US3779000A

US3779000A - Correction device for day-and-date calendar watches

Info

Publication number: US3779000A
Application number: US00294507A
Authority: US
Inventors: P Schmid
Original assignee: SSIH Management Services SA
Current assignee: SSIH Management Services SA
Priority date: 1971-10-06
Filing date: 1972-10-03
Publication date: 1973-12-18
Anticipated expiration: 1990-12-18
Also published as: CH584926B5; JPS4846357A; CH1454271A4

Abstract

A correction mechanism for a calendar watch which connects a control organ such as the winding stem of the watch to first and second indicating organs such as day and date indicators. The correction mechanism comprises a driving organ which is one element of a jointed system with four joints. The driving organ has two drive beaks associated, respectively, with the first and second indicating organs. The beaks move together in a noncircular, closed curve in which one beak moves in a clockwise direction while the other beak is moving in a counter-clockwise direction. When a beak moves in one direction about the noncircular curve it will advance its associated indicating organ one step whereas movement of that beak in the opposite direction will not cause such indicating organ to advance one step.

Description

United States Patent Schmid 1 Dec. 18, 1973 CORRECTION DEVICE FOR 3,645,090 2/1972 Mochizuki et al. 58/58 DAY AND DATE CALENDAR WATCHES 3,662,534 5/1972 Columb 58/58 3,69l,756 9/1972 Ono 58/58 [75] Inventor: Peter Schmid, Diessbach b. Bueren,

Switzerland [73] Assignee: Societe Suisse pour llndustrie l-llorlogere Management Services SA, Bienne, Switzerland [22] Filed: Oct. 3, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 294,507

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 6, l97l Switzerland 14542/71 52 us. (:1. 58/58 [5l] Int. Cl. G04b 19/24 [58] Field of Search 58/4, 5, 58

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 3,659,4l3 5/1972 Tanaka et al. 58/58 3,470,687 l0/l969 Ono et al. 58/58 3,470,688 lO/l969 Miyasaka 58/58 3,597,916 8/l97l Nakagawa 58/58 I Primary Examiner-George H. Miller, Jr. Attorney-Richard K. Stevens et al.

[ 57] ABSTRACT A correction mechanism for a calendar watch which connects a control organ such as the winding stem of the watch to first and second indicating organs such as day and date indicators. The correction mechanism comprises a driving organ which is one element of a jointed system with four joints. The driving organ has two drive beaks associated, respectively, with the first and second indicating organs. The beaks move together in a non-circular, closed curve in which one beak moves in a clockwise direction while the other beak is moving in a counter-clockwise direction. When a beak moves in one direction about the noncircular curve it will advance its associated indicating organ one step whereas movement of that beak in the opposite direction will not cause such indicating organ to advance one step.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEB DEC 18 I913 SHEET 1 BF 3 I m F PATENTEU DEC] 8 I973 SHEET 3 OF 3 mm mm R mm R CORRECTION DEVICE FOR DAY-AND-DATE CALENDAR WATCHES The present invention relates to a correction device for a day and date calendar watch comprising a control organ which is accessible from the outside of the watch and a control mechanism which may be put into a correction position in order to connect said control organ to an indicating organ which indicates the day and date.

It is known to provide calendar watches with a correction device which allows movement of the indicating organ(s) of the calendar from the outside of the watch without requiring movement of the hour-hand position and the minute-handposition. Such a device can correct the calendar either when the watch is put into operation or at the end of a month of less than 31 days and with a rapid operation that does not affect the setting of the watch. When the setting of the minute hand is regulated with respect to that of the second hand in a high precision watch, it is important that such setting not be disturbed when a calendar correction is performed.

In simple date-indicating watches, correction devices exist which no longer cause appreciable difficulties. However, the correction devices that have been proposed for use in day and date watches in general have been so conceived as to introduce supplementary elements to devices meant for a simple date watch and, therefore, cumbersome and complex devices, which are difficult to adjust have resulted.

Thus, correction mechanisms are known which may be controlled by the winding stem when placed the socalled correction position which is an axial position.

