A NEW AND IMPROVED ELECTRIC CLOCK
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Adrien Bonneville, of the British and
Foreign Patent Offices, 10, Sackville Street, Piccadilly, in the
County of Middlesex, and 18, Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, in the
Empire of France, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "A NEW
AND IMPROVED ELECTRIC CLOCK."-A communication from Samuel
A. Kennedy, residing at Attleborough, in the County of Bucks,
and State of Pennsylvania, in the United States of America.
Scaled the 14th May 1869, and dated the 25th March 1869.
5
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 25th March 1869, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices,
10, Sackville Street, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, and
18, Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, in the Empire of France, Patent Agent,
send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "A NEW AND
IMPROVED ELECTRIC CLOCK," a communication from Samuel A. Kennedy,
a person resident at Attleborough, in the County of Bucks, and State of
Pennsylvania, in the United States of America, and have petitioned Her
Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and made solemn Declaration
that it is a communication.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
The nature of the Invention, communicated to me, mainly consists
in forming and breaking the connection with the positive and negative
poles of a battery, by means of a vibrating bar operated by the pendulum,
arranged and operating as herein-after described.
In the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Fig. 1 represents a side
elevation, Fig. 2 a front elevation, and Fig. 3 a back elevation of the
improved electric clock. Similar letters of reference indicating cor-
responding parts throughout the Figures.
Letter A is a board to which the several parts of the clock are
attached; A' may be a bracket or shelf which supports the vertical
plates. B, B, are vertical plates which support the journals of the
shafts a, b, c, of the centre wheel C, the ratchet wheel E, and of the
rotating shaft D; F is a vertical lever which is actuated by the pen-
dulum II for giving an automatic motion to the ratchet wheel E. This
is accomplished by means of a lever G attached to and moved by the
rotating shaft D already described. At the lower end of the lever G
is the paw! I working into the ratchets of the wheel E. K is an
adjustable bridge supported by the brackets M, M'. The bridge is
provided with plates N and N¹ which communicate with the magnetic
wires, there being insulated projections which have wires connected
with the main circuit wires. L is a bar for changing the circuit,
having points which communicate alternately at each motion of the
pendulum bearing alternately against the vertical parts or sides of
the depression in the bar L, as shown in Fig. 2, and thus changing the
points of the said bar L with the magnetic wires, and in this manner

page_text: changing the current. The points of the bar L and the upper ends of
the circuit wires in the projections of the bridge K may be of gold.
The projections or bosses in the bridge have grooves to guide the points
of the bar L, one of the facings of the projections may be of brass
and the other of agate. The pendulum H has a magnetized bar m
which produces the vibrations of the pendulum by the galvanometer
or galvanometers S, S', which are in the Drawings placed below the
centre of motion, but may be placed above the same when a similar
result would be produced. It is in contemplation to use one galvano-
meter; when a powerful current is desired two or more may be employed,
and also to use one or more of the magnetized bars m in the pen-
dulum H; these bars are insulated on their bearings by means of a thin
coating of wax or otherwise. The circuit wire, commencing with the
platinum, or positive pole of a battery passes to the galvanometer S, and
from that to S¹, thence through the stud on the bridge K, and thence
through the projection where it forms a point. The wire passes from
thence through the screw which communicates with the bracket M to
which is attached the wire leading to the negative pole of the battery.
The current is formed when the pendulum is swung to the right, but
when it is swung to the left it moves the sliding bar L so as to bring
the points of the bar in connection with the points of the projection,
thus changing the current, and it passes through the stud and thence
to the point in the projection on the bridge K where it communicates
with the sliding bar L at the opposite point and passes through the
said har to the point where it communicates with the wire in the
projection on the bridge, thence to the screw in the bracket M com-
municating with the wire leading to the magnetic pole. When the
pendulum is swung to the left the polarized bar m is in connection
with the galvanometer S, and being repelled by the same the motion
of the pendulum is changed from left to right, and when it reaches the
galvanometer S¹ the sliding bar L closes the circuit with said galvano-
meter, and the pendulum is again repelled back to the left and thus the
movement of the pendulum is constantly maintained.
With the foregoing brief description of the said Invention to which I
have given the name of "Kennedy's New and Improved Electric Clock,"
I will now proceed to describe more particularly its mode of action.
The pendulum being actuated by the electrical currents as described,
in its vibrations to the right and left comes in contact with the bent

page_text: lower end of the lever F moving it in a corresponding manner. The
upper end of this lever F is attached to the journal of the rotating
shaft D causing a partial rotation of the same, the rotating shaft actuates
the lever G which in turn moves the pawl I working into the ratchets of
the wheel E, which in turn gives motion to the large wheel C, and so to
the hands of the clock.
Having now described my Invention and the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I beg to state that the foregoing description applies more
particularly to this Invention when two galvanometers are used, but as
before stated, I do not wish to confine myself to the use of two galvano-
meters, nor to one centre wheel, but desire the right to use one or more
wheels, and one or more galvanometers, by making a slight alteration in
the arrangement of the wires and train of wheels, as shown in the
accompanying Drawings which exhibit the arrangement for one galvano-
meter and one centre wheel.
What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is, a new and
improved electric clock in its novel arrangement of supporting board A,
brackets A¹, vertical plates B, centre wheel C, rotating shaft D, ratchet
wheel E, vertical lever F, lever G, pendulum H, pawl I, adjustable
bridge K, bar L, brackets M, M', plates N, N¹, galvanometers S, S¹,
shafts a, b, c, pin g, magnetized bar m, and negative and positive wires n
and P, all working together, substantially in the manner and for the
purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.