WO2002069057A1 - Watch-movement with direct indication of the time - Google Patents

Abstract

A mechanical, manual or self-winding watch allowing direct telling of the time in hours and minutes, wherein the figure of the current hour drawn on a movable member under the dial (15) is shown for a time which is little longer than 60 minutes along a slot (32) formed in said dial (14), while the position of the figure of the current hour shown along said slot with respect to stationary figures of minutes indicates the minutes elapsed from the beginning of that current hour.

Description

WATCH-MOVEMENT WITH DIRECT INDICATION OF THE TIME

The present invention relates to a mechanical, manual or self-winding watch allowing direct telling of the time, wherein hour and minute pointing members are modified both in construction and shape. It should be appreciated first that the watch of the present invention has a novel aspect as the telling of the time is immediate and not derived from the position of two rotating members such as hour and minute hands, i.e. a code. In other words, telling hour and minutes' in the watch of the present invention is completely different from the traditional watches as the hour appears in digital form (in Arabian or Roman figures) through a circular window appearing in a semicircular slot extending by 180° preferably in the upper half of the watch dial. The position of such window showing the figure of the hour along the arched slot provides the almost approximate indication of the minutes elapsed from the beginning of that hour. The arrangement allowing such a telling- of the time includes the following elements in combination:

• a watchcase;

• a fixed dial divided by a diametrical line into two semicircles, one of which having an arched slot extending by an arch somewhat greater than 180°; • a watch movement contained in the watchcase, the central shaft of which makes a complete rotation in two hours; • a main disc journalled on the main shaft under the dial in which two circular windows shifted by 180° from each other are formed near its outer edge;

• two peripheral discs with small diameter, each being journalled on a stem carried by the lower face of the main rotating disc in such a position that the peripheral circular crown of each small disc rotates under the corresponding circular window of the main disc, the peripheral circular crown of the upper face of one small disc carrying the odd figures of the hours (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11) of half day, the even figures (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12) being carried by the upper face of the -second small disc;

• two gear wheels shaped as a six-point star and being rotatably connected to the lower surfaces of the two small discs, respectively;

• two resilient escapment anchors, one for each star gear wheel, each having one end fixed to the lower surface of the main disc in such a position that the other free triangular end thereof can engage one of the six recesses with a conjugated shape between adjoining points or teeth of the corresponding star gear wheel;

• a driving "finger" located within the watchcase and having position and length such as to engage alternately the points of the star gear wheels according to the rotation of the main disc that causes the finger to perform a stepping rotation under the control of the two escapment anchors. As already mentioned, each rotation step of a star gear wheel causes the small disc associated thereto to rotate accordingly.

In operation, each rotation step of the two star gear wheels carries one odd or even figure drawn on the associated small disc under the corresponding circular window of the main disc according to the time. As can better be seen thereafter, the window will appear for about one hour in the semicircular slot extending by 180° on one half of the dial and will be visible through the transparent glass of the watch. How the position of the figure corresponding to the hour within such semicircular slot provides a rough indication of the elapsed minutes will be described later on.

The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the watch with inside dashed parts saying about 10.30;

Fig. 2 shows the watch with the dial removed to show the star gear wheels, the resilient escapment anchor, the driving finger, and the gear wheel carried by the rotation shaft of the main disc-

Fig. 2B shows in enlarged scale the details of a star gear wheel, the escapment anchor, and the driving finger engaged with the relative tooth; Fig. 2C is a bottom perspective view of the main disc with the two star gear wheel-small disc assemblies and relative anchors;

Fig. 3 is an axial section in enlarged scale of the whole watch;

Fig. 4 is a similar vertical exploded section in lower scale of the whole watch;

Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view with removed portion of the whole watch;

Fig. 6 is a bottom perspective looking-through view of the watch with a portion of the watchcase removed;

Fig. 7 is a similar view showing in detail one disc of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a detail in enlarged scale showing the disc of Fig. 7.

