IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOCKS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Lewis Jones, of Garston, in the County
of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOCKS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Lewis Jones
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th May 1871.
I, ROBERT LEWIS JONES, of Garston, in the County of Lancaster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CLOCKS," to be as follows:-
:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in clocks.
In clocks of the ordinary form the power is at one end of a train of
wheels and the regulating pendulum at the other. The amount of power
abstracted between these by friction varies continually, temperature
affecting the tightness of bearings and teeth of wheels and the tenacity
of the oil used for lubrication.
The object of my Invention is to bring the power used to dry the
regulating pendulum close to its work without any of the above inter-

page_text: vention, and to keep this power uniform in amount. I take a clock
complete in all its parts, and in place of the ordinary seconds hand, but
behind the dial I fix an exceedingly thin spring to the seconds pivot or
arbor, or to the half seconds arbor if the clock beats half seconds, and
this spring moves a 'scape wheel and escapement, and so actuates a
regulating pendulum. I make the rough clock gain so much that under
any possible circumstances it will continue to have a gaining rate, and
I fix to the clock a light catch or detent in such a way that whenever
the rough part of the clock has gained a small portion of time, say
a second, on the 'scape wheel which is controlled by the regulating
pendulum the detent detains or stops the rough clock for a second, so
that the power exerted on the regulating pendulum never varies. The
amount by which the tension of the light spring is increased or
diminished during a single second being practically nothing.
I thus retain the ordinary clock for the rough work, including moving
the hour and minute hands and letting off the striking (if there is
any), and the regulating pendulum has nothing to do but to control the
regulating catch or detent.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Lewis Jones in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 11th November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
LEWIS JONES, of Garston, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Robert Lewis Jones, Her special license
that I, the said Robert Lewis Jones, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said Robert Lewis Jones, 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 “IMPROVEMENTS

page_text: IN CLOCKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert
Lewis Jones, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Lewis Jones, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
:—
This Invention has for its object improvements in clocks.
In clocks of the ordinary form the power is at one end of a train of
wheels, and the regulating pendulum at the other. The amount of power
abstracted between these by friction varies continually, temperature
affecting the tightness of bearings and teeth of wheels, and the tenacity
of the oil used for lubrication.
The object of my Invention is to bring the power used to drive
the regulating pendulum close to its work without any of the above
intervention, and to keep this power uniform in amount. I take a clock
complete in all its parts, and in place of the ordinary seconds hand, but
behind the dial, I fix an exceedingly thin spring to the seconds pivot
or arbor, or to the half seconds arbor if the clock beats half seconds,
and this spring moves a 'scape wheel and escapement, and so actuates
a regulating pendulum. I make the rough clock gain so much that
under any possible circumstances it will continue to have a gaining
rate, and I fix to the clock a light catch or detent in such a way that
whenever the rough part of the clock has gained a small portion of time,
say a second, on the 'scape wheel which is controlled by the regulating
pendulum, the detent detains or stops the rough clock for a second,
so that the power exerted on the regulating pendulum never varies; the
amount by which the tension of the light spring is increased or
diminished during a single second being practically nothing.
I thus retain the ordinary clock for the rough work, including moving
the hour and minute hands, and letting off the striking (if there is any),
and the regulating pendulum has nothing to do but to control the
regulating catch or detent.

page_text: The Invention above described may be carried out in various ways.
The method I prefer is shewn in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Figure 1 of the Drawings shews the additional scape wheel, the upper
part of the regulating pendulum and the pallets; Figure 2 shews the
'scape wheel with the spring that actuates it, and the "carrier" by
which the spring is connected at one end to the seconds or half seconds
arbor of the clock, while the other end is connected to the additional
'scape wheel and the catch which prevents the ordinary clock from
gaining on the regulating pendulum; Figure 3 shews a section of these
parts. The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in each
Drawing.
A, A, is the pendulum and its suspending spring; B, B, are the pallets;
C, the additional scape wheel, the axis of which carries the seconds hand;
D is a carrier fast on the 'scape wheel pinion of the ordinary clock;
E is a spring connected at one end with the carrier, and the other with
the additional scape wheel C; F is the catch turning on a pivot at F¹;
F is a counterbalance weight for balancing the catch; G is a pin in
'scape wheel; H, a pin on the carrier; I is the 'scape wheel pinion
of the ordinary clock; on this pinion is another 'scape wheel, not shewn
in the Drawing, working with a pendulum as in an ordinary clock.
This pendulum is set so as always to gain on the regulating pendulum.
Other arrangements for roughly controlling the movement of the wheel-
work of the ordinary clock, so that it shall always tend to gain on the
regulating pendulum might however be adopted.
The mode of action is as follows:-At every revolution of the 'scape
wheel the pin G raises the catch, and immediately lets it fall. If the
catch falls before the pin H on the carrier arrives at it the carrier is not
arrested, but when the ordinary clock has gained so much that the pin H
reaches the catch before it has fallen it is detained for a small portion
of time, and the ordinary clock is thus prevented from gaining on the
aggregate upon the regulating pendulum. The catch F is bent as
shewn in plan view Figure 4, in order that the pin H shall not come
against it and yet allow of the pin being caught by the catch as above
explained.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which I prefer to carry the same into effect, I would have it under-
stood that I do not confine myself to the precise arrangement shewn
in the Drawing hereunto annexed; but what I claim as my improve-

page_text: ments in clocks is, the employment of a regulating pendulum and of
an escape wheel separate from the ordinary going part of the clock, and
to which the power needed to keep up the oscillations of the pendulum
is equably maintained, substantially in the manner herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Lewis Jones, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
R. L. JONES. (L.S.)