Improvements in Chronograph Watches.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Jan.; 1892
Complete Specification Left, 26th Oct., 1892-Accepted, 26th Nov., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Chronograph Watches.
I, WILLIAM HENRY DOUGLAS, of 59, High Street, Stourbridge, in the County
of Worcester, Watch Maker, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:
My invention relates to improvements in the mechanism of chronograph watches,
and its object is to enable chronograph attachments or details to be readily applied
to watches of existing types such as the " Waterbury" an American watch, and
the well known types of English and continental watches.
In carrying my invention into effect as applied to a Waterbury watch, I attach
to the ordinary fourth or second pinion and wheel, a fine toothed bevil wheel, and
I place upon the centre wheel a fine toothed bevil wheel of the same diameter and
number of teeth and attached to this fine toothed wheel I arrange a pinion gearing
into a large toothed wheel. Between the two fine teethed bevil wheels and above
them 1 place an intermediate wheel also having fine teeth and bevilled to gear into
the other two wheels. This intermediate wheel I place under the control of an
external push piece or plate by which the wheel may be caused either to gear into
the other two or raised clear of them. To the centre fine toothed wheel I attach
a centre seconds hand, which hand makes one complete revolution in a minute round
the large dial, when the intermediate wheel gears from the ordinary seconds wheel.
The pinion rotating with the centre seconds hand gears into a large wheel as herein-
before described, and a hand rotating with this large wheel on a dial indicates ten
minutes or a similar period by one revolution. The Waterbury watch arranged
with my chronograph gear thus has in addition to the ordinary hands, an additional
seconds hand rotating round the centre and a small ten minutes dial is added.
The intermediate fine tooth bevil wheel is controlled by means of a push piece or
plate attached to the side of the watch case; this push piece or plate actuates a rod
or ring projection lying round the case within it, and an incline or wedge surface in
the projection works against a pin in a spring or spring lever to move the spring
against its elasticity and insert a wedge under a flat spring or lever carrying the
intermediate wheel. The flat spring is thus raised, and the said wheel is raised out
of gear with the other two. The chronograph gear is thus put out of operation.
Immediately, however, the push plate is moved to the other extreme position, the
spring or spring lever is allowed to move its pin to the bottom of the incline or
wedge surface, and the spring lever withdraws its wedge from under the flat spring
and allows the said spring to place the intermediate wheel in gear. The chrono-
graph portion then starts, and may be stopped at the desired instant without
interfering with the motion of the watch as herein before described by lifting the
intermediate wheel.
Part of my invention relates to the mechanism for returning the hands or
pointers, that is, the seconds centre hand and the ten minutes hand to their
respective zero points and so arranging that the zero arrangement cannot be put in
action unless the chronograph part be out of gear.
To accomplish this, I carry the ring projection from the push plate in the case,
round the said case to a projecting stop or pin, this stop or pin has a groove or
collar into which part of the ring projection fits when the slide or push piece is so
placed that the chronograph part is in action. By this arrangement the said pin or
stop cannot be thrust in while the chronograph is in action. When the chronograph
is out of action and it is desired to return the hands to zero, I push in this pin and
it acts on a lever which lever in turn acts on a heart shaped cam on the large ten
minutes wheel and brings the hand carried by this wheel to zero; the centre

page_text: seconds hand pinion being geared to the large wheel also rotates with it, and the
seconds hand thus comes very nearly to zero. .To settle it exactly at zero I
arrange an auxiliary lèver which is pressed between two leaves of the seconds
pinion by a spring, when the push pin moves in the lever to tacts on the heart
shaped cam.
Dated 1 of Tonu1000
MARKS & CLERK,
13, Temple Street, Birmingham, Agents for the. Applicant..
t
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Chronograph Watches.
I, WILLIAM HENRY DOUGLAS, of 59 High Street, Stourbridge, in the County
of Worcester, Watch Maker, 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 :-
My invention relates to improvements in the mechanism of chronograph watches,
and its object is to enable attachments or details to be readily applied to watches
of existing types such as the "Waterbury" an American watch, and the well known
types of English and continental watches.
Referring to the accompanying sheet of drawings,
Figures 1, 2, 3, 3 and 4 illustrate my invention carried into effect as applied to a
Waterbury watch.
I attach to the ordinary fourth or seconds pinion and wheel a, a fine toothed bevil
-wheel b, and I, place upon the centre wheel a fine toothed bevil wheel c of the
same diameter and number of teeth as a and attached to this fine toothed wheel I
arrange a pinion e¹ gearing into a large toothed wheel d. Between the two fine
itcethed wheels b and c and above them I place an intermediate wheel e also having
fine teeth and bevilled to gear into the other two wheels b, c. This intermediate
wheel e I place under the control of an external push piece or plate by which the
wheel e may be caused to gear into the other two b and c or raised clear of them.