With reference first to Figs. 1 to 3, the watch of the present invention includes in combination a watchcase 10, a watch movement generally indicated at 11 having a movement shaft 12 driven by the watch movement through a gear wheel 13, a dial 14, a main disc 15 rotatably journalled on shaft 12 and having two circular windows 16 and 18 in diametrically opposed positions, first and second idle small discs 20 and 21 carried on the lower face of main disc 15 near the two circular windows 16 and 18 so that the peripheral circular crown of each idle small disc can be seen through the corresponding window. Furthermore, as can be seen in the Figures, integral with the lower face of each idle small disc 20, 21 is a star gear wheel 22, 23 having six points as well as six recesses between couples of adjoining points, points and recesses being indicated at PA, PB, ...PF and CA, CB, ... CF, respectively. Hinged near both small discs 20, 21 at the lower face of main disc 15 is the fixed end of an anchor 25, 26 of flexible metal having position and length such that each free end shaped like a triangle 27, 28 can be snap-engaged into each recess of the respective star gear wheel 22, 23. In other words, each anchor blocks the respective star gear wheel in any one of six possible angular positions according to the recess in which its end is engaged. As can better be seen in Fig. 5, the upper face of small disc 20 shows the six even figures of the half-day hours 2, 4,... 12, and the upper face of the other small disc 21 shows the six odd figures of the half-day hours 1, 3,... 11. Actually the figures appear on the lower face of the small discs only for the sake of clarity as the same figures are drawn on the upper face thereof.

The figures are placed at a reciprocal angular distance of 60° so that there is a biunivocal relationship between the recesses in which the ends of the respective anchors 25, 26 are engaged, i.e. the angular positions of the star gear wheels 22, 23 and the small discs 20, 21 associated thereto, and the figures 2, 4, ... 12 or 1, 3, ... 11 appearing through circular windows 16, 18 of main disc 15 and corresponding to the circular crown of small discs 20, 21 carrying the above-mentioned figures. As shown in Fig. 1, dial 14 is divided into two portions by the diametrical line 30, arched slot 32 extending along an arch greater than 180° in the upper half 31 of the dial. The position and the extension of slot 32 are such that windows 16, 18 rotate in turn under such slot during the rotation of main disc 15. Thus, the odd or- even figure shown by the respective small disc 20, 21 and visible through one window 16 or 18 will be placed under slot 32 and be visible through the same for little more than one hour.

The stepping rotation of each star wheel 22, 23 and the corresponding small disc 20, 21 is caused by the short finger 33 fastened in watchcase 10 and having position and length such as to engage in turn the points PF(1, 2,... 6) of star wheel 22, 23 after one another as the same are brought to the engagement with such finger by the clockwise rotation of main disc 15. As it is self-evident, fixed finger 33 is an obstacle that prevents wheel star gear 22, 23 from continuing its rotation as the point PA1 of the latter contacts such finger in its rotation along a circular path induced by the rotation of main disc 15 supported by shaft 12 which is driven by the movement 11 through gear wheel 13. The contrast of finger 33 against point PA1 tends to cause star gear wheel 22 to rotate counterclockwise. As clearly seen in Figs 2, 8, 9, such rotation of star gear wheel 22 is prevented by the triangular end 27 engaged into recess CC between points PA and PB of star gear wheel 22.

