Transmission mechanism for a magnet-bearing ornament

A transmission mechanism for a magnet-bearing ornament, in which a clock main spring barrel serves to provide power required by the ornament to show a dynamic scene. The clock main spring barrel has a second wheel to replace a conventional second hand. The second wheel has a large number of teeth provided along its circumferential surface and meshes with a small driven gear to cause the latter to rotate at a high speed. The small driven gear may then cause a magnet-bearing member to coaxially rotate with it via a rotating shaft of the gear connected to the magnet-bearing member. Alternatively, the small driven gear is provided with a major rotational disc having magnets attached thereto. When the small driven gear rotates, the major rotational disc rotates synchronously to magnetically rotate the magnet-bearing member behind a background board of the ornament disposed between the clock main spring barrel and a front showing space. The rotated magnet-bearing member shall cause some magnetically inducible articles in the showing space to move in changeful manners.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a transmission mechanism for a 
magnet-bearing ornament, and more particularly to a transmission mechanism 
which uses a second wheel included in a clock main spring barrel as a 
power source. The second wheel has large numbers of circumferential teeth 
to mesh with a small driven gear, so that the small gear is caused to 
rotate at a high speed and bring a magnet-bearing member connected to a 
rotating shaft of the small gear to coaxially rotate. Alternatively, the 
small driven gear may indirectly rotate the magnet-bearing member by means 
of magnetic attraction between the gear and the member. The rotated 
magnet-bearing member shall then cause magnetically inducible articles in 
a showing space of the ornament to move in changeful manners, showing a 
dynamic scene on the ornament. 
Magnet-bearing oranments providing a dynamic scene are now very popular in 
the market. Such ornaments usually include a magnet-bearing member which 
rotates or moves in other manners to cause some magnetically inducible 
articles in the ornaments to move in changeful manners, and therefore show 
a dynamic scene in the ornaments. Most of these ornaments use batteries 
and a motor to rotate the magnet-bearing member. The batteries have to be 
replaced from time to time due to a high power consumption of the 
ornaments. To save the power consumption, the ornaments are normally 
turned off. This prevents the ornaments from providing the dynamic scene 
for a long and continued time period. The same drawbacks existed in the 
conventional spring-actuated dynamic ornaments are found in these battery 
or motor powered ornaments. U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,681 titled "Dynamic Fluid 
Clock" granted to the inventor discloses an ornament which employs a 
second hand shaft of the clock as the only source to provide a 
transmission force. In the above US patent, the second hand is so designed 
that it is a magnet-bearing disc serving as a magnetic inductor. The 
second magnetic inductor causes magnetically inducible articles in a 
fluid-filled container on the ornament to move along with 
1. the magnetic inductor every one second. At least following advantages 
are found in this type of power source employing a clock main spring 
barrel: 
1. The clock main spring barrel consumes only a very low power and 
therefore the same batteries used on the present invention can provide 
longer service life than on the motor-actuated ornaments. The batteries 
need not to be replaced frequently. 
2. The clock main spring barrel can be used for time indication while its 
second hand shaft can be used as a power source of the dynamic fluid 
ornament, giving the ornament a combined function and an added value. 
3. Due to its low power-consumption, the ornament actuated with a clock 
main spring barrel can be used for a prolonged time period without the 
necessity of frequent replacement of batteries and/or switching on and off 
the ornament. This enables the ornament to be displayed at any place at 
any time. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a transmission 
mechanism for a magnet-bearing ornament, which enables the magnet-bearing 
member in the ornament to rotate or move in other manners at a higher 
speed, so as to show a fully dynamic and more interesting and attractive 
scene on the ornament. 
To achieve the above object, the transmission mechanism according to the 
present invention mainly includes a clock main spring barrel as a power 
source and a toothed second wheel changed from a conventional second hand. 
