Improvements in Repeating Alarm Clocks.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Aug., 1898-Accepted, 10th Sept., 1898
[Communicated from abroad by THE ANSONIA CLOCK COMPANY (a Corporation
organized under the laws of the State of Connecticut, United States of America,)
of Ansonia in said State of Connecticut, and No. 11, Cliff Street, Manhattan,
in the City and State of New York, United States of America.]
Improvements in Repeating Alarm Clocks.
I, PHILIP ARTHUR NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 6, Bream's Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to what are known as repeating alarm clocks, that is to say,
alarm clocks in which the alarm mechanism, when tripped or sprung, operates
during a series of recurring interrupted periods. The objects of this invention are,
firstly, to simplify as much as possible the mechanism by which the interruptions
between the periods of operation are produced, and, secondly, to obviate interference
with the movement of the time train by such mechanism at all times except while
the said interruptions are taking place, and then only in an inconsiderable degree;
and with a view to these objects, the improvement consists in the interrupting
mechanism hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In Sheet I of the drawings, Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of such of the parts
of an alarm clock as are necessary to illustrate the invention, the section being taken
just inside of the back plate of the movement frame; Fig. 2 is a side view of the
same; Fig. 3 a view of the alarm interrupting device corresponding with Fig. 1, but
showing said device in a different position; Figs. 4 and 5 are detail views of modi-
fications of said device.
In Sheet II, Fig. 6 represents another modification of the device; Figs. 7, 8, 9, are
diagrams illustrating the movements of certain of the parts represented in Fig. 6;
Fig. 10 is a perspective view of one of the details shown in Figs. 7, 8, & 9.
Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts of all the figures.
Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, A and B designate respectively the front and back
plates of the clock-movement; C the main-spring of the time train; D the winding
arbor of said spring, carrying the main wheel E, which gears with the centre
pinion a on the minute-hand arbor b; c the arbor carrying the first time pinion d
and time wheel e, said pinion gearing with, and receiving motion from, the centre
wheel x.
F is the spring and G the winding arbor of the alarm train, said arbor carrying
the driving wheel G', which operates through pinions f, g, and a wheel h, to drive
the arbor of the escape wheel 2, which actuates the alarm hammer H through the
vergej, to the spindle k of which, the said hammer is attached. The said spindle is
provided with an arm which engages with the turned-in end of the trip lever K,
for the purpose of locking the alarm until said lever is liberated by the alarm-tripping
cam r, which is carried by a wheel m, deriving motion from the time train through
the dial work n, o, p, 9.
As thus far described, the time train and the alarm mechanism or train are similar to

page_text: those of common alarm clocks in which the alarm operates continuously until run
down or stopped by a manual stop. The only addition which is made in the example
of the invention illustrated by Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, is a wheel or rotary interrupter 8
carried by any suitable spindle, wheel, or pinion of the time train, and an arm or tail
piece t projecting from the verge spindle k, to engage with said interrupter. In
Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the rotary interrupter is represented as consisting of a contrate
wheel carried by the spindle c, which also carries the first time pinion d and wheel e of
the time train. The arm or tail piece t consists of a wire which so projects from the
verge spindle k, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and has its end so turned in, as shown
at in Fig. 2, that when the alarm train is released by the withdrawal of the trip K
from the arm 1, the said turned-in end may pass in and out through any one of
the spaces between the teeth of the contrate wheel, and so permit the operation of the
alarm, or may be arrested against the inner or outer face of any tooth that may be
opposite to it, and so interrupt the alarm until the next space arrives there. In this
way, the operation of the alarm is periodically interrupted, and allowed to be repeated.
When the aların verge and hanmer are stopped by the trip lever K, the turned-in
end of the arm or tail piece t may stop outside of the teeth of the contrate wheel,
as shown in Fig. 1, or inside thereof, as shown in Fig. 3, according as the arm l
happens to have been arrested against the inner or outer face of the turned-in end of
the trip lever K, and, accordingly, the interruption may be produced by the arrest
of the arm or tail piece t against the inner or outer face of the teeth of the
contrate wheel.
In the modification shown in Fig. 4, the rotary interruptor consists of a wheel s¹,
of star or ratchet form, upon the crowns of the teeth of which the turned-in end t² of
the arm or tail piece t may be arrested, to produce the interruption, the teeth
or the spaces between the teeth of such wheel being deep enough to permit the free
vibration of the tail pieces, when the latter is opposite said spaces.
In the modification shown in Fig. 5, the interrupter is formed by the punching
out of contrate teeth 82 from the wheel e of the time train, and by this means only
one additional piece, viz. ;-the arm or tail piece t on the alarm verge spindle, is
necessary to convert an ordinary continuous alarm into a repeating alarm.
