Improvements in Electric Clocks.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Mar., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Jan., 1894-Accepted, 22nd Mar., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Electric Clocks.
EDOUARD Du Bois, Watchmaker, Avondale, Earlsmead Road, South
Tottenham, in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
My improvements relate to that class of clock in which electricity is used for the
purpose of winding up or driving the clock works. In the drawing is shown,
running free on the staff of the intermediate wheel B, or any other wheel, a ratchet
On the rim of this wheel D
wheel D, which is kept from going back by a pawl a.
is a pin b which holds one end of a lever E, the other end of which is fixed to the
end of a blade spring F. To the same end of this blade spring is attached a
On the other
roller G. The other end of the spring is fixed to the plates at c.
hand we have an electro magnet H, which, when the current actuates it, attracts an
armature I fixed on one end of a lever K running on pivots at d. The other end
of this lever K is made so as to lift the blade spring when coming in contact with
the roller G above mentioned, and this spring being instantaneously released, presses
on the pin b and carries the intermediate wheel round.
This process is repeated each time the electric current actuates the magnet, and
this is done by means of a contact as follows:- -The ratchet wheel D adapted on
the intermediate wheel gears with a toothed sector or a wheel L, on the rim of
which is fixed a contact pin f. Another pin z is fixed in a suitable insulating
substance on the staff of the sector, and when the intermediate wheel revolves, this
pin z presses the contact piece g back until it has passed. The piece 9 then being
released springs back against the contact pin f and completes the circuit. The
armature is then attracted, and the blade spring F being lifted up brings the ratchet
back and with it the sector, the pin fleaving thus the contact piece 9, and coming.
to f1 and the pin z passing again to the other side of g. The circuit is then
broken, and the blade spring F set free, actuates the clock.
The drawing shows the movement of a clock at the time the pin f touches the
contact 9, the circuit is therefore completed and the armature being attracted takes
the position shown by the dotted lines, and lifts up the spring F, as shown also by
dotted lines.
The contact spring g is fixed to an insulator at R, the terminal T is also
insulated. The wires conveying the current are connected at T and T¹. T¹ is not
insulated from the plates, the plates and sector L being used as conductors from T¹
to f.
A blade of metal fixed on the plates and pressing on the staff of the sector will'
ensure good contact.
The piece M. N. O. is made simply to balance the armature & lever K, if the
lever is placed in a horizontal position there is no necessity for the balance M NO.
Another way of actuating the clock is by means of the lever K with the armature
at one end and a toothed sector at the other gearing with the ratchet D or a pinion
fixed to it and bringing it back in the same position as that shown by the dotted
lines when the armature is attracted. A spring acting on the lever K presses the
toothed sector back again, which, gearing with the ratchet wheel actuates, the clock.
The centre wheel A is mounted on a staff without any piuion. This wheel gears
with the pinion of wheel B, which in its turn gears with the pinion of any other
desired wheel..
Dated this 22nd day of March 1893.

page_text: Improvements in Electric Clocks.
I, EDOUARD Du Bois, of Avondale, Earlsmead Road, South Tottenham, in the
County of Middlesex, 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 that class of electric clocks, in which electricity is relied
on for supplying the energy necessary for either winding the clock up or for driving
either the going train, or the striking train, or both.
It consists in a novel combination of a mechanical agent, to wit-a spring in
tension or a weight free to fall, a ratchet device for transmitting the energy of the
resilient spring or falling weight, as the case may be, to one of the wheels of the
train, an electric circuit adapted to be made when either the resilience of the spring
is exhausted or the fall of the weight completed and an electro-magnet in the said
circuit, the attraction of the armature of the latter being adapted to put the
spring again in tension or to lift the weight again as soon as the said circuit is
made, such restoration of the spring or of the weight to the original position
breaking the circuit.
In order that my invention and the means by which it is to be carried into
practical effect, may be thoroughly understood, I will now describe it and them in
detail, referring in so doing to the accompanying figures which are to be taken as
part of this Specification and read therewith, but not as limiting the invention to
the particular combination illustrated.
Figure 1 is a rear elevation illustrating the application of my invention to the
going train of a time piece with a balance wheel escapement. It is taken on the
fine 1-1 of Figure 2.
