IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES AND OTHER TIMEKEEPERS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles-Powell, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES
AND OTHER TIMEKEEPERS."
Sealed the 24th August 1866, and dated the 1st March 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Powell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
March 1866.
I, CHARLES POWELL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WATCHES AND OTHER TIMEKEEPERS," to be as follows:-
In manufacturing watches to go for a long time with once winding up
it is necessary to have a long spring with corresponding strength and a
sufficient space for its free action. This object I attain as follows:-I take
a solid plate of the intended diameter of the watch or nearly so, and I bore
it out so as to form a recess or cavity therein, in which I fit the mainspring;
this recess or cavity is of sufficient depth not only to admit the spring but
also to leave a small part to support the arbor of the same. The cavity

page_text: extends from the edge of the plate to a little beyond the centre thereof.
I also bore out the plate so as to form another cavity therein to receive a
train of wheels which I fit therein, and to which I add a supplementary
wheel to increase the duration of the going power. I also use an extra
wheel for connecting the minute and hour wheel with the train of wheels
in consequence of the mainspring occupying space beyond the centre of
the watch.
My next improvement consists in making provision for the undue and
irregular strain which is generally exerted on the outer end of the main-
spring when it is wound up; the object of this improvement is to regulate
the outer end of such mainspring. For this purpose I form a semicircular
groove, the ends of which open into the space bored out for the main-
spring; in this groove I fit a bolt, one end of which has a catch, on which
the mainspring is fitted, and as the spring is wound towards the centre or
arbor the semicircular bolt moves towards the centre also, that is, the end
fastened to the mainspring, and the strain is in a right angle direction
whether the spring is wound or run down. I sometimes use a straight bolt
for the same purpose, made to slide and placed at a tangent (or nearly so)
to the periphery of the mainspring cavity, so that the spring shall draw it
out as required; this bolt may slide by means of a pin and slot with guides
or by guides and a T-piece at the end.
According to my Invention also I employ a simple chronometer escape-
ment, having only one detaining pallet and one spring. The lever, with staff,
has its axis about midway and on the side of the lever at its axis is a stone
or plate on which a spring bears so as to keep the lever in a line with the
balance axle when not acted upon by a pallet or pin of the roller; the end
of the lever is of a step form, the projecting part being tapered off cen-
trally. The pallet is fixed between the axis of the lever and the step on the
lever about midway. On the roller of the balance is a pin which when the
balance is set in motion strikes the step of the lever and lifts the pallet from
the 'scape wheel, this. wheel being free one of its teeth strikes a peg or
tooth in the larger part of the roller and gives return motion to the
balance.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Powell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
31st August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
POWELL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,, Manager, send
greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the First day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth.
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Charles Powell, Her special licence that I, the said:
Charles Powell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others' as
I, the said Charles Powell, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES AND OTHER TIMEKEEPERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles Powell, my executors. or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters.
Patent..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Powell, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings, and to the letters.
and figures marked thereon, that is to say :---
In manufacturing watches to go for a long time with once winding up
it is necessary to have a long spring with corresponding strength and a
sufficient space for its free action. This object I attain as follows: I take
a solid plate of the intended diameter of the watch, or nearly so; and I bore
it out so as to form a recess or cavity therein, in which I fit the mainspring;
this recess or cavity is of sufficient depth not only to admit the spring but

page_text: also to leave a small part to support the arbor of the same.
The cavity
extends from the edge of the plate to a little beyond the centre thereof. I
also bore out the plate so as to form another cavity therein to receive a
train of wheels which I fit therein, and to which I and a supplementary
wheel to increase the duration of the going power. I also use an extra
wheel for connecting the minute and hour wheel with the train of wheels
in consequence of the mainspring occupying space beyond the centre of
the watch.
My next improvement consists in making provision for the undue and
irregular strain which generally exerted on the outer end of the main-
spring when it is wound up; the object of this improvement is to regulate
the outer end of such mainspring. In the arrangement which I prefer .I
form a semicircular groove, the ends of which open into the space bored
out for the mainspring;. in this. groove I fit a bolt, one end of which has
a catch, on which the mainspring is fitted, and as the spring is wound
towards the centre or arbor the semicircular bolt moves towards the centre
also (that is the end fastened to the mainspring), and the strain is in a right.
angle direction whether the spring is wound or run down. I sometimes
use a straight bolt for the same purpose, made to slide, and placed at a
tangent or nearly so to the periphery of the mainspring cavity, so that the
spring shall draw it out as required; this bolt may slide by means of a pin
and slot with guides or by guides and a T-piece at the end.
Having thus set forth the nature of my said Invention, I next proceed
to describe it with reference to the Drawings, which are made double the
size of an ordinary watch.
Figure 1 is a plan view of the solid plate shewing the dial side; a is a
plate which covers the mainspring (and shewn more fully in Figure 3);. the
recesses d¹, d, shew the position of the wheels which connect the motion
from the train of wheels to the hour and minute wheels. Figure 2 shews
the interior of the watch; e¹ is the supplementary wheel, the spindle of e
which extends through the solid plate, and on the end of it (the spindle) is
fixed a wheel at d Figure 1. Figure 3 represents the solid plate on the
dial side, having the mainspring plate removed, and shewing the position
of the mainspring and semicircular bolt c. Figure 4 shews the position of
the straight bolt for regulating the mainspring. I abandon the simple
chronometer escapement.
Having now described my Invention and the manner of carrying it into
effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the exact

page_text: form, size, or position of the different parts, but what I claim is, the manu-
facture of watches with the mainspring extending beyond the centre
thereof, and the arrangement of the wheels in connection therewith.
Also, I claim the use of sliding bolts in connection with the outer end
of the mainspring, as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Powell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of August, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
JOSEPH COOKE,
Lower Lawley St.,
Birmingham.
CHARLES POWELL. (L.S.)