IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPLICABLE TO WATCHES TO OBTAIN OR PRODUCE INDEPENDENT CENTRE SECONDS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Bevan and William Sydney Weare, of
Birkenhead, in the County of Chester, Watch Manufacturers and
Co-partners, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPLICABLE TO
WATCHES TO OBTAIN OR PRODUCE INDEPENDENT CENTRE SECONDS."
Sealed the 27th May 1864, and dated the 28th November 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Bevan and
William Sydney Weare at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 28th November 1863.
We, EDWARD BEVAN and WILLIAM SYDNEY WEARE, of Birkenhead, in the
County of Chester, Watch Manufacturers, and Co-partners, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPLICABLE TO WATCHES
TO OBTAIN OR PRODUCE INDEPENDENT CENTRE SECONDS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to obtain or produce in watches or time-
keepers independent centre seconds, which can be stopped and started at will
without stopping such watches or timekeepers. The motion obtained in the
first instance from the spring in a watch or timekeepers is given, say, by or
from the "fourth wheel" to the independent centre seconds mechanism,
which consists principally of three wheels herein named the first and second
intermediate wheels, and that known as the "seconds" wheel." The first
intermediate wheel is secured on an arbor and gears with the "fourth wheel,"
and the second intermediate wheel is also on or surrounds the same arbor,
but is not secured thereto. This latter or second intermediate wheel gears
with the "seconds' wheel," which is secured to the canon arbor above the
canon pinion, and carries the seconds hand in manner well understood. It is of
the essence of our Invention, however, that the motion of the first intermediate

page_text: wheel is communicated to the second intermediate wheel by frictional contact,
and to provide for continued uniformity of this contact we fit a small spring, say,
on the outer, and preferably concave formed side of the second intermediate
wheel, placing over the said spring a cap. which, when in working position,
comes up to or in contact with the intermediate arbor cock. To stop the
centre seconds a push, draw, slide, or screw piece is fitted into and through
the pendant or other convenient part of the watch or timekeeper to convey
pressure by a spring or otherwise, say to the side of the "seconds' wheel."
Thus it will be seen that when the centre seconds hand is stopped the "seconds"
wheel" and second intermediate wheel are also stopped, but the first inter-
mediate wheel continues in motion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Bevan and William Sydney Weare in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 28th May 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDWARD
BEVAN and WILLIAM SYDNEY WEARE, of Birkenhead, in County of Chester,
Watch Manufacturers and Co-partners, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said Edward Bevan and William Sydney Weare, Her special
licence that we, the said Edward Bevan and William Sydney Weare, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Edward
Bevan and William Sydney Weare, our 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 AND APPLICABLE TO WATCHES TO OBTAIN OR PRODUCE
INDEPENDENT CENTRE SECONDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Edward Bevan and William Sydney Weare, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of
our or their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within

page_text: six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Edward Bevan and William
Sydney Weare, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to obtain or produce in watches or other
timekeepers independent centre seconds, which can be stopped and started at
will without stopping such watches or timekeepers. The motion obtained in
the first instance from the spring in a watch or other timekeeper is given, say,
by or from the "fourth wheel" to the independent centre seconds mechanism,
which consists principally of three wheels, herein named the first and second
intermediate wheels, and that known as the "seconds' wheel." The first
intermediate wheel is secured on an arbor and gears with the "fourth wheel,"
and the second intermediate wheel is also on or surrounds the same arbor,
but is not secured thereto. This latter, or second intermediate wheel, gears
with the "seconds' wheel," which is secured to or placed on the cannon arbor
either above or below the cannon pinion, and carries the seconds hand in
manner well understood. It is of the essence of our Invention, however, that
the motion of the first intermediate wheel is communicated to the second
intermediate wheel by frictional contact, and to provide for continued uniformity
of this contact we fit a small spring, say, on the outer and preferably concave
formed side of the second intermediate wheel, placing over the said spring a
cap, which, when in working position, comes up to or in contact with the
intermediate arbor cock. To stop the centre seconds a push, draw, slide, or
screw piece is fitted into and through the pendant or other convenient part
of the watch or timekeepers to convey pressure by a spring or otherwise, say,
to the side of the "seconds' wheel." Thus it will be seen that when the centre
seconds hand is stopped the "seconds' wheel" and second intermediate wheel
are also stopped, but the first intermediate wheel continues in motion.
That our Invention may be clearly understood, and that watch makers and
others may readily comprehend the details and arrangement of parts, we have
hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings illustrative of modifications of our said
Invention, which we have found to answer well.
Fig. 1 is a plan view of a watch from which the dial has been removed;
Fig. 2 is a transverse section of Fig. 1 at about the line A, B; Fig. 3 is a
transverse section through the intermediate wheels and their cock, shewing
the arrangement herein-before mentioned, in which the spring is on the outer
side of the second intermediate wheel, and Fig. 4 is a similar view to Fig. 3

