IMPROVEMENTS IN KEYLESS WATCHES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Ehrhardt, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Chronometer and Watch Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN KEYLESS WATCHES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Ehrhardt at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th April 1864...
I, WILLIAM EHRHARDT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Chronometer and Watch Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN KEYLESS WATCHES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after explained in
keyless watches or watches in which the winding up of the watch and the
setting of the fingers are effected by turning a milled head on the pendant of
the watch. The said milled head communicates in the ordinary manner with
and gives motion to a toothed wheel underneath the dial or at the back of the
watch.
The said toothed wheel communicates motion to the axis of the fusee
in the following manner:-On the axis of the fusee is a fixed small

page_text: ratchet. Working upon the same axis, but not fixed thereon, are a hollow
toothed wheel and a disc or friction plate, the edge of which may either be
left plain or furnished with ratchet teeth. A spring pall engages with the
friction plate and offers some resistance to the rotation of the said disc in
either direction; the said spring pall may, however, be disengaged from the
said disc as herein-after explained.
The order in which the friction plate, hollow toothed wheel, and small
ratchet wheel are situated on the axis of the fusee is as follows:-The
friction plate is situated lowest on the said axis, next above the friction plate
is the hollow toothed wheel, and above and within the hollow toothed wheel
is the small ratchet wheel fixed to the axis. Within the hollow toothed wheel
and around the small ratchet wheel is a spring having the figure of a portion
of a circle. The heel or fixed end of the said spring passes through a slot
in the hollow toothed, wheel and is fixed on the friction plate. On the
under side of the free end of the said spring is a projection which passes
through an oblique slot in the hollow toothed wheel, the said projection
having the same inclination as the slot in which it works, but being considerably
shorter than the said slot. The free end of the spring is made into a tooth or
teeth. When the hollow toothed wheel is turned in the direction contrary to
that proper for winding up the watch the said hollow toothed wheel works
freely upon the axis of the fusee, carrying with it the friction plate, but when
the said hollow toothed wheel is turned in the direction proper to wind up the
watch the heel of the spring is held stationary by the friction plate while the
hollow toothed wheel -performs a partial rotation. The oblique slot in the
said toothed wheel acting on the projection on the end of the spring presses
the free end of the spring inwards; and causes its toothed end to engage with
the ratchet wheel on the axis of the fusee. The further motion of the said
hollow toothed wheel carries round both the friction plate and the ratchet wheel
on the axis of the fusee; by giving either a continuous motion in the proper
direction, or a backward and forward motion to the milled head on the pendant,
the watch is wound up. Immediately the milled head is loosed the spring in
the hollow toothed wheel resumes its normal position. In order to make the
milled head act on the fingers of the watch, a pinion situated on a slide is
made to engage with the toothed wheel actuated by the milled head. The
said slide is capable of a slight motion about the centre of the said toothed
wheel. When the slide is pressed inwards by acting on its end at the edge of
the watch, the pinion it carries is made to engage with the minute wheel, and
the inner end of the slide at the same time throws the spring pall out of gear
with the friction plate. The milled head now 'acts on the fingers, 'the hollow

page_text: toothed wheel and friction plate turning freely in either direction without
acting on the ratchet wheel on the axis of the fusee. When the end of the
slide is no longer pressed it resumes its normal position, and the turning of
the milled head acts only on the winding mechanism.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Ehrhardt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th October 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EHRHARDT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Chronometer and
Watch Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year o
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Ehrhardt, Her special licence that I, the said William
Ehrhardt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Ehrhardt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 KEYLESS WATCHES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Ehrhardt, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or. one of their hands and seals, should parti
cularly 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 Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Ehrhardt, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after explained in key-
less watches, or watches in which the winding up of the watch and the setting
of the fingers are effected by turning a milled head on the pendant of the
watch. The said milled head communicates in the ordinary manner with