Figure 2.is a sectional side elevation taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a rear elevation illustrating a modification of the invention.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2, it will be noticed that the great wheel and its
driving mechanism, as well as the centre pinion, are absent. They are omitted from
the figures because the present invention, when constructed as illustrated, renders
them unnecessary. According to the said construction, the intermediate or third
wheel a is made the first motion wheel of the train, but the selection of any
particular wheel for that office is not a part of the invention, inasmuch as any one of
the usual train may be made the first motion wheel.
bis the centre and c the fourth wheel of the ordinary going train. Both are
driven by the intermediate wheel a, the former by the pinion a' (the third pinion
of the ordinary going train) and the latter, through the pinion c¹ (the ordinary
fourth pinion).
d is a bar spring. Its foot is held in a bracket d' which is fixed upon the front
plate e..
The position of the bracket d' must be arranged in conjunction with the
length of the spring for the free end of the latter to move through a distance equal
to a chord of from about a fourth to a tenth of the circumference of the first motion
wheel. When the block is fixed in the position shewn, the spring is nearly horizontal
when it is at rest-the position illustrated in dotted lines. In point of strength it
must be strong enough to drive the train during the time it is moving from its
position of maximum tension-the one illustrated by the full lines of Figure 1-
to that of rest. The length of this motion-the working stroke of the spring-
has already been indicated. The connection between the spring and the first
motion wheel consists of a ratchet wheel floose on the staff of the said wheel, a
spring-controlled pawl f' upon the rim of the latter and engaging in the ratchet
wheel in such a way as to permit of idle motion on its part in one direction only,
and to lock it to the wheel a during the working stroke of the spring d, and a
:

page_text: link pivotted by one end to the rim of the wheel f and by its opposite end to
the free end of the said spring. The connection illustrated between the link and
the ratchet wheel may be modified if desired by the substitution of any equivalent
for the pivot.
arın.
h is the
g is the positive and g' the negative conductor of the electric circuit.
electro-magnet. The latter is shewn as supported by the front plate e, and the
conductor gl as electrically connected to the said plate, thereby including more or
less of the train in the circuit. The conductor g is led from the magnet to a
binding screw 2 fast to, but insulated from, the said front plate. 93 is a vibrating
One end of it is fast in the head of the binding screw g while the opposite
and free end stands just clear of the nose of a contact piece projecting from the
plate e, and in the path of the contact piece ¹ described further on. is a toothed
sector pivotted on a suitable axis and gearing with the wheel already described.
The peripheral length of this sector is equal to the notion of the wheel f. is a
contact piece on the sector. This latter contact piece, in combination with the
free end of the vibrating arm o³, constitutes the make-and-break of the electric
circuit. The contact piece is a safety or supplementary contact. It may be
dispensed with, but its presence is advantageous for the purpose of ensuring the
circuit being made by the free end of the arm g* being pressed down upon the said
safety contact when there might be some non-conducting foreign matter between
the contact and the said free end. 9 is a spring arm adapted, by being fixed to
the plate e at one end and having its free end pressing on the staff of the sector, to
ensure ready flow of the current from the latter to the said plate.
I wish to point out that the sector is not an indispensable member of the
mechanism. It, together with the arm g, may be dispensed with altogether and
the contact piece h¹ be fixed on the link for on the wheel f, or a series of contact
pieces may be fixed on the rim of the wheel a or on any other wheel of the
train, the position of the arm 9, and of the safety contact g too when the latter is
used, being altered accordingly to bring them within reach of the said contact
piece or pieces h¹.
is the armature of the magnet. It is carried on the end of a lever which has
its fulcrum upon a pin supported by the clock plates. The free end of the
spring d is shewn as consisting of a short bar d2 aligned with and made fast to the
spring. This bar provides a convenient point at which the adjacent end of
the link can be connected to the said end, and carries an antifriction roller d³ at
its outer end for a purpose explained further on. The free end of the spring d
must be within reach of the lever i at the moment when the former has reached
the end of its working stroke in order that the attraction of the armature by the
magnet may put the spring again in tension. The top end of the lever is therefore
provided with a suitably shaped edge adapted to engage smoothly with the
antifriction roller during the time that the armature is being attracted and the
spring being put into tension again.
k, are counterpoises adjustable upon a pair of bars, projecting from
the lever i on the opposite side of the fulcrum from the armature. Their function
is simply to balance the lever and armature i.
The action of the mechanism above described is as follows. Assuming that the
spring d is in maximum tension, its resilience presses the link downwards thereby
revolving the wheel for a corresponding distance. The wheel a is carried by the
pawl around with the wheel f. As the sector his geared with the wheel, the
motion of the latter will bring the contact h down upon the free end of the vibrating
arm g and make the circuit. It must be borne in mind that the make-and-break
must be arranged in a position proper for the circuit being made just before the
resilience of the spring d is exhausted and broken by the attraction of the armature.
