IMPROVEMENTS IN KEYLESS WATCHES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Octave Vivier, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Watch Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN KEYLESS
WATCHES."
Sealed the 13th July 1860, and dated the 21st January. 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Octave Vivier at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
January 1860.
I, OCTAVE VIVIER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Watch
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN KEYLESS WATCHES," to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists of the improvements in keyless watches herein-
after explained, the said improvements having for their object to permit either
of the winding of the watch, or the setting of the hands by turning a button
or milled head on the pendant of the watch. The first improvement herein-
after described is particularly applicable to full plate watches, and the second
improvement to three-quarter plate watches or chronometers.
In my first improvement an axis passes through the pendant of the watch,
the said axis having a milled head on its external end, and a bevil pinion on
the other end. The said pinion engages in a toothed wheel on the plate of
the watch, and a pinion on the said wheel engages with two other and smaller
toothed wheels. The said smaller toothed wheels are carried by a plate which

page_text: turns about the same axis as the first-named toothed wheel. By slightly
turning the plate carrying the smaller toothed wheels, one of the said wheels
may be thrown into gear with the fusce, and the watch may be wound by the
milled head on the pendant of the watch. Or by the motion of the said plate
the other of the smaller toothed wheels may be thrown into gear with the
hands of the watch, and the said hands may thereby be turned by the milled
head. Or by the motion of the plate carrying the smaller toothed wheels, the
said wheels may be wholly disconnected with the works of the watch. The
motion of the said plate through a small angle is sufficient to effect these
objects. A sliding stud on the edge of the watch is made to bring the
winding mechanism into gear with the milled head, and by pressing inwards
another stud also on the edge of the watch, the hands inay be geared to the
said milled head.
In my second improvement, the mechanism for acting on the hands, and
that for winding the watch are on opposite sides of the watch, that is, one at
the front and the other at the back of the watch, but both worked from the
same axis, turned by a milled head as already described. An arm turning
upon one end of the axis, carries a pinion which by the motion of the said
arm may connect the toothed wheel at the same end of the axis with the
hands. An arm near the other end of the axis, and turning upon the said
axis, carries a pinion gearing
pinion gearing into a pinion carried at the same end of the
axis. By the motion of the said arm the said pinion may be made to connect
the said axis with the fusee. The mechanism for winding is brought into
operation by means of a sliding stud on the edge of the watch, and the mecha-
nism for adjusting the hands is brought into operation by pressing a spring
stud also on the edge of the watch.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Octave Vivier in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
July 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, OCTAVE 30
VIVIER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Watch Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of 35
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto

page_text: me, the said Octave Vivier, Her special licence that I, the said Octave
Vivier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Octave Vivier, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN KEYLESS WATCHES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Octavo Vivier, 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 Octave Vivier, 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, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of the improvements hereinafter explained and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing in keyless watches; the object of the
said improvements being to effect either the winding of the watch, or the
setting of the hands by turning a button or milled head on the pendant of the
watch.
My first improvement represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawing
is particularly applicable to, watches of the kind called full plato watches,
but my first improvement may also be applied to three-quarter plate watches
and chronometers; and my second improvement, represented in Figures 4, 5,
and 6 of the Drawing, is particularly applicable to chronometers. Figure 1
represents in plan, a portion of a watch to which my first improvement is
applied. I have only represented in the Drawing such portions of the watch
as are essential to the description of my Invention, those portions of the watch
not represented differing in no respect from those of an ordinary watch.
Through the pendant a of the watch an axis 6 passes; this axis is indicated in
dotted lines in Figure 1, and is represented detached from the watch but
together with the parts immediately connected with it in elevation in Figure 2;
a milled head c, is fixed on the outer end of the axis b, and a bevil pinion d,
is fixed on its inner end. The pinion d, engages with a bevil toothed wheel e,
on the plate of the watch, and a pinion
engages with the toothed wheels 9 and
b
on the under side of the wheel e,
; the toothed wheels g and h are

page_text: carried by a plate i, shewn separately together with the said wheels g'and h,
in Figure 3: The said plate i is capable of a partial rotation about the same
axis as that carrying the toothed wheel c. The range of motion of the plate i
is limited by the slot in which a pin (shewn'in dotted lines) engages. By
the rotation in one or other direction of the plate i through a small angle on
its axis the toothed wheel 9 may be brought into gear with the toothed wheel k,
or the toothed wheel h, may be brought into gear with the toothed wheel b,
or the wlieels g and h may be ungeared from the wheels and respectively
in which latter position the parts are represented in the Drawing. The wheel
Z is on the end of the axis of the fusee of the watch, and when the wheel h is
thrown into gear with the said wheel 1, the watch may be wound by turning
'the milled head c; the motion given to the milled head c, is transmitted
through the axis b, bevil pinion d, bevil toothed wheel e, pinion f, and wheel h,
to the wheel 1, on the axis of the fusee. The wheel gears into the pinion m,
on the axis carrying the hands of the watch and when the plate i is turned so
as to throw the wheel g into gear with the wheel k, the hands of the watch
may be adjusted by turning the milled head c; the motion of the milled head
c is transmitted in the last described case through the axis b, bevil pinion d,
bevil toothed wheel e, pinion f, wheel g, to the wheel k, and pinion m. The motion
of the plate i to bring either of the toothed wheels 9 and h into gear with the
wheels and respectively is thus effected. On the plate i are fixed arms or
levers n and o; a spring p fixed to the plate of the watch presses against the
arm n and tends to move the plate i, so as to bring the wheel h into gear
'with the wheel l. On the edge of the case of the watch is a sliding stud q,
which is fixed to a bolt r shewn in dotted lines. The short ends of the
The long ends of the
cranked lever s, s2, engages in a notch in the bolt r.
Jever s, s², bears against the arm or lever o of the plate i. By moving the
stud 7 in the direction indicated by the arrow near it, the ends of the lever 8, 83,
no longer presses against the lever o, and the spring p moves the plate i, so as
to bring the wheel h into gear with the wheel 7. By turning the milled head
c, the watch may be wound; the spring t on the plate of the watch fixes the
lever 8, &, temporarily in the position in which it has been forced by the motion
of the stud q.
After the watch has been wound the stud q is moved in the
direction contrary to that indicated by the arrow when the parts are brought
into the positions represented in the Drawing, when the motion of the milled
head c no
longer effects either the winding of the watch, or the adjustment of
the hands. In order to adjust the hands of the watch the stud u on the edge
of the case of the watch is pressed down when the pressure is transmitted
through the compound levers v, w, to the lever n on the plate i and the wheel

