AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WATCHES."
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Philip Bettle, Foreman to Messrs. Carley & Co., of
Ely Place, in the City of London, Watchmakers, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WATCHES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Philip Bettle at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
November 1857.
I, PHILIP BETTLE, Foreman to Messrs. Carley & Co., of Ely Place, in the
City of London, Watchmakers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WATCHES," to be as
follows:-
The object of this improvement in watches is to enable the wearer of the
watch to transform it from a hunter to an open-faced watch, or vice verså, at
pleasure, without removing it from the outer case. To this end I mount the
box or inner case, which contains the movement, in a swivel frame, which
forms the frame of the outer case. This box or inner case has a glass cover
in front to expose the watch dial to view, and at back it may be engine-turned
or engraved. To the opposite sides of the swivel frame are hinged a ring or
rim and a back plate, and these together form the other case, which closes
upon and fits tightly against the box containing the works. The pendant is
attached to a swivel pin which passes through the swivel frame, and is secured

page_text: to the box containing the works, and opposite to this pin on the other side of
the watch is a second swivel pin which is affixed to the box, and passes
through the swivel frame. When the rim and back plate of the outer case
are both open, the watch is free to turn on the swivel pins to bring either the
face or back of the watch uppermost, and the case being then shut, the
watch will represent either a hunting or open-faced watch, as desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Philip Bettlo in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PHILIP
BETTLE, Foreman to Messieurs Carley and Company of Ely Place, in the
City of London, Watchmakers, send greeting.
f
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Philip Bettle, Her special license that I, the said Philip
Bettle my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, tho
snid Philip Bettle, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "AN IM-
*PROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WATCHES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Philip Bettle, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, should particularly 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 Philip Bettle, 'do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing Specification thereof; reference being hail to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The object of this improvement' in the construction of watches is' to-enable

page_text: the wearer of a watch to transform it from a hunter to an open-faced watch,
or vice versa, at pleasure, without detaching the box or inner case from the
outer case. To this end I mount the box or inner case,, which contains the
movement, in a swivel frame or ring, which forms the ceutral portion or frame
of the outer case. The box or inner case has a glass cover in front to expose
the watch dial to view, and the back of it may be plain, engine-turned,
engraved, or otherwise ornamented. To the opposite sides of the swivel
frame an open ring or rim and a back plate, cover, or shell, are binged, the
open ring or rim at one side, and the back plate, cover, or shell at the other.
side, and these together form the outer case, which closes. uponi and fits.
tightly against the exterior of the box containing the works. The pendant is
attached to a swivel pin which passes through a short tube or socket fixed to
the swivel frame or ring, or through an orifice in that frame or ring, and is;
secured in some convenient manner to the periphery of the inner case or box
containing the works. Opposite to this pin and pendant, and on the other
side of the watch case, is a swivel pin, which is also affixed to and passes
through the swivel frame, and enters a hole or socket in the movement case.
It will now be understood, that when the rim and back plate of the outer case
are both open, the watch is free to swivel or turn on the swivel pins in either
the one direction or the other, for the purpose of bringing either the face or
the back of the box or inner case to that side of the outer case at which the
open ring or rim is hinged, when the outer case may be closed so as to keep
the dial of the watch in the desired direction. When the dial is turned to
that side of the outer case to which its. open ring or rim is hinged, and when
that ring or rim is closed, the dial will be visible without opening any part of
the watch case; but when the dial is turned in the opposite direction, and
the back plate or shell of the outer case is closed, the dial can only (as in case-
of a hunting watch) be seen by raising the plate or shell which covers it.
And thus a watch made according to my Invention may at pleasure be made
to resemble a hunting watch or an open-faced watch, as may be desired.
In the accompanying Drawings I have shewn various Figures of parts of a
watch and some of its appendages, when constructed upon my improved plan,
and drawn upon an enlarged scale.
'
Fig. 1 is a front view of the box or inner case containing the watch move-
ment, detached or removed from the outer case, but with the pendant attached
thereto; Fig. 2 is another front view of the box or inner case, mounted upon
swivels at opposite sides of its periphery, within the swivel frame or ring of
the outer case, some of the parts in this Figure being shown in section, and
others (behind the box or inner case) in dotted lines; Fig. 3 is another view

