Improvements in Repeating Mechanism for Keyless Watches.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 10th July. 1896-Accepted, 15th Aug., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Repeating Mechanism for Keyless Watches..
I, ALPHONSE THOMMEN, of Waldenburg, (Basel- Land) Switzerland, Watch
Manufacturer, 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 repeating mechanism for keyless or stem-winding
watches whereby, after the pendant has been pulled outwards by means of the
button, when the said button is pressed inwards the watch sounds the first stroke of
the hour, the pendant and the button being then again forced out by a spring, so
that they can be again pressed inwards until at the last stroke a spring-pin,
attached to a slide which is in connection with the pendant and which carries the
pallets of the hour and the quarter racks, engages in a corresponding hole in the
quarter rack and thereby holds the pendant and the button in their inner or lower
position so as to stop the repeating or striking mechanism.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe it by reference to
the accompanying drawing, in which :-
Figure 1 is a view of keyless, repeating mechanism which I give as an example
of my invention, the said mechanisin being in its normal position:
Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 but shewing the parts of the mechanism
in position for striking :
Figure 3 is a section on the line X-x of Figure 1:
Figures 4 to 7 are views of details.
A is the quarter-snail which is mounted in the usual manner and carries a pin a
which, when the snail is rotated, engages with the teeth of a star-wheel B provided
with twelve teeth and fixed on the arbor b of the pillar plate. For every rotation,
therefore, of the disc A the said wheel B rotates a distance equal to the width of
one tooth. The hour-snail C is fixed on the star wheel B. c is the snail spring
which allows the star-wheel to rotate backwards tooth by tooth. D is the
quarter-rack and E is the hour-rack, both of which racks are pivoted to a screw F.
The racks D and E are provided with arms or projections d and e respectively and
are controlled by springs d' and e' respectively which tend to press the ends of the
arms d and e against the quarter and hour racks respectively. The upper edge of
the quarter-rack D is provided at its front end with four teeth d2, whilst the
upper edge of the hour-rack E is provided with two sets e,e of ratchet teeth which
are inclined in opposite directions, as shewn clearly in Figures 4 and 5, the
latter rack also carrying a projection or stop e at its rear end. A catch M is
pivoted to the rear end of the quarter-rack D and a spring m acts on an arm
or projection m of the same, the said spring tending to press the catch M
against a pin do fixed to the rack D, whilst the said catch can be forced out
of contact with the pin do by causing an arm m³ of the same to come into contact
with a stop-pin mo on the pillar plate of the watch. The heads of two screws f,f¹
which work in grooves or slots d', e in the racks D, E prevent the latter leaving
the pillar plate.
screw g
The quarter-hammer G and the hour-hammer H are also pivoted to a single
and are provided with projections or tails 9', respectively which are
caused to engage with the teeth d, e of the racks I), E by means of two springs h.
The hammers G, H are also provided with hooked projections 93. A gathering
pallet and a pawl J are caused to engage with the teeth e of the hour-rack E

page_text: by means of springs i and j respectively. The pawl J is provided with an arm j
having a pin with which a curved arm i of the gathering pallet I engages. The
gathering-pallet I is also provided with a second curved arm which is designed
to strike against a stop-pin k, fixed in the pillar plate, and is pivoted to a slide L
which can be moved up and down. This slide L is suitably guided in the pillar
plate and is attached to the same by means of the screws n, n', n. At its upper end
the slide L is provided with a transverse slot in which works a pin o fixed to the
link O connected to the pendant or stem P. The link O is pivoted to a screw q
the head of which is sunk in the three quarter or upper plate Q so that it allows
the movement of the stem P, by means of the button R, in an axial direction and
thereby also enables the slide L to be reciprocated.
A strong spring S, which engages with a lateral notch in the slide L, tends to
force the said slide, and the pendant or stem P into their upper position, as shewn
in Figure 2. To the back of the slide La flat spring is attached, the lower end
of which spring lies under the quarter-rack D and carries a bevelled or chamfered
pint which, when the mechanism is in its normal position, engages with a hole d³
in the rack D, as shewn in Figure 1, so as to retain the slide L and the pendant P
in their lower or inner position. The slide L is also provided with a projection 1
which, when the said slide is pulled upwards, strikes against the hooked.
projections of the hammers G, H, and thereby pulls the projections or tails g¹, h
of the latter out of gear with the teeth d², e².
When the repeating mechanism is in the position shewn in Figure 1, the
arms d, e of the racks D, E are at such a distance from the snails A, C that the
said snails can rotate. When, however, the button R is smartly pulled in
the direction of the arrow x, Figure 1, the pint leaves the hole d³ on account of
the elasticity of the spring T and the slide L is then free to move with the
pendant P in the same direction. The projection then strikes against the hooked
projections 93 of the hammers G, H so as to pull the tails g', h¹ of the same out of
engagement with the teeth of the racks D, E. The curved arm of the gathering.
pallet I strikes simultaneously against the pin k so as to force the said pallet to
rotate in the direction of the arrow y, and thereby be disengaged from the teeth e
of the rack E. The movement of the pallet also causes the arm of the same to
strike against the pin so as to pull the pawl J out of engagement with the
teeth of the rack E. The racks D, E are, therefore, moved towards the
snails A, C, under the action of the springs d', e', until the projections or arms d, e
come in contact with the respective snails. As soon as the pull on the button R ceases,
the hammer tails g', ' and the pallet I and pawl J are again brought into engagement
with the rack teeth d, e2 by their springs as shewn in Figure 2. In this figure the
snails A, C are shewn in the position they occupy when the time is a quarter to.
eight. The arm d of the rack D is in contact with the third step of the snail A,
which step corresponds to the three-quarter stroke whilst the arm or projection e
of the rack E is in contact with the seventh step of the snail C, which step
corresponds to 7 o'clock. If, now, the: button R be pushed, from the position
shewn in Figure 2, downwards into the position shewn in Figure 1 the hour-rack E
is forced back one tooth by the gathering-pallet I in the direction of the arrow,
Figure 2, and the hour-hammer H is also operated by the tail ', which gears with
the teeth of the rack, and is caused to strike against the gong spring u.
the button R is relieved from pressure, the spring S forces the slide L and the
pendant P back into the position shewn in Figure 2 and the pallet I drops into
engagement with the next tooth of the rack e so that, when the button R is again
pressed downwards, the second hour stroke is effected and so on. When the
button R is pressed for the seventh time the projection e' of the rack E strikes against
the pin do of the rack D which, in this instance, has been freed from the catch M
by the arm m² which has previously come in contact with the pin mº, and carries
the rack D with it in the direction of the arrow z through a distance equal to about
half the width of a tooth so that when the button R is depressed for the eighth
time, although both racks are moved together yet the projection or tail g' of the
When

