Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Mar., 1888
Specification Accepted, 27th Apr., 1888
I HENRY ALFRED LUGRIN of the City of Brooklyn County of Kings and State of
New York U.S.A. Watchmaker do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in stop-watches of that class in which a
quarter-seconds and an auxiliary minutes hand is provided in connection with suitable
mechanism for starting, stopping and returning said hands, the improvements being
designed with a view to secure the more reliable functioning of the stop hands, and
with a view to remove entirely the friction of the throwing in springs with the
transmitting gear wheels, so that the pressure of said springs exert no disturbing
action on the watch movement itself.
The invention consists of a stop watch in which motion is transmitted to the
quarter seconds and auxillary minutes hand by means of minutely toothed conoidal
gear wheels.
The transmitting gear wheels of the quarter seconds hand are operated in connec-
tion with an intermediate pinion which is carried on an inclined arbor supported in a
suitable manner.
The friction of the springs by which the motion transmitting gear wheels of the
quarter seconds and minutes hand are thrown into mesh, is removed when the
timing attachment is at rest, by means of suitable devices for lifting said springs
away from the transmitting gear wheels, as will be fully described hereinafter and
finally pointed out in the claims.
In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 represents a front elevation of a watch,
with my improved timing attachment.
Figure 2 is a a top view of the movement with the timing attachment.
Figure 3 is a vertical transverse section on line X X Fig. 2.
Figure 4 is a similar section, shewing a modified arrangement of the timing
attachment.
Figure 5 is a detail section shewing the pressure spring and its releasing device
arranged in connection with the transmitting gear wheel on the arbor of the fourth
wheel.
Figure 6 is a detail section shewing the device for removing the throwing in
spring from the arbor of the gear wheel by which motion is transmitted to the
auxiliary minutes hand.
Figures 7 and 8 are details respectively of the intermediate transmitting pinion and
of the coupling device between the arbor of the fourth wheel and the hollow arbor of
one of the transmitting gear wheels.

page_text: Figures 9, 10, 11, are side views shewing different modified forms of gear wheels
by which motion may be transmitted to the timing quarter seconds and auxiliary
minutes hands.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.
Referring to the drawings a represents the arbor of the fourth wheel from which
motion is imparted to the timing attachment which is composed of quarter seconds
hand and an auxiliary minutes hand and their actuating mechanisms. On the arbor a
is placed a hollow arbor b which passes through an opening in the top plate of the
movement, said-arbor being provided with a minutely toothed conoidal gear wheel d.
The hollow arbor of the gear wheel d is provided at the lower end with a recessed
arm that engages a fixed pin 2 of the fourth wheel, said recossed arm and pin
forming a coupling device by which motion is transmitted from the fourth wheel to
the minutely toothed gear. wheel d, whether the same is raised or lowered on the arbor
of the fourth wheel, so that the gear wheel d always rotates with the said arbor,
whatever bo its relative position.
The arbor of the quarter seconds hand e of the timing attachment passes through
the hollow arbor of the minutes hand as customary in stop watches of this class.
A second minutely toothed conoidal gear wheel d' is applied to that end of the
arbor of the quarter seconds hand which extends above the top plate of the move-
ment said gear wheel d¹ being arranged in inverted state close to the transmitting
gear wheel d, on the arbor of the fourth wheel. The gear wheel d' may
mesh directly into the gear wheel d or with a pinion d' that is interposed between the
minutely toothed gear wheels d, d' said pinion being supported loosely on an inclined
arbor d³ attached to a plate which is inserted into a supporting block d having an
inclined recess and attached thereto by a suitable pin as shewn in detail in Fig. 7.
The rounded off or conoidal shape of the transmitting gear wheels has the advantage
of producing an instant intermeshing of the same with the intermediate pinion d², so
that as soon as the timing hands are to be started the intermeshing of a portion of
the surface of the teeth takes place instantly without producing any vibrating motion
on the hands before the same are started. This secures the instant and regular
starting of the timing quarter seconds hand and forms the essential feature of this
invention as thereby the working of the timing attachment of the stop watch is
rendered more accurate and effective.
