medial line on said luminous area. i

4. A hand or pointer for the purpose de scribed, comprising a stifi'ened section adja cent the hub and a ridged section contiguous thereto extending toward the tip, of a thick ness not exceeding the first section, integral base portions on either side of said ridge and radio-luminous material secured between said ridge the ridge.

5. A hand or pointer for the purpose deand bases to a depth not exceeding scribed, consisting of a thin sheet metal hav ing two ma or portions, one portion having means for transverse stiffening, and the other portion havin a radial luminous field of greater length t an width with a nonluminous line through said radio-luminous field in a direction radial from the hub centre of the hand.

6. A hand or pointer for the purpose described, consisting of a thin sheet metal having two major portions one portion having means for transverse s t-ifiei'iing and the other portion hzwing a radial luminous field of greater length than Width, a medial nonluininousj line axially in said field and a non luminous border atone end 01 said field.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 11th day of October, 1921.

HERMANN F. CUNTZ. VVitnesSes:

ROBERT E. LICGAGUE, JAMES M. OARPLES.

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