IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC CLOCKS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bright, of 2, Union Parade, Leamington,
in the County of Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRIC CLOCKS."
Sealed the 7th August 1866, and dated the 22nd February 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bright at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on tho
22nd February 1866.
I, HENRY BRIGHT, of 2, Union Parade, Leamington, in the County
of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC CLOOKS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in electric clocks. For
these purposes in constructing an electric clock (which is, by preference, to
be worked by an earth battery composed of gas or water pipes as the one
pole, and carbon buried in the earth as the other pole, or the earth battery
employed may be formed according to any other of the well-known arrange-
ments), it is preferred to employ a seconds pendulum, but this is not
essential. The rod of the pendulum at its upper end is suspended in the
usual manner, and at its lower end it carries a reel or bobbin wound with
insulated wire in the ordinary manner.
There are also two fixed permanent.
magnets with their like poles opposite to each other, over which the hollow
bobbin or reel passes in the swing of the pendulum, as has before been

page_text: practised. Above the pendulum there is a break or contact maker which
is capable of swinging freely on its own axis, which is in the same plane
with but above the point of suspension of the pendulum. The break
consists of a narrow strip of copper which is bent in the centre of its
length into two similar limbs, and the two limbs are again bent towards
each other, so that their lower ends are opposite each other and only at a
short distance apart. The lower ends of the two limbs are on the two
sides of the rod of the pendulum, but at a short distance from it when the
pendulum hangs perpendicularly. The axis of the break is fixed through
ivory or other non-conductor, which is fixed on the interior of the upper
bend of the strip of copper above mentioned. To the upper part of such
bend is applied a screw or stem, which carries a counterbalance weight,
the position of which is capable of being adjusted. At the lower end of
each limb of the break is a set or adjusting screw, and surfaces of gold are
used for the points of contact between the pendulum and the lower ends
of the limbs. One of the poles of the battery is connected to one end of
the wire wound on the bobbin or reel at the lower end of the pendulum
rod, which end of the wire is carried up to the upper end of the pendulum
rod. The other pole of the battery is connected to the upper part of the
break; the other end of the insulated wire wound on the bobbin or reel is
conducted up the rod of the pendulum to where the contact plate is fixed
on one side of the rod of the pendulum. The pendulum is arranged, as is
well understood, to give motion to an ordinary train of wheels as in other
electrical clocks. By this arrangement each time that the pendulum swings
towards the end of that limb of the break where the contact points or
surfaces are used there will be an electric current pass from the one polc
to the other of the earth battery, but when the pendulum swings towards
the other limb no continuation of the circuit will be formed. The
above is the arrangement preferred, but it is not essential, as the circuit
might be arranged to be completed by each limb of the break. When an
electric clock is arranged with apparatus such as above described it will
not only be suitable for actuating clocks with like pendulums, but by a
slight modification such an electric clock may be employed in giving motion
to small electric clocks with short pendulums, such modification consisting
in forming a circuit from the earth battery through such small clocks at
each swing of the pendulum of the clock above described. It will be
readily understood that in place of an earth battery other forms of batteries
may
be used, but it is preferred to employ an earth battery.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Bright in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BRIGHT, of No. 2, Union Parade, Leamington, in the County of Warwick,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me; the said Henry Bright, Her special licence, that I, the said
Henry Bright, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Henry Bright, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC CLOCKS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Henry Bright, 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 six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Bright, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in electric clocks. For
these purposes in constructing an electric clock which is by preference, to
be worked by an earth battery composed of gas or water pipes at the one
pole and carbon buried in the earth at the other pole, or the earth battery.
employed may be formed according to any other of the well-known
arrangements. It is also preferred to employ a seconds pendulum, but this
is not essential. The rod of the pendulum at its upper end is suspended
in the usual manner, and at its lower end it carries a reel or bobbin wound.
with insulated wire in the ordinary manner. There are also two fixed pcr-

page_text: manent magnets with their like poles opposite to each other, over which
the hollow bobbin or reel passes in the swing of the pendulum as has
before been practised. Above the pendulum there is a break or contact
maker which is capable of swinging freely on its own axis, which is in the
same plane with but above the point of suspension of the pendulum. The
break consists of a narrow strip of copper or other metal which is bent in
the centre of its length into two similar limbs, and the two limbs are again
bent towards each other, so that their lower ends are opposite each other
and only at a short distance apart. The lower ends of the two limbs are
on the two sides of the rod of the pendulum, but at a short distance from
it when the pendulum hangs perpendicularly. The axis of the break is
fixed through ivory or other non-conductor, which is fixed on the interior
of the upper bend of the strip of copper above mentioned. To the upper
part of such bend is applied a screw or stem which carries a counterbalance
weight, the position of which is capable of being adjusted. At the lower
end of each limb of the break is a set or adjusting screw, and surfaces of
gold are used for the points of contact between the pendulum and the
lower ends of the limbs. One of the poles of the battery is conducted to
one end of the wire wound on the bobbin or reel at the lower end of the
pendulum's rod, which end of the wire is carried up to the upper end of
the pendulum rod. The other pole of the battery is connected to the
upper part of the break. The other end of the insulated wire wound on
the bobbin or reel is conducted up the rod of the pendulum to where the
contact plate is fixed on one side of the rod of the pendulum. The
pendulum's is arranged as well understood to give motion to an ordinary
train of wheels as in other electrical clocks. By this arrangement each
time that the pendulum swings toward the end of that limb of the break
where the contact points or surfaces are used there will be an electric
current pass from the one pole to the other of the earth battery, but when
the pendulum swings towards the other limb no continuation of the circuit
will be formed. The above is the arrangement preferred, but it is not
essential, as the circuit might be arranged to be completed by each limb
of the break. When an electric clock is arranged with apparatus such as
above described it will not only be suitable for actuating clocks with like
pendulums, but by a slight modification such an electric clock may be
employed in giving motion to small electric clocks with short pendulums,
such modifications consisting in forming a circuit from the earth battery
through such small clocks at each swing of the pendulum of the clock
above described. It will be readily understood that in place of an earth