However, the in transmission of the rotation motion of the stem to the indicating organ which one wishes to correct requires, in these known devices, that use be made of complex mechanisms that generally include wheel-and-pinions made up of several elements, for example, a toothed wheel and a star wheel fastened to each other or coupled to one another, such wheel-andpinions themselves being supported by levers or rocking bars. The different parts of those mechanisms must be assembled in the vicinity of the stem between the indicating organs and the minute wheel, and often it is dificult to find a compact arrangement that will allow placing them in such manner that their gearing will take place without danger of blocking or haphazard rotation.

Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a correction device of the kind mentioned above which will be simpler to manufacture and the setting of which will be less complex than in known devices.

Certain known driving devices which are used for the daily driving of the date or date-and-day watches comprise movable parts driven by an eccentric or by a rotating finger, such movable parts being, for example, guided by pins in such manner as to describe a complex motion of translation and of rotation on the bottom plate. However, in these known mechanisms, this part is located between the date crown and the day-star and takes up much space in the annular space extending between these two organs. It was not evident that making use of a plate of this kind was possible; however, making use of the plate presents an advantage with respect to the correction mechanism because of the necessity to array the elements of these mechanisms in the vicinity of the control stem.

The correction device according to the present invention is thus characterized in that the control mechanism comprises a driving organ which constitutes an element of a jointed system with four joints.

The attached drawings illustrate an embodiment of the device according to the invention.

FIG. I is a diagram of a plane jointed system with four joints.

FIG. 2 is a top view of an embodiment of the device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a top view, on another scale, of the control mechanism of the device shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a section along the line lV-IV of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a section along the line V-V of FIG. 3.

A plane jointed system with four joints comprising two fixed points always may be shown diagrammatically as illustrated in FIG. 1. Such a system comprises three movable arms M,,-A, AB and B-M The two joints M and M connect one of the arms to a fixed base while the two joints A and B each connect one of the movable arms M -A or M,,B to the connecting rod AB. Such a system is entirely deterministic and comprises only one degree of freedom. In other words, any displacement departed to one of the arms, for example to arm M, A, causes determined displacements in the other two arms. The arms M,,A and M B can only rotate about the joints M and M whereas the connecting rod AB describes a complex motion which is resolvable into translations and into rotations. According to the relative dimensions of the different system elements, the displacement amplitudes may vary. In particular, one may assign such dimensions to the system that the arm M,,A may execute a complete rotation around the joint M M,,A being a crank handle. Therefore, one will in general obtain a limited amplitude motion of joint B about joint M M,,B being a balance. If the connecting rod AB is made up of a plate having a certain width, all the points of this plate may be taken into account, for instance such points as E and F, and one may study the paths they will describe when the jointed system will deform. Known computational methods will allow one to determine the paths of any point of the elements of the system such as shown in FIG. I when the determining elements of the system are fixed. inversely, the initial condition may be made up of the paths that one wishes to have two points follow in one of the system elements, for instance such points as E and F of the connecting rod AB, and one may determine the position of these points with respect to joints A and B, and one may also determine the determining elements of the system so as to satisfy the initial conditions.

Thus, when one wishes to make use of this method in order to resolve the problem of execution of a correction device for a date-and-day watch, one observes that a jointed system with four joints, such as shown in FIG. 1, does solve this problem. Stated more precisely, a solution to the problem will be found when one makes use of a jointed system such as the system M A, B, M,, of FIG. 1, in which the length of the balance M -B is infinite. It is obvious that this case may be realized in practice by constraining point B to move in a straight line, that is by connecting one end of the connecting rod AB to the fixed base by means of a sliding joint which may be made up of a cylindrical stud in a groove or in a straight slit fashioned in the systems base.

With these stated conditions, the problem now consists of finding the value of the length of the crankhandle M A, of finding the shape and the dimensions of the connecting rod A-B, so that two points of the latter, namely the points E and F, each will describe a closed curve passing in the teeth of one of the calendar indicating organs. Also, it is assumed that those parts of the connecting rod AB which form points E and F will grip the teeth of these organs and thus cause a displacement of these organs such that each one will jump by one step when the curve is followed in one direction, whereas when the curve is followed in the other direction it will be slightly displaced and will return to its initial position.

Now, experience has shown that when starting from such conditions, one could achieve a jointed system of small size and that, furthermore, the connecting rod AB of this system does comprise a point (not shown in FIG. 1) which practically follows a closed path reducing to a line segment which will be followed by that point once in one direction and once in the other. As will be seen below, such circumstance allows execution of a correction device with a particularly advantageous operation.

