IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES, CHRONOMETERS, AND SUCH LIKE TIMEKEEPERS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Brookes, of 62, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent and Registration Agent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES, CHRONOMETERS, AND SUCH LIKE
TIMEKEEPERS."-A communication from abroad by Frederic Fitt, of
the City of Ottawa, in the County of Carleton, in the Province of
Ontario, in the Dominion of Canada.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Brookes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th June 1875.
I, WILLIAM BROOKES, of 62, Chancery Lanc, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent and Registration Agent, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATCHES, CHRONOMETERS, AND
SUCH LIKE TIMEKEEPERS," (communicated to me from abroad by Frederic
Fitt, of the City of Ottawa, in the County of Carleton, in the Province
of Ontario, in the Dominion of Canada), to be as follows :-
The first part of the Invention as communicated to me relates to tho

page_text: combination of an independent escapement secured to the pillar plate of
a watch, chronometer, or such like timekeeper, and so as to be readily
unfastened therefrom by a screw, the object of this part of the Invention
being to have an escapement made independently of the other move-
ments and which can be easily removed.
E
The second part of the Invention relates to the use of a screw to
make fast the above escapement by its conical point working a stop
detent or spring set on the other side of the pillar plate, to which
spring a pin is attached acting in the teeth of the fourth wheel to stop
the movement of the watch while the screw is withdrawn to remove the 1
escapement.
The third part of the Invention relates to the combination of two
cavities in the rim of the case. In one of these cavities is a regulator,
and in the other is a push pin, the object of this part of the Invention
being to prevent the watch from being tampered with when it is
necessary either to regulate it or to set the hands.
The independent escapement is composed of the following parts :—
the escapement plate having an edge by which it is set in the watch
case a balance cock; the cock prop screw having a square head; the
regulating indicator; circle of regulator sliding round on cock; arm of
regulator connecting and worked by regulator worked from the outside
of the watch case; rim of balance having expansion cuts and balance
adjusting screws; pallet cock and cock screw; pivot of pallet shaft,
lever, and pallet, and pallet stones; escape wheel cock, and cock screw,
cscape wheel pivot; escape wheel; the fastening screw, or other
movement forming part of or consistituting an escapement. A safety
spring or stop detent secured by a scrow near the edge, and to the front
face of the pillar plate.
The pin of stop detent is secured to the end round plate of the safety
spring passing through a slot or opening of the pillar plate and acting on
teeth of fourth wheel. There is an opening or slot at the other end of the
safety spring with a screw to steady said spring and allow its operation.
There is an opening through the pillar plate for fastening a screw which
acts on the safety spring; the conical point of this fastening screw of
the escanement working the safety spring.

page_text: There is a cavity in which the regulator and index are set. The
regulator is connected by means of a pin or link to the front end of an
arm or piece pivotted to the cock. The rear end of the arm or piece is
connected also by means of a pin to the arm of the regulating indicator.
There is another cavity in which a push pin is affixed and connected to
one of the hands of the watch to regulate it. Both these cavities are
made in the rim of the watch case and have a covering, either hinged to
the rim or sliding thereon. The escapement is thus made independent
and can be removed from the rest of the movements or may be applied
in one piece as required.
It is not necessary that the movements of the watch be uncased, as
the whole of the escapement can be removed or replaced bodily with
the movements in the case, and made fast by screw; nor is it necessary
to unwind or let the watch go down in order to remove the escapement
plate. This fastening screw serves a double purpose, to hold fast the
escapement plate in position; and secondly, the screw is made long
enough to pass through the pillar plate. This screw has a conical point
so as to work the safety spring or stop detent secured to the front face
of the pillar plate below the dial, said spring having at its plate end a
pin going through the pillar plate, and acting on the teeth of the fourth
wheel in such a manner that when the screw is withdrawn to remove
the escapement plate it gradually pushes the pin into the teeth of the
fourth wheel, thus stopping the action of the watch or timekeeper and
keeping it from unwinding itself, as in the case of ordinary watches, and
preventing it also from damaging itself by its unwinding; and when
the screw is replaced to make fast the escapement plate, said screw
gradually cases out the pin from the teeth of the fourth wheel, and then
the watch goes on without being wound up anew. Thus it will be scen
that this independent escapement gives every guarantee of safety for
the watch, for the screw is self-acting on the spring and is simple and
effective.
The movements can be entirely finished and cased without the escape-
ment; and the escapement can be finished, even timed and regulated for
any movements of the same grade at immediate notice, as a duplicate
movement will do for other escapements.
The head of the prop cock screw is made square so as to facilitate
the removing and replacing of tho escapement.