page_text: battery other forms of battery may be used, but it is preferred to employ
an earth battery.
备
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:
Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 2 a front view of my seconds pen-
dulum and break or contact maker, drawn half the size, the continuation
of the rod being left out for convenience of drawing, but the length is,
as is well known, 39 inches and a fraction. A, B, is the pendulum sus-
pended by a spring in the usual manner, and having at its lower end a
bob O formed of a coil of insulated wire. The two ends of the wire
are carried up the rod A, B, and one end of the wire is fixed to the metal
plate D at the top of the rod, thus communicating through the pendulum
or suspending spring to the wire E which leads to one pole of the earth
battery as hereafter described. The other end of the wire is carried up
the rod A, B, and is fixed to a metal plate F, and by preference these
contact plates D, F, are of gold. The bobbin or bob O is hung so that it
will swing free over the fixed tube G, G, which passes through the centre
of the bob and is fixed to the side of the clock case. This tube G, G,
contains two permanent magnets with their similar poles towards and near
each other at the middle of the tube G, G. The break or contact maker
is formed of copper or other metal, and is of the shape or form shown in
the Drawings; it is mounted on a saddle of ivory or boxwood or other
non-conducting substance, through which the axis I passes so as to allow
the break or contact maker free motion in moving from side to side. On
the top of the break or contact maker H is a screw carrying an adjusting
weight K which will overbalance the two arms H', H', and the break or
contact maker is kept from going too far by the banking pins L, L. The
wire N leads from or connects the break or contact maker to the other
pole of the battery.
The mode of action is as follows: When the pendulum, as in
Figure 2, is moved to the side and contact is made between the plate F
and the arm H' of the break or contact maker H an electric circuit will
be made, and its course may be, as indicated by the arrows, from the wire
E through the pendulum spring and metal contact plate D, through the
pendulum and bob, and returning by the plate F by the arm H' of the
break or contact maker H to the wire N which connects the break or
contact maker with the other pole of the battery. During the time the

page_text: current is thus passing the coil of wire of the bob C becomes an electro-
magnet, and being attracted along the tube G, G, until the break or
contact maker arrives at a certain point beyond the centre, the counter-
balance weight K, which is thereby thrown on one side so as to break the
electric circuit by separating the contact piece F and the arm H, and the
pendulum will swing back by its own gravity; in so swinging back it
.carries with it the break H and the weight K. It is obvious that if the
parts of the electric circuit formed by the wire E or N, or both, have one
or more similar pendulums without breaks introduced between the break
or contact maker H and the earth battery, these other pendulums will
keep the same time as the pendulum shown in the Drawings. If, how-
ever, it is desired that clocks with half-seconds pendulums should be
regulated by a clock having a full-seconds pendulum I lengthen the con-
tact plate by which the spring is attached from D to O, as shown in
Figure 3, so that instead of the electric current being stopped altogether
on the return swing of the pendulums it is simply cut off from its own bob
C by the break of the contact at F; but the circuit will be complete and
the current carried to the smaller clocks direct, as shown by the arrows in
Figure 3, from E to D, and thence by the other arm H³ of the break or
contact maker H to N, by which two impulses will be given to the half-
seconds pendulum for one of the full-seconds pendulum shown in the
Drawings; but care must be taken that the connection is not con-
tinued longer than the time occupied by the shorter pendulums in making
one vibration, otherwise the smaller clocks would hang and their time be
deranged. This is best provided against by forming the ends of the arms
H', H, in two parts, and by introducing adjusting screws, as shown on an
enlarged scale at A', Figure 2. For very large clocks, however, such as
turret clocks, where extra power may be desirable I can employ a double
break or contact maker, which by reversing the current at each vibration
of the pendulum will give an impulse both ways, and thus double the
power.
This form of break or contact maker is shown in Figures 4 and 5. I
fix two metal plates F, F, one at the front and the other at the back of
the pendulum, to each of which plates I attach one of the wires coming
up from the coil in the pendulum bob C, and I fix two arms to the break
or contact maker crossing without touching each other on one side, as
shown at A'; thus when contact is made at F the current entering at N
would pass down by the contact plate F through the bob and out by the
other arm of the break or contact maker to E; but on the return swing

page_text: of the pendulum the break or contact maker, not being crossed on the
other side, the current will enter at the back plate and leave by the front,
thus reversing the current in the bob and giving an impulse on the return
swing as well; but as each time the contact is made the direction of the
current, although changed in the bob, is always the same in the wires
E, N, it follows that such a clock may be used to drive and regulate other
clocks having pendulums swinging half the time. In all these arrange-
ments it will be seen that in consequence of the arc of vibration of the
break or contact maker, and that of the pendulum being different, a
rubbing motion is given at the time of making a contact, which is very
important, as such rubbing effectually removes dust and keeps the contact
points clean; and it will be further apparent that the impulse being given at
or near the centre of the swinging motion of the pendulum, and not towards
the two ends of the motion or swinging of the pendulum, a very slight
power is sufficient to keep a pendulum in motion. The motion of the
pendulum thus obtained is communicated by a crutch and train of wheels
to the hands of the clock in the usual way, and as is well understood.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is
the mode of constructing and applying the break or contact maker herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bright, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
HENRY BRIGHT. (L.S.)