FR3150000A1 - Time display with rotating indexes - Google Patents

Abstract

The hour display mechanism uses the elongated hour markers that are fixed on the pinion shaft or the Maltese cross barrel with the largest part of the index on the edge of the dial and the smallest part on the center side, except for the current hour index which is positioned in reverse, so that when the hour changes, a partially toothed wheel rotates two pinions by 180°, so that the large part of the next hour index gradually points towards the center to indicate the next hour, breaking the alignment formed by the other more recessed indexes, while the large part of the hour index that is ending returns towards the edge of the dial to reintegrate the alignment formed by the other indexes.

Description

Time display with rotating indexes

The technical field of the invention is watchmaking, more precisely that of displaying the time in a watch.

Prior art.

In the prior art in watchmaking, the traditional classic time display is provided by a hand for the hour and a hand for the minutes. The most well-known original time display is that of the jumping hour which uses an aperture where the hour is visible, then it is replaced by the following hour (Examples of patents CH699143, CH705782, CH704915, CH711183, CH712217, CH712219). For the minutes, the hand is kept either with a normal rotation or with a retrograde movement over 120° which avoids masking the aperture (EP0950932, CH713437).

Patent EP0389732 filed in 1989 proposes a jumping hour window that moves along the minute scale to indicate the minutes. This system has the disadvantage of displaying the time upside down for more than a quarter of an hour.

There is also a time system that appears and disappears at each index, so there are twelve openings arranged in the dial. Originally, a first patent CH684814 was filed in 1993 to modify the aesthetic appearance of the dial with twelve spheres that can be turned by hand. Then the patent CH701653 was filed in December 2006 with twelve pieces, all triangular in section, which are arranged radially. But this time, it is the mechanism of the watch that rotates one of these pieces by 120° each hour. Either one of the faces is distinguished by its color to point to the current time, or it indicates the time with the appropriate number of pieces turned over. The holder of the patent CH684814 modified his invention and filed a patent WO2008144948 in April 2008 to turn over his small mobiles of three or four faces each hour, with more possibilities for aesthetic variations while indicating the time. Patent CH700615 filed in March 2009 uses twelve cubes that can be turned over each hour to, among other things, indicate the time, or even the time of a second time zone, with the other decorated faces. Patent EP2365406- is filed with a priority of 2010, for a display composed of twelve cones arranged radially and visible under the watch glass. In this variant, each hour, one more cone instantly pivots on itself by 180°, to reveal its hidden face which is a different color. You have to count the number of cones to get the time.

In the meantime, patent FR0806590 was filed in November 2008 for hour hands that rotate instantly. All the hours remain visible, but they are upside down, except for one which indicates the current time.

All these “jumping” rotating hour displays share the same display flaw: the current time remains displayed until the last minute without the new time being visible. However, watch users have become accustomed to seeing the traditional hour hand move closer to the next hour and the hand is closer to the next hour than to the current hour. This is even reflected at the linguistic level. A French speaker will say that it is ten to seven, but will almost never say that it is six fifty, except perhaps the new generation that uses smartphones and digital electronic watches. This is all the more logical since in this example, it is almost seven o’clock. The jumping hour display risks misleading its user at the end of each hour.

In addition, these different mechanical systems are quite complex and expensive to produce, generally consisting of a cam, a rocker, a beak pivoting on the rocker and a spring that presses on the rocker. This snail-shaped cam system often prevents manual adjustment of the time counterclockwise.

Statement of the invention .

The invention proposes a new way of displaying the time, more soberly, even minimalist, allowing an intuitive reading of the time closer to the traditional reading by hand, with a mechanism that is simpler to produce. The invention therefore improves the perception of the time that passes, compared to the jumping hours system of patents CH701653, WO2008144948, CH700615 and FR0806590, while reducing the number of parts, in particular by doing without a cam associated with a lever with its spring, which reduces the energy required for its operation and which allows the time to be set counterclockwise without blocking.

The invention of a display of overlapping hours includes, at a minimum:
- a roadway, a timer wheel and a classic hour wheel;
- a partially toothed wheel (or with pins), attached to the hour wheel to pivot pinions (or Maltese crosses);
- possibly an annular support to hold twelve pinion bases;
- twelve pinions (or twelve Maltese crosses), each supporting an hour marker;
- an annular bridge to hold twelve pinion axles;
- twelve elongated indexes for each hour, mounted on the twelve axes of the pinions (or cannon of the Maltese crosses).

The invention of this display of overlapping hours is characterized in that the hour markers are fixed on the axis of the pinions (or on the barrel of the Maltese crosses), with at rest the largest part of the index on the edge of the dial and the smallest part on the center side, so that when changing the time two pinions pivot 180°, so that the large part of the index of the following hour points progressively towards the center to indicate the following hour, breaking the alignment formed by the other more recessed indexes, while the large part of the index of the hour which is ending returns towards the edge of the dial.