page_text: The wearer is deterred from tampering with the mechanism for there
is no necessity to open the case cither to regulate it or to alter the
hands.
The watch is regulated by the regulator and index which are in
the opening in the rim of the watch case, and the hands arc altered
by the push pin which is in the other opening in the said rim.
By opening the hinged or sliding lid of those cavities the regulator
or the push pin is reached, regulated, or set, as the case may be, and
the lid shut to prevent dust getting through and into the interior of the
watch.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Brookes in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 30th November 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BROOKES, of 62, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
and Registration Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
cighth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Brookes, Her special license
that I, the said William Brookes, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Brookes, 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 IN
WATCHES, CHRONOMETERS, AND SUCH LIKE TIMEKEEPERS," a communication to
me from abroad by Frederic Fitt, of the City of Ottawa, in the County of:
Carleton, in the Province of Ontario, in the Dominion of Canada, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Brookes, my

page_text: 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 William Brookes, 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:
The first part of the Invention as communicated to me relates to the
combination of an independent escapement secured to the pillar plate of a
watch, chronometer, or such like timekeeper, and so as to be readily
unfastened therefrom by a screw, the object of this part of the Inven-
tion being to have an escapement made independently of the other
movements and which can be easily removed.
The second part of the Invention relates to the use of a screw to
make fast the above escapement by its conical point working a stop
detent or spring set on the other side of the pillar plate, to which spring
a pin is attached acting in the teeth of the fourth wheel to stop
the movement of the watch while the screw is withdrawn to remove the
escapement.
The third part of the Invention relates to the combination of two
cavities in the rim of the case. In one of these cavities is a regulator
and in the other is a push pin, the object of this part of the Invention
being to prevent the watch from being tampered with when it is
necessary either to regulate it or to set the hands.
But that the nature of the Invention may be better understood, I
will by the aid of the accompanying Drawings, proceed to describe

page_text: Figure 2 represents the interior of the front face of the pillar plate to
which tho spring having the pin meshing in the teeth of the fourth
wheel is secured.
Figure 6 represents the push pin.
Figure 7 represents the regulator on rim of watch.
Other
A, Figures 1 and 3, is an independent escapement composed of the
following parts:-a, the escapement plate having an edge 6 by which
it is set in the watch case; B, a balance cock; d, the cock prop screw
having a square head; e, the regulating indicator; f, circle of regulator
sliding round on cock x; g, arm of the regulator connecting and worked
by regulator worked from the outside of the watch case; 7, rim of
balance having the expansion cuts i, i, and balance adjusting screws c, c;
j, pallet cock, and cock screw ; 1, pivot of pallet staff; m, lever and
pallet and pallet stones n, o; p, escape wheel cock, and cock screw q;
r, escape wheel pivot; 8, escape wheel; t, the fastening screw.
movements forming part of or constituting an escapement may however
be employed. S is the reverse of pillar plate to which the mechanism
wheels, pinions, and other of the parts of the watch are secured.
C, Figure 2, is a safety spring or stop detent secured by the screw "
near the edge and to the front face of the pillar plate S; D is
the pin of stop detent secured to the end round plate v of spring C
passing through the slot or opening F of the pillar plate S, and
acting on teeth of fourth wheel E, Figure 1; w is an opening or
slot at the other end of the spring C with a screw to steady said
spring and allow its operation; H is an opening through plate S for
fastening screw which acts in the curve of and on the spring C,
and I is the conical point of said fastening screw t of the escapement A,
working the safety spring C; J is the cavity in which the regulator
and index K is set. The regulator K is connected by means of a
pin or link L to the front end of an arm or piece M pivotted to the

