AN IMPROVEMENT IN WATCHES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Flinn, the elder, of Coventry, Watch Manu-
facturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN WATCHES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Flinn at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
October 1861.
I, JOHN FLINN, the elder, of Coventry, Watch Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN WATCHES,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in using a spring and barrel of the kind commonly
called a going barrel in connection with an improved wind-up, constructed as
herein-after described. In constructing the said wind-up I place a toothed
wheel on the axis of the barrel, and on another parallel axis I place a similar
toothed wheel, the said toothed wheels taking into one another. The last-
named axis is the one to which the key is applied in winding up the watch,
and by means of the said axis and the toothed wheels described, the watch
is made to wind up in the same way as ordinary English watches, and con-
trary to that in which watches with going barrels ordinarily wind. By means
of my Invention I can make a flatter and cheaper watch than can be
made by the ordinary method of construction.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Flinn in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th
April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FLINN, the elder, of Coventry, Watch Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Flinn, Her special licence that I, the said John Flinn,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Flinn, 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 "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN WATCHES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Flinn,-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 Letter Patent.
NOW KNOW YE,-that-I, the said John Flinn, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in using in watches a spring and barrel of the kind
commonly called a "going barrel," in connection with an improved wind-up,
constructed in the manner herein-after described and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing, by the use of which spring and barrel and wind-up the
watch is made to wind up in the same direction as watches having a fusee,
and at the same time possesses all the advantages of watches without fusees.
Figure 1 of the Drawing represents the front of a part of a watch con-
structed according to my Invention; Figure 2 represents the back of the
same; and Figure 3 represents the same in elevation.
a is the axis of the going barrel, upon which I fix a toothed wheel b; c is
an axis, parallel to the axis a; and d is a toothed wheel on the said axis c.

page_text: The said toothed wheels b and d take into or engage with one another. The
axis c is the one to which the key is applied in winding up the watch ;
the motion given to the said axis c in winding up the watch being in
a direction contrary to that which would have to be given to the axis a, if the
watch were to be wound up by applying a key to the said axis a; that is to
say, the watch is made to wind up in the same way as ordinary English
watches, and contrary to the direction in which watches with going barrels
are ordinarily wound. By my improvement I secure all the advantages of
watches without fusees, that is to say, my Invention enables me to make a
flat and cheap watch to run the escapement out of centre, and to set the
hand of the watch from the back, and in conjunction with these advantages
to wind the watch in the direction in which watches having a fusee are wound.
Although I prefer to make the toothed wheels b and d of the same diameter
as illustrated in the Drawing, yet they may be made of different diameters,
and the position of the wheel d and other details may be varied without
departing from the nature of my Invention.
I claim as my Invention, the improvement in watches herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is, to say,
the addition to watches having a spring and barrel of the kind called a
going barrel," or watches without a fusee, of a wind-up, consisting of a
toothed wheel taking into or engaging with another toothed wheel on the axis
of the said "going barrel," to the axis of which wind-up the key of the watch
is applied in winding, the direction of the winding being the reverse of that
of, watches without fusees, as ordinarily constructed.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Flinn, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
EDWIN FLINN.
JOHN FLINN, SEN". (L.S.)