CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Sanders, of West Bar, Sheffield, in the County
of York, Watch Maker, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
WATCHES."
Sealed the 14th August 1860, and dated the 18th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Sanders at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
February 1860.
I, JOHN SANDERS, of West Bar, Sheffield, in tho County of York, Watch
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS IN WATCHES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the adaptation to watches of certain mechanism
for effecting the following objects:-First, for setting the hands of watches
from the outside or case of the watch instead of opening the watch, as hereto-
fore commonly practised; secondly, for winding up the mainspring of watches
without opening the case thereof; thirdly, for stopping and starting watches.
The means by which I propose to effect these improvements are as follows:
-First, as regards the setting of the hands; I employ for this purpose a lever
furnished with a click, one end of which acts upon the dial wheels of the
watch, and the other end passes through the edge of the watch case for impart-

page_text: ing motion to said click. Secondly, as regards the winding up of the main-
spring; I employ for this purpose a lever let on to the mainspring arbor or
fuzee arbor; said lever is furnished with a click taking into the ratchet of the
mainspring, and the lever passes through the edge of the case of the watch for
imparting motion thereto. As regards the stopping and starting, or what I
term the stop and impulse movement, I employ for this purpose a lever in the
pendant of the watch, which lever is locked when not required for use; the
aforesaid lever acts upon the balance wheel of the watch for stopping same.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Sanders in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Jonn
SANDERS, of West Bar, Sheffield, in the County of York, Watch Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Sanders, Her special licence that I, the said John Sanders,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Sanders, my 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WATCHES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Sanders, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 John Sanders, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in the adaptation to watches of certain mechanism
for effecting the following objects:-First, for setting the hands of watches
from the outside or case of the watch, instead of opening the watch, as hereto-
fore commonly practised; secondly, for winding up the mainspring of watches
without opening the case thereof; thirdly, for stopping and starting watches.
The means by which I propose to effect these improvements are as follows:
-First, as regards the setting of the hands; I employ for this purpose a lever
furnished with a click, one end of which acts upon the dial wheels of the watch,
and the other end passes through the edge of the watch case for imparting
motion to said click. Secondly, as regards the winding up of the mainspring;
I employ for this purpose a lever let on to the mainspring arbor or fuzee arbor;
said lever is furnished with a click taking into the ratchet of the mainspring,
and the lever passes through the edge of the case of the watch for imparting
motion thereto. As regards the stopping and starting, or what I term the stop
and impulse movement, I employ for this purpose a lever in the pendant of the
watch, which lever is locked when not required for use; the aforesaid lever
acts upon the balance wheel of the watch for stopping same.
..
In order to explain this Invention as completely as possible, I now proceed
to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into
practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of Drawings here-
unto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked
thereon respectively, as follows:-
;
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 exhibits the front of a watch without the dial, exposing to view
the mechanism constituting my Invention, as applied to a watch with a going
barrel Figure 2 is an edge view of Figure 1; Figure 3, a section through
the line A, B, at Figure 1; Figure 4, a section through the line C, D, at
Figure 1; Figure 5, a detached portion herein-after particularly described and
referred to; Figure 6 exhibits my improved mechanism for winding up the
mainspring of a watch adapted to the pendant thereof; Figure 7 exhibits the
mode of adapting the aforesaid winding up mechanism to a fuzee watch.
At each of the foregoing Figures I 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.
At Figure 1, A is the mainspring arbor; B, the balance wheel; C, C', are

