IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES AND CHRONOMETERS."
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Emanuel Fridlander, of Coventry, in the
County of Warwick, Watch Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES AND CHRONOMETERS."
وو
Sealed the 11th March 1870, and dated the 30th September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Emanuel Frid-
lander at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 30th September 1869.
I, ALFRED EMANUEL FRIDLANDER, of Coventry, in the County of
Warwick, Watch Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES AND CHRONOMETERS," to be
as follows:-
My Invention has reference to the independent stop centre seconds
hand of watches and chronometers, and consists of the improvements
herein-after described in constructing and arranging the mechanism for

page_text: giving motion to and arresting the said independent stop centre seconds
hand.
In constructing and arranging the parts of the said mechanism
according to my Invention I place in the centre of the plates or frame
of the watch or chronometer an arbor, on which a loose hollow pinion
works. The said arbor is provided with a long pivot which extends
through the steel pipe fixed on the outer side of the pillar plate. This
pivot carries the centre seconds hand. The said loose hollow pinion
is connected to the arbor of the seconds hand by means of a small light
spring carried by a collet affixed to the bottom of the said loose pinion.
By means of this small spring binding the pinion to the arbor the
motion of the pinion is transmitted to the arbor and seconds hand carried
by it. The hollow pinion is driven by the third wheel of a single train
of wheels similar to that used with an ordinary centre seconds plate
watch, the fourth occupying the same position as the fourth wheel of
an ordinary watch instead of being situated in the centre of the watch
as in centre seconds watches of the kind referred to. To the top of the
arbor above the loose pinion is another collet, against the edge of which
collet a spring arm or lever connected with the stop-work at the edge
of the watch may at pleasure be made to bear. The arbor described is
steadied near the top plate of the watch by a small steel spring under-
neath the said top plate. When the watch is at work motion is
transmitted by the train of wheels described to the loose pinion and
by the binding action of the spring on the said pinion to the arbor
carrying the independent centre seconds hand. When however it is
wished to arrest the motion of the said seconds hand to mark time the
stopwork is brought into action, and its spring arm or lever made to
bear against the collet at the top of the arbor. The pressure of the said
spring arm or lever being greater than that of the light spring which
binds the loose pinion to the arbor, the latter immediately comes to
rest and stops the seconds hand the loose pinion continuing to travel
without interfering with the action of the watch. By throwing the stop-
work out of action the independent centre seconds hand starts instantly
instead of stopping for half a second, as sometimes happens in watches
provided with the ordinary arrangement.
By constructing and arranging in the manner described the mechanism
of the independent stop centre seconds hand the double train of wheels

page_text: ordinarily employed is dispensed with, and great economy thereby
secured in the cost of the watch.
My Invention also admits of the use of a fusee and chain which
cannot be applied to the ordinary double train independent stop centre
seconds hand.
Further, watches provided with my Invention wind in the same way
as ordinary English watches, which is not the case with watches pro-
vided with a double train.
The ordinary small seconds hand is combined in the watch with my
imnmoved indonandon
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Emanuel Fridlander in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 18th March 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
EMANUEL FRIDLANDER, of Coventry, in the County of Warwick, Watch
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Emanuel Fridlander,
Her special licence that I, the said Alfred Emanuel Fridlander, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alfred Emanuel Fridlander, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES AND CHRONOMETERS,”
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Emanuel
Fridlander, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Emanuel Fridlander, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention has reference to the independent stop centre seconds
hands of watches and chronometers, and consists of the improvements
herein-after described in constructing and arranging the mechanism for
giving motion to and arresting the said independent stop centre seconds
hands.
In constructing and arranging the parts of the said mechanism
according to my Invention I place in the centre of the plates or frame
of the watch or chronometer an arbor, on which a loose hollow pinion
works. The said arbor is provided with a long pivot, which extends
through the steel pipe fixed on the outer side of the pillar plate. This
pivot carries the centre seconds hand. The said loose hollow pinion is
connected to the arbor of the seconds hand by means of a small light
spring carried by a collet affixed to the bottom of the said loose pinion.
By means of this small spring binding the pinion to the arbor the motion
of the pinion is transmitted to the arbor and seconds hand carried by it.
The hollow pinion is driven by the third wheel of a single train of
wheels, similar to that used with an ordinary centre seconds three-
quarter plate watch, the fourth wheel occupying the same position as
the fourth wheel of an ordinary watch, instead of being situated in the
centro of the watch as in centre seconds watches of the kind referred
to. To the top of the arbor above the loose pinion is another collct,
against the edge of which collet a spring arm or lever connected with
the stopwork at the edge of the watch may at pleasure be made to bear.
The arbor described is steadied near the top by a steel spring secured to
the pillar plate. When the watch is at work motion is transmitted by
the train of wheels described to the loose pinion, and by the binding
action of the spring on the said pinion to the arbor carrying the inde-
pendent centre seconds hand. When however it is wished to arrest the
motion of the said seconds hand to mark time the stopwork is brought
into action, and its spring arm or lever is made to bear against the collet

