A New or Improved Secondary Clock.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Dec., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 30th Sept., 1889-Accepted, 7th Dec., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Secondary Clock.
I, JAMES GRIEVE LORRAIN, of Norfolk House, Victoria Embankment, London, W.C.,
Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
In the Complete Specifications accompanying my Letters Patent Nos. 8181 of
the year 1886 and 9264 of the year 1887 1 have described forms of secondary
clocks actuated by electromagnets.
My present invention differs therefrom in that instead of causing the hands to
be moved and the time to be indicated by the action of an electromagnet upon
its armaturé I cause the said action to take place through the change of pressure
or of volume of a suitable fluid the said change of pressure or of volume being
produced by alteration of temperature caused by the passage of a current of
electricity through a conductor placed in or in proximity to the said fluid the said
change of pressure or of volume causing the movement of the hands through the
intervention of any convenient mechanical transmitting mechanism.
I may employ a detent for the purpose of limiting or controlling the movement
produced.
Dated this 31st day of December 1888.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Secondary Clock.
I, JAMES GRIEVE LORRAIN, of Norfolk House, Victoria Embankment, London, WC.,
Consulting Engineer, 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:-
In the Complete Specifications accompanying my Letters Patent Nos. 8181 of
the year 1886 and 9264 of the year 1887 I have described forms of secondary
clocks actuated by electromagnets.
My present invention differs therefrom in that instead of causing the hands to
be moved and the time to be indicated by the action of an electromagnet, upon
its armature I cause the said action to take place through the change of pressure
or of volume of a suitable fluid the said change of pressure or of volume being
produced by alteration of temperature caused by the passage of a current of
electricity through a conductor placed in or in proximity to the said fluid the said
change of pressure or of volume causing the movement of the hands through the
intervention of any convenient mechanical transmitting mechanism.
Having thus described in general terms the nature and object of my inven-
tion I shall now proceed to describe in what manner it is to be or may be carried
into effect and for this purpose I shall describe by way of types or examples one or
more ways of performing my invention. In order that such description of the types
or examples which I have selected for mention herein may be more readily under-
stood I have annexed hereunto a sheet of drawings illustrative of the essential parts of
my invention as applied to the said types or examples.
The accompanying figures illustrate a convenient method of carrying my invention
into practice as well as convenient combinations of devices therefor. In figure 1
A represents the main wheel that is to say the first of the train of wheels serving to
transinit the power to the hands. B is tube fitted with a bulb at each end and
capable of rocking on the fulcrum 6. The tube is wholly and the bulbs partly filled.

page_text: with mercury as shown. Above the surface of the mercury the bulbs contain air or
other gas, nitrogen being preferable. The bulb D contains a little more air than does
the bulb C, so that C will be heavier than D as it will contain more mercury. In its
normal position therefore the tube and bulbs will occupy the position shown in the
figure, that is to say will be depressed and D elevated. In and above the surface
of the mercury is arranged a thin platinum wire I designed to serve as a heating
resistance the said wire being sealed into the glass where it enters and leaves the bulb
in an air tight manner. To the tube B is attached as shown the pawl E which gears
into the teeth of the ratchet wheel F rigidly attached to the main wheel A.
The action of the apparatus just mentioned is as follows. The clock is connected
up in the usual way and an electric current is transmitted through the heating
resistance at intervals for the purpose of moving the hands through the requiredi
angular distance. The current in passing through R raises its temperature and so
causes the air in to be expanded. This expansion of the air in will increase
the pressure of the said air upon the mercury and so force the mercury along the
tube B towards the bulb D. Bulb D will now receive more mercury till it
becomes heavier than C when the tube will rock or tilt over so as to depress D.
and elevate C. This will cause the pawl E to engage in. the tecth of the ratchet
wheel F and carry the latter round through a part of a revolution. The ratchet
wlieel F being rigidly attached to the main wheel A the latter will also be caused to
turn through a part of a revolution and so move the hands through a certain.angular
distance. The current now ceasing to flow through the heating resistance It the
latter will cool, the air in C will contract and the mercury flow back to its original
position. C will now again be heavier than D and the parts will resume their normal
position as shown in the figure and ready to go through a similar cycle of opera-
tions at the next transmission of the electric current. During the backward move-
ment of the tube B to its normal position the click G will prevent any backward
movement of the ratchet wheel F and consequently of the main wheel A and hands.
At the same time the pawl E on returning will ride loose over the teeth of F.
