IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF WINDING UP AND SETTING WATCHES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Julien Olivier Jolly, Advocate, at Paris, Town
in the French Empire, (33, Boulevard Saint Martin,) for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF WINDING UP AND SETTING WATCHES."-
A communication from Felix Berthet (Clockmaker), a person resident at
Besançon, France.
Sealed the 27th March 1861, and dated the 8th October 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Julien Olivier Jolly
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 8th October 1860.
I, LOUIS JULIEN OLIVIER JOLLY, Advocate, at Paris, Town in the French
Empire, (33, Boulevard St. Martin), do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF WINDING UP AND SETTING
WATCHES," a communication from Felix Berthet, Clockmaker, a person
resident at Besançon, France, to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to wind up and set watches without having
to open them, or use keys for these purposes. I can so combine certain of
the working arrangements that I may shift them all together according as I
require; and in order to wind up or set the watch, instead of having to throw
the wheel acted on off its centre, or displace its axis separately, or by itself to

page_text: bring it into and out of connection, I propose to act on the mainspring to wind
up the watch, and on the hands to set it by means of one and the same pinion
or actuating contrivance worked from outside the watch. I propose to employ
a lever beam, bar, plate, or piece, so moveable or so working on a centre or
fulcrum, or so centred or fitted, that its ends alternately may be raised and
depressed, that is to say, that it may be raised at one end while being
depressed at the other, and vice versâ, according as it may be desired to act
on the mainspring for winding the watch, or on the hands for setting it.
In the arrangement preferred, I fit a knob, finger-piece, milled stud, or pro-
jection on the square end of a spindle protruding outside the watch, the other
end of the spindle being within the watch, and carrying a pinion in gear with
a toothed wheel, which I call wheel 1, and which gears with two other toothed
wheels, one on each side of it, one whereof, which I call wheel 2, is for acting
on the mainspring, and the other, which I call wheel 3, for acting on the
hands, and these three wheels are mounted on a bar or plate, so moveable or
centred that its ends alternately may be raised and depressed (as before
described) as it works upon the centre of wheel 1. This bar or plate is held
by a spring in such position as to keep wheel 2 engaged with another toothed
wheel, which I call 4, fitted firmly on a square on the barrel arbor, so that on
turning the pinion by the knob, spindle head, or projection, the watch will be
wound up, while in order to set it, the bar or plate is acted on by another
outside projection, which causes it to work on its fulcrum and rise at one end
and sink at the other, the depressed end throwing wheel 3 into gear with a
train of wheels that act on the hands, while the opposite end lifts away the
spring which is there and frees wheel 2 from wheel 4, so that if under these
circumstances the pinion be turned the hands will be set without interfering
with the main spring. A spring click may be fixed at one side of the upper
arbor cock, to act as a catch or stop to wheel 4, its spring carrying a catch to
facilitate the disengagement of the barrel spring when required, and the arbor
may be of a single piece, with a pivot at each end fitted on a cock, and the
wheels 1, 2, 3, & 4, may have 40 teeth each, and the pinion 20, and the
wheels of the train for setting the hands respectively 80, 6, 72, and 30. But
the details of the arrangements may be modified or varied. I prefer to place
the movements or internal arrangements directly under the dial, or on that
side the cap which is next it.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Julien Olivier Jolly in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
JULIEN OLIVIER JOLLY, Advocate, at Paris, Town in the French Empire,
33, Boulevard Saint Martin, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Louis Julien Olivier Jolly, Her special licence that I, the said Louis Julien
Olivier Jolly, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Louis Julien Olivier Jolly, 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 THE MEANS OF WINDING UP AND SETTING WATCHES," a
communication to me from Felix Berthet (Clockmaker),
a person resident
at Besançon, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Louis Julien Olivier Jolly, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Louis Julien Olivier Jolly, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the Figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
The object of this Invention is to wind up and set watches without having
to open them, or to use keys for those purposes. According to this Invention
certain of the working arrangements are so combined that they can be shifted
altogether according as required, in order to wind up or set the watch, instead
of having to throw the wheel acted on off its centre, or to displace its axis
separately, or by itself, to bring it into and out of connection; and I act both
on the mainspring to wind the watch, and on the hands to set the watch, by