page_text: wheels taking into the dial wheels of the watch, for transmitting motion to the
liands of the watch in the usual way.
I now proceed to describe the construction of the mechanism which I cm-
ploy and have found to answer well for winding up the mainspring, as follows:
-Upon the mainspring arbor A, and immediately under the ordinary ratchet
wheel D, I place loosely a lever E; to this lever a click a is connected and
acted upon by a spring b, for keeping said click in gear with the teeth of the
ratchet wheel D; the outer end of the lever E passes through a slit in the
edge of the watch case, as at c, Figure 2, so that by moving the lever E back-
wards and forwards in said slit, the winding up of the mainspring may be
effected, or the protruding part of the lever E may be connected to the pen-
dant of the watch, as at Figuro 6, so that by moving the pendant to and fro
the winding up may be effected..
I next proceed to describe the construction of the mechanism which I employ
and have found to answer well for setting the bands of the watch, as follows:-
Upon the arbor of the wheel C' and immediately under said wheel I place loosely.
a lever G, the opposite end whereof protrudes through a slit in the edge of the
case of the watch, as at d, Figure 2; to this lever I connect a click e, acted upon by
a spring f, for keeping said click in gear with the teeth of the wheel C', during
the setting of the hands of the watch. I form the click é with a tail piece g,
which, when the said click is out of use, presses against the head of the screw
h, and thus keeps the click out of the teeth of the wheel C. H is a spring
catch for keeping back the lever G when out of use. It will appear obvious
that by moving the said lever to and fro in the slit d, the wheels C, C', will
have motion imparted thereto, and transmit same to the dial wheels of the
watch and to the hands thereof, and in this manner and by these means the
said hands may be set without opening the case of the watch.
I now proceed to describe the construction of the mechanism which I em-
ploy and have found to answer well for stopping and starting the going parts
of the watch as desired, an operation frequently required for making scientific
and other observations. For this purpose, I pass a sliding pin i through the
pendant of the watch, as at Figure 1; the top or outer end of said pin is sur-
mounted by a milled head k for sliding said pin in and out. The opposite end
of the pin i is connected by a small screw j to a lever 1, fixed on the
stud m, said stud being fixed into one or both of the plates of the watch.
Upon this stud is also fixed a flat spring n, formed with a narrow tail piece o,
as at Figure 1; this part of the said spring presses against the edge of the rim
of the balance wheel for stopping the watch, and is drawn or moved away from
square
of

page_text: or out of contact with the balance wheel for starting the watch. To effect
these two movements,. I form or fix upon the under side of the broad part n of
the spring n, o, a double incline p, shewn best at the detached Figure 5, and
immediately under the part p. I fix in the plate of the watch a stud q, also
formed with a double incline, as at Figure 5; one incline being formed longer
than the other, as at said Figure 5. The spring n, o, and pin i are in the
position exhibited at Figure 1, when the watch is in action, and by pulling
the pin i, lever l, and spring n, o, into the position exhibited by the dotted
lines at Figure 1, the incline p of the spring n, o, will be moved up the longest
incline of the stud p, and thus bring the tail part o into contact with the edge
of the rim of the balance wheel, and effect the stopping of the same, and by
pushing the pin i inwards the double incline p will be moved down the longest
incline of the stud q, thus bringing the tail part o of the spring n, o, out of
contact with the edge of the balance wheel; this sliding movement of the tail
piece o impelling the balance so as to ensure the starting of the watch. And
I consider this impelling movement to be an important feature and improve-
ment in a stop watch. r is a catch, taking into a notch formed in the pin i,
as at Figure 1, for locking the pin i and tail piece o in the position exhibited
at Figure 1, so as to prevent the head of the pin i from being accidentally
moved or drawn outwards, by which the watch would be stopped when not
required; or instead of the stop work being connected with the pendant, it
may be worked by a lever in the edge of the case in the ordinary way.
In adapting the above described movements for winding up the mainspring
of a fuzee watch, I employ a similar lever to that before described with refer-
ence to Figure 1, for setting the hands of the watch, and I place such said
lever loosely upon the arbor of the fuzee, as exhibited at Figure 7 of the
accompanying Drawings; at this Figure I marks the position of the fuzeo s, a
ratchet wheel fixed on to the square of the fuzco arbor, as exhibited; K, the
mainspring; L, the balance wheel. By employing a winding up lever of the
above construction, I keep the click out of the teeth of the ratchet wheel s
while the watch is going, and thus allow the fuzee to move round freely as the
chain is drawn off the same by the action of the mainspring, as is well under-
stood by watchmakers.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my
said Invention of "Certain Improvements in Watches," together with the best
means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect, I
would remark, in conclusion, that I hereby declare my Invention to consist in,
and I claim,-

page_text: First, the mechanism marked G, d, e, f, g, h, HI, at Figures 1 and 2 of the
accompanying Drawings, for setting or moving the hands of watches without
opening the case of the watch for that purpose, as heretofore practised.
Secondly, I claim the mechanism marked E, a, b, c, at Figures 1 and 2 of
the accompanying Drawings, for winding up the mainspring of watches made
with going barrels.
Thirdly, I claim the mechanism exhibited at Figure 7 of the accompanying
Drawings, for winding up the mainspring of watches made with a fuzee.
Fourthly and lastly, I claim the mechanism marked i, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r,
at Figures 1, 3, 4, and 5 of the accompanying Drawings, for stopping and
starting the going parts of watches at will, as above stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Sanders, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JOHN SANDERS. (L.B.)