page_text: g'is brought into gear with the wheel k, and by the motion of the milled head
c the hands of the watch may be movod. By ceasing to press on the stud
the several parts return to the positions represented in the Drawing.
Figure 4 represents the back of a portion of a watch to which my second
improvement is applied; Figure 5 represents a side elevation of the same;
and Figure 6 represents the front or dial side of the same. Only those parts
of the watch which are essential to the description of my Invention are
represented in Figures 4, 5, and 6. In this improvement the mechanism for
acting on the hands, and that for winding the watch are situated on opposite
sides of the watch, that is to say, the mechanism for winding the watch is
situated principally at the back of the watch, and that for adjusting the hands
at the front or dial side of the watch. But the parts for winding, and those
for adjusting the bands of the watch are worked from the same axis, turned
by a milled head similar to that already described. The adjustment of, tho
hands of the watch is thus effected:-The axis x of the milled head y carries
a bevil pinion 3, which gears with the bevil toothed wheel 7 on the dial side of
the watch. Upon the axis of the wheel 7, and turning freely upon the said
axis is a lever 8 (see Figure 6), which said lever carries the pinion 10. A
stud 11 passing through the edge of the case bears against the lever 8, and
by pressing the stud in the direction indicated by the arrow, the lever 8 turns
upon the axis of the wheel 7, and the pinion 10 gears into the wheel 12. By
now turning the milled head y, motion is communicated through the toothed
wheel 7, pinion 10, and wheel 12 to the pinion 13 on the axis of the hands.
Instead of making the stud 11 press directly upon the lever 8, I sometimes
interpose a compound lever, similar to that represented at v, w, Figure 1,
between the stud 11 and lever 8, Figure 6. The winding of the watch is
effected as follows:-Tho axis of the bevil toothed wheel 7 carries at its other
end the pinion 14 at the back of the watch. A pipe or tube 15 turns freely
on the axis of the wheel 7.. The said pipe or tube 15 has an arm 16, which
carries the pinion 17 gearing into the pinion 14. By the motion of the arm
16 the pinion 17 may either be engaged with or disengaged from the toothed
wheel 18 on the axis of the fusee. A spring 19, indicated in dotted lines in
Figure 4, presses on the arm 16, and makes the pinion 17 gear into the
wheel 18 when the said arm 16 is free to move, the pinion 17 is thrown out
of gear with the wheel 18 in the following manner:-An axis 20 has at one
end an arm 21, which engages with the bolt 22 on the edge of the case of the
watch, and at its other end an arm 23, which bears against the pin 24 on the
under side of the arm 16. By pressing the bolt 22 in the direction indicated
by the arrow near the said bolt, the arm 23 is made no longer to bear against

page_text: the pin 24, the arm 16 is then at liberty to move, and being pressed upon by
the spring 19, the pinion 17 is made to gear with the wheel 18. By now
turning the milled head y, the motion of the wheel 7 is transmitted through
the pinions 14 and 17 to the wheel 18 on the axis of the fusee. Figure 4
A represents the arm 16, axis 20, and the parts immediately connected there-
with in the positions they respectively occupy when the pinion 17 is not
engaged with the wheel 18; and Figure 4 B represents the same parts in
the positions they respectively occupy when the pinion 17 is engaged with the
wheel 18. After the watch has been wound, the bolt 22 is pushed in a
direction contrary to that indicated by the arrow, when the arm 23 is made to
press against the pin 24 on the arm 16, and to disengage the pinion 17 from
the wheel 18.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the same may
be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim
as my Invention,―
Firstly, the improvement in keyless watches, herein-beforo described and
illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying Drawing, that is to
say, the arrangement or combination of parts described and represented in the
said Figures for winding the watch and setting the hands, by turning a milled
head on the pendant of the watch.
Secondly, the improvement in keyless watches herein-before described and
illustrated in Figures 4, 4A, 4 B, 5 and 6, of the accompanying Drawing,
that is to say, the arrangement or combination of parts described and
represented in the said Figures for winding the watch and setting the hands
by turning a milled head on the pendant of the watch.
In witness whereof, I, the said Octave Vivier, have hereunto set my
-hand-and seal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
OCTAVE VIVIER. (L.S.)