IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Bristow Hunt at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
February 1870.-A communication from abroad by Louis Auguste
Etienne-Guyot, of Paris, in the Empire of France.
I, BRISTOW HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES," (a communication to
me from abroad by Louis Auguste Etienne-Guyot, of Paris, in the
Empire of France,) to be as follows:-
The Invention which forms the subject of the present application
consists, firstly, in a system of winding which is applicable to watches
of all kinds, and is of a simplicity hitherto unknown; its special
characteristic which it is essentially desired to protect is causing the
back of the case to lay hold directly of the square or the ratchet wheel
of the barrel (placed in the centre of the watch) without the intervention
of any gearing whatever, so that the back of the case supplics the place
of the key and on being turned round winds up the watch; secondly, in
a particular arrangement for setting the hands which completes the
above system.

page_text: I would here observe that this system of winding the spring and
setting the hands is equally applicable to all kinds of escapements or
movements, two of which I will now describe for the sake of illustration.
In one arrangement the square end of the axis of the barrel placed at
the centre of the watch fits into a ratchet wheel retained by a click
acted on by a spring, this ratchet wheel being fixed by a washer and
screws to the back of the case. The back of the case, which thus forms
tho winder, is adjusted perfectly on to the rim, so that no dust or other
foreign body can penetrate into the watch. The winding up of the-
spring takes place when the back of the case is turned round in the 1
proper direction, 'and the spring cannot be broken by overwinding,
because at the desired point it produces a sort of escapement which
protects it. The setting of the hands, which is very simple, is effected
as follows:-A small spindle or axis passing through the pendent
terminating outwardly by a milled button, its inner end being supported 1
in the pillar plate carries a pinion which (when it is desired to set the
-hands)-gears with a carrier-wheel in connection with the minute wheel,
on the boss of which turns also the hour wheel, which is in gear with a
pinion fixed to the carrier wheel above named. On the boss of the
pinion first mentioned is a groove into which takes the end of a spring 2
so arranged that the said pinion is always raised and held in its normal
position out of gear with the carrier wheel. A small projecting pin or
button is provided, which by pressing against the spring puts the pinion
into gear with the carrier wheel so as to allow of the setting of the
hands. To keep the spindle or axis in its place it is provided with a 2
groove into which the end of a screw passing through the pillar plate
projects.
In a second arrangement the ratchet wheel is mounted on a square on
the barrel axle and is held by a click acted on by a spring fixed on the
pillar plate. Behind the ratchet wheel is a notched disc, into one or 3
other of the notches of which enters a projection on a spring fixed to
the side of the ratchet wheel. The disc is pierced with six holes (in the
side) intended to receive two pins soldered or otherwise fixed to the
movable back of the case. On turning the said back the spring is
wound up by means of the pins carrying round the disc, and the latter 3
by means of its spring turns the ratchet wheel as soon as the winding
úp is completed, if the turning round of the back be still continued only
the notched disc turns-with it, escaping from the notches in succession

page_text: and allowing the disc to turn without turning the ratchet wheel. The
same effect is produced if the back is turned in the wrong direction, and
hence there is no risk of breaking the spring or putting any part of the
movement 'out of order.