Conoidal gear wheels of different forms may be used such as are shewn in
Figures 9. 10. 11. The intermediate pinion may also be made conoidal as shewn in
Fig. 10. and arranged to mesh with a gear wheel having straight teeth and with a
conoidal gear wheel, or for the auxiliary minutes hand e a conoidal gear wheel may
mesh directly with a gear wheel having beveled teeth, the principle being in all cases
the same, namely, the quick intermeshing of the gear wheels, as soon as the timing
attachment is to be thrown into operation, so that the hands respond instantly to the
motion of the same.
The mechanism for starting, stopping and returning the quarter seconds and auxiliary
minutes hands are well known and have been used in stop watches heretofore, so that no
special description of the same is required.
The mechanism for ungearing the motion transmitting gear wheel d¹ may be
applied either to the gear wheel d on the arbor of the fourth wheel, or to the gear
wheel d' on the arbor of the quarter seconds hand as shewn respectively in Figs. 4
and 5.
For the purpose of removing the friction of the pressure springs by which the
transmitting gear wheels of the quarter seconds hand e and auxiliary minutes hand e¹
are thrown into mesh with each other, means are provided by which they are removed
out of contact with said transmitting wheels or arbors when the timing attachment is
not in use, so that the friction of the same with the said wheels or arbors does not
interfere with the proper functioning of the movement.
Heretofore these springs
rested on the transmitting gear wheels of the timing attachment and impeded to
some extent the motion of the movement.
For the purpose of overcoming this objection, the so called throwing in spring f

page_text: is removed from the transmitting gear wheel d of the quarter seconds hand, or the
spring g from the transmitting arbor of the auxiliary minutes hand whenever the
timing attachment is at rest and the stop hands at zero. In Fig. 5 the throwing in
spring of the transmitting gear wheel of the quarter-seconds hand is shewn, which
spring is provided with a pin f' that is engaged by the same lever f2 by which the
transmitting gear wheel d is raised out of mesh with the pinion d² so as to stop
the motion of the quarter seconds hand, said lever and pin lifting the throwing in
spring away from the transmitting gear wheel d. Consequently the same exerts no
friction of any kind on the continuously moving transmitting gear wheel d and does
not interfere with the proper motion of the movement.
In Figs. 4 and 6 the throwing in spring g of the auxiliary minutes hand is shewn
as applied to a collar on the arbor of the transmitting gear wheel and removed from
said collar by a pin g applied to the lever g2 by which the transmitting gear wheel of
the minutes hand is moved in or out of mesh with the gear wheel on the arbor of the
auxiliary minutes hand.
Whenever the arbor of the intermediate transmitting gear wheel is lowered, the
throwing in spring g is simultaneously removed from the collar on said arbor by the
pressure of the pin on the spring y so that its pressure on the arbor of the
transmitting gear wheel does not exert any retarding influence upon the watch
movement.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
First In stop watches, a motion transmitting gearing for the quarter seconds and
auxiliary minutos hands formed of minutely toothed conoidal gear wheels substantially
as set forth.
Second-In stop watches the combination of minutely toothed conoidal transmitting
gear wheels on the arbors of the fourth wheel and of the quarter seconds hand with
an intermediate inclined pinion and means for supporting said pinion substantially as
set forth.
Third-In stop watches, the combination with the motion transmitting gear wheels
of the quarter seconds and auxiliary minutes hands, of throwing in springs, and
lifting levers whereby said throwing in springs are moved out of contact with the
said transmitting gear wheels, whenever the timing attachment is in its normal
position of rest substantially as set forth.
;-
Fourth In a stop watch, the combination with the motion transmitting gear
wheels of the quarter seconds hand, of the throwing in spring, having a pin attached
to its shank, and the lever for raising one of the transmitting gear wheels, said lever
also engaging the pin on shank of the throwing in spring so as to remove the latter
from the transmitting gear wheel whenever the timing mechanism is at rest substan-
tially as and for the purpose set forth.
Fifth-The combination, with the motion transmitting gear wheels of the auxiliary
minutes hand, of a throwing in spring engaging a collar on the arbor of one of said
gear wheels, a lever for throwing said gear wheels in or out of mesh, and a pin
attached to said lever and engaging the throwing in spring, so as to remove it from
said arbor when the timing attachment is at rest substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.