IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING BARRELS FOR CLOCKS AND ALARUMS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Genevrier and Pierre Eugène Bidaux, of
No. 83, Rue du Chateau d'Eau, Paris, in the Empire of France, Clock
Makers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING BARRELS FOR
CLOCKS AND ALARUMS."
Sealed the 8th September 1864, and dated the 18th March 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Genevrier and
Pierre Eugène Bidaux at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,.
with their Petition, on the 18th March 1864.
We, JOSEPH GENEVRIER and PIERRE EUGÈNE BIDAUX, of No. 88, Rue du
Chateau d'Eau, Paris, in the Empire of France, Clock Makers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING BARRELS
FOR CLOCKS AND ALARUMS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to certain improvements, 1st, in the spring barrels of
alarum clocks, by which winding up each morning is obviated, the alarum.
working with the clock for ten or more days; 2nd, in the spring barrels of
door alarums, by which the alarum rings as long as the door is open.
The following is the arrangement we adopt for alarum clocks :-On the.
arbor of the spring barrel a cog wheel is mounted, which is held at rest by
the pin of a detent catching in a notch or groove made in a ring screwed on
to the cog wheel itself; when this pin is set free, as will be explained, the cog.
wheel turns and transmits movement to the hammer of the alarum ; after it

page_text: has completed one revolution, the pin again holds it as before. The pin
catching in the ring on the cog wheel above mentioned is set free in the fol-
lowing manner-On an arbor for that purpose a toothed wheel is mounted,
which completes one revolution in twenty-four hours; turning with this wheel
is a small disc furnished with a pin, which starts a detent or stop, and this in
turn frees another pin which starts the first detent and frees the pin.
Our arrangement for spring barrels of door alarums is as follows:-The
spring barrel is enclosed in a box fixed to the door, and on its arbor a winder
is attached, round which a small cord is wound, one end of which is fastened
to the wall, so that when the door is opened the cord unwinds and causes the
arbor to revolve, and so put in motion the hammer of the bell with which it
is connected.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Genevrier and Pierre Eugène Bidaux in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 17th September 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
GENEVRIER and PIERRE EUGÈNE BIDAUX, of No. 83, Rue du Chateau d'Eau,
Paris, in the Empire of France, Clock Makers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Joseph Genèvrier and Pierre Eugène Bidaux, Her special licence that
we, the said Joseph Genèvrier and Pierre Eugène Bidaux, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Joseph Genèvrier
and Pierre Eugène Bidaux, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SPRING BARRELS FOR CLOCKS AND ALARUMS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Joseph Genèvrier and Pierre Eugène
Ridanx, our executors or administrators, by an instrument, in writing under
our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Joseph Genèvrier and Pierre Eugène
Bidaux, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to .be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that
is to say:-
.
Our Invention relates to certain improvements in the spring barrels of clock
and door alarums, the object being, in the first place, to avoid the daily
winding up and setting, the alarum works going eight days or more with the
time-indicating works, although admitting of the alarum being set to any time
desired; in the second place, our improvements enable us to adapt to alarum
clocks a minute, hour, day of the month, and day of the week hand, a striking
apparatus for the hours and half hours, and at the same time requiring no
special daily setting or winding up of the alarum; in the third place, our door
alarum replaces with advantage the electric alarum, and serves to signal not
only the opening of doors, but can be equally applied to boxes or safes.
The mode of carrying out these improvements will be readily understood by
aid of the following description, due reference being made to the accom-
panying Drawings.
Fig. 1 is a front view, the face being removed; Fig. 2 a back view, the
bottom plate being removed; Fig. 3 represents the face, the dotted parts
being a modification herein-after described; Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 are various
accessory parts.
In ordinary alarum clocks the working of the bell completely lets down
the spring, whereas by our arrangement only a part of the force of the spring
is employed, so that one winding up will suffice for eight or more days. For
this purpose a cog wheel b is mounted on the arbor d above the spring barrel a,
the arbor being cylindrical at the part on which the wheel b is. mounted;
c is a ring fixed on the wheel b, and preventing its rotation by the stop piece 6
in the notch f; on freeing the wheel it turns with the arbor d, and sets in
motion the bellwork. The stop piece e is a pin on the detent A mounted on
the same axle with the second detent B. When the stop e is free of the
notch ƒ the wheel & rotates, and by means of the pinion 9 and wheel g¹ puts
in motion the wheel h of the bellwork, which in turn acts on the anchor
piece h¹ carrying the hammer h². The wheel 6 is liberated in the following
manner-The axle of the second face Q, Fig. 3, is furnished with a toothed
wheel o governed by the centre wheel, and maintained by the spring o', and
beneath this wheel o a disc i is placed, so that each twenty-four hours a small

