IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF WINDING UP WATCHES AND OTHER TIME- KEEPERS
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
JOSEPH MASSEY, of No. 17, Chadwell Street, Middleton Square, Clerkenwell, in
the County of Middlesex, Watch Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Fourth day of May, in the fourth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Francis
Joseph Massey, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Francis Joseph Massey, my exors, admors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Francis Joseph Massey, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and
also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF WINDING UP WATCHES AND OTHER TIME-
KEEPERS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
Francis Joseph Massey, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar

page_text: next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Francis Joseph Massey, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention relates to a description of watch which is wound up by means
of the pendant; it also acts as a repeater, and affords a data for calculations.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and carried
into effect, I will describe the Drawing hereunto annexed, in all the Figures
of which the same letters are used to denote similar parts.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1. a is the ratchet on the square arbor of a going barrel. b, b, is
the rack which acts therein, and at each push of the pendant is made to move
four teeth of the ratchet, which is cut in thirty teeth, each tooth answering to
one quarter of an hour of time. c, c, is the circular spring which returns the
pendant to its place after the act of winding, and also keeps the rack in action
in the ratchet. d is the click, and d¹ the click spring which holds up the
main spring after winding, and sounds the quarters in pushing in the pendant.
The circular spring c, c, causes the same quarters which are wound by pushing
in the pendant to be repeated on the return of the pendant. e is the stud
with the screw f therein, by means of which the length of the pendant push-
piece is adjusted. 9, 9, is a parallel slot in the plate, which acts as a guide to
the stud e, and enables the spring c, c, to keep the rack b, b, in its proper place
and depth in the ratchet a. This slot or guide part may either be in the
plate itself, as here represented, or it may be made of one or more pieces of
steel or other suitable metal screwed or fastened to the plate, or the ends of
the stud which is fastened in the rack b, b, may be made to terminate in
pivots, which pivots may slide in parrallel slots, screwed or fastened, one in the
top plate and the other in the pillar plate. h is a bar under which the rack
slides freely, and which keeps it in its place. i, j, is the screw and steady pin,
by means of which the bar is fastened to the pillar plate. By reducing the
number of teeth in the ratchet to fifteen instead of thirty, each tooth will
answer to half an hour of time, and the watch may be wound up in fifteen
pushes instead of thirty, and so in proportion for any greater or less number

page_text: of teeth. Also, by using two ratchets instead of one, videlicit, one at each
end of the barrel arbor, say, sixty teeth on the upper end, or on the name
piece, and thirty teeth at the lower, or under the dial, the half quarters in
sounds or beats may be obtained on pushing in the pendant. As this second
ratchet can be applied by any competent workman used to this description of
work, I have not thought it necessary to shew it in the Drawing.
1
Figure 2 shews a round pendant push-piece k, with a stop 7 thereon screwed
by a nut m, which stop fits inside the case when the pendant is at rest, and is
kept in its place by the long circular spring.
Figure 3 shews a pendant with a four-square or four-sided push-piece. n is
the pendant ball or nob. o is the push-piece which acts in the socket p, which
is soldered in the case, the inside of which socket may be bushed with steel or
other suitable metal, screwed or fastened into it to receive the four-square
push-piece, the end of which terminates in a screw q, on which is screwed a
nut to prevent the pendant pulling out of the case, and the four-square is to
prevent its turning round. This method, equally with the round pendant,
allows the pendant nob to go down the socket close to the edge of the
case, and instead of the push-piece being four-square or four-sided, a three-
square, oval, or other number of squares or sides to the push-piece may be
used without departing from my Invention, though I prefer these made with
four squares.
Figure 4 is another view of the same motion work as shewn in Figure 1,
'with the pendant at rest.
Figure 5, a detached view of the rack b, shewing the stud e and screw f; and
Figure 6 is an edge view of the same.
The Drawings, for the purpose of more clearly shewing the Invention, are
drawn on a larger scale than the real size. The above-described method of
winding up watches can be used in conjunction with most of the watch
escapements now in use, but it is particularly applicable to the lever, hori-
zontal, and duplex escapements, and may be also applied to that description of
timekeepers called pocket chronometers.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I declare that what I
claim is,-
First, the mode of keeping the rack in action by means of a spring, with a
stud fastened in the rack, acting in a parallel slot.
Secondly, I claim the method of using the stud in the rack, with a screw
therein to adjust the length of the pendant.
Thirdly, I claim the mode of using a round pendant push-piece, with a
sliding stop thereon. And I also claim the method of making the pendant

page_text: with a push-piece four-square, or of such other form as to dispense with the
necessity of any fittings in the groove or middle part of the case, at the same
time allowing the pendant nob to go close down to the edge of the case.
Fourthly, I claim the mode of using a circular spring, acting at its point
on an inclined plane or arm of the rack, thus obtaining an increased length
of spring, and doing away with risk of breaking.
And lastly, I claim the general arrangement of the wind-up motion by rack
and ratchet, circular spring and pendant push-pieces, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Joseph Massey, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-one.
Inrolled the Fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-one.