If the clock has been very carefully constructed and the parts adjusted with great
nicety the click G may be dispensed with but I do not recommend this as the click
is always a useful safeguard.
If care be taken to transmit only the proper amount of current and for the proper
length of time the hands will be inoved through the proper angular distance each
time the current passes but inasmuch as in practice clocks would be constantly added
to and removed from the circuit so that the current would require to be altered
accordingly, I prefer instead of adapting the current to suit the clocks after each
change in the circuit to so fit the clocks with controlling devices that the hands will
always be moved through the required angular distance without reference to the
exact conditions of the current or of the circuit. This definite amount of movement I
secure by means of the detents H and J, in this case shown as set screws, which limit
the distance through which B will rock and determine that the pawl E will always
take the proper feed of the ratchet wheel and this independently of the strength and
duration of the current, provided always that the strength and duration of the current
be sufficient to produce a complete movement..
It will be seen that at each transmission of the electric current a definite movement
of the inbe B takes place and that this imparts a definite amount of movement
through the train of wheels to the hands. In practice I find it convenient to transmit
the current from the master clock for a period of two or three seconds every half-
minute and I adopt a train of wheels in accordance with this so that the long hand
is moved round through one one-hundred-and-twentieth (120) of the circumference of
the dial or in other words through an angle of 3 degrees at each movement, the short
hand being moved through a proportionate distance. The dimensions of the varions
parts hereinbefore described vary with the size of the clock and, with the power
required to actuate it.
Figure 2 illustrates a case which is identical with that illustrated in figure 1 except
that the tube contains a readily vaporisable & badly conducting liquid such as alcohol

page_text: instead of mercury and that the resistance R instead of being above the surface of the
liquid is immersed in the latter. In this case the heating resistance serves to vaporise
some of the alcohol which collecting in its gaseous form above the surface of the still
liquid alcohol will force the latter towards bulb D and so cause the tube B to rock
in the same way as did the mercury in the case illustrated by figure 1. In other
respects the action in both cases is identical.
Figure 3 illustrates a case in which I cause the change of pressure or of volume
to produce expansion or contraction of a suitable vessel instead of change of
position of a suitable vessel. In this figure K is a closed vessel fitted with an
expanding diaphragm or cover L of thin corrugated metal. This vessel contains air
and into it passes in an air-tight manner the heating resistance R. From the centre
of La link M extends to the lever N one end of which is attached to the bracket O
and the other end of which bears the pawl E. In this case R on the passage of an
electric current through it heats the air surrounding it and causes it to expand in the
same way as in the case illustrated in figure 1 but in this case the expansion of the
air forces L outwards and this movement transmitted by M and N to E causes the
ratchet wheel F to be rotated and the same effect produced as in the cases illustrated
in figures 1 and 2. The detent in the case illustrated by this figure fulfils the
same function as the detent H in the cases illustrated by figures 1 and 2. The
detent J, in this case shown as a pin, fulfils the same purpose as the detent J in
figures 1 and 2 and acts for the purpose of fulfilling such purpose in the same manner
as does the pin J described and illustrated in the Complete Specification filed in
pursuance of my application for Letters patent No. 19,066 of the year 1888 and
bearing the same date as the present application.
The ratchet wheel and pawl arrangement for transmitting the movement of the
tube or of the diaphragm as the case may be to the train of wheels actuating the
hands, is a convenient contrivance for the purpose but equivalent devices will readily
suggest themselves to mechanics.
The types or examples which I have described illustrate convenient ways of carrying
my invention into effect. Other ways will readily suggest themselves to any com-
petent engineer after a perusal of the foregoing.
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. In a secondary clock the method of actuating the hands by utilising the change
of pressure or of volume, (of a suitable fluid) produced by an electric current, sub-
stantially as set forth.
2. In a secondary clock the employment of a fluid whose pressure or volume is
altered by a current of electricity in the manner described to actuate the hands, sub-
stantially as set forth.
3. In a secondary clock the combination of a moving vessel, such as B, actuated
in the manner described, and a transmitting device, such as the ratchet and pawi
arrangement shown, for the purpose of causing the movement of the hands through
an angular distance, substantially as set forth.
4. In a secondary clock the combination of an expanding vessels, such as K,
actuated in the manner described, and a transmittiing device, such as the ratchet
and pawl arrangement shown, for the purpose of causing the movement of the hands
through an angular distance substantially as set forth.
5. In a secondary clock actuated as hereinbefore described, the means of securing
a definite amount of movement substantially as set forth.
Dated this 30th day of September 1889.
J. G. LORRAIN.