page_text: quarter-hammer G first leaves the tooth d of the quarter-rack D, with which it.
was in engagement, so that this hammer first strikes the gong spring u', whilst the
hammer H strikes the second note of the first quarter on the spring u. At the
third ding-dong quarter stroke, the racks D, E return to the position shewn in-
Figure 1 so that the hole d³ in the quarter-rack comes directly opposite the pin t,
which is at this moment in its lowermost position, and is pressed into the said hole
by the spring T. By this means the slide L and the pendant P are held in their
lowermost position against the action of the spring S (Figure 1) so that the
position of the button R shews whether the repeating mechanism is in or out.
of gear.
The position of the rack D varies according to the position of the quarter--
snail A, that is to say, according to the number of quarters to be sounded, so that
the catch M is more or less removed from the pin do by the contact of the arm m²
with the pin mo. Consequently, the projection e of the rack E instead of
operating the quarter-rack by coming in contact with the pin do, as it does when
striking three quarters, operates it by striking against one of the three steps m³.
of the catch M when sounding the quarter hour and half hour and also at the
hour. When no quarter is to be sounded (in which case the arm m² of the
catch M does not strike against the pin mo and the projection e of the rack E.
comes in contact with the front step m³) the quarter-rack is moved only about
the distance of half a tooth in the direction of the arrow z so that the arm d is.
removed a short distance away from the quarter-snail A, whereby the said snail
may rotate freely and the indicating mechanism is not stopped by the repeating
mechanism.
My improved repeating keyless mechanism is more simple and strong than
that heretofore made and is in consequence less liable to need repair.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manuer the same is to be performed, I declare that what.
I claim is
1. Repeating mechanism for keyless watches wherein the hour and quarter
racks are each provided with an arm and are pivoted to a common pin controlled
by springs, the quarter-rack being provided with ratchet teeth, a pin, and a catch.
which is provided with steps and arms and is acted on by a spring, whilst the
hour-rack carries two sets of ratchet teeth which are inclined in opposite.
directions and in one of which a pawl and a gathering-pallet are caused to engage
by means of springs, a projection or tail of the quarter-hammer being caused to
engage with the teeth of the quarter-rack, and a projection or tail of the hour-
hammer being caused to engage with the other set of teeth of the hour-rack so.
that, after the pallet, pawl and hammer tails have been released from the teeth of
the racks, these latter are moved in such a manner, by their springs, that their
arms or projections strike against the steps of the hour and quarter snails, corre-
sponding to the hour and quarters to be sounded, whereby, when the pendant is.
pressed inwards, the pallet connected to it first operates the hour-rack and then
both racks (when the hour-rack has come in contact with the pin or the catch on.
the quarter-rack) and thereby causes the hammers to strike, substantially as.
described.
2. The combination with mechanism of the kind described in Claim 1, of a..
slide carrying the gathering-pallet and having a projection, the said slide being
adapted to be reciprocated on the pillar plate and to be controlled by a spring
and being provided with a slot, in which works a pin attached to a pivoted lever
connected to the pendant, and also with a spring which passes under the quarter-
rack and is provided with a bevelled pin which, on the slide being depressed,
engages with a hole in the said rack, after the correct number of hour and quarter
strokes have been made, thereby retaining the pendant in its inner position so
that it can be seen whether the repeating mechanism is in or out of gear, the
pendant being released by pulling the button which disengages the bevelled pin.

page_text: from the hole and the hammers, gathering-pallet and pawl from the teeth of the
racks, substantially as described.
3. The improved repeating mechanism for keyless watches hereinbefore
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
Dated this 10th day of July 1896.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.