The pinions are blocked by the smooth edge of a partially toothed wheel attached to the hour wheel, and at each change of hour, two of the pinions pivot 180° when two groups of teeth of this partially toothed wheel pass, the two pinions are: the pinion of the hour index which ends and the pinion of the hour index which begins.

The mechanism works with pinions, the number of teeth of which is even, or with Maltese crosses.

To facilitate the assembly of the pinions, the twelve bases of the pinions consisting of one tooth out of two shortened (the other teeth being removed), are held either by twelve circular recesses made in the plate, or by a support pierced with twelve circular holes and that the twelve axes of the pinions are held vertically by an annular bridge pierced with twelve small circular holes.

To facilitate the attachment of the indexes to the pinion axles, each upper pinion axle retains the base of the teeth to allow the two feet of each index to rest on the bottom of these cut teeth.

To facilitate the attachment of the indexes to the barrels of the Maltese crosses, two opposite notches are provided in each barrel of the Maltese crosses to allow a bar of each of the indexes to rest in these notches.

The invention is a display of overlapping hours with its clockwork mechanism integrated into the movement of a timepiece such as a watch, pendulum, or clock.

The preferred embodiment of the invention .

The detailed description of the invention provides an example of the embodiment with twelve six-tooth pinions.

A partially toothed wheel is integral with the hour wheel of the base caliber. It is positioned at level n+1 relative to the caliber plate. It is sized on 108 steps of module 0.25. The smooth edge of the partially toothed wheel blocks the pivoting of the pinions implanted around this wheel every 30°. Two of the six teeth of each pinion are generally supported on the smooth edge of the partially toothed wheel. The pinions have six teeth of module 0.25. To pivot 180°, the pinions must advance three steps. The two groups of two teeth of the partially toothed wheel will simultaneously pivot two of the pinions between minus twenty and the hour. The teeth of the two groups of two teeth are preceded, separated and followed by a tooth base. Each group of two teeth has three tooth bases. The passage of the two groups of two teeth in front of two of the twelve pinions will pivot them at the same time by three steps. The tooth base that separates two teeth of a first pair of teeth is 30° from the tooth base that separates the two teeth of the second pair of teeth, in order to be able to drive two pinions at the same time. The tooth size is calculated so that the pinions pivot in 20 minutes, or a third of an hour. The partially toothed wheel pivots nine steps per hour, and it completes a full revolution in twelve hours, which is why it is configured with 108 steps.

To position twelve pinions vertically in a stable manner on the plate, their axis does not protrude from the teeth at their base, unlike the other end of the axis. At the base of each pinion, one tooth out of two is removed, the three remaining teeth are shortened (for example they are limited to the convolution diameter) to rub against the inner edge, either of each recess made in the plate, or of each hole in the annular support. The central part of the base of the pinions is hollowed out by 0.1 mm to leave only a 0.1 mm edge at the end of the three shortened teeth which rest directly on the plate. If the twelve recesses cannot be made in the plate or if it is economically more advantageous to keep the plate intact, an annular support pierced with twelve circular holes is previously placed on the plate. Three lugs protruding from the annular support allow the latter to be embedded on the edge of the plate. This 0.2 mm thick support is pierced with twelve circular holes whose centers are spaced 30° apart.

In the upper part of each pinion, the axis retains the start of each tooth (for example until the end of the arc of the radius of the tooth base). The arched edge of the very shortened tooth heads, fits into a circle to pivot in a hole in the annular bridge located at level n+2. A space of one tenth of a millimeter is provided between the bridge and the upper surface of the complete teeth, at this level the teeth are a little less shortened to fit into a circle with a diameter two tenths of a millimeter greater than the diameter of the holes in the bridge. Thus the pinion is held vertically without excessive friction.

Once the twelve pinions are placed vertically in the twelve holes of the annular support or the twelve hollows of the plate, an annular bridge pierced with twelve small holes for the pinion axles and three holes for the screws is installed, allowing the twelve upper pinion axles to pass through. The axles of the twelve pinions pass through the twelve holes drilled at level n+2 in an annular bridge. The thicker part of the bridge between three pairs of pinions allows the annular bridge to rest on the annular support or, in the absence of a support, directly on the plate. In these three sectors, the bridge occupies levels n+2 and n+1. Without an annular support, the bridge is 0.7 mm thick at the screw location, if the part of the bridge above the pinion teeth is limited to 0.2 mm. With a 0.2 mm annular support, the bridge is 0.5 mm thick at the screw location, if the part of the bridge above the pinion teeth is limited to 0.2 mm. It would be necessary to add 0.1 mm, if the part of the bridge above the teeth of the pinions was dimensioned at 0.3 mm. The three screw holes are wider in the upper part of the bridge to adapt to the width of the screw heads and these same screw holes are less wide in the lower part of the bridge to adapt to the width of the smooth body of the screws. In the case of a support, it is of course also pierced with three screw holes coinciding with the three screw holes of the bridge. The annular bridge is fixed by means of three screws in the threaded holes of the plate or in the threaded holes of the support.

