AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CENTRE SECONDS WATCHES
Year: 1861

page_text: Sealed the 28th January 1862, and dated the 5th August 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Daniel Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th August 1861.
I, EDWARD DANIEL JOHNSON, of Wilmington Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Watch and Chronometer Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
CENTRE SECONDS WATCHES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improvement in watches fitted with constant
and independent seconds hands, the object being to drive both the constant
seconds and the independent seconds, of whatever kind, by the same train of
wheels and prime mover. This arrangement will admit of the independent
seconds being stopped for any length of time at pleasure, without disturbing
the movement of the watch and its constant seconds hand.
I propose to effect this improvement in the following manner :-The barrel,
fusee, and first wheel, centre or second wheel, and the third wheel remain as
heretofore in the centre seconds watch, but the fourth wheel I duplicate.
The primary fourth wheel I place in the centre of the frame, and its duplicate

page_text: I mount on a simple axle, placing it in the same plane as the primary, midway
between the centre and circumference of the frame, and at a point exactly
opposite the pendant of the watch; these two wheels I connect by a smaller
intermediate spur wheel, mounted on simple pivots, whereby motion is com-
municated to the secondary fourth wheel, which in its turn drives the escape-
ment of any suitable form. This arrangement admits of any seconds mechanism
being attached to the primary fourth wheel axle, where it projects through the
plate, and thus the centre seconds can be manipulated as an independent
seconds.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Daniel Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD.
DANIEL JOHNSON, of Wilmington Square, in the County of Middlesex, Watch
and Chronometer Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edward Daniel Johnson, Her special license that I, the said Edward Daniel
Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward Daniel Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "AN IN-
PROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CENTRE SECONDS WATCHES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Daniel Johnson, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what 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 Edward Daniel Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the

page_text: following statement, reference being bad to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
This Invention relates to an improvement in the mode of fitting watches
with both constant and independent seconds hands, the use of which, by
shewing a continuous progression of time, and also the duration or suspension
of short periods of action of whatever kind, is well understood.
The object of my Invention is to simplify the mechanism required to operate
the two seconds hands. This I effect by driving both the constant seconds
and independent seconds of whatever kind by the same train of wheels and
prime mover.
My improved arrangement will admit of the independent seconds being
stopped at pleasure for any length of time without disturbing the general
movements of the watch or that of the constant seconds hand.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn the improvements as applied
to a centre seconds watch fitted with the means of transmitting motion from
the seconds wheel arbor to the seconds hand, forming the subject of a Patent
granted to me Thirtieth November, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five,
(Number 2702); but it may be applied with equal facility to other arrange-
ments for working centre seconds hands.
Fig. 1 shews the improved watch in front view, a portion of the face being
broken away to exhibit the mechanical means for throwing the centre seconds
hand into and out of action.
And, Fig. 2 is a Diagram shewing the watch movement as modified accord-
ing to my improvement.
a is the barrel; b, the fusee; c, the first wheel; d, the third wheel; and e,
the fourth wheel; all of which remain as heretofore in the centre seconds
watch; but the fourth wheel I duplicate. The primary fourth wheel e I place
in the centre of the frame, and its duplicate f I mount on a simple axle, and
place it in the same plane as the wheel e between the centre and circumference
of the frame, and at a point exactly opposite the pendant of the watch. On
the arbor of the wheel f I mount the constant seconds hand f*, and the two
wheels e and I connect together by a small intermediate spur wheel g,
mounted on simple pivots, which serves to communicate motion to the wheel f.
This wheel gears into a pinion on the arbor of the escape wheel h, and
thereby imparts the requisite axial motion to that wheel; i is the pallet lever
of the escapement; and k, the balance. I have said that this arrangement
admits of any seconds mechanism being attached to the primary fourth wheel
axle, where it projects through the plate for throwing the centre seconds hand
in and out of action. That which I have shewn effects the operation of the

page_text: centre seconds hand by coupling it by friction of contact with the moving
mechanism, the contact being maintained by the pressure of the finger of the
wearer of the watch upon a. spring stop in the centre of the pendent.
Whether, therefore, the centre seconds' hand be in action or not, the driving
mechanism will preserve an uninterrupted uniform motion, the throwing
into action of the centre seconds, putting upon that mechanism the inappre-
ciable additional duty of rotating the centre seconds hand, and its light friction
coupling.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improvement in
the Construction of Centre Seconds Watches," and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above
in part recited Letters Patent, I claim driving the constant seconds hand from
the fourth or centre seconds wheel, in the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Daniel Johnson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of February, in the year of our
-Lord-One-thousand-eight-hundred-and-sixty-two: