IMPROVEMENTS IN KEYLESS AND OTHER WATCHES AND TIME-KEEPERS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jules Jean Louis Guiblet and Joseph Rambal, of
11, Wilmington Square, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN KEYLESS AND OTHER WATCHES AND
TIME-KEEPERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jules Jean Louis Guiblet
and Joseph Rambal at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 30th March 1861.
We, JULES JEAN LOUIS GUIBLET and JOSEPH RAMBAL, of 11, Wilmington
Square, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN KEYLESS AND OTHER WATCHES
AND TIME-KEEPERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in keyless and other
watches. Watches constructed on what is known as the going barrel prin-
ciple have heretofore in some cases been made so that they may be wound.
and their hands set by turning the pendant or an axis passing through the
For this purpose, a ratchet wheel has been mounted on the ordinary
winding axis or square; over this, and capable of turning loosely on the same
axis, is placed a toothed wheel, which by other wheels is geared with the
pendant, so that when the same is turned, the toothed wheel on the winding
square necessarily turns with it, and by changing the direction in which the
pendant is turned, a corresponding change is produced in the motion of the

page_text: toothed wheel. On the under side of the toothed wheel is a click or pawl
taking into the teeth of the ratchet wheel; this pawl, when the pendant is
rotated in one direction, drives the ratchet wheel, and thus winds the watch.
When the pendant is turned in the contrary direction the click runs over the
teeth of the ratchet wheel, and no effect is produced on the winding mecha-
nism. With the toothed wheel above mentioned another toothed wheel
gears; this is mounted on a frame which is capable of being moved by
pressing on a stud at the side of the watch, and this motion throws the wheel
carried by the frame into gear with a toothed wheel on the axis of the minute
hand; when this is done, by turning the pendant in one or other direction,
the hands may be moved. When the stud is no longer pressed on, a spring
throws the wheels out of gear, so that the turning the pendant may no longer
move the hands. This arrangement, however, is open to this objection, that
when the watch is fully wound it is only possible to move the hands in one
direction; to obviate this inconvenience is the object of the first part of the
present Invention. For this purpose, we arrange the mechanism so that when
the stud is pressed on for the purpose of setting the hands, the pawl or click
which in winding drives the ratchet wheel on, the winding square is lifted
out of the teeth of the said ratchet wheel. This is done in the following
manner: The click or pawl has a pin projecting from it which enters a hole
in a small metal ring which in other respects is loose or unconnected with
other parts, and which surrounds the winding square, but when the pawl is in
gear is excentric to it, and it is of such a size and so placed, that the forcing
it into a concentric position would at once lift the pawl. This is what takes
place when the stud is pressed on for the purpose of setting the hands, and it
is effected in the following manner:-Around the loose ring, and concentric
with the winding square, is another ring which fits into a recess in the case,
so that the only motion it is capable of is a partial rotation, and this is com-
municated to it by the motion of the stud. The ring on its inner side carries
three springs, and each of them has an incline at its free end; these inclines
bear on studs on the case, and the partial rotation of the ring, by drawing the
inclines past the studs, forces the ends of the springs inwards, and causes
them to come in contact with the inner excentric ring before-mentioned, and
as the ends of the springs all move inwards to an equal extent, they force this
ring into a concentric position, and so lift the pawl out of gear, as before
explained.
The arrangement above described is not applicable to watches in which a
cbain and fusee is employed (as in English watches), because in such watches
the winding square rotates constantly while the watch is going, and this would

page_text: produce a corresponding motion of the pendant, which is, of course, inad-
missible, I therefore in such watches employ the following arrangement:-I
mount a toothed wheel on the axis which usually carries the winding square;
and immediately over it is another wheel similar to it both in size and number
of teeth. This second wheel is geared, with the pendant, so that it always
turns when the pendant is turned. It has on one side of it a small. wheel on
the axis of the minute hand, and on the other another small wheel which is of
sufficient depth also to work with the wheel below on the winding square or
axis, with which it is always in gear. Tho wheel driven by the pendant is
mounted on a rocking frame, and when the apparatus is not in use either for
winding or setting the hands, this frame is kept by springs in such a position
that the wheel it carries does not gear with either of the small, wheels alongside
of it. A stud projecting from the side of the watch serves to move the rocking
frame so as to throw the wheel it carries into gear with the small wheel on the
axis of the minute hand, and thus the hands may be set. When the stud is
not pressed on and when the pendant is turned in a direction to wind the
watch, then the first action is to throw the rocking frame to one side, and to
put the wheel it carries into gear with the small wheel also gearing with the
wheel on the winding axis or square, and so the watch may be wound. The
rocking of the frame takes place because by means of a pawl pressed against
the teeth of the rocking wheel by a spring, but so formed as to allow the teeth
to pass in either direction, a certain amount of resistance is offered to the
turning of this wheel, and the frame moves to one side with greater facility
than the wheel rotates.
In some cases I do not employ either the toothed wheel on the winding"
square, or axis or the small wheel gearing with it, or the wheel above as before
explained, but in place of these parts I mount à clutch on the winding axis or
square so as to be capable of sliding longitudinally thereon, and there is a
similar clutch on the under side of the wheel on, the rocking frame, these are
kept apart by a spring when the apparatus is out of work, or when the rocking
frame is thrown over by the stud to move the hands. In order that the watch
may be wound by turning the pendant, it is necessary that the two clutches
should be pressed together so that their teeth may gear together; this is done.
by means of a piece turning on a centre on the case, and having a point which,
(when the stud is not acted on) enters between the teeth of the wheel carried
by the rocking frame, and the first motion of turning the pendant causes this
piece partially to rotate, and an incline connected with it to force the clutches.
together and the watch is wound. When the turning of the pendant ceases,
a spring brings the parts back to their former positions.
I
tax ::

page_text: Another part of my Invention applies to the escapement of watches and
other time-keepers. In what is known as the plain lever escapement a forked
lever is employed, to which the wheelwork and maintaining spring of the
watch tend constantly to impart a to-and-fro or vibratory. motion on its axis;
this vibratory motion is, however, controled and governed in the following
manner: Just below the forked end of the lever is a disc mounted on the
axis of the balance wheel, there is a notch formed in the periphery of this disc,
and a projection formed on the lever, and these parts are so placed that the
lever can only pass (in its vibrations) when the projection on it falls into the
notch in the disc. To maintain the motion of the balance wheel a projection or
pin (usually a ruby or other stone) is mounted on the disc, and this receives
impulses first in one and then in the other direction from the prongs of the
forked lever between which it enters. In this arrangement however, there is
a certain amount of friction or rub between the projection or pin and the forks
of the lever which tends to produce irregularity in the going of the watch or
timekeeper.
The object of this Invention is to give these impulses more directly in the
line of the axes of the disc and the lever, and so to lessen the friction. For
this purpose a hole is formed in the centre of the pin or jewel and a small stud
or projection on the lever enters this as the lever passes, and the required
impulses are given by the said stud or projection.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jules Jean Louis Guiblet and Joseph Rambal in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 30th September 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JULES
JEAN LOUIS GUIBLET and JOSEPH RAMBAL, of 11, Wilmington Square,
Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Jules Jean Louis Guiblet and Joseph Rambal, Her special licence that we,
the said Jules Jean Louis Guiblet and Joseph Rambal, our executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Jules Jean Louis
Guiblet and Joseph Rambal, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all'

page_text: "
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 KEYLESS AND OTHER WATCHES AND TIME-KEEPERS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Jules Jean Louis Guiblet and
Joseph Rambal, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of
us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the naturo 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 Joseph Rambal, on behalf of myself
and the said Jules Jean Louis Guiblet, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
that is to say:
This Invention has for its object improvements in keyless and other watches
and time-keepers. Watches constructed on what is known as the going barrel
principle have heretofore in some cases been made so that they may be wound
and their hands set by turning the pendant or an axis passing through the
same. For this purpose a ratchet wheel has been mounted on the ordinary
winding axis or square; over this, and capable of turning loosely on the same
axis, is placed a toothed wheel, which by other wheels is geared with the
pendant, so that when the same is turned the toothed wheel on the winding
square necessarily turns with it, and by changing the direction in which the
pendant is turned a corresponding change is produced in the motion of the
toothed wheel. On the under side of the toothed wheel is a click or pawl
taking into the teeth of the ratchet wheel; this pawl, when the pendant is
rotated in one direction, drives the ratchet wheel, and thus winds the watch;
when the pendant is turned in the contrary direction the click runs over the
teeth of the ratchet wheel, and no effect is produced on the winding mechanism.
With the toothed wheel above mentioned another toothed wheel gears; this is
mounted on a frame, which is capable of being moved by pressing on a stud at
the side of the watch, and this motion throws the wheel carried by the frame
into gear with a toothed wheel on the axis of the minute hand; when this is
done, by turning the pendant in one or other direction the hands may bo
moved. When the stud is no longer pressed on, a spring throws the wheels
out of gear, so that the turning the pendant may no longer move the hands.
This arrangement, however, is open to this objection, that when the watch is