To the centre fine toothed wheel c I attach a centre seconds hand g Figure 2, which
hand makes one complete revolution in a minute round the large dial, when the
intermediate wheel gears from the ordinary seconds wheel. The pinion c¹ rotating
with the centre seconds hand g gears into a large wheel d as hereinbefore described,
and a hand rotating with this large wheel d on a dial indicates ten minutes or a
similar period by one revolution.
The Waterbury watch arranged with my chronograph gear thus has in addition
to the ordinary hands, an additional seconds hand y rotating round the centre and a
small ten minutes dial is added.
The intermediate fine tooth bevil wheel e is controlled by means of a push piece
or plate attached to the side of the watch case; this push piece or side plate
actuates a rod or ring projection k lying round the case within it, and an incline or
wedge surface in the projection works against a pin in a spring or spring
lever to move the spring against its elasticity and insert a wedge under a flat
spring or lever m carrying the intermediate wheel e. The flat spring m is thus
raised, and the said wheel e is raised out of gear with the other two band c. The
chronograph gear is thus put out of operation. Immediately, however, the push
plate is moved to the other extreme position, the spring or spring lever I is
allowed to move its pin l' to the bottom of the incline or wedge surface k, and the
spring lever withdraws its wedge from under the flat spring m and allows the
spring e¹ to place the intermediate wheel e in gear. The chronograph portion then
starts, and may be stopped at the desired instant without interfering with the
motion of the watch as hereinbefore described by lifting the intermediate wheel e.
Part of my invention relates to the mechanism for returning the hands or
pointers g, h, that is, the seconds centre hand and the ten minutes hand to their

page_text: respective zero points and so arranging that the zero arrangement cannot be put in
action unless the chronograph part be out of, gear.
To accomplish this, I carry the ring projection k from the push plate fround the
said case to a projecting stop or pin n, this stop or pin n has a groove n¹ into which
part of the ring projection & fits when the slide or push piece is so placed that the
chronograph part is in action.
By this arrangement the said pin n or stop cannot be thrust in while the chrono-
graph is in action. When the chronograph is out of action and it is desired to
return the hands to zero, I push in this pin n and it acts on a lever o which lever o in
turn acts on a heart shaped cam p on the large ten minutes wheel d and brings the
hand carried by this wheel to zero; the centre seconds hand pinion being geared
to the large wheel also rotates with it, and the seconds hand g thus comes very nearly
to zero.
To settle the hand 7 exactly at zero I arrange an auxiliary lever r which is
pressed between two leaves of the seconds pinion by a spring, when the push pin
moves in the lever to act on the heart shaped cam.
Figure 3 is a sectional side elevation of the centre wheel e and flat spring m with
the wedge.
Figure 3 shows the incline wedge surface k as a wedge cut in the piece k.
Figure 4 shows a modification of one part of my invention in which I dispense
with the inner projecting ring and push piece f for the purpose of controlling the
intermediate wheel e. According to this arrangement the intermediate wheel e is
placed out of gear by the flat bar or spring which is raised by the insertion of the
wedge piece u attached to the wedge spring u. The wedge piece w' is inserted by
means of projections v on the ratchet wheel v acting on the inclined surface u² of the
wedge spring u on the rotation of the ratchet wheel v.
The ratchet wheel v is rotated
by the spring pawl w' attached to the lever w which is pivoted at 10'; and this lever is
actuated by the collar A' on the winding spindle A' against the action of the
spring won the depression of the knob A. As shown in the figure the intermediate
wheel e is in gear with the wheels b and c; but if the knob A is depressed the
spring pawl rotates the ratchet wheel forward one tooth by means of the lever w;
and one of the projections so acts upon the wedge spring as to force its wedge
piece u under the flat bar or spring and so raise the intermediate wheel e out of
gear until the next depression.
On the next depression of the knob A the spring pawl again rotates the ratchet
wheel and the projection releases the wedge spring u and so withdraws the wedge
piece, thereby allowing the intermediate wheel to the placed into gear.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. In a chronograph or chronograph watch, mechanism in which the ten minutes
or similar wheel is permanently geared to the seconds or similar wheel or pinion
and the hands attached to both wheels are returned to zero, by the action of a
lever or a cam or heart piece carried by the large wheel substantially as hereinbefore
described.
2. In a chronograph watch, mechanism as claimed in the first claim in combi-
nation with a lever acting between the leaves of the seconds pinion or wheel to
accurately adjust the seconds hand to zero, substantially as herein before described.
3. In a chronograph watch, mechanism as claimed in the first or second claim
together with a push piece attached to a ring projection for starting and stopping
the chronograph part substantially as herein before described.
Dated this 25th day of October 1899
MARKS & CLERK,
13, Temple Street, Birmingham, Agents