page_text: and gives motion to a toothed wheel underneath the dial, or at the back of
the watch.
"
The said toothed wheel communicates motion to the axis of the fusee in
the following manner:-On the axis of the fusee-is a fixed small ratchet wheel.
Working upon a pipe on the said ratchet wheel, but not fixed thereon, is a
hollow toothed wheel, and working upon a pipe on the said hollow toothed
wheel is a disc or friction plate, the edge of which may either be left plain or
furnished with ratchet teeth. A spring pall engages with the friction plate
and offers some resistance to the rotation of the said disc in either direction.
The said spring pall may however be disengaged from the said disc as herein-
after explained.
The order in which the friction plate, hollow toothed wheel, and small ratchet
wheel are situated, is as follows:-The friction plate is situated lowest, next
above the friction plate is the hollow toothed wheel, and above and within the
hollow toothed wheel is the small ratchet wheel fixed to the axis of the fusee.
Within the hollow toothed wheel and around the small ratchet wheel is a spring
having the figure of a portion of a circle. The heel or fixed end of the said
spring passes through a slot in the hollow toothed wheel and is fixed on the
friction plate. On the under side of the free end of the said spring is a pro-
jection which passes through an oblique slot in the hollow toothed wheel, the
said projection having the same inclination as the slot in which it works, but
being somewhat shorter than the said slot. The free end of the spring is
made into a tooth or teeth. When the hollow toothed wheel is turned in the
direction contrary to that proper for winding up the watch, the said hollow
toothed wheel works freely upon the pipe of the ratchet wheel, carrying with it
the friction plate. But when the said hollow toothed wheel is turned in the
direction proper to wind up the watch, the heel of the spring is held stationary
by the friction plate while the hollow toothed wheel performs a partial rotation.
The oblique slot in the said toothed wheel acting on the projection on the end
of the spring presses the free end of the spring inwards and causes its toothed
end to engage with the ratchet wheel on the axis of the fusee. The further
motion of the said hollow toothed wheel carries round both the friction plate
and the ratchet wheel on the axis of the fusee. By giving either a continuous
motion in the proper direction, or a backward and forward motion to the milled
head on the pendant, the watch is wound up. Immediately the milled head
is loosed, the spring in the hollow toothed wheel resumes its normal position.
In order to make the milled head act on the fingers of the watch, a pinion
situated on a slide, is made to engage with the toothed wheel actuated by the
milled head. The said slide is capable of a slight motion about the centre of

page_text: the said toothed wheel. When the slide is pressed inwards, by acting on its
end at the edge of the watch, the pinion it carries is made to engage with the
minute wheel, and the inner end of the slide at the same time throws the
spring pall out of gear with the friction plate. The milled head now acts on
the fingers, the hollow toothed wheel and friction plate turning freely in either
direction without acting on the ratchet wheel on the axis of the fusee. When
the end of the slide is no longer pressed it resumes its normal position and the
turning of the milled bead acts only on the winding mechanism.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe,
with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner in which the same
is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in plan a portion of a keyless watch containing mecha-
nism constructed according to my Invention, for winding up and setting the
fingers of the watch, the parts. being in the respective positions which they
cccupy when the winding up mechanism is in gear, and the watch ready to be
wound up, and Figure 2, represents the same with the winding up mechanism
thrown out of gear, and the mechanism by which the setting of the hands is
effected, thrown into gear. Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 represent portions
of my Invention as herein-after explained. The same letters of reference
indicate the same parts in the several Figures of the Drawing.
a is a milled head on the pendant 6 of the watch, the axis of which milled
head carries at its bottom a toothed wheel or pinion c, which toothed wheel or
pinion c gears with and gives motion to a toothed wheel d, situated under the
dial, or at the back of the watch. This toothed wheel d gears with another
toothed wheel e on the axis f of the fusee. The fusee is not represented in
the Drawing, its position being within the plates of the watch, as is usual.
Underneath the toothed wheel e is a disc or friction plate g, the edge of which
is furnished with ratchet teeth. The edge of the said disc or friction plate
may however be plain. A pall h turning on the centre i, and pressed by the
spring k, engages with the teeth of the friction plate g (or when the edge of
the friction plate is plain presses upon the said edge), and offers some
resistance to the rotation of the said friction plate in either direction. The
toothed wheel e is hollow, and contains a ratchet wheel 1 fixed rigidly to the
axis f of the fusee. The ratchet wheel has a pipe 12 on its under side, on
which pipe the hollow toothed wheel e works loosely, and the said hollow
toothed wheel also has a pipe e³, upon which the friction plate g works loosely.
A spring m having the figure of a portion of a circle is situated in the hollow
toothed wheel e, and around the ratchet wheel ?, as represented. The friction
plate g, hollow toothed wheel e, ratchet wheel I, and spring m are represented

page_text: e,
4
in section in Figure 3 of the Drawing, and the order in which they are
situated will be readily seen by an examination of the said Figure 3. The
friction plate g is represented separately in plan and section in Figure 4; the
hollow toothed wheel e in plan and section in Figure 5; the spring m in plan
of under side and side elevation in Figure 6; and the ratchet wheel in
elevation and section in Figure 8. The manner in which the motion com-
municated to the hollow toothed wheel e by the toothed wheel d is transmitted
to the ratchet wheel on the axis of the fusee is as follows:-The heel or
fixed end m³ of the spring m passes through a slot n in the hollow toothed
wheel , and is fixed by screws on the friction plate g (see Figure 3). On the
under side of the free end of the spring m is a projection p, which passes
through and works in an oblique slot q in the hollow toothed wheel e. The
projection p on the spring m has the same inclination as the slot 9 in which it
works, but is somewhat shorter than the said slot, as represented in the
.Drawing. The free end of the spring m is made into a tooth m³. When the
hollow toothed wheel e is turned by the wheel d acted upon by the milled
head in the direction contrary to that necessary for winding up the watch,
that is, in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 1, the said hollow
toothed wheel e works freely on the pipe of the ratchet wheel 1, carrying with
it the friction plate g, the teeth of the said friction plate working over the
pall h, and no motion is communicated to the ratchet wheel l and axis f of the
fusee. When, however, the toothed wheel e is turned in a direction
contrary to that indicated by the arrow, and proper to wind up the watch,
the heel m² of the spring m is held stationary by the friction plate g, while the
hollow toothed wheel e performs a partial rotation upon the said friction plate.
The partial rotation of the hollow toothed wheel e causes the oblique slot q in
the said wheel e to act upon the oblique projection p on the free end of the
spring m, and to press the said free end of the spring inwards, that is, towards
the ratchet wheel. 7. When the free end of the spring m is pressed inwards,
its tooth m³ engages with a tooth of the ratchet wheel on the axis of the
fusee, and the further motion of the hollow toothed wheel e carries round both
the friction plate 9 and ratchet wheel 1 on the axis f of the fusee, and thereby
gives motion to the said fusee and winds up the watch. The manner in
which the free end of the spring m is pressed inwards and made to engage
with the ratchet wheel is indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1. When the
spring m has been pressed inwards and made to engage with the ratchet
wheel by the partial rotation of the hollow toothed wheel e upon the friction
plate g, the relative positions of the said wheel e, friction plate g, and spring m
are maintained so long as motion in the same direction is given to the toothed