FIG. 2 illustrates a practical embodiment of the system of FIG. 1. The drawing shows a date ring 1 which is provided with a toothing 2 of ill teeth and which is normally maintained in a rest position by placing the jumper beak 3 between two teeth 2. Jumper beak 3 is conventionally actuated by a spring 4. These elements are assembled on the bottom plate of a calendar watch movement and the date ring 1 is normally actuated by one step every day by means of a calendar mechanism (not shown). A day-star 5, having seven teeth, is coaxial with ring 1 and also extends in the same plane as the date ring 1. Day-star 5 is maintained in a rest position by jumper 6 which is actuated by spring 7. This star 5,

' too, is controlled each day by calendar mechanism elements which are not shown in the drawing.

The correction device of the watch movement shown in the drawing comprises a circular disc 8 rotating around an axis which is rotatively mounted on the movement bottom plate. It may be fastened for instance to a pinion 9 which may be driven by a control organ such as the winding stem. Thus, a rotation of the winding stem causes a rotation of disc 8 around the axis 20 and the center of disc 8 then describes the circular curve 10. However, as a variation, the rotation of organ 8, pinion 9 may be driven by any other means such as the auxiliary crown, push-piece, stay, etc.

Disc 8 loosely engages a circular opening provided by the driving organ 11. The latter is a blanked metallic plate in the general shape of a triangle provided with three

beaks

12, 13 and 14.

Beaks

12 and 13 are made up of cut-out languets that are blanked with the metallic plate and are folded by 90 upwards, whereas beak 14 is simply shaped by a cut-out in the form of a crescent in the periphery of the metallic plate 11. This plate is housed on the movement bottom plate and partly extends under the date organ 1. As shown in the drawing, the two

beaks

12 and 13 are in the vicinity of the daystar 5 and of the date toothing 2, respectively. Furthermore, plate 11 is provided with a stud 15 projecting perpendicular to a face of plate 11. This stud may be stamped into plate 11 or may be force-fitted into it. It

engages a rectilinear groove 16 in the bottom plate so as to be capable of moving along the entire length of that groove. Lastly, a spring l7'which may be made from an elastic wire or which may consist of a blade rests on beak 14 so as to actuate it into a direction approximately parallel to that of groove 16.

Because of the explanation given at the beginning, the driving organ 11, the pinion or

transmission organ

8, 9, the stud l5 and groove 16 make up a jointed system with four joints comprising two fixed joints of which one is brought to infinity in a direction perpendicular to the groove 16, that is, a jointed system constituting a particular case of that of FIG. 1. The dimensions of the system are such that the crank-handle M,,-A constituted by

organ

8,9 may perform a complete rotation around its axis while the driving organ 1 1which constitutes the connecting rod AB, will assume a determined position for each orientation of the

transmission organ

8,9, where such position is obtained by the displacement of stud 15 in groove 16. The points of the jointed system corresponding to points E and F of FIG. 1 are those obtained by each of the edges of the folded-over

languets

12 and 13, and the paths these points describe when the transmission organ 9 rotates about its axis are represented by curves l8 and 19. It will be seen that these curves are ellipses. When

organ

8,9 rotates around its axis 20 in the sense of the watch hands, the active edges of the two eaks l2 and 13 respectively follow

curves

18 and 19 counterclockwise.

FIG. 2 shows in solid lines the various organs of the mechanism when in a rest position in which the two

jumpers

6 and 3 keep the day and date indicating organ in such orientation that each one of these organs causes one of its indications to appear in the appropriate window in the dial. When the

transmission organ

8,9 is made to rotate clockwise around the axis 20, the beak 13 will follow curve 19 in the counter-clockwise sense, and will grip immediately a tooth 2 and cause the date organ 1 to move in the counter-clockwise direction, as can be seen. This motion will proceed until the jointed mechanism and the date organ have reached the position shown in dashed lines in FIG. 2. The displacement of beak 12 which follows curve 18 in the counterclockwise direction, will not alter the position of star 5 nor that of jumper 6. On the other hand, it suffices that the teeth 2, which were behind the beak point of jumper beak 3, pass in front of this point. Under the influence of spring 4, the jumper beak 3, therefore, may cause the teeth 2 it is touching to slide by terminating the motion of date ring 1 so as to effect a complete step in the sense of the increasing date-numerals the moment the position shown in dashed lines has been reached. The date-ring 1, therefore, will advance by one step. When the motion of

organ

8,9 proceeds, beak 13 follows the end of path 19 without touching the date organ 1 but, on the other hand, beak 12 will slightly grip one of the teeth of star 5. The displacement imparted to the latter is not sufficient for the beak of jumper 6 to pass above one of the teeth it is touching and, therefore, the star 5 will finally rest in the same position when the control organ has performed a complete revolution. The mechanism then is again in the position shown in solid lines.