page_text: at the top of the arbor. The pressure of the said spring arm or lever
being greater than that of the light spring which binds the loose pinion
to the arbor the latter immediately comes to rest and stops the seconds
hand, the loose pinion continuing to travel without interfering with the
action of the watch. By throwing the stopwork out of action the
independent centre seconds hand starts instantly instead of stopping
for half a second, as sometimes happens in watches provided with the
ordinary arrangement.
The ordinary small seconds hand is combined in the watch with my
improved independent stop centre seconds hand.
Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to
describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in plan the upper side of a portion of a watch drawn
double the full size containing my improvements, the top plate being
removed; Figure 2 is a plan of the under side of the same; Figure 3
represents a section of Figure 1 taken through the axis thereof, with the
addition of the top plate of the watch; Figure 4 is a portion of Figure 3
drawn to a larger scale, the said Figure 4 exhibiting the principal parts
my Invention. The same letters of reference are employed to indicate
the same parts in each Figure.
of
a is the pillar plate of the watch, and 6 is the top plate; c is the arbor
situated and working in the centre of the plates a, b. The said arbor is
provided with a long pivot c³, which extends through the steel pipe d
fixed on the outer side of the pillar plate a. The said pivot c³ carries the
independent centre seconds hand. On the said arbor c a loose hollow
pinion e works, the said hollow pinion being connected to the arbor by
means of the small light spring carried by the collet g, the said collet g
being affixed to the bottom of the said hollow pinion, as best seen in
Figure 4. By an examination of Figure 4 it will be seen that the light
spring starts from the collet g, and is coiled around the upper end of
the pivot o³ of the arbor. By means of the said small spring binding
the pinion to the arbor the motion of the pinion c is transmitted to the
arbor and seconds hand carried by it. The loose pinion e is driven by
the third wheel of the single train of wheels h, k, i, the said single
train of wheels being similar to that used with an ordinary centre
seconds three-quarter plate watch, that is to say, the toothed wheel i

page_text: of the fusee / gears with the pinion on the axis of the wheel %, and the
said wheel / gears with the pinion on the axis of the wheel h, and the
said wheel with the loose hollow pinion e on the arbor c carrying
the independent centre seconds hand. The wheel h also gears with the
pinion on the axis of the wheel m, and the said wheel m gears with the
pinion of the escapement wheel. The spring barrel of the watch is
marked n in Figure 1, and the way in which the hollow pinion e is
driven from the toothed wheel of the fusee will be readily seen by an
examination of the said Figure 1. On the upper side of the pillar plate a
is a rod p carrying a small spring q, the said spring bearing against the
arbor c. By means of the said spring a the arbor c is steadied, and the
loose hollow pinion e kept in gear with the toothed wheel h.
The stopwork mechanism for arresting the motion of the arbor c of
the seconds hand is constructed as follows:-To the top of the said
arbor c above the loose pinion e is another collet r, against the edge of
which collet a spring arm or levers may be made at pleasure to bear.
In the Drawing the said spring arm & is represented bearing against the
said collet r. The said spring arms is connected to the axis t. The
said axis t passes through the pillar plate a, and carries at bottom a
lever u having a V-shaped end, which end works in the forked end of the 2
spring (see Figure 2). By means of the spring the stopwork
mechanism is fixed in its acting or non-acting position. The outer
end u² of the lever u projects upwards, and works in a slot w at the edge
of the watch. The said end us of the lever forms a finger plate, against
which the thumb or finger nail may be pressed to move the stopwork.
When the stopwork is out of action the spring arms is moved from the
edge of the collet », the said spring arm then occupying the position
indicated in dotted lines in Figure 1. When the watch is at work and
the spring arms is out of action motion is transmitted through the train
of wheels i, k, h, to the loose pinion e, and by the binding action of the 3
light spring the motion of the said pinion is transmitted to the
arbor c, c³, carrying the independent centre seconds hand. When it is
wished to arrest the motion of the said seconds hand to mark time, the
finger plate a³ of the stopwork is moved in the direction indicated by
the arrow in Figure 1, so as to make the spring arm & bear against the 3
edge of the collet r, as represented in the Drawing. The pressure of the
said spring arm & boing greater than that of the light spring which

page_text: binds the loose pinion e to the arbor c, c³, the said arbor immediately
comes to rest and stops the seconds hand, the loose pinion e continuing
to travel on the said arbor without interfering with the action of the
watch. By moving the thumb plate us of the stopwork in a direction
opposite to that indicated by the arrow the spring arm s is removed from
the collet r to the position indicated in dotted lines in Figure 1, when
the small light spring again coming into action instantly starts the
arbor c, c, and the independent centre seconds hand..
By constructing and arranging in the manner herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing the mechanism of the
independent stop centre seconds hand the double train of wheels
ordinarily employed is dispensed with, and great economy thereby
secured in the cost of the watch.
My Invention also admits of the use of a fusee and chain, which
cannot be applied to the ordinary double train independent stop centre
seconds hand.
Further, watches provided with my Invention wind in the same way
as ordinary English watches, which is not the case with watches provided
with a double train.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention, the improvements in
mechanism for giving motion to and arresting the independent stop
centre seconds hands of watches and chronometers herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say,
giving motion to the arbor carrying the said independent stop centre
seconds hand by means of a loose hollow pinion working on the said
arbor, and bound to the said arbor by a light spring affixed to a collet on
the said pinion, and arresting the said arbor and seconds hand to mark
time by means of a spring arm or lever moved by the stopwork at the
edge of the watch or chronometer bearing against a collet at the top of
the said arbor, the pressure of the said spring arm or lever on the last-
named collet being greater than that of the light spring which binds
the loose hollow pinion to the arbor, the parts being constructed and

page_text: arranged and working. substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Emanuel Fridlander, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
ALFRED EMANUEL FRIDLANDER. (L.S.)
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.