page_text: means of one and the same pinion or actuating contrivance worked from
outside the watch. I employ a lever, beam, bar, plate, or piece, so moveable
or so working on a centre or fulcrum, or so centred or fitted, that its ends
alternately may be raised and depressed, that is to say, it may be raised at one
end while being depressed at the other, and vice versâ, according as it is
desired to act on the mainspring. for winding up the watch, or on the hands
for setting it.
In the arrangement preferred for carrying the Invention into effect, a knob,
finger-piece, milled stud, or projection is fitted on the square end of a spindle
protruding outside the watch, the other end of the spindle being within the
watch, and carrying a pinion in gear with a toothed wheel, which I call wheel
1, and which gears with two toothed wheels one on each side of it, one whereof,
which I call wheel 2, is for acting on the mainspring, and the other, which
I call wheel 3, for acting on the hands; these three wheels are mounted on a
bar or plate, so moveable or centered, that its ends alternately may be raised
and depressed, as before described; it works upon the centre of the wheel 1,
and there is a spring to hold it in such position as to keep wheel 2 engaged
with another toothed wheel, which I call wheel 4, fitted firmly on a square on
the barrel arbor, so that on turning the pinion by the knob, spindle head, or
projection, the watch will be wound up; but in order to set the watch, the
bar or plate is acted on by another outside knob or projection, causing it to
work on its fulcrum, and to rise at one end and sink at the other, the
depressed end throwing wheel 3 into gear with a train of wheels that act on
the hands, while the opposite end lifts away the spring which is there, and
frees wheel 2 from wheel 4, so that if under these circumstances the pinion is
turned the hands will be set without interfering with the mainspring. A spring
click may be fixed at one side of the upper arbor cock, to act as a catch or
stop to wheel 4, the spring being furnished with a catch or projection
(mentonnet) to facilitate the disengagement of the barrel spring when required,
and the arbor may be of a single piece with a pivot at each end fitted on a
cock; the wheels 1, 2, 3, and 4, may have forty teeth each, and the pinion 20,
and the wheels of the train for setting the hands respectively 30, 6, 72, and 30,
but the details of the arrangement may be modified or varied. I prefer to
place the movements or internal arrangements directly under the dial, or on
that side of the cap which is next it.
I now proceed more particularly to describe in what manner the Invention
may be carried into effect with reference to the accompanying Drawing, which
represents on an enlarged scale a watch A, in section, with these improved
winding and setting arrangements applied; the said arrangements are fitted

page_text: under the dial on the inner side of the cap, or as it is sometimes called the
"dome." a is a milled finger-piece or knob fitted on the square end of a
spindle a', to which is attached at the opposite end, i.e., the end within the
watch a pinion b, (having 20 teeth, for example,) so that any rotary motion
imparted to the knob a will be at once communicated to the pinion b, and
hence to a toothed wheel & placed between two other toothed wheels e and f.
These three wheels d, e, and f, have each forty teeth, and all three wheels are
mounted on a plate g, which is capable of motion on a fulcrum h, like a lever
or beam, that is to say, it may be pressed down at either one of its ends,
whereupon it will rise at the opposite end. The axis h on which this plate g
works is the axis of the central wheel d. k is a stud or abutment on that end
of the plate g which is nearest the barrel arbor; against this stud k abuts a
spring. When the arrangement is in its usual position, that is, in such
position as to be ready for acting on the spring to wind up the watch, as shewn
in black lines and blue lines, this spring 1 bearing against the stud k retains
the piece 9 in such position as to keep the wheel e in gear with another
wheel m, which is of the same size and number of teeth as the wheel e, and is
fitted firmly on a square end of the barrel arbor o. The arbor o is in a single
piece, and has a pivot at each end, each pivot being fitted on a cock. p is a
straight spring, terminating in a catch or click taking into the teeth of the
wheel m, and resisting any effort of such wheel to turn in a wrong direction;
this spring is at the side of the upper cock 9 of the barrel arbor, and is
furnished with a small projection (mentonnet) to facilitate the disengagement
of the barrel spring when required. In order to wind up the watch, the
finger-piece a is turned, whereupon the pinion 6 will turn the train of wheels
d, e, and m, and thereby act on the barrel arbor and wind up the watch. In
order to set the watch, the position of the plate g has to be shifted to free the
wheel e from the wheel m, and bring the wheel f into gear with a wheel s
connected with a train of wheels for moving the hands; for this purpose the
knob or button t is pressed down, so as to bear against a stud on the plate g,
and force down the corresponding end of that plate, that is, that end at which
the wheelf is situated, throwing the wheel f into gear with the wheel s, and
raising the opposite end of the plate g, thereby forcing up the spring and
liberating the wheel e from the wheel m; this position of the plate and wheels
is shewn in red lines. This wheels has 30 teeth, and on its axis is a 6-tooth
pinion v, which gears into a toothed wheel w (having 72 teeth), on the barrel
or hollow axis of which is the hour hand. The wheels also gears into a
toothed wheel (having 30 teeth) mounted on the axis which carries the
minute hand. When the appliance g is shifted into this position by the knob t,

page_text: if the knob a be turned, the pinion 6 will act on the hands through the train
of wheels d, f, s, v, w, and z. I do not restrict myself to the number of teeth
of the wheels, or mere details described.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be performed, I declare that I claim,―
First, the application to or employment in watches of the arrangement and
combination herein-before described constituting the improved means of
winding up and setting watches.
Second, the employment for winding up and setting watches of a piece fitted
so that it may be worked on a centre, axis, or fulcrum, and move up at one
end while moving down at the opposite end, alternating this as required for
acting at one time on the parts for winding up the watch, and at another time
on the parts for setting it, without interfering one with the other, and without
having to throw the wheel or appliances acted on off its centre, the action
being communicated by one and the same pinion actuated from outside the
watch.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Julien Olivier Jolly, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
EMILE BARRAULT,
Ingenieur Civil, Diplomé,
33, Bard St. Martin.
L. J. O. JOLLY. (L.S.)