The magnet attracts its armature i, the edge of the upper end of the lever
engages with the antifriction roller and the spring d is put into the position of
maximum tension before the break of the circuit (effected by the return motion of
the wheel) has released the armature from the magnet. During its return stroke

page_text: under the action of the lever.i', the spring takes the ratchet wheel with it through
its return stroke, but as the pawl cannot then engage it, the wheel a is not interfered
with in the direction of being reversed.
Referring to Figure 3, the mechanism is arranged so that the end of the sector h³,
the free end of the spring d and the top end of the lever i¹ meet, and are made fast
together. This dispenses with the link and the counterpoise."
My invention does not confine me to fixing the bar spring in either of the relative
positions, as far as the other parts of the mechanism are concerned, which I have
illustrated, nor to the use of a bar spring to the exclusion of every other type of
spring. When I use a bar spring I may place it in any convenient position
provided that its working stroke will drive the ratchet wheel for a distance corre-
sponding to the length of such stroke, and any other type of spring capable of
discharging the same function is within the scope of my invention and for that
reason may be used for the purpose of it.
Further, it will be obvious that a weight free to fall for a distance equal to the
working stroke of the spring d and equal to the resilience of the latter when it is
at its maximum tension, is, if suspended from the point on the wheel fat which
the link is pivotted to it, the mechanical equivalent of the spring d.
It is,
therefore, to be distinctly understood that the substitution of such mechanical
equivalent for the spring device illustrated or for any modified form of spring
device, is within the scope of the present invention, and that I may use either
indifferently.
Neither is the invention limited to the relative positions of the several members
of the mechanism which are illustrated in the figures, inasmuch as the said positions
may be modified or changed to any extent as may be required provided that the
discharge of the several functions respectively assigned to them, be provided for.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The combination of train, a spring adapted to be put in tension or a weight
free to fall, a ratchet device for transmitting the energy of the resilient spring or
of the falling weight, as the case may be, to one of the wheels of the train, an
electric circuit adapted to be made when either the resilience of the spring is
exhausted or the fall of the weight completed and an electro-magnet in the said
circuit the attraction of the armature whereof is adapted to put the spring in
tension or to lift the weight again, such restoration of the spring or of the weight
to the original position breaking the circuit, as set forth.
2. The combination of train, a spring in teusion or a weight free to fall (as the
case may be) adapted to drive the first motion wheel of the train through an arc
corresponding with the working stroke of the resilient spring or with the fall of
the weight, an electro-magnet in a circuit controlled by a make-and-break operated
by or from the said wheel and a lever attached to the armature of the magnet
adapted to put the spring or the weight back into its original position, as set forth.
3. The combination of train, a spring in tension or a weight free to fall (as the
case may be) adapted to drive the first motion wheel of the train through an arc
corresponding with the working stroke of the resilient spring or with the fall of the
weight, an electro-magnet in a circuit controlled by a make-and-break operated by
or from the said spring or the said weight and a lever attached to the armature of
the magnet adapted to put the spring or the weight back into its original position,
as set forth.
4. The combination with a train, of a bar spring fast by one end, a link pivotted
by one end to the free end of the said spring and by the other to a ratchet wheel
loose about the axis of the first motion wheel of the train, a pawl on the last
mentioned wheel adapted to lock the ratchet wheel to it during the working stroke
of the spring, a lever carrying the armature of an electro-magnet at one end and
engaging by the other with the free end of the said bar spring so as to put it into

page_text: maximum tension when the armature is attracted, and a sector gearing with the
said ratchet wheel and carrying a contact piece adapted to close the circuit of
which the said electro-magnet forms a part when the resilience of the said bar
spring is exhausted, as set forth.
5. The combination with the electric circuit, of a make-and-break consisting of
a sector gearing with a ratchet wheel, contact piece on the sector and a vibrating
arm in the circuit, as set forth.
6. The combination with the electric circuit, of a make-and-break consisting of
a sector gearing with a ratchet wheel, a contact piece on the sector, a vibrating arm
and a safety contact piece, the said two contact pieces being on respectively
opposite sides of the vibrating arm, as set forth.
7. The combination with the electric circuit, of a make-and-break consisting of
a vibrating arm having one end fast in a binding screw and the free end standing
between a fixed contact on one side of it and a moveable one the other side, as set
forth.
8. The combination with the train, of a ratchet wheel loose about the axis of
the first motion wheel, a pawl gear adapted to lock the two together, a bar spring
fast by one end, a lever carrying the armature of an electro-magnet at one end and
a sector gearing with the said ratchet wheel at the other end, the free end of the
said bar spring being made fast to the junction of the said sector end, and a circuit.
make-and-break worked by the said sector, as set forth.
Dated this 23rd day of January 1894
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.