page_text: COCK N. The rear end of the arm 31 19 connected also by means or a
pin to the arm g of the regulating indicator e; O is another cavity
in which a push pin P is affixed and connected to one of the hands of
the watch to regulate it. Both cavities, J and O, are made in the rim of
the watch case and have covering Q either hinged to the rim or sliding
thereon. The escapement is made independent and can be removed
from the rest of the movements or may be applied in one pieco as
required.
It is not necessary that the movements of the watch be uncased, as
the whole of the escapement can be removed or replaced bodily with the
movements in the case, and made fast by the screw t; nor is it
necessary to unwind or let the watch go down in order to remove the
escapement plate, for every danger of damaging the movements of the
watch is avoided by means of the fastening screw t, said screw t being
made for a double purpose, firstly, to hold fast the escapement plate A
in position; secondly, the screw t is made long enough to pass through
the pillar plate S. This screw t has a conical point I so as to work the
safety spring or stop detent secured to the front face of the pillar plate
below the dial, said spring having at its plate end a pin going through
plate S, and acting on the fourth wheel teeth in such a manner that
when the screw is withdrawn to remove the escapement plate it
gradually pushes the pin D into the teeth of the fourth wheel, thus
stopping the action of the watch and keeping it from unwinding itself,
as in the case of ordinary watches, and preventing it also from damaging
itself by its unwinding; and when the screw t is replaced to make fast
the escapement plate, said screw t gradually cases out the pin from the
teeth of the fourth wheel, and then the watch, goes on without being
wound up anew. Thus it will be seen that this independent escapement
gives every guarantee of safety for the watch, for the screw t is self-
acting on the spring and is simple and reliable; without this screw t the
independent escapement would be of little value because of the liability
to accident to the watch by unwinding itself when wound up on removal
of said escanement.

page_text: Another advantage of it is that the movement makers and the escape-
ment makers are independent of each other, for the movements can be
entirely finished and cased without the escapement, and the escapement
can be finished, even timed and regulated ready for any movements of
the same grade at immediate notice, as a duplicate movement will do
for all escapements in consequence of the simplicity of the arrange-
ments.
the same grade at immediate notice, as a duplicate movement will do
for all escapements in consequence of the simplicity of the arrange-
ments.
The head of the cock prop screw d is made square, as shewn in
Figure 5, so as to facilitate the removing and replacing of the escape-
ment.
The wearer is deterred from tampering with the mechanism of the
watch, for there is no necessity to open the case cither to regulate it or
alter the hands.
The watch is regulated by the regulator and index K, which are in the
opening J in the rim of the watch case, and the hands are altered by 1
the push pin which is in the other opening O in said rim. By opening
the hinged or sliding lid of those cavities, the regulator or the push pin
is reached, regulated, or set, as the case may be, and the lid shut to
prevent dust getting through and into the interior of the watch.
A thick flat crystal may be placed over the movements to enable the 2
mechanism to be seen.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, as com-
municated to me, what I claim as the improvements in watches,
chronometers, and such like timekeepers is,-
First. The combination with a watch or such like movement of an :
independent and removable escapement A held in position by a screw or
pin passing through the pillar plate and operating a stopping device,
substantially as described.
Second. In combination with the retaining pin or screw t of an
independent and removable escapement, a spring stop detent C, sub-
stantially as described.
Third. The combination with the fourth wheel of a watch or such
like timekeeper of a spring stop detent C, operated substantially as
decoribed

page_text: Fourth. A watch or such like timekeeper regulator operated by an
arm M and link L, actuated from an opening J in the external case,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof I, the said William Brookes, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
WILLIAM BROOKES. (L.S.)