Thus, rotation of

organ

8,9 in the clockwise sense will correct the date-ring l by one step.

lnversely, a rotation of this

transmission organ

8,9 in the counter-clockwise sense causes

beaks

12 and 13 to follow paths l8 and I9 in the clockwise sense and brings the described elements in the position shown in clashes in FIG. 2. It will be observed that the displacement imparted to star 5 is sufficient to insure the commutation of this star under the influence of jumper 6 when the date-ring I has not been displaced.

Thus, a rotation of the

transmission organ

8,9 in the counter-clockwise sense will correct only the day star.

In the embodiment described herein, the control organ is constituted by the winding stem 21 of the movement. This stem is provided at its outer end with a crown 37 and is arrayed radially in the movement. In controls a setting lever 22 which may assume three different positions which are determined by the three

notches

23a, 23b and 23c which are fashioned in the setting lever spring 23 and at the top thereof. The inside position of stem 2B is the winding position. The clutch-pinion 24 is then kept in place by lever 25 and by the spring lever 26 so that it will gear the winding pinion 27. This position is not shown in the drawing. Rotation of stem 21 causes rotation of the crown wheel (not shown) and consequently the winding of the spring motor.

In the intermediate position of stem 21, which is that shown in solid lines in FIG. 3, the setting lever 22 will maintain lever 25 in such a position that the clutchpinion 24, by means of its toothing, will engage setting wheel 28. Lever 29, which pivots around the same axis as setting wheel 28 and to which is connected the setting wheel 30, is kept in place by spring 31 so that the setting wheel will simultaneously mesh in with pinion 9 and with setting wheel 28. In this position, rotation of stem 21 will cause pinion 9 to rotate and consequently it will cause a rotation of transmission organ 8. Thus the winding stem 21 controls correction as previously described.

lf the stem 21 is pulled into its third axial position (shown in dashed lines in FIG. 3), setting lever 22 will move by keeping the lever in place, but its front edge 32 will cause lever 29 to pivot so that setting wheel 30 will be freed from pinion 9 and will engage the minute wheel 33. The latter simultaneously actuates the hourwheel 34 and the cannon-pinion 35 as in any other conventional hour-setting mechanism.

It will be noticed that due to the unique driving organ lll, the axis of rotation of wheel and

pinion

8,9 could be placed in the immediate vicinity of the periphery of the bottom plate of the movement and that the setting wheel 30 may be so located as to radially engage pinion 9 and the minute wheel 33, and this set of factors pro vides particularly favorable conditions for meshing in.

The above described mechanism offers the advantage of being extremely easily executed and of requiring very little space since in sum it comprises only the eccentric 8,9 and the driving organ II. It comprises still another advantage in that beak I4 is at such a location that the curve 36 described by it is in a shape very close to an extremely elongated ellipse. This curve may be practically likened to a simple line stretching between these two end points and which line is crossed by beak 14 once in one direction and once in the other direction, during the rotation of the control organ. The position held by beak I4 when the mechanism is at rest is one of the extreme points of this line which is almost straight and parallel to groove 16. Therefore, if the mechanism is freed by uncoupling the clutch-pinion from the pinion 9 when this mechanism is in a location different from that shown in solid lines in the drawing, the driving organ I1 and the

transmission organ

8,9 will automaticaly be brought back to this rest position by spring 17. Now, this rest position is such that star 5 and date-ring 1 may move without touching beaks l2 and 13. Therefore, the correction device as described will entirely release the calendar mechanism when it is in the rest position and this allows automatic commutation of the date and of the day in normal operation of the watch.

Lastly, it will be observed again that in order to insure the jumping of the indicating organ under the in fluence of the displacements imparted by the driving organ 11, the beaks ofjumpers 3 and 6 may be asymmetrical, one of the flanks being longer than the other. This is the case for jumper 3 in the embodiment shown in the drawing.