The thrust applied to star gear wheel 22 inducing the same to rotate tends to remove end 27 of anchor 25 from recess CC because of the cam action of the slanting outline of the tooth of star gear wheel 22 against the corresponding outline of the triangular end 27 of anchor 25 (Fig. 2C) . Accordingly, star gear wheel 22 will rotate by 60°, i.e. an angle such that the triangular end 27 of resilient anchor 25 is snap- engaged into the next triangular recess CB. The rotation of star gear wheel 22 by 60° will cause small disc 20 to rotate also by 60° so the next figure, for example 2, will now appear through window 16. The watch will then say 2 o'clock (or 14) which will be visible through such window and the arched slot 32. It should be noted from the foregoing that, as main disc 15 makes a complete rotation by 360° in two hours, one star gear wheel 22 or 23 and the relative small disc 20 or 21 will reach at first finger 33, while after 60 minutes the other star gear wheel 23 or 22 and the relative small disc 21 or 20 will reach the same finger. Since as already described with respect to star gear wheel 22 each step of star gear wheel 22 or star gear wheel 23 causes a rotation of small disc 20 or 21 associated thereto by 60°, the hour marked by one of the two small discs will be changed upon each rotation of main disc 15 by 180° made in 60 minutes, the figure of such hour being visible for a time little longer than 60 minutes through the arched slot 32. As better seen in Fig. 1, five stationary figures are angularly spaced by 45° from one another along an arch outside slot 32. The stationary figures are 0, 15, 30, 45, 60 and indicate the minutes elapsed from the beginning of the hour shown by small disc 20 through window 16 and slot 32. In Fig. 1 the watch says 10.30 o'clock (or 22.30) as window 16 showing figure 10 is located at figure 30 minutes. It should be understood from the preceding description that the watch of the present invention is provided with novel characteristics as far as both the way in which hours are shown, i.e. in digital non-codified form, and the way in which minutes are shown, i.e. a positioning of the digital figure of the current hour with respect to stationary figures of minutes spaced by 15 minutes from one another.

The watch is further provided with a light source, for example a LED, supplied by a cell and controlled by a microswitch which are not shown so as to allow the time to be told by night. At last, dial 14 is protected by a transparent cover.

Claims

Claims

1. A mechanical, manual or self-winding watch allowing direct telling of the time in hours and minutes, wherein the figure of the current hour drawn on a movable member under the dial is shown for a time which is little longer than 60 minutes along a slot formed in said dial, while the position of the figure of the current hour shown along said slot with respect to stationary figures of minutes indicates the minutes elapsed from the beginning of that current hour.

2. The mechanical, manual or self-winding watch allowing direct telling of the time according to claim 1, with hour and minute pointing members being modified both in construction and shape, wherein the way in which hours are shown is digital, and the way in which minutes are shown is the positioning of the digital figure of the current hour with respect to stationary figures of minutes, comprising a watchcase closed by a transparent cover and containing a movement having a drive shaft, a main disc journalled on said drive shaft, a dial provided with an arched slot extending by little more than 180°, two hour indication assemblies each consisting of a small disc and a star gear wheel with six teeth or points integral therewith which are idle supported on the lower face of said main disc, two flexible anchors, one for each small disc-star gear wheel assembly, said anchors having one end secured to the lower face of said main disc and the other free end having a conjugated shape to the recesses between each couple of adjoining teeth or points of said star gear wheels so as to co-operate with each other, two circular windows formed in said main disc, each relative to one small disc-star gear wheel assembly, an abutment finger secured with one end to one edge of said watchcase and having position and length such as its other end engages the point of a tooth of one of said star gear wheels whenever the latter comes in touch with it during the rotation of said main disc.

3. The watch according to claim 2, wherein all of the odd figures of the hours (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11) of half day (12 hours.) are drawn on the upper face of one of said small discs and all of the even figures of the hours (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12) of the same half day (12 hours) are drawn on the upper face of the second of said small discs, the arrangement being such that said odd and even figures can be seen through said circular windows of said main disc, the small discs being rotated stepwise by 60° at a time because of the engagement of the associated star gear wheel with said abutment finger under the control of the corresponding flexible anchor, each said circular window which rotates with said main disc under said dial being brought in turn under said arched slot through which the (odd or even) hour visible at that time through said circular window is shown.

4. The watch according to claim 3, wherein said watchcase includes a LED light source supplied by a cell and controlled by a microswitch.