page_text: wheel e, and the watch wound up to the required degree. When, however,
the milled head a is loosed from the band, the hollow toothed wheel e makes
a partial return motion on the friction plate g by the action of the spring 'm,
causing its projection p to work in the oblique slot q, and to press round the
said hollow toothed wheel, and the parts resume the positions represented in
Figure 1. When the parts are in the last-named position, by giving motion
to the milled head a in the direction proper to make the hollow toothed
wheel e rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 1, the said
toothed wheel rotates without acting on the spring m, and the motion of the
said toothed wheel communicates. no motion to the ratchet wheel on the
axis f of the fusee; by giving either a continuous motion in the proper
direction, or a backward and forward motion to the milled head a on the
pendant 6, the watch is wound up. In order to prevent the rising of the free
end of the spring m when it is pressed inwards, in the manner before explained,
the said free end is provided with a projection m' (see Figure 6), which works
under the piece r fixed to the hollow toothed wheel e. The said fixed piece'r
is shown separately in plan and elevation in Figure 7; and the part of the
said piece under which the projection. m of the spring m works-is marked s in
the said Figure 7. Instead of employing a single spring in the hollow toothed
wheel e, as herein-before described and illustrated in the Drawing, two springs
may be used. In this case the hollow toothed wheel in which the springs are
situated has two oblique slots, in which slots the oblique projections of the
springs work, and has also two openings, through which the heels of the
springs pass. Figure 9 represents in plan a hollow toothed wheel of the kind
last described. The mechanism by which the fingers of the watch are set,
and the winding mechanism thrown out of action is constructed as follows:-
t is a pinion or 'toothed wheel gearing with the toothed wheel d; actuated by
the milled head a. The said pinion or toothed wheel t is situated on a slide u,
the said slide u being capable of a slight motion about the centre of the toothed
wheel d. The motion of the said slide is limited by the pin working in a
slot in the said slide. The upper contracted end w of the slide u passes
through the edge of the watch, the said slide being pressed outwards by the
spring x. When the slide u is in its normal position, as represented in
Figure 1, the pinion or wheel t is in gear with the toothed wheel d, but out
of gear with the toothed wheel y. By pressing inwards the slide u, by acting
on its end at the edge of the watch, the pinion t on the said slide is made to
engage with the toothed wheel y, as represented in Figure 2. By the pressing
inwards of the slide u the bottom of the said slide is made to
end of the spring pall h, and throw it out of gear with the friction plate g, as
act on the free

page_text: represented in the said Figure 2. By now turning the milled head a its motion
is transmitted through the toothed wheels c, d, pinion t, and toothed wheel y
to the minute wheel, and the fingers of the watch thereby set or adjusted.
During the setting of the fingers of the watch the toothed wheel e and friction
plate g turn freely in either direction without acting on the ratchet wheel 7.
When the end w of the slide u is liberated, it is brought into its normal
position by the spring x, and the pall h is again made to gear with the friction
plate g, as represented in Figure 1, and the turning of the milled head a now
acts only on the winding-up mechanism.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details berein described and represented in the
Drawing, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention of improvements in keyless watches,
Firstly, the construction and combination essentially in the manner herein
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, of the friction
plate g, hollow toothed wheel e, spring m (or springs), and ratchet wheel 1,
for transmitting to the axis of the fusee in the direction proper to wind up
the watch, the motion of a milled head on the pendant of the watch, the
motion of the said milled head when turned in a direction contrary to that
proper to wind up the watch, having no action on the winding-up mechanism.
Secondly, the combination of the slide u and spring pall h, for simultaneously
putting into gear the mechanism by which the setting of the fingers of the
watch is effected, and throwing out of gear the mechanism by which the
winding up of the watch is effected, and the reverse.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Ehrhardt, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
WILLIAM EHRHARDT. (L.S.)