In all the above described modifications, the arm or tail piece t will always be out
of contact with the rotary interrupter until the alarm mechanism is liberated by the
trip lever, and the interrupting mechanism then presents no resistance whatever to
the operation of the time mechanism; and when the alarm mechanism has been so
liberated, it is only during its interruptions, when the arm or tail piece t is on the
bearing surfaces of the rotary interrupter, that there is any resistance offered to the
time mechanism, and such resistance is very immaterial.
In the modification shown in Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, the rotary interrupter is like
that shown in Fig. 5, consisting of contrate teeth 2, punched out from the face of
the wheel e, and the arm or tail piece t of the verge has pivoted to its end, at u, a
tripping piece I, of which Fig. 10 is a perspective view. This tripping piece consists
of a very small and light lever, having on one side a laterally projecting tooth v, and
a laterally projecting stop w, and having applied between it and the tail piece t or
verge arbor k, a very light spring y,.which tends to draw and hold the stop w against
the end of the tail piece t in such manner that the tooth may either abut against
one of the teeth s², as shown in Fig. 7, and so stop the vibration of the alarm verge,
or may play back and forth through a space between two of said teeth, as may be
understood by reference to Fig. 9, to permit the vibration of the verge. The said
spring is represented as a coil surrounding the arm or tail piece t; and having one
end attached to the verge arbor k, and the other end connected with the stop w of
the tripping piece. In Figs. 7, 8, 9, the wheel e is, except its contrate teeth 8², only
indicated by doited circles, and said teeth are shown in section, the body or disk of
said wheel occupying a position in front of the tripping piece, so that, if shown in
full, it would hide the tooth v.
In this last described example of the invention, when the alarm verge is liberated
by the tripping of the locking lever K, the verge is free to vibrate and produce the

page_text: alarm while the tooth of the tripping piece I is opposite a space between two of
the teeth 82 of the interrupter, as shown in Fig. 9; but as the teeth 82 successively
arrive opposite the tripping tooth v, the alarin is interrupted. This interruption
continues so long as the latter tooth and a tooth 82 are in contact, and during its
continuance there is very little obstruction offered to the movement of the time
train, because the friction between the teeth and causes the tripping piece I to
move on its pivot u as illustrated by Fig. 8, the two teeth thus moving together,
instead of one dragging over the other, until v, by this pivotal movement, is free
from $2. The spring y, then, by its instantaneous action on the tripping piece,
throws the tooth v downwards to a position opposite the space between the last
mentioned tooth s² and the next one, as shown in Fig. 9, and the alarm mechanism
is then again freed, the tripping piece being then held securely in proper fixed
relation to the arm or tail piece t by means of the spring y, which holds the stop w
against the bottom of the tail piece.
It will be obvious that the ways in which the rotary interrupter may be constructed
are so numerous that it cannot be necessary to particularly describe all of them, and
it is sufficient to say in relation thereto, that it may consist of any rotary devices of
which the periphery presents a series of interrupted bearing surfaces capable of
engagement with the hammer.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me from abroad, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In an alarm clock, the combination with a time train and an alarm train, of a
striking escapement in said aların train, a rotary interrupter in the time train, pre-
senting a series of alternating bearing surfaces and intervening spaces, and a projection
from the verge of said escapement for engaging with said interrupter, substantially as
and for the purpose herein described.
2. In an alarm clock, the combination with a time train and an alarm train, of an
escape wheel driven by the alarm train, a verge, and an attached hammer actuated
by said alarm train, an interrupting wheel in the time train, and a projection
from the verge spindle for alternately engaging with the teeth of said wheel, and
vibrating between the said teeth, substantially as and for the purpose herein
described.
3. In an alarm clock, the combination with a time train and an alarm train, of an
escape wheel driven by the alarm train, a verge, and an attached hammer actuated by
said alarm train, a contrate wheel in the time train, and an attachment to the
verge spindle for alternately bearing against the teeth of said wheel, and pass-
ing in and out through the spaces between them, substantially as herein
described.
4. In an alarm clock, the combination with a time train and an alarm train, of a
striking escapement in said alarmn train, a toothed interrupting wheel in the time
train, a projection from the verge of said escapement, and a tripping piece pivoted to
said projection, for alternately engaging with the teeth of said interrupting wheel,
and vibrating uninterruptedly between the teeth of said wheel, substantially as
herein described.
5. In an alarm clock, the combination with a time train and an alarm train, of a
striking escapement in the alarm train, a toothed interrupting wheel in the time train,
a rigid projection from the verge of said escapement, a tripping piece pivoted to the
said projection, for engagement with said interrupting wheel, and a spring applied
between said tripping piece and said projection, substantially as and for the purpose
herein described.
Dated 10th 1...
1000