Each of the twelve hour markers has two feet, these feet will grip two opposing tooth bases of the upper axis of each pinion. The two feet are aligned under the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the index, but they are not centered under the length of the index. The two feet are centered relative to a point located one third from one end of the index.

The dial and the indexes are put in place only after having positioned one of the two groups of teeth between two pinions, using the crown. Eleven of the twelve indexes are installed on the pinion axis so that two thirds of the index is on the edge of the dial and one third of the index is directed towards the center of the caliber, this for the indexes that do not indicate a current time. For the last index, the one that indicates the time, it is fixed on the pinion axis so that two thirds of the index is directed towards the center of the caliber and one third of the index is on the edge of the dial. In this embodiment, the central third of the index is filled with luminescent material.

To display 4:30, the minute hand points to the 30 graduation and the 4 o'clock index is shifted towards the center, while the other indexes are close to the edge of the dial.

The central third of the index is filled with luminescent product. This luminescent part is also offset towards the center compared to the other luminescent parts, which allows you to read the time, even at night.

At 4:45, the minute hand points to 45 minutes, the 4 and 5 o'clock indexes have started to rotate to clearly indicate the hour that is ending and the next hour that is about to begin.

At around 4:50, the 4 and 5 o'clock indexes are almost face to face with their two-thirds part facing each other.

At 4:55, the 2 and 3 o'clock indexes finish rotating. The 4 o'clock index is almost back on the edge of the dial and the 5 o'clock index is almost pointing towards the center of the dial.

This means that the watch user can clearly see the time change.

The dial does not have a circular cutout to the eye, because the holes in the dial that allow the indexes to be fixed to the pinion axes are hidden by the width of the index itself. However, there is nothing to prevent rectangular holes being made in the dial that are slightly larger than the indexes, which allow the dial to be removed without removing the indexes, during a maintenance operation. In this case, one of the two ends of the rectangular holes is visible.

For the length of the indexes, two options are possible. If the indexes are all identical, they must be short enough so that two thirds from the axis of rotation do not touch each other, when a pair of indexes pivots. The axes must be four thirds of an index apart. If the indexes are longer then they must be of two different types, so that one index out of two can pass over the other. One proposed form is to have double-sloped roof type indexes. Six of the twelve indexes have a high height on the axis side, the lower edges are parallel to the dial and the upper edge is inclined downwards towards the tip of the index. For the other six indexes also have a high height on the axis side, but the two lower edges rise from the axis towards the tip, while the upper edge is horizontal.

The indexes can also have only the last third which differentiates the two types: the last third will be either in the upper part or in the lower part.

Another embodiment is possible with twelve Maltese crosses. This other embodiment has the advantage of not requiring an annular bridge, but it occupies an additional level to fix the pins on the central circular part attached to the hour wheel, it requires the installation on the plate of twelve axes to pivot the cannons of the Maltese crosses and therefore it involves manufacturing twelve cannons, each fixed on a Maltese cross.

The lower surface of each index must be cut with a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped tab, two corners of which are turned in. The top of each barrel of the Maltese crosses has two opposite notches to receive the rectangular parallelepiped-shaped tab.

Claims (5)

Mechanism for displaying overlapping hours, includes, at a minimum:
- a roadway, a timer wheel and a classic hour wheel;
- a partially toothed wheel, attached to the hour wheel to rotate pinions;
- possibly an annular support to hold twelve pinion bases;
- twelve pinions, each supporting an hour marker;
- an annular bridge to hold twelve pinion axles;
- twelve elongated indexes for each hour, mounted on the twelve axes of the pinions;
characterized in that the hour markers are fixed on the axis of the pinions, with at rest the largest part of the index on the edge side of the dial and the smallest part on the center side, so that during a time change two pinions pivot 180°, so that the large part of the index of the following hour points progressively towards the center to indicate the following hour, breaking the alignment formed by the other more recessed indexes, while the large part of the index of the hour which ends returns towards the edge of the dial. Mechanism for displaying overlapping hours, according to claim 1, characterized in that the pinions are blocked by the smooth edge of a partially toothed wheel and integral with the hour wheel, and at each change of hour, two of the pinions pivot by 180° during the passage of two groups of teeth of this partially toothed wheel, the two pinions are: the pinion of the hour index which ends and the pinion of the hour index which begins. Mechanism for displaying overlapping hours, according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the mechanism operates with pinions with an even number of teeth. Overlapping hour display mechanism, according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the 180° pivoting mechanism of the twelve pinions can be produced with twelve Maltese crosses, each with a barrel for fixing an index there, each of these twelve Maltese crosses pivots 180° when passing two groups of pins fixed on the wheel integral with the hour wheel. Mechanism for displaying overlapping hours, according to all the preceding claims, characterized in that the invention is integrated into the movement of a timepiece of the watch, pendulum or clock type.