page_text: of the same, with the pendant removed from the pin d; and Fig. 4 is a viow
of the inner case and outer case, with the pendant upwards. In all these
three Figures the outer case is represented as open with the inner or movement
case a turned upon the swivel pins c and d into such a position as to be at
right angles to the swivel frame or ring b, b, which forms the central portion
of the outer case. To the lower part of the central ring b, b, the back plate,
cover, or shell e, which (when shut) forms the closed or reverse side of the
outer case, is hinged, as seen in Figures 2, 3, and 4, and to one side of the
ring b is also hinged the open ring or rim f, which constitutes the open or
obverse side of the outer case. The movement box or inner case a is mounted
upon swivels at two of its opposite sides or edges within the swivel frame or
ring b, so as to be capable of turning on the swivel pins c and d within tho
swivel frame or ring b, in the one direction or the other, for the purpose of
bringing the dial or the back plate or cover of the box or inner caso next to
the open ring or rim on the open or obverse side of the outer case when
that case is closed.
The pendant. g of the watch is fixed to the inner case, so as to form a
handle whereby it may be turned round, but I find it convenient in practice,
and for the convenience of connecting the several parts together, that the
pendant should be capable of being detached therefrom; I therefore prefer to
construct the pendant and its attachments in the manner shown in the Draw-
ing. Fig. 5 shews the pendant detached from the watch; and Fig. 6 repre-
sents the central part of the movement box or inner case, which is secured in
the swivel frame 6 in the following manner:-The pin c is screwed through
the swivel frame b, so as to allow of its pointed end projecting beyond the
inner edge of the frame, and to admit of such end being inserted into a hole
or socket made in the central portion of the movement box or inner case, as
shewn at i, in Fig. 6, and also in Fig. 2; the pin d (Figures 1, 2, and 5)
is secured in the pendant 9 in any convenient manner. The lower end of
this pin is made square, and is fitted into a corresponding hole or socket j
(Fig. 6) of the movement case, in which it is secured by a holding pin or
screw passed through a hole made in the square socket, and screwed into the
square end of the pin d. When, therefore, it is desired to secure the move-
ment box or inner case a upon its swivels within the swivel frame b, the
swivel pin c must be inserted into the hole or socket i of the movement box
or inner case, and the pin d must be passed through the short pipe h, of the
swivel frame b, and inserted into the square orifice of the movement box or
inner case a, in which it is to be secured by the cross pin or screw above.
mentioned.
1

page_text: Having now particularly ascertained and described the nature of the said
Invention, and also the manner of performing the same, I wish it to be
understood, that I do not claim any of the parts of a watch or watch cases
herein-before described, separately or apart from the combination or applica-
tion thereof in manner and for the purposes herein described, as being of my
Invention; nor do I claim as of my Invention the placing of the movement
box or inner case of a watch within an outer case, except when mounted
upon swivels within an outer case, so as to enable the wearer of the watch
to turn the movement box or inner case with the face or dial to the open or
obverse side, or to the back plate or reverse side of the outer case, as herein
described.
And I declare that I claim as my Invention the mounting of the move-
ment box or inner case of a watch on swivels or swivel pins within an outer
case, so that such inner case may be turned on such swivels or pins, either for
the purpose of causing its face or dial to be upon the open or obverse side of
the outer case (when shut), and in such a position that the dial may be seen
without opening the watch case, or to be upon the reverse or back, or closed
side of the outer case, and in such a position that when the outer case is shut
the dial will be covered by the back plate or shell of the outer case (in like
manner as in a hunting watch), and can only be seen by opening that back
plate or shell.
In witness whereof, I, the said Philip Bettle, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
PHILIP BETTLE. (L.S.)