CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS ON DIALS AND HANDS OF WATCHES, CLOCKS, AND OTHER TIME-KEEPERS, INDICATING THE HOUR OF SEVERAL COUNTRIES AT THE SAME TIME
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Adrien Bonneville, of the British and Foreign
Patent Offices, 18, Rue de la Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, France, and 5, Piccadilly,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for an Invention of " CERTAIN NEW
AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS ON DIALS AND HANDS OF WATCHES, CLOCKS, AND
OTHER TIME-KEEPERS, INDICATING THE HOUR OF SEVERAL COUNTRIES AT THE
SAME TIME" A communication from Charles Frédéric Bourquin, of Cormon-
drèche, in the Swiss Republic, Manufacturer.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th April 1880.
HENRI ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices, 18, Rue
de la Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, France, and 5, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS ON DIALS AND HANDS
OF WATCHES, CLOCKS, AND OTHER TIME-KEEPERS, INDICATING THE HOUR OF
SEVERAL COUNTRIES AT THE SAME TIME." (A communication from Charles Frédéric
Bourquin, of Cormondrèche, in the Swiss Republic, Manufacturer.)
The Invention communicated to me relates to dials and hands of watches, clocks,
chimney-clocks, and other time-keepers, indicating the hour of several countries at
the same time, and is applicable in various ways to any kind of clock-work move-
ment, as shown in the Figures of the accompanying Drawing, which will be referred
to in the course of the present Specification. The arrangements illustrated in
Fig. 1 and 2 are best suited to small time-pieces, and those in Fig. 3 and 4 to larger
time-pieces.
In Fig. 1 the dial is arranged so as to show the hour in five towns at the same
time, Paris being taken for the basis of the calculations, by means of five zones or
circles of hours, namely, the 1st circle for Paris, the 2nd for Bern, the 3rd for
Rome, the 4th for London, and the 5th for St. Petersburg. The minutes are indi-
cated by a hand a common to the five circles. The hours are indicated by hands
b, c, d, e, f, one for each town: b for Paris; c, Bern; d, Rome; e, London; and f
St. Petersburg. Bern time being 20 minutes faster than Paris, in order that the
minute hand may indicate Bern time 20 minutes before Paris time; twelve
o'clock by Bern is inscribed in the second circle 20 minutes before 12 o'clock by
Paris. London time being 10 minutes slower than Paris, twelve o'clock by London
is inscribed in the 3rd circle 10 minutes after 12 o'clock by Paris, and so on for the
other towns; when it is 12 o'clock at Paris it is 12.20 at Bern, 12.40 at Rome,
11.50 at London, and 1.52 at St. Petersburg.

page_text: The common minute hand a is made of a different shape and coloured differently,
.in order not to be confounded with the others; it completes an hour for each town
whenever it passes over 12 o'clock of one of the circles.
The hour-hands, which are coloured differently in order to distinguish them from
each other, are punched out of equal length to the radius of each circle and mounted
on a hand-holder g which fits into the hour-socket. This piece is also punched out,
and varies in diameter according to the number of hands that are to be soldered or
rivetted thereto, in conical cavities made at the time of the punching. The angle
of separation between the said cavities is determined at the rate of six degrees for
each minute difference between the towns the hours of which are marked by the
dial.
Fig. 2 illustrates the same application to the dial of an ordinary watch for two
towns, Paris and London. In the said application the double hour-hand might be
punched out of a single piece and the hand-holder done away with, in order to
economise the workmanship.
Fig. 3 illustrates an application of the Invention to a dial with four concentric
circles of hours, 1, 2, 3, 4, for indicating the time in four different towns, Paris,
London, Bern, and Rome, the said hours inscribed in the same line, but with as
many minute hands as circles, mounted on a hand-holder similar to that of the
hour-hands in Fig. 1 and 2, whilst the hour-hands aro soldered or rivetted in the
cavities of a hand-holder in the shape of a fan, the angle of separation between
which must be five degrees a minute. Thus the difference of time between Bern
and Rome being 20 minutes, the angle formed by the two hour-hands of the said
towns is of ten degrees.
Fig. 4 illustrates an application of the Invention to a dial with a circle of hours
common to several towns, the minute and hour hands being mounted as in Fig. 3,
and, independently of the diversity of their colours, each bearing the name of the
town of which it marks the time stamped thereon.
The hours in the above different applications might be of different colours for
each circle.
Having thus described the Invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters
Patent,-
1. The application to any kind of clockwork movement, for indicating the hour
of several towns simultaneously, of dials with several concentric circles of hours
arranged according to the longitude of the said towns, with a common minute hand
and hour-hands of equal number to that of the towns, substantially as and for the
purposes set forth.
2. The application to any kind of clockwork movement, for indicating the hour
of several towns simultaneously, of dials with concentric circles of hours arranged
as usual, but with minute and hour-hands of equal number to that of the towns,
substantially as described.
3. The application to any kind of clockwork movement, for indicating the hour
of several towns simultaneously, of dials with a single circle of hours, with minute
and hour-hands of equal number to that of the towns, and stamped with the
indication thereon of the name of each town, substantially as and for the purposes
described.
In witness whereof, 1, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this First day of April. in the year of our Lord One thousand
H. BONNEVILLE. (L.S.)