Iм- PROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC CLOCKS OR CLOCKWORK
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC CLOCKS OR CLOCKWORK."- -A communication
from abroad by Emile Joanni Gondolo, of Paris, in the Republic
of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th August 1875.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
3 of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC CLOCKS OR CLOCKWORK," a com-
munication to me from abroad by Emile Joanni Gondolo, of Paris,
in the Republic of France, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the construction

page_text: required from the battery to drive the clocks or clockwork may be
considerably reduced.
Hitherto the use of clocks or timekeepers called receivers controlled
or worked by electricity has been attended with inconveniences which
have prevented them from being generally used; in these receivers the
wheelwork is put in motion by the power of electricity, which thus has
to accomplish the work done; in the case of ordinary clocks, by the
driving spring, so that in order to overcome all the passive resistance
offered by the mechanism there is required an electro-magnet of great
power worked by an electric battery of proportionate strength. Hence
a spark is produced on the interruption of the current at the points of
contact where the circuit is broken, and a transference of metal to take
place from one contact point to the other, causing them to oxidize
rapidly, even when made of the least oxidizable metals, such for example
as platinum.
According to this Invention (with a view to obviate these incon-
veniences) the receivers are constructed upon the following principle:-
The power required to work them or to drive the clock train instead of
being derived from the electricity, as has hitherto been done, is obtained
from one of the ordinary motors used in clockwork. From the electricity
is simply taken the power required to work a lever or other device
serving to liberate the escapement, and this lever or device is balanced
so that the quantity of electricity required is so slight that all the
disadvantages to which electric clockwork has hitherto been subjected
are obviated. This Invention thus admits of the use of batteries sup-
plying very feeble but regular currents of long duration, and of obviating
all the inconveniences arising from polarization.
The receivers perform the functions of a relay and interruptor so as to
'actuate and restore to regular working other receivers arranged in
succession upon a rectilinear or radiating circuit at long or short
distances. These receivers can be readily applied for distributing the
time upon a circuit of unlimited extent with a single regulating or
controlling clock.
In carrying out this Invention as applied to the works of an ordinary
clock, the interruptor may be constructed and arranged in the following
manner: Two wires from a battery are employed; a moveable spring
connected with one wire is arranged above a wheel provided with pins

page_text: or projections at its circumference, and forming part of the wheelwork
of any pendulum clock which serves to distribute the hour or the time
to the various receivers dependent on it. Another spring, which is
connected with the other wire, is stationary, and carries a small tappet
which is held above the first-mentioned spring at such a distance that
when the latter is raised by the passage of one of the pins or projections
on the wheel the contact is established between the tappet and the
spring, and that this contact ceases as soon as the pin or projection has
passed. The current thus passes or is interrupted in the wires at equal
intervals, which may be regulated by varying the number of revolutions
which the wheel is caused to describe, and the number of pins or pro-
jections which it carries on its circumference.
In applying the Invention to the works of an ordinary clock in which
a barrel imparts motion to a train of wheels and pinions connected
with an escapement wheel, the anchor is jointed at a suitable point
and regulated in the following manner:-Upon a plate which serves
as a support to the whole of the mechanism there is attached an electro-
magnet, the bobbins of which are filled with a wire leading to two studs
or binding screws fixed on the plate, and connected with the wires
leading from the interruptor before described. Opposite the electro-
magnet there is placed an armature of soft iron attached in any suitable
manner to the shank or stem of the anchor, which is constantly
drawn towards an adjustable screw stop under the action of a spring,
the tension of which may be adjusted by means of a screw or otherwise.
By adjusting the position of the electro-magnet and the stop in such
a manner as to allow the anchor sufficient play to admit of the passage
of one tooth of the escapement wheel at each oscillation, the receiver
thus constructed works in the same manner as ordinary clocks under
the action of its barrel, except that no pendulum being employed the
) successive passages of the current in the electro-magnet solcly determines
the number of teeth of the escapement wheel that can pass in a given
time, say for example, one minute.
The wires may communicate cn leaving the interruptor with any
number of receivers similar to the one hercin-before described, and
which thus receive a perfectly uniform and synchronous motion, and
this without the current having at each time to overcome any resistance,
except that of the counter spring, the tension of which may be regulated
by the screw.

