US1745147A - Watch - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 28,1930. J. BULOVA 1,745,147

WATCH Filed Jan. 25, 1926 IN VE N TOR A HORNE) Patented Jan. 28, 1930 UNITED STATES PATET FEE JOSEPH BULOVA, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO BULOVA WATCH COMPANY, INC., OF NEW YORK, N. 51., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK WATCH Application filed January 25, 1926. Serial No. 83,547.

The invention is an improvement in watches or watch-cases such as disclosed in my Patent No. 1,614,276, dated January 11, 1927, wherein a flexible transparent shield of celluloid or the like covering the whole back of the movement is supported and retained on a continuous underlying seat on an internal member surrounding the movement so as to form a dust-proof enclosure within the case, the shield being removable to give access to said movement without separating the movement and the member supporting the shield.

According to the present invention a flexible, transparent, and somewhat resilient shield is supported on a depressed annular seat or shoulder which is formed on a filler block around a recess which holds the move ment, the said block being also formed with an 20 integral wall encircling the seat and serving to retain the shield below or approximately even with the back of the block, either directly or through the intermediary of a flexible ring, the shield or the ring or both being crowded into the enlargement of the recess in the block and being removable therefrom by prying without removing the block from the case or the movement from the block.

The particular objects of the invention are simplicity, economy, compactness and convenience.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section through a watch embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a back view, with the back of the case removed; and

Fig.3 is a sectional perspective view of the filler block.

The watch-case shown in the drawings is of rectangular or oblong shape, and has a front shell, or front, 2, containing the crystal 3, a back shell, or back, 4, and an oblong filler-block 5, which is an inner member closely fitting the front shell. The back can be opened to reveal the movement either on a hinge, or by slipping it olf the filler which it frictionally embraces. Specific details may, naturally, be varied.

The filler is a holder for the circular movement 6, supporting the same in a case of different form. To receive the movement, the filler has a circular recess 7 of the correct size made through it. The movement is inserted into the recess from the front, but does not extend to the back of the block. Around this recess, in the back of the block, there is formed a counter-recess, or annular groove, which is not occupied by the movement and which affords a continuous sunken shoulder 8 substantially flush with the back of the movement, this shoulder being overhung by an encircling, integral wall 9, preferably inclined or undercut.

A seat is thus formed for the edge or margin of a disc 10 of celluloid or equivalent flexible, transparent material to cover the back of the works, in which seat the flexible disc is closely held by reason of being sprung into the seat, or by an additional retaining member, or both, and lies below the back of the block. It may be understood, therefore, that the celluloid disc shown in the drawings is made somewhat larger than the seat, so that it has to be flexed to introduce it, and when inserted is held by reason of the overhan of the wall 9 and the radial expansion of the disc against the wall due to the disc straightening out. A flexible, spring ring 11, snapped or crowded under the overhang, on top of the margin of the disc 10, alfords both an ornamental finish and an additional holding means for the disc. Such a ring may be relied upon to grip the disc against the seat shoulder 8, but, whether it does or not, it is preferred that the disc be so made as to expand of its own resilience under the overhang and thus be tightly held, though this is not always essential.

In order to facilitate the removal of the disc 10 and ring 11, a small notch 12 may be provided in the back of the block 5, adjoining the seat, so that an instrument with a fine point may be used to pry the parts out.

From the foregoing it will be perceived that the block 5 has a number of functions. It is an adapter between the movement and the case and a holder for the movement, and it is also a holder or receptacle for the transparent movement shield 10. The shield in 100 combination with the block forms a substantially dust-proof enclosure within the case for the movement.

What I claim as new is:

In a watch, a case having a back adapted to be opened to reveal the movement, a block conforming to the body'of'the case and having a recess of other form wherein the movement is fitted, the back of the movement being below the back of the block, said block being formed at the back with an enlargement of said recess presenting a sunken annular seat approximately even with the back of the movement, with an integral wall encircling said seat, and a shield of flexible, transparent material retained on said seat and lying within said integral wall, said shield being removable from the recess without removing the block from the case or the movement from the block.

JOSEPH BULOVA.

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