CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES AND OTHER TIMEKEEPERS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Dunseith MacKellen, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Watch Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES AND OTHER TIMEKEEPERS."
Sealed the 2nd November 1863, and dated the 6th May 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Dunseith.
MacKellen at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 6th May 1863.
I, SAMUEL DUNSEITH MACKELLEN, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Watch Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES AND OTHER TIMEKEEPERS,"
to be as follows:-
”
The Invention relates to that part of watches and timekeepers known as
the escapement, and is designed to dispense with the "escapement wheel" as
employed in the ordinary "duplex escapements." The Invention consists in
the use of a horizontal plate or "fly" furnished with one, two, or four pointed
arms or long teeth, such "fly" being mounted upon a central vertical shaft
carrying a pinion which gears with a toothed wheel, and is driven by the
ordinary train of wheels in connection with the "finger." These pointed arms
or teeth as they revolve take successively into the slot in the balance wheel
shaft (which is used on the duplex escapement), and passing out of the slot
form the escapement, so that by the employment of one tooth or arm a dead
second beat is obtained by the use of two half seconds, and by the use of four

page_text: quarter second beats are obtained. Upon the "fly" are secured two or more
vertical "ruby pins," termed "impulse pins," so arranged that as the escape-
ment takes place they strike a projecting finger on the balance wheel shaft,
and give motion and impetus to the balance wheel, and thus a simple
description of escapement is constituted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Dunseith MacKellen in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th November 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
DUNSEITH MACKELLEN, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Watch
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Samuel Dunseith MacKellen, Her special license that I, the said
Samuel Dunseith MacKellen, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Samuel Dunseith MacKellen, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES AND
OTHER TIMEKEEPERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Samuel Dunseith MacKellen, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Dunseith MacKellen, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
The Invention relates to that part of watches and timekeepers known as
the escapement, and is designed to dispence with the "escapement wheel as
"

page_text: employed in the ordinary "duplex escapements." The Invention consists in
the use of a horizontal plate or "fly," furnished with one, two, or more pointed
arms or long teeth, such "fly" being mounted upon a central vertical shaft
carrying a pinion which gears with a toothed wheel, and is driven by the
ordinary train of wheels in connection with the "finger." These pointed arms
or teeth as they revolve take successively into the slot in the balance wheel
shaft (which is used in the duplex escapement), and passing out of the slot
form the escapement. Upon the "fly" are secured two or more vertical
"ruby pins," termed "impulse pins," so arranged that as the escapement takes
place they strike a projecting finger on the balance wheel shaft, and give
motion and impetus to the balance wheel, and thus a simple description of
escapement is constituted. By this means the complicated duplex escape
wheel is altogether dispensed with, and the usual "ruby roller" is rendered
unnecessary, as by using the toothed "fly" the force is diminished so much
that the friction on the shaft is very slight. This also permits a wider notch
to be cut in the shaft.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings drawn on an enlarged
scale of about four times the size of the "movement" of an ordinary watch,
and having similar letters of reference marked upon corresponding parts.
Fig. 1 is a plan view having one plate of the watch removed, and
representing the train of gearing, balance wheel, and spring, as commonly
used, and shewing the position of the improved escapement; Figs. 2, 3, and 5,
represent plan views of the "fly," in which four "impulse pins" are shewn';
and Fig. 4 is an end view, shewing only the escapement and gearing in
immediate connection.
In Fig. 1, a represents one "plate" of the timekeeper in which the
ordinary train of gearing b is supported; d is the spring, and e is the balance
wheel and shaft on which the finger f is secured, and in which a V-shaped slot
or notcb is formed. The "fly" 9, which is mounted on a vertical shaft, is
furnished with one, two, three, four, or more teeth h, h, and a corresponding
number of impulse pins i, i, and is driven by the train of gearing, so that in
its revolutions the teeth h take into the slot or notch in the balance wheel
shaft, and become released again as the said shaft moves, and immediately
after such release has taken place the next impulse pin strikes the finger f,
carries it partly round, and passes it, the finger and the shaft then fly back
until the next tooth meets the shafts, and then motion and impetus is given
to the balance wheel, and constitutes the improved "escapement," the beat
being regulated by the number of the "fly" teeth" and impulse pins.

page_text: Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, I would remark that I do
not confine myself to the metals or materials to be employed in the manu-
facture of the improved parts of the apparatus, nor to the precise form thereof;
but I claim the general arrangement, combination, and construction of the
apparatus to act as an "escapement" for timekeepers, whereby the ordinary
escapement wheel is dispensed with, one example of the said apparatus being
herein before described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof I, the said Samuel Dunseith MacKellen, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Third day of November, in the year
of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
SAMUEL DUNSEITH MACKELLEN. (L.S.)