page_text: pin 4 on the disc pushes back the arm 1 of the detent B, and the arm 2 in
turn starts the arm 3 of the detent A, retaining the wheel h of the bellwork
by the pin fixed on it, and as the stop piece is fixed to the other arm of the
detent A it escapes from the notch f, and the wheel 6 acting sets in motion
the bellwork until another notch f retains the stop e, the two detents returning
to their position from the pressure of the springs m', m²; thus it will be seen
that the alarum is set by placing the hand so that the small pin 4 pushes back
the arm 1 when the hand reaches zero. When the dial Q¹ is regulated in
front, the axle of the dial Q is made square at one end to receive a key, and
when regulated at the back is furnished with teeth (see Fig. 1), and a wheel
or pinion k serves to wind up the second dial Q. 9 is a ratchet wheel; 'h³, a
spring fixed to the wheel b; and i¹, a toothed wheel mounted on the arbor d,
so that the wheel 6 is revolved by the said arbor when free from the stop
piece e.
By the following arrangement the clock,, although only wound up every
eight or ten days, strikes the hours and half hours, serving at the same time
as an alarum.
Fig. 8 is a front view, the dial being removed and represented; Fig. 3, the
dotted lines showing the change in position of the second dial Q; Fig. 9 is a
bottom view. The same letters and figures represent the same pieces as in a
Figs. 1 and 2. The detents A and B have in this case but one arm, so that
the detent A governs the wheel of the bellwork h, and the wheel 6 by the
arms e and 3, and the detent B, started by the pin 4, acts on the detent A by
the arm 2. In Fig. 8, the parts not lettered resemble those in ordinary
clocks. It must be remarked that the minute wheel p being too small to bear a
the two pins, which in ordinary clocks start the detent p¹ of the bellwork,
we place beneath the centre eccentric a disc r furnished with the two pins.
necessary.
Fig. 10 is a front view of the face of an alarum clock with day of the
month hand; Fig. 11 is a front view, the dial being removed; Fig. 12 repre- s
sents the spring barrel separate. For alarum clocks with day of the month
hand we place the wheel b, with its accompanying parts, above the pallet
plate X instead of beneath it. This can be equally adapted to any of the
above described arrangements, and is advisable, as by it friction between the
wheel and spring barrel A is avoided, while it allows of the various parts 3
being put together with greater facility, and also of a stronger spring being
employed. The date of the month and day of the week are indicated in the
ordinary manner, that is, by the ordinary seven-toothed star wheel, and thirty-
one-toothed wheel, the axles of which are represented, y and z, Fig. 11.

page_text: Fig. 13 represents a vertical section of a door alarum fixed to a wall P, and
replacing advantageously the electric alarum. Fig. 14 is a view, partly sec-
tional, from above the apparatus, with the bell removed. The axle of the
spring barrel is furnished with a small pulley D, on which a string or cord L
When the door is
is wound; the end of this cord is attached to a door E.
shut, the cord in unwinding compresses the spring, and when the door is open
the spring in expanding communicates a rotary movement to the pinion J by
means of the gear work c'. The pinion J by the wheel Facts on the anchor
piece I, which sets in motion the hammer G of the bell H. On the arbor of
the barrel a collar K is mounted, to which is fixed an arm terminating in an
eye v, in order to guide the cord L. N is a knob to arrest the progress of
the eye v.
Having thus described our Invention, what we claim
desire to secure
by Letters Patent are, the various improvements in clock and door alarums, as
herein-before described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said Joseph Genèvrier and Pierre. Eugène
Bidaux, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Tenth day of
September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-four.
JOSEPH GEŅEVRIER.
(L.S.)
Witness,
J. CLAĔS,
PIERRE EUGÈNE BIDAUX. (L.S.)
18, Rue de l'Echiquier,
Paris.