MAKING INFALLIBLE REPEATING WATCHES
Year: 1808

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPHI
ANTHONY BERROLLAS, of' Denmark Street, in the Parish of Saint Giles-in-the-
Fields, in the County of Middlesex," Watchmaker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, in and.
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date the Thirty-first day of October, in the forty-ninth year of His
reign, for Himself, His heirs and successors, did give and grant unto me,
the Joseph Anthony Berrollas, my executors, administrators; and assigns,
by myself or themselves, or by my or their deputy or deputies, servants or
agents, or such others as I; the said Joseph Anthony Berrollas; my-executors;
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter, during the term of years therein
expressed, should, and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "MAKING INFALLIBLE REPEATING WATCHES;" in which said
Letters Patent there is a proviso obliging me, the said Joseph' Anthony
Berrollas, in and by an instrument in writing under my hand-and-seal,'i par-
ticularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent; as in' and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Anthony Berrollas, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are par-
ticularly described and ascertained as follows, with reference to the Plates,
Figures, Drawings, and Letters numbered and 2 in the margin of these
Presents, and the Letters therein mentioned and thereto affixed, and which are
given in order the more fully to explain and disclose the nature of my said
Invention, that is to say:-
First, the outside of the watch resembles common watches, except the
pendant T, which is mounted with a button consisting of two parts, C and X.
The lower one X does not move, and the upper one C, having an endless screw
annexed to it, turns round and comes out to the extent of four turns, and
is cut in four turns and an half. The upper part of the button C being turned
to the right screws off from the lower part ✗, and operating upon the hour
rack A, can be continued to be unscrewed until it has struck the hour which
the hand indicates, when it cannot be further unscrewed. The same. part. C
being afterwards screwed to the left to bring it back again to join the lower
fixed part X, operates upon the quarter rack B, and quarters are struck in the
same manner as the hours until the part C is completely joined to the part X.
The piece W draws piece B back to it's former station.
Secondly, the movement of this watch is the same as that of a common
watch that is not a repeater, see Figure S, No, 1. The wheelworks are of
the same height, which is not the case. with common repeaters, in which the
operation of striking being occasioned by a work in the movement composed
of five wheels, five pinions, and a barrel and main spring, necessarily cause the
movement wheels to be smaller, and this injures the solidity of the work and
augments the labour. The sort of escapement to be used is optional. The
hammer which strikes the hours and quarters is the only additional pieco
which is in the frame of the movement, and which distinguishes the Infallible
Repeating Watch from a common watch not a repeater.
Thirdly, the motion is composed of three principal parts. The first, A, No. 2,
contains the hour rack. The second, B, the the quarter rack. The third, C,
the pendant and endless screw, the piece C turning on itself in manner
pointed out. No. 1 ascends perpendicularly, and is kept in that perpendicular
direction by the piece E, the interior of which performs two objects, for it
forms the catchwork of the screw, whilst the exterior is fixed by two screws
on the pillar plate, and when the piece C is turned acts upon the piece A, and
gives it a circular motion; first, by means of the picce 1), D, whose interior
part is caught in the notch at the extremity of the piece C, while the exterior

page_text: -
part of it is caught in the piece A; secondly, by the piece F, which holds the
piece D, D, in a groove; thirdly, by the piece G, which is fixed to the pillar
plate with three screws, and under which the piece A is fixed by means of a
pivot on which it moves. The piece A being thus moved, catches, by means of
twelve teeth cut in its interior part, the piece H, which puts in action the
hammer Q, (see the Print No. 1; which strikes on the piece R, which is a
bell spring fixed by two screws to the extremity of the pillar plate. The
piece A passes under the piece K, which is a brass bar with two screws to
keep piece A from rising. In order to give a free and steady motion to the
piece A, it is operated upon by a pivot, which is fastened to a spring U placed
in the inside of the pillar plate, and which pivot, passing through a hole in tho
pillar plate, causes a steady friction under the teeth of the piece A. The piece
A is regulated by the piece M, which is the same as the star and hour-snail
in common repeaters, and performs the same functions. The click of the
star N and the spring of O communicate in the same manner as in common
repeaters. The piece M operates on the piece A by means of the piece V
fixed by a screw in the piece A, and thus moves the rack in the piece A
forward as the hour-snail moves forward.. The quarter piece B, which is
fixed on a pivot, falls on the piece P, and. is brought into its place again by
the piece A by an easy friction, the design of which is to draw back the
piece B, when the picce C is turned from right to left, and to bring it
back upon the rising of the quarter piece J, when it is turned from left to right
to obtain the quarters. It is forced upon the snail of the quarters by tho
spring L, fixed on the pillar plate, at the same time that the piece B is brought
back over the piece J it communicates by a stop with the snail of the quarter
piece P, which snail is the same as in common repeaters. The pieco J and
the piece I are kept in their respective places by two fixed springs, viz:-
That of the piece H upon the plates, and that of the piece J on the piece K.
The pieces J and I are on the same pivot, which forms at the same time the
arbor of the hammer. They obey the motion of the piece C, as described
above. And in order the better to elucidate the nature and superior utility of
my said Invention, I do make the following observations, that is to say,―
Observation the First.-The old repeaters contain five wheels more than the
common watches, besides five pinions and a barrell and main spring, which
are all necessary to put in action the motion; they also have two hammers to
distinguish the hours from the quarters. Whereas the new repeater is com-
posed of the common plain movement and wheel work, with the addition only of
a hammer, which is placed in an isolated situation, having no communication
whatever with the wheelwork.

page_text: Observation the Second.-The old motions, being so very complex, are in
their nature liable to be out of order from the slightest cause, because the
chain of the motion which winds the main spring of the repeating work is
easily broken by means of the pressure, its very structure, and its attendant
friction, and lastly, because the action of it depends upon the main spring and
wheelwork, the latter of which is apt to be disordered, and the former snaps
and breaks of itself; whereas the new motion acts in itself, and has no
dependance on wheelwork or any other piece that is subject to be broken. An
endless screw sets the two chief parts in motion, which produces the effect of
striking the hours and the quarters, and all the other pieces are designed only
as collateral support to the two principal ones.
Observation the Third.-From these obserbations the simplicity of construc-
tion in the new repeater is evident, and of course a great diminution of useless
expence to the manufacturer. And I do hereby declare that my improvements
are capable of being applied in a variety of other forms, agreeably to these
Presents, which will readily occur to any competent workman who shall have
perused the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Anthony Berrollas, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eight.
J. S. HARVEY.
J. A. BERROLLAS. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, on the same Twenty-sixth day of
November, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Joseph Anthony
Berrollas came before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year above
written.