The second wheel is provided with a large number of circumferential teeth 
to mesh with a small driven gear, so that the small driven gear is brought 
by the second wheel to rotate at a higher speed. The small driven gear may 
in turn rotate a magnet-bearing member either via a gear shaft connected 
to the magnet-bearing member or by magnetic attraction. When the 
magnet-bearing member is rotated by the small driven gear at high speed, 
it causes some magnetically inducible articles in a showing space of the 
ornament to be magnetically induced and to move in more changeful manners.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 2 in which a magnet-bearing ornament 1 with a 
transmission mechanism according to a first embodiment of the present 
invention is shown. The magnet-bearing ornament 1 includes a clock main 
spring barrel 2. An hour hand 21 and a minute hand 22 are provided in 
front of the main spring barrel 2 and respectively have a predetermined 
length, so that their free ends locate in an outer annular area 11 of a 
front surface of the ornament 1 and can be seen from outside the ornament 
1. A second wheel 23 is provided to replace a conventional second hand 
driven by a second shaft connected to the main spring barrel 2. The second 
wheel 23 has a dimension and material that are properly selected without 
affecting a given torque force of the second shaft of the main spring 
barrel 2. The second wheel 23 is formed of a considerably large number of 
teeth, so that it may drive a small driven gear 3 meshed with it to rotate 
at a high speed. The small driven gear 3 is rotatably mounted on a 
supporting member fixed to the ornament 1, so that a rotating shaft 31 of 
the small driven gear 3 is connected to and brings a magnet-bearing member 
4 to coaxially rotate with the small driven gear 3 at the same time. The 
magnet-bearing member 4 can be of any shape and bears one or more pieces 
of magnets 41. Numbers of the magnets 41 and arrangements of magnetic 
poles are not particularly limited. That is, the ornament 1 can be 
differently designed depending on any desired changes in the magnetic pole 
positions. When the magnet-bearing member 4 rotates, it causes changes in 
the position of the magnetic poles. A main purpose to cause such changes 
in the magnetic pole positions is to produce changed magnetic fields 
within a magnetic induction effective space. Whereby, one or more articles 
5 that can be magnetically induced by the magnets 41 inside the 
magnet-bearing member 4 may be induced to move and provide some 
anticipated dynamic and interesting decorative scenes on the ornament 1. 
To achieve better magnetic induction effect, the ornament 1 is provided at 
a front surface with a transparent and suitably sized showcase to define a 
showing space 12 therein for accommodation of the magnetically inducible 
articles 5 and other decorative items. The showing space 12 substantially 
surrounds the magnet-bearing member 4, allowing the magnetically inducible 
articles 5 in the showing space 12 to dynamically move due to magnetic 
induction by the magnets 41 in the magnet-bearing member 4. The showing 
space 12 is not necessarily a closed space. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, 
liquid can be filled in the showing space 12. And, articles 5 can be 
designed to look like some fish. Changing magnetic fields cause the 
fish-shaped articles 5 to "swim" in water, that is, in the liquid filled 
in the showing space 12. 
The small driven gear 3 is not necessarily mounted to a fixed position on 
the ornament 1. The gear 3 can be located at any point meshing with a 
toothed circumferential surface of the second wheel 23, depending on the 
actual need in design. Thus, the magnet-bearing member 4 may also have 
different positions on the ornament 1. However, to achieve better magnetic 
induction effect between the articles 5 and the magnet-bearing member 4, 
the magnet-bearing member 4 is preferably located at a position forward 
projecting into the showing space 12, as shown in FIG. 2. To match with 
the shape designed for the articles 5, suitable decorative items and a 
background board 13 can be provided in the showing space 12. The 
background board 13 may be decorated or printed with different patterns or 
pictures and can be partially deformed to forward project into the showing 
space 12 to match with the forward projected magnet-bearing member 4. 
