IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOCKS, WATCHES, CHRONOMETERS, AND OTHER TIME- PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Lewthwaite, of Halifax, in the County of
York, Clock and Watch Maker, and George Ambler, of Queenshead,
near Halifax, aforesaid, Clock and Watch Maker, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOCKS, WATCHES, CHRONOMETERS, AND OTHER TIME-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Lewthwaite and
George Ambler at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 21st April 1859.
We, EDWIN LEWTHWAITE, of Halifax, in the County of York, Clock and
Watch Maker, and GEORGE AMBLER, of Queenshead, near Halifax, aforesaid,
Clock and Watch Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOCKS, WATCHES, CHRONOMETERS, AND OTHER TIME-
KEEPERS," to be as follows:-
The first part of this Invention relates to the escapement, and consists in
dispensing with the "pallet wheel" now used, and substituting in lieu thereof
a piece, which I call a propeller, which may be either of metal, stone, or other
suitable material formed with one or more very short arms, pins, or radi,
which act upon the pallet as a "dead beat," or otherwise. By this improve-

page_text: ment we avoid to a great extent the variations in time caused by the changes
of temperature expanding and contracting the pallet wheel.
The second part of this Invention relates to the fusee, and consists in
having the driver or first motion wheel formed with inverted cogs or teeth in
addition to the cogs or teeth now thereon, such said wheel to be loose upon
the axis or spindle of the fusee, and gearing with a small pinion working on a
stud attached to the fusee, which gears with another pinion fixed on the axis
or spindle of the fusee. By the above means, power or continuous action is
maintained whilst winding up the clock or watch to which they are applied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edwin Lewthwaite and George Ambler in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 21st October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDWIN
LEWTHWAITE, of Halifax, in the County of York, Clock and Watch Maker,
and GEORGE AMBLER, of Queen's Head, near Halifax, aforesaid, Clock and
Watch Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Edwin Lewthwaite and George Ambler, Her special licence that we,
the said Edwin Lewthwaite and George Ambler, our executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Edwin Lewthwaite and George
Ambler, our 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 CLOCKS, WATCHES,
CHRONOMETERS, AND OTHER TIME-KEEPERS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Edwin Lewthwaite and George Ambler, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Edwin Lewthwaite and George Ambler,
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:-
The first part of this Invention relates to the escapement, and consists in
dispensing with the "pallet wheel" now used, and substituting in lieu thereof.
a piece, which we call a "propeller," which may be either of metal, stone, or
other suitable material, formed with one or more very short arms, pins, or
radii, which act upon the pallet as a "dead beat," or otherwise. By this
improvement we avoid to a great extent the variations in time caused by
the change of temperature expanding and contracting the pallet wheel.
The second part of this Invention relates to the fusee, and consists in having
the driver or first motion wheel formed with inverted cogs or teeth, in addition
to the cogs or teeth now thereon, such said wheel to be loose upon the axis or
spindle of the fusee, and gearing with a small pinion working on a stud
attached to the fusee, which gears with another pinion fixed on the axis or
spindle of the fusee. By the above means, power or continuous action is
maintained whilst winding up the clock or watch to which they are applied.
In order to explain our said Invention as completely as possible, we
now proceed to describe the best means we are acquainted with for carrying
the same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference.
marked thercon respectively, as follows:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a top plan view of an escapement (drawn to an enlarged
scale), constructed according to our said improvements. Figure 2 is a
modification of Figure 1. Figures 3 and 4 exhibit two views of a fusee,
showing our improved maintaining power mechanism; at each of the foregoing
Figures we employ similar letters of reference to denote corresponding parts,
in so far as such parts appear or can be seen at each of such said Figures
respectively.
We now proceed to describe the construction of our improved escapement,
exhibited at Figure I, as follows:-A is an ordinary lever mounted on a pivot
at a, and acting against the banking pins B, B; and on the balance wheel C
is a piece of metal which we call a "table," same being fixed to the lever A,
so as to move therewith; D, D, are half round pins fixed in the table C, and
acting as pallets; E is a piece of metal which we call a propeller, mounted.
on a pivot at b, on which is fixed a pinion, with seven or any other required

page_text: number of cogs or leaves, driven by a train of wheels, the same as an ordinary
pallet wheel, of clocks, watches, chronometers, and other time-keepers,
said propeller revolving in the direction of the arrow's flight, and making four
beats in each revolution against the pallets D, D; the propeller may be made
in various forms. The peculiar feature of this part of our said Invention
consists in the smallness of diameter, which we are enabled to make the same,
thereby rendering the effect of variation of temperature thereon considerably
less than is at present the case in escapements of the ordinary kind.
We now proceed to describe the construction of our improved maintaining
power mechanism, exhibited at Figures 3 and 4, as follows:-G is the thread
portion of an ordinary fusee; H, a first motion wheel connected therewith in
the following manner, that is to say:-We form teeth at I upon the wheel H;
in addition to the ordinary teeth K, is a pinion capable of rotating on a stud c,
fixed into the fusee; this pinion takes or gears into another wheel L, fixed on
the arbor g. The operations of this mechanism are as follows:-By turning
the arborg in the direction of the arrow's flight, the pinion K will follow in
the same direction, carrying with it the thread part of the fusee; and
the pinion K, acting upon the teeth I of the wheel H, will move such said
wheel in a contrary direction to that in which the fusee is moving, and by thus
operating as a contrary power, will maintain the going power of the time-
keeper during the time it is being wound up.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of our said
Invention of " Improvements in Clocks, Watches, Chronometers, and other
Time-keepers," together with the best means we are acquainted with for
carrying the same into practical effect, we would remark in conclusion, that
we hereby declare our Invention to consist in, and we claim as follows:-
First, as regards the escapement of time-keepers, we claim the adaptation
thereto of the propeller E, in lieu of the pallet wheel heretofore employed in
time-keepers, by the use of which more perfect action of the escapement
is ensured during all variations of temperature than heretofore.
Secondly, we claim the forming of the driver or first motion wheel of time-
keepers with additional teeth I, for operating upon a pinion K, attached
to the fusee of the time-keeper, and the connecting of said pinion with another
wheel L, fixed on the axis g, or spindle of the fusee, as represented at
Figures 3, 4, so that as the fusee is moved round in the act of winding up the
time-keeper, the wheel L, on the fusee operating on the pinion K, into which
it gears, shall transmit such motion to the first motion wheel H during the
time that the fusee is being turned round, and by so doing shall impart
as near as may be the same amount of movement to the aforesaid first motion

page_text: wheel as at other times would be imparted thereto by the mainspring of the
time-keeper.
In witness whereof, we, the said Edwin Lewthwaite and George
Ambler, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twentieth day of
October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-nine.
Witness,
JOHN WATTON,
Crown Street, Halifax.
EDWIN LEWTHWAITE. (L.S.)
GEORGE AMBLER.
(L.S.)