page_text: fully wound it is only possible to move the hands in one direction. To obviate
this inconvenience is the object of the first part of the present Invention. For
this purpose we arrange the mechanism so that when the stud is pressed on,
for the purpose of setting the hands, the pawl or click, which in winding drives
the ratchet wheel on the winding square, is lifted out of the teeth of the said
ratchet wheel. This is done in the following manner:-The click or pawl has
a pin projecting from it, which enters a hole in a small metal ring, which in
other respects is loose or unconnected with other parts, and which surrounds
the winding square, but when the pawl is in gear is excentric to it, and it is
of such a size and so placed that the forcing it into a concentric position
would at once lift the pawl; this is what takes place when the stud is pressed
on for the purpose of setting the bands, and it is effected in the following
manner: Around the loose ring, and concentric with the winding square is
another ring, which fits into a recess in the case, so that the only motion it is
'capable of is a partial rotation; and this is communicated to it by the motion
of the stud. The ring on its inner side carries three springs, and each of them
bas an incline at its free end; these inclines bear on studs on the case, and
the partial rotation of the ring, by drawing the inclines past the studs, forces
the ends of the springs inwards, and causes them to come in contact
with the inner excentric ring before mentioned, and as the ends of the
springs all move inwards to an equal extent, they force this ring into a
concentric position, and so lift the pawl out of gear, as before explained.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto attached shews, on an enlarged scale, an
arrangement of the above description. In this Figure a is a toothed wheel
'capable of turning freely around a boss b¹ on the ratchet wheel 6; this ratchet
wheel is fixed on the winding axis of the watch; on the under side of the
'wheel a is a click c, which is pressed into the teeth of the ratchet wheel by a
spring, also carried by the wheel a. The wheel a is geared by other wheels
(not shewn in the Drawing) to the pendant, so that by turning the pendant
'the watch may be wound. The winding axis is prevented from turning except
in the direction required for winding by a click d entering the teeth of the
ratchet wheel e on the winding axis. fis a toothed wheel, also gearing with the
wheel a; this wheel fis mounted on a projection on a ring (shewn at
Figure 2); this projection rests against the end of a piece g, on which is a stud
which projects from the side of the watch, the piece 9 turns on a centre at
'9', and by pressing on this stud the ring i can be turned partly round, so as
to cause the wheelf to gear with a wheel h on the axis of the minute hand;
the ring i is concentric with the winding axis, and lies within a circular recess
in the upper plate of the frame of the watch, within the ring i is another

page_text: ring k, which is ordinarily excentric to the winding axis, and in this ring is a
small hole, into which a pin on the under side of the click c cuters; on the
inner side of the ring i are three springs i', ', and at the free ends of the
springs are inclines 2, ; these inclines when the ring is partly rotated by
pressing on the stud come against pins projecting from the upper plate, the
springs are thus moved inwards, and the ring k forced into a concentric
position, thus lifting the click c out of the teeth of the ratchet wheel b; the
hands of the watch can, therefore, when the stud projecting from the watch is
pressed on, be turned in either direction by turning the pendant, even though
the watch be fully wound. When the stud is no longer pressed on, the
the frame y is moved back to its first position by the springs i', ', on the
ring i.
The arrangement above described is not applicable to watches in which a
chain and fusee is employed (as in English watches), because in such watches
the winding square rotates constantly while the watch is going, and this would
produce a corresponding motion of the pendant, which is of course inadmissable,
we therefore in such watches employ the following arrangement:-We mount
a toothed wheel on the axis which usually carries the winding square, and
immediately over it is another wheel similar to it both in size and number of
teeth; this second wheel is geared with the pendant, so that it always turns
when the pendant is turned; it has on one side of it a small wheel on the axis
of the minute hand, and on the other another small wheel, which is of sufficient
depth also to work with the wheel below on the winding square or axis with
which it is always in gear. The wheel driven by the pendant is mounted on a
rocking frame, and when the apparatus is not in use either for winding or
setting the hands, this frame is kept by springs in such a position that the
wheel it carries does not gear with either of the small wheels alongside of it,
a stud projecting from the side of the watch serves to move the rocking frame
so as to throw the wheel it carries into gear with the small wheel on the axis
of the minute hand, and thus the bands may be set. When the stud is not
pressed on, and when the pendant is turned in a direction to wind the watch,
then the first action is to throw the rocking frame to one side, and to put the
wheel it carries into gear with the small wheel also gearing with the wheel on
the winding axis or square, and so the watch may be wound. The rocking of
the frame takes place because by means of a pawl pressed against the teeth of
the rocking wheel by a spring, but so formed as to allow the teeth to pass in
either direction, a certain amount of resistance is offered to the turning of this
wheel, and the frame moves to one side with greater facility than the wheel
rotates.

