IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES AND CHRONOMETERS.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Herbert Aspinall, of 107, Oldham Street,
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Watchmaker, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES AND CHRONOMETERS.
"
Sealed the 27th June 1873, and dated the 5th May 1873.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Herbert Aspinall at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition. and
Declaration, on the 5th May 1873, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HERBERT
ASPINALL, of 107, Oldham Street, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Watchmaker, send greeting.
‹ IMPROVEMENTS
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "
IN WATCHES AND CHRONOMETERS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to
grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that
I am the true and first Inventor thereof.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, tho said Herbert Aspinall, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement:-
This Invention consists in certains improvements in the construction
of watches and chronometers, whereby their liability to get out of order
is considerably diminished, and this is accomplished, 1st, by excluding
the entrance of dirt into the watch or chronometer by only having
one way into the case; 2ndly, to prevent (what is now so common)
a disturbance of the mechanism and frequently breakage by what
is known as overwinding; and 3rdly, the escapement is to be mado
to open, that it will be easy to observe every part working. And
these improvements are more particularly described in the following
Specification :-
With reference to the first improvement the Invention applies moro
particularly to what is known as a keyless watch or chronometer, or one
that is wound up and set at the pendant; and I so construct it that
'the case will open only at the front and not at the back, as is now the
custom, thereby preventing the dirt and dust entering and clogging
the works. I fit in the case on the end of the shaft of the pendant,
stud, or bevelled wheel, so that when the movement is shut down into
the case it will be in gear with another bevelled wheel made so thick
as to admit of one half not being bevelled, and to turn the wheel that
is on the mainspring arbor. The shaft of this wheel is to run in a piece |
of steel or other metal, square in shape, with the exception of ono
corner that clears the barrel, and compared with the square about one-
third in thickness; this said piece of metal stands on two pivots, with
that side next the barrel bearing on the plate. The pivots are opposite
to the end and in a straight line with the shaft in the pendant, causing
the wheel when the said piece of metal is turned to one side to be in
the same position as before with the wheel on the pendant shaft, though
out of gear with the wheel that is on the arbor and in gear with a
wheel that is in connection with the hands, which wheel would stand
inactive except when the hands were being turned; its use will be for
allowing the wheel on the pendant shaft to be larger, standing edgewise
in the plates, its pivots in two oblong holes, one in the corner of the
squares shaped piece of metal above named, which when it turns will

page_text: come into gear with the wheel on the same and the wheel that connects
the two hands. Then by pushing the small stud, as usual at the edge
of the case of the watch or chronometer, it moves a spring and lever; the
end of the latter runs in an incline plane in the side of the square shaped
piece of metal and turns it; when the lever springs back it makes the
said piece of metal return and holds it there.
The second part of this Invention having reference to the prevention
of overwinding is accomplished by the following methods :-
•
By using the going barrel with the common star and finger piece for
the stop by putting a stud in the star near its edge, so that when it is
nearest the centre of the barrel and moving the fourth time it will
push a slide against a groove or hollow in the plate. Or I may
accomplish the same object by springing a piece round an eccentric
on the barrel which the finger piece on the arbor will move four
times, and when at the fourth time it will bring a piece of steel in the
way of that piece which is on the arbor and which will push it against
the groove in the plate. Or I may have a slide with four teeth, moving
four times, and that the finger piece which is on the arbor shall push
against a groove on the plate.
The third portion of my Invention has reference to the escapement
which is to have two wheels with an odd number of teeth; for example,
say five teeth in each wheel, two rollers on the balance shaft, and a
pallet projecting downwards from the balance, the wheels to be rivetted
together with a collet between them, so that the teeth of the top wheel
stand in advance of the teeth of the bottom wheel, so much as to clear
the rollers; the top roller to be made to form a pallet where the wheel
escapes, the bottom roller to have one side flat, past which its wheel
may drop; the balance pallet to face a straight line from the shaft to the
edge of the balance, and the wheels to be placed so that they may
catch the rollers on one side, and the top wheel the balance pallet on
the other side, so that when the balance is running from right to left
the top wheel working on the top roller gives it an impulse, leaving
the bottom wheel on the bottom roller. The action of the balance being
reversed by the hair spring and running from left to right, the bottom
wheel drops, then the top wheel strikes the balance pallet; leaving
that pallet it falls on its roller and again gives it an impulse.
Having thus described the nature and object of this my said
Invention and the manner of carrying the same into effect; what I

page_text: claim and desire to be secured to me by Letters Patent is, the said
Invention for improvements in watches and chronometers, substantially
as herein described and set forth in the foregoing Specification, or any
mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Herbert Aspinall, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
HERBERT ASPINALL: (L.s)