Alternatively, a separated decorative panel 14 can be provided in the 
showing space 12 to separate the protruded magnet-bearing member 4 from 
the liquid-filled showing space 12. FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the showing 
space 12 with such separated decorative panel 14. In either case, the 
liquid in the showing space 12 can be prevented from leaking out of the 
showing space 13 via the rotating shaft 31 connecting the magnet-bearing 
member 4 to the small driven gear 3. 
The ornament 1 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 may be hung on a wall surface or 
placed on a table or desk top. Or, as shown in FIG. 3, the ornament 1 can 
be provided at a back side with a hanging hole 15 and at a bottom with a 
bracket 16 and a matching supporting member 17 pivotally inserted in the 
bracket 16. When the supporting member 17 is inserted in the bracket 16 in 
a horizontal position, it serves as a movable support to allow the 
ornament 1 to incline backward but stably locate on the table or desk top. 
When the ornament 1 is in this backward inclined position, time indication 
by the hour hand and the minute hand at the outer annular area of the 
front surface of the ornament 1 can be clearly seen, while a dynamic scene 
provided in the showing space 12, that is, a central portion of the front 
surface of the ornament 1, allows the ornament 1 to provide a unique 
display effect which has never been found in other products available in 
the market. 
FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate another differently designed ornament 1 using a 
second embodiment of the transmission mechanism of the present invention. 
In this embodiment, the clock main spring barrel 2 allows the time 
indication in a different manner. The hour hand 21 and the minute hand 22 
in the first embodiment of the present invention are replaced by two dials 
21, 22 respectively provided at their front surfaces with scales or 
figures representing hours and minutes. A pointer is fixedly provided near 
a top front of the ornament 1 to indicate the time shown by the two dials 
21 and 22. To match with this different time indication manner, the 
showing space 12 in this embodiment is located at a lower front portion of 
the ornament 1, while the second wheel 23, the small driven gear 3, and 
magnet-bearing member 4, and the magnetically inducible articles 5 are 
arranged by similar technical means. This second embodiment of the present 
invention is different from the first embodiment in the different 
arrangements of components in the ornament 1. For example, the showing 
space 12 is provided thereinside with a scene of a garden and the articles 
5 are butterflies hanging from a top of the showing space 12 by means of 
fine strings, as well as some other soft plants. The rotation of the 
magnet-bearing member 4 by the transmission mechanism of the present 
invention behind the showing space 12 causes changing magnetic fields in 
the showing space 12 and magnetically induces the butterflies and plants 
to swing or sway, giving a dynamic and interesting display effect. 
In the embodiments shown by FIGS. 1 to 5, the small driven gear 3 has a 
rotating shaft 31 which directly extends into the magnet-bearing member 4 
to bring the latter to coaxially rotate with the small driven gear 3. In a 
third embodiment of the present invention, the magnet-bearing member 4 is 
indirectly brought to rotate while the same dynamic display effect can be 
achieved. 
Since the third embodiment of the present invention involves only 
improvements to a small part of the transmission mechanism, the appearance 
of the ornament 1 is not affected and can be substantially the same as 
that shown in FIGS. 1 to 5. An overall structure of the ornament 1 is also 
the same in all these embodiments. 
