IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jules Gouvernon at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
December 1868.
I, JULES GOUVERNON, of Saint Imier, Switzerland, Watch Maker, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES,"
to be as follows:-
In my improved movement the T-shaped bridges are of one piece, and
are all set to the plates on the same level, which arrangement permits of the
same height being given to the remontoirs of the various movements, and
consequently to the cases. To this effect I put the centre of the winding-up
or remontoir wheel perfectly level with the surface of the plate. The small
brass block that supports the double wheel is chamfered in the plate, and held
in a fixed position by means of two feet. Such is the shape of my remontoir
ratch that the communication of the motion to the presser or projecting stud
has a direct effect on the setting to the hour works contrary to what takes
place when the ratch has one or two horns starting from the centre, in which
case any resistance, however slight, may cause the binding of the horns.
The remontoir ratch is provided with a projection a short distance above the
gouge chamfered round the centre of the double wheel, and thus the friction

page_text: between these two pieces bears only on the said projection. This arrangement
besides has the advantage of keeping the oil in the gouge. The screw is so
disposed as to allow of its being tightened up against the plate, and a ring
placed under the head of the screw and chamfered in the centre of the ratch
insures the solidity of the double wheel and of the remontoir ratch. I
dispense altogether with the brass cap on the bridge of the barrel, and thus
obtain a great advantage for the winding up of the watch and the solidity of
the crown wheel. Instead of such cap I adjust a steel cock under the plate,
and the bridge of the barrel being set on the ratchet wheel the arbor is kept
very firm by these two pieces; the upper part of the arbor is round, passes
through the barrel, and is provided a short distance above the bridge with a
large basis, on which rests the ratchet wheel which supports the crown wheel.
The ratchet wheel is tightened by a steel screw, the thread of which is cut in
the opposite direction to that on the arbor of the barrel at the upper side of
the crown wheel. By this arrangement the screw cannot be unfastened when
the crown wheel is moved to set the hands, on the contrary this arrangement
will tend (should there be any friction) to tighten the screw. Two holes, one
on each side of the centre of the said screw, serve to fix it, by means of a
double-pointed key. Another result of this arrangement is that the ratchet
wheel resting only on the arbor of the barrel no friction is produced. The
looseness heretofore resulting from the friction of the ratchet wheel with the
cap is thus avoided by dispensing with the use of the latter and by the ratchet
wheel resting direct upon the arbor, besides which great facility is obtained
for the winding up of the watch.
With regard to the adjustment of the spring and click work, I obtain it in
the following manner :-A notch is made in the upper side of the spring, and
another notch is made in the click. The notch of the click adjusts itself to
the notch of the spring. A screw, the head of which rests on the crown
wheel, passes through the click and engages in the spring. The click has its
play between the crown wheel and the click and spring work, and finds a
support in the edge of the notch of the spring at the time of the winding up.
Another screw in the other side, fixed like the first one, insures the solidity of
the spring as well as of the click. I give to the teeth of the remontuir
wheels a shape insuring their solidity, by strengthening the said teeth at their
base. In my remontoir the spring under the plate which holds the ratch is
straight or slightly curved, which shape is obviously preferable to the frail
circular spring generally used in remontoirs. I would remark that the com-
munication wheel for the setting at the hour is of steel, in order to give it a
greater duration and a softer motion by the difference of the metals.

page_text: To remedy the inconvenience arising in watches of various sizes from the
want of sufficient space, I have so disposed the bridges as to give every
facility for the proper fixing of the remontoir works, although giving them
size in proportion to their functions.
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