page_text: of a modification wherein a spiral spring is placed between the intermediate
wheels; Fig. 5 is a plan view of the said spiral spring shewn in Fig. 4; and
Fig. 6 is a plan view of an arrangement of parts, by which a person can stop
permanently the independent centre seconds without continuous pressure on
the push piece. All these views are drawn to an enlarged scale. The
improvements may be introduced in the manufacture of new watches or time-
keepers, or they may be applied to watches now in use. In Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4,
and 5 like letters point out the same or equivalent parts.
a denotes the fourth wheel; the first intermediate wheel shewn secured
on and to the arbor c, the one end of which rests in or on the plate d, and
the other end in or on the cock e ;f, the second intermediate wheel surrounding
but not secured to the arbor c; d¹ is a cap fastened to the arbor c; should
this cap be secured on the extreme end of the arbor c, then such cap would be
provided with a point or pivot to rest in or on and come in contact with the
cock e, we however prefer the form shewn on the Drawings; g, the springs in
Fig. 4, consisting of a flat arch spring, so placed that the top thereof touches
the cap d, and the ends rest against the concave formed or recessed part of
the second intermediate wheel f, and in Figs. 4 and 5 consisting of a spiral
and converging spring placed between the intermediate wheels b, f, in one of
which there is a recessed space. This latter spiral spring can easily be made
by simply "drawing out" an ordinary "horizontal spring;" h, is a push piece
in the pendant; when pressure is applied thereto to force it inwards its end
comes in contact with the bow spring i, and forces its shovel point j against
the web of the seconds wheel k, which consequently must stop. Of course
pressure must be continued on the push piece h as long as the independent
centre seconds hand is kept from moving. The centre seconds wheel works
on the cannon arbor and carries the seconds hand in any usual or convenient
way. In Fig. 6 all the stopping and starting pieces or parts are connected
to some stationary part of the watch or timekeeper; 1, is a push piece, the
inner end of which, when pressure is applied, comes into contact with the
bent spring m; n, a star wheel left free to be moved on its axis; o, a spring
to keep the star wheel n in position; p is another spring carrying a small
conical pin (not shewn) on its under side to "take into " boles q, formed on
or in the side of the star wheel n; r, a pin also fastened to the spring p, so
placed that it will come into contact when desired with the seconds wheels,
as shewn on the Drawings; the independent centre seconds hand is moving, by
applying pressure, however, to the push piece 7, the end of the bent spring m
causes the star wheel n to move round a short distance and lifts the small
conical pin on the under side of the spring p out of the hole or aperture q

page_text: on to the higher part of the star wheel n; the pin r is therefore brought
against the seconds' wheel 8, and the centre seconds hand stopped; pressure
again given to the push piece I will move the star wheel n, and allows the
small pin to fall into an aperture 2, at which time the centre seconds will
again begin to act. If so desired the parts could be so arranged that when
the small pin was in a hole or aperture the seconds would be stopped, and
when on the raised part such seconds in motion.
Having now set forth the nature of our said Invention, and particularized
the same in modification, and in conjunction with the best means with which
we are acquainted for successful use, we would have it understood that we do
not confine ourselves to all the details laid down and herein described, as
many
modifications may be made without departing from our said Invention ;
thus, the motion might be taken from another part of the watch or timekeeper
than the fourth wheel; the wheels where the frictional spring contact takes
place might be arranged on the cannon arbor, and consist of fast and loose
seconds wheels; the motion wheel of the watch might gear with the loose
instead of with the fast wheel; many different forms of springs and modes of
placing the same might be made and adopted; and other arrangements of
parts for stopping the centre seconds might be employed than those described.
We would here state, however, that we do not claim any special stopping gear
or parts; what we claim is, obtaining independent centre seconds in watches
and other timekeepers by the use of two wheels on one arbor, the one wheel
being fast and the other loose thereon, so that the motion of the watch or
other timekeeper shall be communicated from one to the other by contact
induced by a spring or springs, practicable working arrangements of the same
having been described herein and shewn on the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Bevan, for myself and the said
William Sydney Weare, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this
Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.
In the presence of
JOHN THOMSON KING, Patent Agent,
4, Clayton Square, Liverpool.
EDWARD BEVAN. (L.S.)