The ornament 1 with the third embodiment of the transmission mechanism of 
the present invention mainly includes a main body 1, an outer annular area 
11, a showing space 12, a background board 13, a decorative panel 14, a 
clock main spring barrel 2, an hour hand 21, a minute hand 22, a second 
wheel 23, a small driven gear 3, a magnet-bearing member 4, magnets 41, 
and magnetically inducible articles 5. Unlike the small driven gear 3 in 
the previous two embodiments, which has a rotating shaft 31 mounted on a 
supporting member, such as the background board 13 of the ornament 1, to 
extend into and connect with the magnet-bearing member 4, so as to bring 
the member 4 to coaxially rotate with the small driven gear 3, the small 
driven gear 3 in this third embodiment does not have a rotating shaft but 
is provided at one side close to the background board 13 with a fixedly 
attached major rotational disc 32, so that the major rotational disc 32 
and the small driven gear 3 rotate synchronously. The major rotational 
disc 32 has an adequate diameter and has predetermined numbers of magnets 
33 being properly arranged on a surface of the disc 32 that faces the 
magnet-bearing member 4. The magnet-bearing member 4 again bears 
predetermined numbers of magnets 41 thereinside. A secondary rotational 
disc 42 is provided on the magnet-bearing member 4 near an end thereof 
close to the background board 13. The secondary rotational disc 42 is 
provided on a surface that faces the background board 13 with magnets 43 
in numbers and positions corresponding to that of the magnets 33, so that 
magnets 33 and 43 attract one another. Whereby, when the major rotational 
disc 32 rotates, it may magnetically rotate the secondary rotational disc 
42 at the other side of the background board 13 to achieve the same 
transmission function as that would achieved via the rotating shaft 31 of 
the small driven gear 3. To prevent the secondary rotational disc 42 from 
being magnetically attached to the background board 13 and therefore 
forming increased frictionally contacting areas with the background board 
13, a projected shaft 44 having a smoothly rounded free end is 
additionally provided to a center of the secondary rotational disc 42, so 
that the secondary rotational disc 42 rotates with the smoothly rounded 
free end of the projected shaft 44 pushing against the background board 
13, permitting the whole magnet-bearing member 4 to rotate in a more 
smooth manner. 
The indirect transmission of components inside the ornament 1 by means of 
magnetic attraction is different from the direct transmission via coaxial 
rotating force in at least following aspects: 
1. The magnetic force of the magnets 41 carried by the magnet-bearing 
member 4 has direct relation with the motion of the magnetically inducible 
articles. However, when bigger and heavier magnets 41 are required to 
achieve desired dynamic display effect, the small driven gear 3 used to 
directly rotate the magnet-bearing member 4 via the rotating shaft 31 
might encounter with a condition of insufficient torque force which will 
also adversely effect the accuracy of hour and minute hands controlled by 
the clock main spring barrel 2. On the other hand, when the indirect 
transmission manner by means of magnetic attraction is used to rotate the 
magnet-bearing member 4, since the background board 13 completely 
separates the liquid-filled showing space 12 from the rest portion of the 
ornament 1, a space for accommodating the magnet-bearing member 4 between 
the background board 13 and the decorative panel 14 and even an additional 
housing 131 attached to the background board 13 for covering the 
magnet-bearing member 4 is not necessarily to be watertight. It is even 
desirable to provide in this- space with liquid or bubbles so that a 
buoyancy of the liquid and bubbles makes the whole magnet-bearing member 4 
lighter for the major rotational disc 32 to magnetically rotate the member 
4 more easily. 
2. Since the housing 131 and the decorative panel 14 are not necessarily to 
be a watertight design, the problem of providing any packing around the 
rotating shaft 31 does not exist. Moreover, since the magnetic attraction 
between the major and the secondary rotational discs 32, 42 shall cause 
the magnet-bearing member 4 to automatically return to its position behind 
the background board 13 corresponding to the small driven gear 3, the 
housing 131 or the decorative panel 14 for covering and limiting the 
member 4 in place behind the background board 13 needs not to be very 
accurately manufactured. A tolerance is allowed between joints of these 
components. 
Ornament 1 illustrated in FIG. 7 is similar to that of FIG. 5 but employing 
the indirect transmission by magnetic attraction as shown in FIG. 6. That 
is, the small driven gear 3 no longer has a rotating shaft 31 and is 
provided with a major rotational disc 32 to magnetically rotate a 
secondary rotational disc 42 provided about the magnet-bearing member 4 
behind the background board 13. 
From experiments conducted on the magnet-bearing ornament 1 having 
transmission mechanism according to the present invention, the second 
shaft of the clock main spring barrel is proven to provide sufficient and 
adequate torque force and batteries are proven to have prolonged life to 
provide power to the ornament 1.