Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Sept., 1886
Complete Left, 22nd July, 1887
Complete Accepted, 25th Oct., 1887
1, ROBERT JAMES RUDD, of 1 Uxbridge Terrace, Sydenham Road, Croydon, in the
County of Surrey Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention relates to apparatus worked by electricity for indicating time, either
at one place where an electric clock is situated or at a number of places electrically
connected with the clock. For this purpose I provide a pendulum or balance and escape-
ment, the escapement being worked intermittently by the action of a loaded or spring
rack pawl upon a ratchet wheel connected to the escapement wheel. This pawl is
intermittently moved in opposition to the weight or spring by the attraction of an electro
magnet, the coil of which is alternately brought into and out of circuit by rubbing
contacts worked at intervals by the escapement. Connected to the pawl thus moved
there are discs or barrels each of which is caused to move step by step at suitable
intervals. These discs or barrels have marked on them numbers which, presenting
themselves through holes in a plate or screen, indicate the time in hours and minutes.
The escapement wheel may move a second's hand.
From this primary electric clock or timekeeper conducting wires may extend to a
number of time indicators each having its discs or barrels to which movement is
given by pawls worked by electromagnets that are alternately brought into and cut
out of circuit by the contacts of the primary clock.
TAL: ORAL 1.
100%
ABEL & IMRAY,
28, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Electric Apparatus for Indicating Time.
1. ROBERT JAMES RUDD of 1 Uxbridge Terrace, Sydenham Road Croydon, in the
County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to apparatus worked by electricity for indicating time either
at one place where an electric clock is situated or at a number of places electrically
connected with the clock. For this purpose I provide a pendulum or balance and
escapement, the escapement being worked intermittently by the action of a loaded or
spring ratchet pawl upon a wheel connected to the escapement wheel. This pawl is
intermittently wound in opposition to the weight or spring by the attraction of an
electro magnet the coil of which is alternately brought into and out of circuit by
contacts worked by the motor as governed by the escapement. Connected to the
paw! thus moved there are discs or barrels each of which is caused to move step by
step at suitable intervals.
These discs or barrels have marked on them numbers, which, presenting them-
selves through holes in a plate or screen, indicate the time in hours and minutes.
The escapement wheel may move a seconds hand.
From this primary electric clock or time keeper conducting wires may extend to a
number of time indicators each having its discs or barrels to which movement is given
by pawls worked by electro magnets that are alternately brought into and cut out of
circuit by the contacts of the primary clock.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a front view of one form of primary
clock according to my invention.
Fig. 2 represents one of the secondary time indicators which may be worked from it,
and Fig. 3 is a side elevation to an enlarged scale of the electric mechanism employed
in the primary clock Fig. 1 and partly employed in the secondary indicator Fig. 2.
Referring first to Fig. 3, E E is an electro magnet, F its armature having an arm F¹
extending from it.
On the arm F' rests the curved arm G of a lever which is pivotted at O and has a
spring arm N extending up from it. To the arm G is jointed a vertically guided
rod Gabove which is a lever arm K jointed at K¹ to an upper lever J which is
loaded with an adjustable weight and has jointed to its end a curved ratchet toothed
rack I engaging with a pinion H. Above these parts are fixed two springs with
contact pins M M' and between them a contact spring L which normally lies in
contact with M². The electric conductors W' W &c. are arranged as follows:
W¹ connects with one pole of a battery :-W' connects the contact M' to the lever .J
and K and to the rack I :-W' connects the lever G N to one end of the coil of the
electro-magnet E; W* connects the other end of the coil to earth or to a return wire
to the battery: W* connects to the coil of each of the elecro-magnets corresponding
to E in the secondary time indicators that are worked from the primary clock.

page_text: To the arm F is jointed an arm R which has two parallel faces S S¹ with a hook
shaped hollow S between them this hook engaging on either of two studs projecting
from a disc that is free to turn, the studs of entering radial slots in a disc P.
The action of the apparatus is as follows. The loaded lever J descending, its rack 1
causes the pinion H to revolve, so giving motion to any suitable clockwork, with an
escapement and a pendulum or balance regulating its time. When I descends its full
stroke, its end makes contact at C, so that the electric current from W¹ passing
through M, W, J, I, C, N, O, W³, to the coils of E and thence by W', excites the
magnet causing it to attract its armature F upwards raising with it the arm F¹. At
first this arm acting on a part of G distant from its fulcrum O has considerable
leverage, but as the armature F is more forcibly attracted as it approaches the poles
of the magnet, the arm F¹ acts on a part of the curve of G nearer the fulcrum O
exerting less leverage. When G has just begun its ascent the rod G¹ makes a second
contact at D with the lever K and pushes this lever upwards.