page_text: Figure 3 shows on an enlarged scale an arrangement of the above
description. In this Figure a is the fusee or winding axis, on which is fixed
the toothed wheel b; immediately over this wheel is the toothed wheel c,
similar to it both in size and number of teeth; this wheel is carried by the
frame d, which turns on a centre at e; the wheel c is constantly in gear with
the wheelf, which is geared with the pendant by gearing not shown in the
Drawing. The wheel c has on one side of it the small toothed wheel g on the
axis of the minute hand, and on the other side the toothed wheel h; this
wheel is deep enough to gear with both the wheels b and c; i is a click carried
by the frame d; this click is pressed by a spring k against the teeth of the
wheel c, but is so formed as not to prevent the wheel from rotating. The
frame d is ordinarily kept by the spring in such a position that the wheel c
gears with neither of the wheels g or h; in this position it is shown in the
Drawing. When the pendant is turned to wind the watch the frame d is, by
reason of the click i, offering resistance to the rotation of the wheel c, caused
to turn on its centre, so that the wheel c is made to gear with the wheel h, and
motion is thus communicated to the wheel on the winding axis. When the
wheel c has been caused to gear with the wheel h by turning the pendant, as
above explained, it will remain in gear so long as the pendant is continued to
be turned in the same. direction, by reason of the teeth of the wheels pressing
against each other, and in order that the click i may not press on the teeth of
the wheels c so long as the wheels are thus kept in gear; the click has a pin
or its under side, which works in a slot m in the frame of the watch; this pin,
when the wheels are in gear, comes against the end of the slot, and the click is
thus prevented from pressing on the wheel. When it is desired to set the hands
the stud n is pressed on, the cranked lever o is thus turned on its centre, and
the frame d is by it moved into such a position that the wheel c gears with the
wheel 1g on the axis of the minute hand; the hands may thus be set by turning
the pendant. When the wheel c is in gear with the wheel 9 the click i is
prevented from pressing against its teeth by the tail of the click coming against
the fixed screw p, when the frame d is turned on its centre by the stud i being
pressed on.
Another part of our Invention applies to the escapement of watches and
other time-keepers. In what is known as the plain lever escapement a forked
lever is employed, to which the. wheelwork and maintaining spring of the
watch tend constantly to impart a to-and-fro or vibrating motion on its axis;
this vibrating motion is, however, controlled and governed in the following
manner: Just below the forked end of the lever is a disc mounted on the axis
of the balance wheel; there is a notch formed in the periphery of this disc,

page_text: and a projection formed on the lever, and these parts are so placed that the
lever can only pass (in its vibrations) when the projection on it falls into the
notch in the disc. To maintain the motion of the balance wheel a projection
or pin (usually a ruby or other stone) is mounted on the disc, and this receives
impulses first in one and then in the other direction from the prongs of tho
forked lever, between which it enters. In this arrangement, however, there is
a certain amount of friction or rub between the projection or pin and the
forks of the lever, which tends to produce irregularity in the going of the
watch.
The object of this Invention is to cause the ruby pin to act on the lever (to
effect the disengagement of the teeth of the escape wheel) more directly on a
line connecting the centres of the axes of the disc and lever than heretofore,
and so to lessen the friction. For this purpose a hole is formed in the centre
of the pin, and a small stud or projection on the lever enters this as the lever
passes, and the required impulses are given by the said stud or projection; the
ruby pin is also made the whole width of the impulse or amount of movement
of the stud on the lever. An escapement constructed in this manner is shown
at Figure 4. a is the hole formed in the centre of the pin or jewel on the disc,
mounted on the axis of the balance wheel; and 6, the stud or projection on
the lever. At the end of each impulse given by the stud on the end of the
lever, the stud will arrive at one of the dotted lines shewn in the Drawing, one
extremity of the pin or jewel and one side of the fork of the lever will then be
on the line connecting the centres of the disc and lever, the lever will remain
in this position until by the rotation of the disc in the contrary direction,
the extremity of the jewel comes back and acts on the side of the fork,
which is on the centre line, and moves the lever so as to effect the disengage-
ment of the escape wheel. Another impulse is then given by the stud to the
balance wheel, and so on, continuously.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Rambal, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
JPH. RAMBALL. (L.S.)