The above specifications and the relevant drawings therefor show that all of the functions of a correction mechanism in a date-and-day watch may be obtained by using a jointed mechanism with four joints comprising two fixed points as connection between a control organ and the indicating organs. It is obvious however that such a mechanism may be fashioned in an infinite number of different ways, differing from the examples shown according to the shape and the dimensions of the system elements. in particular, curves l8 and 19 may vary as regards shape and dimension. The direction in which these curves are crossed may also vary according to the arrangement selected. Thus, rather than the correction device correcting the date alone when the control organ rotates in one direction and the day alone when the control organ rotates in the other direction, one may execute a mechanism commutating the date and the day when the control organ is rotated in one direction and the day only when one is rotating the control organ in the other direction, such a variation being only mentioned as an illustration of the manifold possibilities being offered by the described device.

There is another example flowing directly from the discussion above, particularly the case when the correction device is combined with the commutation device of the calendar. In that case the jointed system with four joints may be part of a more complex system of which certain points of certain elements will insure the commutation of the indicating organs of the calendar starting from the movement, other points of another element of the system being made use of in order to effect the corrections. In such a case it is obvious that at least one of the joints that was considered as being fixed in the system of four joints as illustrated in the drawing may be constrained to certain displacements imparted by other system elements.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for selectively correcting the positions of indicating members of a calendar watch, comprising:

a control member extending from the interior to the exterior of said watch;

first and second indicating members;

holding means normally holding said first and second indicating members in selected ones of a plurality of available positions;

a wheel;

gear means connecting said wheel with said control member;

an eccentric mounted on said wheel for movement therewith;

a driving member coupled to said eccentric for movement therewith, said driving member having a stud attached thereto;

a member fixed against movement with said driving member and having a groove engaging said stud, and

first and second driving beaks on said driving member, said beaks engaging said first and second indicating members, respectively, during a complete rotation of said eccentric, said driving member following a restricted definte path of movement and said beaks following non-circular paths of movement during said complete rotation.

2. A device according to claim 1 wherein said groove is rectilinear.

3. A device according to claim 1 comprising a jumper, having an asymmetrical beak, which normally maintains an indicating member in a fixed position, said beak having two ramps of unequal length.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first and second indicating members have toothed portions and said holding means comprises first and second jumper members biased into engagement with respective toothed portions of said first and second indicating members.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said driving member is mounted for engagement with said indicating members such that movement of a driving beak in one direction against a corresponding indicating member produces insufiicient movement of said corresponding indicating member to advance said indicating member by one full step against the biasing action of the corresponding jumper member and movement of said driving beak in the opposite direction against said corresponding indicating member advances said indicating member one full step against the biasing action of said corresponding jumper member.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a resilient member; and wherein said driving member includes a third beak describing a flattened curve between two end points, said resilient member contactsaid first and second indicating members.

Claims

1. Apparatus for selectively correcting the positions of indicating members of a calendar watch, comprising: a control member extending from the interior to the exterior of said watch; first and second indicating members; holding means normally holding said first and second indicating members in selected ones of a plurality of available positions; a wheel; gear means connecting said wheel with said control member; an eccentric mounted on said wheel for movement therewith; a driving member coupled to said eccentric for movement therewith, said driving member having a stud attached thereto; a member fixed against movement with said driving member and having a groove engaging said stud, and first and second driving beaks on said driving member, said beaks engaging said first and second indicating members, respectively, during a complete rotation of said eccentric, said driving member following a restricted definte path of movement and said beaks following non-circular paths of movement during said complete rotation.

2. A device according to claim 1 wherein said groove is rectilinear.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said driving member is mounted for engagement with said indicating members such that movement of a driving beak in one direction against a corresponding indicating member produces insufficient movement of said corresponding indicating member to advance said indicating member by one full step against the biasing action of the corresponding jumper member and movement of said driving beak in the oppOsite direction against said corresponding indicating member advances said indicating member one full step against the biasing action of said corresponding jumper member.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a resilient member; and wherein said driving member includes a third beak describing a flattened curve between two end points, said resilient member contacting said third beak to bias said driving member toward a position wherein said first and second driving beaks are held away from the paths described by the teeth of said first and second indicating members.