IMPROVEMENTS IN CHRONOGRAPHS OR APPARATUS COMBINED WITH CHRONOMETERS AND OTHER TIMEKEEPERS FOR MEASURING AND INDICATING SHORT INTERVALS OF TIME
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Arthur Anthony Champion at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th July 1867.
I, ARTHUR ANTHONY CHAMPION, of the Firm of Charles Gärtner, Chrono-
meter and Watch Manufacturer, of Clerkenwell, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CHRONOGRAPHS OR APPARATUS COMBINED WITH CHRONOMETERS AND OTHER
TIMEKEEPERS FOR MEASURING AND INDICATING SHORT INTERVALS OF TIME," to be
as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the arrangement of mechanism in com-
bination with a chronometer or other timekeeper to act as a chronograph or
instrument for measuring and recording short intervals of time without inter-
fering in any way with the timekeeping quality of the chronometer or
timekeeper with which such mechanism or apparatus is combined.
In carrying out my Invention I prefer to arrange the mechanism of the
chronograph in combination with a chronometer or watch in the following
manner-Upon the pillar plate and underneath the dial I apply a separate
train of wheels driven by a separate mainspring, and controlled by its own

page_text: escapement without any connection whatever with the train or escapement of
the chronometer or watch mounted on the other side of the plate.
According to my improvements the mechanism of the chronograph
apparatus consists of a toothed wheel fixed upon an arbor extending through
the barrel, to which a mainspring is applied, and on throwing a pinion into
gear with this toothed wheel the independent chronograph train is wound up,
having suitable stop apparatus applied thereto. An intermediate toothed
wheel transmits the power to 'a toothed wheel free to revolve on the axis of
the centre wheel of the chronometer or watch. Upon the last-named wheel a
ratchet toothed wheel is fixed, which by means of a click and spring carried
by another toothed wheel (revolving on the same axis) transmits the power to
the chronograph escapement. Underneath the toothed wheel carrying the
clicks and springs another toothed wheel is supported by screws having two
pins projecting through slots to the upper side of the toothed wheel (arranged
with clicks and springs), which pins when moved by pressure on the
push piece cause the two small clicks on the upper side of the said wheel
to fall out of gear with a finely cut ratchet wheel also revolving on the
same axis, and carrying the chronograph second's hand, the object of the
wheel and its projecting pins when set in motion being to release the
spring clicks and thus allow the extra second's hand to fly forward to
a zero point on the dial, as hereafter described. By pressing upon a
push piece on the side of the case a click forces a disc wheel (mounted
upon an axis upon the plate) one tooth forward, thereby allowing a detent
(which holds the balance by means of a pin therein at rest) to fall back
into a notch on the upper surface of the disc, thus allowing the balance to
vibrate, and at the same time causing a projection upon a spring to be forced
out of gear with the disc, the extreme end of the said spring being forced
away so as to prevent it from pressing upon the periphery of a heart-
shaped wheel attached to the wheel which carries the extra second's hand,
leaving it in readiness (upon a third application of pressure upon the push
piece) to fall again so as to press upon the heart wheel to cause the extra
second's hand to return to the point from which it started. By the first
depression of the push piece the mechanism of the chronograph will be set
in motion, causing the extra second's hand to mark seconds and fractions
of time until arrested by a second depression of the push piece, the click of
which then forces the disc another tooth forward, at the same time forcing
the detent forward again so as to arrest the action of the balance, thus
causing the extra second's hand to stop the number of minutes the chrono-
graph mechanism has run being indicated by a minute hand. The second.

page_text: depression of the push piece causes a pallet on the plate to be raised
to such a position that on the third depression of the push piece it will move
the suspended wheel and thus release the clicks. The third depression of the
push piece resets the chronograph extra second's hand to zero, as previously
described.