AN IXPROVED WATCH FOR TRAVELLERS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Lambert Yonge, Captain in the Royal
Regiment of Artillery, now residing at Cheltenham, in the County
of Gloucester, for the Invention of "AN IXPROVED WATCH FOR
TRAVELLERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Lambert
Yonge at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 3rd April 1871.
I, WILLIAM LAMBERT YONGE, Captain in the Royal Regiment of
3 Artillery, now residing at Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "As IMPROVED
WATCH FOR TRAVELLERS," to be as follows:-
My improved watch differs from an ordinary half hunter watch in
the following principal features:-The figure dial on the outside of the
case of an ordinary half hunter watch is a fixed dial; in my watch I
make this figure dial capable of being moved by means of the pressure
of the fingers.

page_text: In addition to the moveable dial above described I have an extra
circle of figures, or (which I prefer), some substitute for figures, such
as jewels or letters. This second circle may be either moveable or fixed.
Again, the works of an ordinary watch are generally secured within
the watch case by means of pins or other permanent fastenings. In 5
my improved watch the works are not permanently fixed in the case,
but are capable of being rotated or turned round within the case by
means of an arrangement which I shall now proceed to describe,
viz. :-Round the outer edge of the plate or plates which hold together
the works of the watch I apply a toothed wheel in such a manner that 1
when in gear with another toothed wheel or pinion attached to a spindle,
which spindle passes through the knob or handle of the watch case,
the whole of the works of the watch may be caused to revolve within
. the case of the watch. By this revolution of the works the hands of the
ordinary or inner dial can be carried intact, and be made to point to 1
any portion of the two external dials first described above.
In order to secure the works from accidental movement in the case I
apply a small catch or spring to be worked from the outside of the case.
When this catch is pressed from the outside the toothed wheel which
encircles the works is free to be acted upon by the spindle passing a
through the knob or handle of the watch.
On one of the plates or cap, which contain the works, I cause to
be engraved a circle divided into one hundred and eighty (180) equal
parts, to represent degrees of longitude. An index in connection with
this circle serves to point out the difference of the longitude correspond-
ing to the difference between the times as indicated by the external &
the internal dials of the watch..
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by tho said
.
William Lambert Yonge in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30
2nd November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LAMBERT YONGE, Captain in the Royal Regiment of Artillery, now
residing at Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
› and grant unto me, the said William Lambert Yonge, Captain in the
Royal Regiment of Artillery, Her special licence that I, the said
William Lambert Yonge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Lambert Yonge, 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 "AN IMPROVED
WATCH FOR TRAVELLERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
5 said William Lambert Yonge, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 seven
O calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Lambert Yonge, 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
5 the following statement :—
For the purpose of this description I will consider my improved watch
to be divided into two principal parts, viz., (a) the movement or works,
and (6) the case.
The principle of the action of my watch consists in the rotation of the
) works within the case, combined with two external dials, which latter
may either both be moveable, or one may be moveable and the other
fixed. The means by which this rotation of the works is to be effected
will be described hereafter.
1. The "movement or works" resembles that of an ordinary watch,
› but is not permanently fixed within the case. The movement is in itself
protected from injury by being on one side covered by a glass fixed in a
basil, and on the other covered by a cap or dome. This dome is to be

page_text: attached to the portion (a) called the movement, and not to the case (6).
Under certain circumstances I. further attach to the rim or wall of the
above-described "movement" a bevilled or toothed edge which will
permit of the rotation being performed by mechanical arrangement from
the outside, but as this of necessity increases the cost I ordinarily 5
dispense with this last arrangement, though the right to use the same
forms part of my claim. On the dome or cap which covers the move-
ment on one side I engrave a circle which I divide into one hundred
and eighty (180) equal parts, being the number of degrees passed over
by the sun in twelve hours. I number these divisions in opposite 1
directions from 0 to 180, the starting point being in each case at a point
on the dome corresponding with the figure XII. on the face of the
watch.
2. The case is in general external appearance similar to that known
as a half hunter case, of which the small external dial is made capable 1
of being moved or rotated by pressure of the fingers. This dial I
propose here to call the "external minute dial." In addition to this
ordinary small external dial I add a second external dial, which may be
either composed of figures, in the ordinary way, or of some series or
arrangement of letters or conventional signs to represent the twelve 2
figures of a watch dial. The second dial may be either moveable or
fixed; in the majority of watches I prefer to have it fixed. This dial I
propose to call the "external hour dial.". The pendant of the watch
forms part of the case, as in ordinary watches, but at the pendant is a
small indicator within the case, of which the use will be more fully 2
described hereafter. In some. circumstances when it is desired to rotate
the works by means of a mechanical arrangement I cause a spindle to
pass through the pendant which carries a cog or pinion which may be
placed in action with the toothed edge or rim already described.
'
3. Such being the descriptions of the two parts I proceed to describo a
their mode of action. The case is so arranged as to permit the move-
ment (a) being retained within the walls of the case by means of the
projecting rims provided for that purpose instead of by pins, 'as in
ordinary watches. The movement and case are so accurately adjusted
that a pressure of the fingers on the glass or the rim of the movement 3
will cause the movement (a) to rotate in the case (6), but to prevent
this movement being effected accidentally a small pin passes from the
:outside of the watch and retains the movement steady until deliberately

page_text: released. The back lid and the front lid of the case open and shut as
in ordinary watches.
4. The movement is, in the first instance, so placed in the case that
in its normal position the XII. of the ordinary watch face is placed
exactly at the pendant, and the indicator referred to in No. 2, also at the
pendant, points to the zero on the circle of the dome.
"
and
5. The object of the watch being to show simultaneously the time at
two places, and the corresponding longitude of each, the arrangement is
as follows:-Suppose the ordinary movement dial to show Greenwich
time, and it is required to show any other local time, say 7h. 20m.
o'clock, I open the external lid which covers the face of the watch,
by the pressure of the fingers on the glass I rotate the movement until
the hour hand of the watch points on the new external hour dial to the
position on that hour dial due to the time 7h. 20m. This indicates the
hour, and I close the lid, but to indicate the twenty minutes correctly I
further move the original "small "external minute dial" until the figure
of 20 (IV.) on that dial coincides with the minute hand of the watch.
The new local time is then to be read on the two external dials only,
while the normal Greenwich time is still indicated on the face of the
movement.
6. To know the longitude of the locality it is only necessary to refer
to the circle engraved on the dome of the movement, and as this circle
has been rotated to the same extent as the hour dial the indicator at the
pendant (or other convenient position) which has remained stationary
5 will point to the number of degrees through which the circle has moved,
and this will indicate the longitude of the place.
In cases where it is convenient to rotate the movement, as in the
self-winding or keyless remontoir watches of present construction, it
will be necessary to cause both external dials to rotate, and the reverse
> of one of the dials must then carry the circle of longitude. This is only
recommended in the case of existing keyless watches, which may be
altered after the manner above described.
All existing watches may be altered so as to become like my improved
watch, and the alteration forms part of my Invention if effected as above

page_text: On the blank spaces of the case I engrave certain formulæ or tables,
which may prove useful, especially one shewing the correction to be
made in any watch when travelling.
The use of this table in this manner forms part of my Invention.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by me, the said William Lambert 5
Yonge, in the presence of C. M. Moore, at No. 1, Oxford
Buildings, Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester, this Eleventh
day of October One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witnessed by
C. M. MOORE,
Vicar of All Saints',
Cheltenham.
W. L. YONGE, (L.s.)
Capt. R. A.