The end of the lever K engages with a tooth of the pinion H and tends to move it
round in the same direction as it had been previously moved by the descent of I, and
thus it acts as a sustainer of the clock-movement; but as the pinion H cannot turn
faster than the escapement permits, the end K' of the lever K rises lifting the lever J
and the rack I the teeth of which escape those of the pinion H.
When J and I are lifted their full stroke as indicated by the dotted lines, a non-
conducting tail I¹ projecting from the upper end of I raises the spring out of
contact with M¹ thus opening the circuit of the magnet E and at the same time by
causing L to make contact with M sending a current by W³ to the secondary time
indicators. The attraction of E having ceased, the armature F drops breaking the
contact at D, and the contact at C having also been broken by the raising of I,
the magnet E is cut out of circuit until the rack I descends again fully and the
operation is repeated as before. The pressure of the spring L on the tail I¹ ensures
the engagement of the rack I with the pinion H during its next gradual descent. By
the lift of the armature F and its arm F¹, the arm R is raised so that its hook S
engages with the upper stud of the disc Q, and thus on the descent of F with the
armature the hook $ carries this stud round to the position occupied by the lower
stud.
In this way the disc P is by each stroke of the armature F turned one division,
and is held by the studs of Q until the next stroke.
Referring now to Fig. 1 in which the mechanism of Fig. 3 is indicated by dotted
lines, there may be a dial A with seconds hand worked directly from the clock-work
driven by the pinion H.
Under this there are three concentric discs, the largest having marked on it hours
up to 12 (which is the hour shewn in Fig. 1); the next in size having minutes marked
from 0 to 9 inclusive; as shewn in Fig. 1 it is presenting the unit 4 of minutes.
The smallest disc has on it a blank division and numerals 1 to 5 inclusive indicating
tens of minutes; as shewn in Fig. 1 it is presenting the numeral 3.
11
Those figures are seen through apertures in the screen which forms the front
of the clock, so that, as shewn in Fig. 1 the time reads. 12 34, meaning 34
minutes past 12. The disc P shewn in Fig. 3 is on the axis of the second disc
showing units of minutes, the other two discs for tens of minutes and for hours
respectively are worked from the axis of P by carrying mechanism of the kind used
in counters, each revolution of P moving the smallest disc one of its 6 divisions, and
each revolution of the smallest disc moving the largest or hour disc one of its
12 divisions.
In the same way a couple of discs may be worked to shew the day of the
month such as 24, and the month itself January, &c., and the day of the week such
as Monday may be on barrels turned step by step by carrying mechanism. The
month barrel and the discs for the days of the month should be driven by friction or
ratchets, so that they can be turned by hand to allow for the different numbers of
days in the different months.
In Fig. 3 I have shewn means of bringing into action successive batteries whenever

page_text: one is exhausted. Under the end of the rack I when it is at the lowest part of its
normal down stroke I mount a pinion T on the axis of which is a commutator namely
a cylinder of non conducting material along the face of which is a helical piece of
metal. A number of springs T¹, each connected with one of the batteries bear
against the commutator, only one of them at a time touching the metal of it which is
connected by a wire to W¹. When this battery is exhausted the rack I descends a
little lower than usual till it engages the teeth of T and turns T partly round,
thus turning partly the commutator so that its metal is brought into contact with
another of the springs T¹ and thus a fresh battery is brought into connection
with W¹
In the secondary indicator shewn in Fig. 2 which is worked by the current
transmitted by the wire W of Fig. 1, the operative parts consist of the electro
magnet E E its armature F and arm F¹, the arm R jointed thereto, the stud disc Q
and the slotted disc P working the disc which shews units of minutes, all arranged
and operating similarly to those parts marked by corresponding letters in Fig. 3.
From the disc shewing units of minutes, the discs for tens of minutes and for hours
are worked by carrying mechanism.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The construction and use of an electrical clock movement, substantially as herein
described with reference to Fig. 3.
2. In combination with the electrical clock movement above referred to, a set of
discs or their equivalents moved thereby so as to present through holes of a plate or
screen successive numbers indicating time, substantially as herein described with
reference to Fig. 1.
3. In combination with a primary clock of the kind referred to in the preceding
claim, secondary time indicators operated by electrical currents intermittently
transmitted from the primary clock, substantially as herein described with reference
to Fig. 2.