Patent Document

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/144,870 filed Jul. 20, 1999, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The invention is directed to timepieces, and, more particularly, to timepiecees having rotating conical bands which indicate the time and having removable objects, such as a sculpture or other artwork, on the timepiece. 
   2. Description of Related Art 
   Timepieces are well known in the art as are timepieces which can be worn by an individual. Wrist watches, pocket watches, broaches or pendant watches are also known. However, the display of time is typically done using at least hour and minute hands which point, respectively, to the hour of the day and the minute within the hour. Alternatively, digital timepieces are known which display at least hour and minute as numerals, using, for example liquid crystal displays, rather than as pointers to an angular reference to hour and minute. 
   Existing timepieces have the limitation that they require that the plane of the timepiece face be aligned to be substantially perpendicular with the line of sight of the wearer. In the case of wearable timepieces, this requires that the wearer take some affirmative action to determine the time, such as rotating the wrist so that the orientation of the timepiece face is suitable for reading. This has a disadvantage that a person, with whom one might be meeting, could perceive such an action as impatience or as boredom with the subject of the meeting. 
   Another problem with the prior art is that the appearance of the watch remains substantially unchanged. This creates some difficulty in fashion coordination, where a user might desire to change the appearance of a timepiece so as to coordinate with a different outfit. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The problems associated with the prior art are overcome, in accordance with one aspect of the invention, by providing a watch, the time indication of which is represented by rotating bands which can be viewed from both the top and the side to obtain an indication of time.  
   In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a fixed or rotating platform exists on the top of the timepiece, normally called the bezel, which will support an object, such as any type of sculpture or other aesthetically appealing rendering. Such objects would be removable to permit the sculpture or other rendering to be swapped out with different sculptures or renderings. 
   The foregoing and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  shows a top view of an exemplary timepiece in accordance with the invention. 
       FIG. 2  is a side view of an exemplary timepiece in accordance with the invention. 
       FIG. 3  is a section view of a timepiece along section lines  3 — 3  of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIGS. 4A ,  4 B and  4 C show top, side and bottom views of drive cylinders used in accordance with one aspect of the invention. 
       FIG. 5  is an illustration of a shaft to which the cylinders of  FIG. 4  might be mounted for operation. 
       FIG. 6  is an exemplary implementation of a wishbone spring, typically secured to an object that is to be mounted to the timepiece. 
       FIG. 7  is a perspective view of an exemplary stud which can be mounted to a timepiece and which mates with the spring of  FIG. 6  to hold an object in place. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 1  shows a view of an exemplary timepiece, namely a watch, in accordance with the invention. Watch  100  has a watchband  110  and a fixed time indicator  120 . A section  3 — 3  along the centerline of the watch is shown more in detail in  FIG. 3 . Watch  100  has an object  130  removably attached thereto as described more hereinafter. 
     FIG. 2  is a side view of exemplary watch  100 . An object, in this example an ornamental sculpture  130 , is removably mounted on the top of the watch. In the illustrated embodiment, the watch has two concentric conical time display bands or rings which rotate about the center of the watch. The bottom one  200 , in this example, shows the hour as a location under time indicator  120 . The top one  210  shows the minutes. Other bands or rings could be implemented as well. A watch base  230  serves as a mechanical base for the timepiece and permits the connection  240  of a watchband  110 . 
     FIG. 3  is a section view of watch  100  along section lines  3 — 3  in  FIG. 1 . A watch base  230  and platform  320  are mounted together by connection to shaft  220 . In this example, the shaft can be  press fit or snap fit into the base and into the platform although other techniques for attachment could be used as well. The platform  320  serves as a mounting base for an object such as an ornament or sculpture. The conical time display band or rings  200  and  210  mount to cylinders  310  and  300  respectively, shown in more detail in  FIG. 4 . One exemplary technique for mounting includes soldering or welding the time display rings to the cylinders. Other techniques may be used as well. Cylinders  300  and  310  are mounted to the shaft  220  concentrically, so as to permit independent rotation, and cylinder  300  fits within cylinder  310 . Motor mechanism  330  is coupled to a gear arrangement at the bottom of each cylinder  300  and  310  by one or more gear trains, indicated as dashed lines. A battery  340  may be conveniently mounted to the watch base. The gear train could, of course, be driven by a mechanical drive mechanism of the type used in timepieces for hundreds of years, rather than by an electrical motor. 
     FIGS. 4A ,  4 B and  4 C show exemplary cylinders  300  and  310 . A gear or gear teeth are mounted to or formed in the bottom of the cylinder. These engage the gear arrangement driven by the motor. In the implementation of cylinder  300 , a notch  410  is provided into which a split C ring may be fitted to keep cylinder  310  from sliding down and interfering with the engagement of the cylinder  300  with the gear arrangement of cylinder  300  driven by the motor. 
     FIG. 5  is an illustration of shaft  220 . It too has a notch ( 500 ) provided into which a split C ring may be fitted to keep cylinder  300  from sliding down and engaging the watch base which might interfere with the rotation of the cylinder. 
   The preferred technique for mounting an object to platform  320  is shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7 . There are two basic parts to this system, a wishbone shaped spring ( FIG. 6 ) and a stud ( FIG. 7 ). In general the spring is secured to the piece that it is to be attached to the watch and the stud is secured to platform  320 , preferably at the top and center of the watch. 
   The wishbone spring  600  is preferably made of spring steel. In an exemplary embodiment, the dimensions of this spring would be approximately 20 mm long, 5 mm wide, and 0.5 mm thick. There is a drilled hole  610  at one end to facilitate a screw for securing to the object to be removably attached. A drilled hole  620  in the middle of the spring, slightly smaller than the pilot diameter of the stud,  710 , facilitates easy attachment of the spring mounted object to the stud. 
   The stud is preferably made of hardened and polished steel. This piece has three distinct features, namely, the base  720  (preferably about 5 mm in diameter), the square  730 , and the pilot diameter (each about 2 mm in diameter). The total height from bottom of base to top of the pilot diameter of this part is about 5 mm. The pilot diameter has a tapered end  740  which tapers down from the diameter of pilot diameter to a minor diameter smaller than the size of hole  620  in the wishbone spring. 
   In this embodiment, it is important that the diameter of the hole  620 , in the center of the wishbone spring, be smaller than the diameter of the pilot diameter of the stud. About 25% smaller  would be preferable. In this embodiment, it is also important that the apex of the square be the same size as the pilot diameter to facilitate easy removal. 
   For assembly, a object, such as sculpture  130  is attached to the wishbone spring  600 , using, for example, a screw that passes through hole  610  in the spring and into the body of the object. 
   The wishbone spring is pressed over the tapered (conical) end of the stud and forced open until it opens enough to pass over the pilot diameter until it snaps into place on the square section of the stud. The square section of the stud allows several important advantages. First, the object can be positioned in any 90 degree increment. Second, the object will be easily removed by a simple turn of 45 degrees and lifting away from the watch. 
   Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, the spirit and scope of the present invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Technology Category: 3