page_text: The receiver is utilized as a relay; an interruptor in cases where the
regulating clock has to control a number of receivers, which is too
considerable; or when these latter are too distant from each other to
allow of one battery only being employed, and also when it is desired
to ensure a large amount of durability in the poles or points of contact.
In order to obtain this result the support of the adjustable stop screw,
and the support of the tension screw are cach connected with a wire,
the two wires leading from the two poles of another battery, and which
perform the functions of the wires firstly before mentioned for the
receivers with which they communicate. The new circuit thus formed
will be open or closed according as the stem of the anchor is in contact
or out of contact with the stop screw in its oscillating movement under
the action of the electro-magnet, and the counter spring which serves
as a conductor for the current.
Other analogous means may be employed with the same object in
carrying out this part of the Invention. It thus suffices to connect the
wires firstly herein-before mentioned with the studs and binding screws
of the series of receivers which the battery works in order to transmit
to them automatically the time of the regulating or governing clock
which controls the whole system.
Pho annaratus concrally may be modified in its details in various ways'
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th February 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middle-
sex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her

page_text: wires x, y, of a battery with their connections as herein-after described.
The spring a connected with the wire x is arranged above a wheel c
provided with pins or projections c¹ at its circumference, and forming a
portion of the wheelwork, of say a pendulum clock, which serves to
distribute the hour or other intervals of time to the various receivers
dependent upon it. The spring 6 connected with the wire y is stationary
and carries a small tappet d which is maintained above the spring a at
such a distance, that when the latter is raised by the passage of one of
the pins or projections c¹ on the wheel c the contact is established
between the tappet d and the spring a, and that such contact ceases as
soon as the pin or projection has passed. The current thus passes along
tho wires and y, or is interrupted at equal intervals which may bc
regulated either to a fraction of a minute or to a second by varying the
number of revolutions which the wheel c is caused to perform, and the
number of pins or projections which it carries on its circumference.
Figure 2 illustrates a modification of the contact maker or interruptor
in which the projections c¹ on the wheel c are made in the form
of ratchet teeth, and a tooth or projection d' is provided on the
spring a.
The mode of arranging the two springs a and b has the effect of
producing between their points of contact a certain sliding action which
ensures the electric communication between the two parts, and con-
sequently the passage of the current after each break or interruption.
Figures 3 and 4 illustrate in front and side elevations respectively the
devices for liberating the escapement as applied to the works of an
ordinary clock in which a barrel e imparts motion to a train of wheels
and pinions connected with an escapement wheel f; g is the anchor of
the escapement which is jointed at and regulated in the following
manner: To the plate i which serves as a support to the whole of the
mechanism there is attached an electro-magnet j, the bobbins of which
are filled with a wire leading to the two studs or binding screws
k, k¹, fixed on the plate and connected respectively with the wires x, y,
leading from the contact maker or interruptor hercin-before described.
Opposite to the electro-magnet there is placed an armature 7 of soft iron
attached in any suitable manner to the shank or stem of the anchor g
which is constantly drawn towards an adjustable screw stop m under the
action of a spring n, the tension of which may be regulated by means
of the screw o.

page_text: By adjusting the position of the electro-magnet j and the stop m so
as to allow the anchor sufficient play to admit of the passage of one
tooth of the escapement wheel at each oscillation the receiver thus con-
structed works in a similar manner to an ordinary clock under the action
of its barrel e, with the exception that no pendulum being employed the
successive passages of the current in the electro-magnet solely determine
the number of teeth of the escapement wheel which can pass in a given
time, say for example, one minute.
The wires x, y, may communicate on leaving the contact maker or
interruptor with any number of receivers similar to the one herein.
before described, and which thus receive a perfectly uniform and
synchronous motion without the current being required at each time to
The
overcome any resistance, except that of the counter spring n.
tension of the spring n may be regulated by means of the screw o, so as
to offer no more resistance than is absolutely necessary, it being simply
requisite that the tension should be sufficient to balance the armature
and the anchor g which carries it.
The receiver is utilized as a relay and interruptor in cases where the
receivers to be controlled by the regulating clock are too numerous, or
when the intervals or distances between the receivers are too great for a
single battery, and also when it is desired to secure an unlimited
duration in the contacts.
In order to obtain this result the support of the adjustable stop screw m
and the support of the screw o are connected respectively with two
wires w, z, leading from the two poles of another battery, and which
perform the functions of the wires x, y, for the receivers with which they
communicate.
It will be perceived that the new circuit thus formed will be closed
or open according as the stem of the anchor is in contact or out of
contact with the stop screw m in its oscillating movement under the
action of the electro-magnet j and of the counter spring n, which serves
as a conductor for the current. It is therefore simply requisite to
connect the wires w, z, with the studs or binding screws of the series of
receivers which the battery works in order to transmit to them auto-
matically the time of the regulating or governing clock which controls
the whole system.
It is obvious that a blade or plain wire spring may be substituted for
the helical spring # shewn in the Drawing.

page_text: Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to
be novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,--
First. The peculiar arrangements and combinations of apparatus for
controlling or liberating by the agency of electricity the escapement of
clocks or timekeepers driven by ordinary clockwork motors, substan-
tially as herein-before described and illustrated by the accompanying
Drawings.
Secondly. The combination of the wheel c having pins or projections c¹
with the springs a, b, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before
described and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of February,
in the year of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-six.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)