GB2429305A

GB2429305A - Winding mechanism for a clock

Info

Publication number: GB2429305A
Application number: GB0517104A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Kevin Litchfield; Jeffrey Fletcher; Brian Kenneth Lane
Original assignee: SMITH OF DERBY Ltd
Current assignee: SMITH OF DERBY Ltd
Priority date: 2005-08-20
Filing date: 2005-08-20
Publication date: 2007-02-21
Anticipated expiration: 2025-08-20
Also published as: GB0517104D0; GB2429305B

Abstract

A winding mechanism 10 for automatically winding a device, such as a clock, includes a gear arrangement 12 for driving an operating mechanism of the device. The winding mechanism 10 includes a winding barrel 14 connected to the gear arrangement 12 and carrying weight means (not shown) moveable under gravity to rotate the winding barrel 14 and thereby drive the gear arrangement 12. The winding mechanism 10 further includes a control arrangement 16 for controlling a drive means which is operable in use to reverse the action of the gear arrangement 12 and thereby reverse the direction of rotation of the winding barrel to raise the weight means. The control arrangement 16 includes a switch actuating arrangement 18 rotatably mounted on the winding barrel 14 and co-operable with switch means 20 to control the operation of the drive means.

Description

Winding Mechanisms The present invention relates to winding mechanisms for

automatically winding devices, and more particularly but not exclusively to winding mechanisms for automatically winding clocks.

Automatic clock winding mechanisms which obviate the need to manually wind clocks are known. These mechanisms operate by automatically winding up a weight and subsequently allowing the weight to fall under the action of gravity to drive an operating mechanism of the clock. The weight is wound up each time after it has fallen so that the clock operating mechanism is driven continuously to power the clock.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a winding mechanism for automatically winding a device, the winding mechanism comprising: a gear arrangement for driving an operating mechanism of a device; a winding barrel connected to the gear arrangement and carrying weight means movable under gravity to rotate the winding barrel and thereby drive the gear arrangement; and a control arrangement for controlling a drive means which is operable in use to reverse the action of the gear arrangement and thereby reverse the direction of rotation of the winding barrel to raise the weight means; the control arrangement including a switch actuating arrangement rotatably mounted on the winding barrel and co-operable with switch means to control the operation of the drive means.

The gear arrangement may be an epicyclic gear arrangement. The winding mechanism may be arranged so that when the action of the epicyclic gear arrangement is reversed by the drive means, the drive means is operable to reverse the direction of rotation of the winding barrel to raise the weight means without interference with the drive of the operating mechanism of the device.

The switch actuating arrangement may be arranged so that it is cooperable with the switch means after a predetermined number of rotations of the winding barrel corresponding to a predetermined vertical movement of the weight means. In one embodiment, the predetermined number of rotations may be two.

The winding barrel may be mounted on a support shaft for rotation about the support shaft. The switch actuating arrangement may include an actuating gear wheel which may be rotatably mounted on the winding barrel so that it is rotatable relative to the winding barrel about its own axis. The actuating gear wheel may be arranged for rotation with the winding barrel around the support shaft about the axis of rotation of the winding barrel. The axis of rotation of the actuating gear wheel is preferably spaced in a radially outward direction from the axis of rotation of the winding barrel.

The winding mechanism may include a fixed gear wheel which may extend over the support shaft, the support shaft preferably being rotatable relative to the fixed gear wheel. The winding mechanism may include a support plate through which the support shaft may extend, and the fixed gear wheel may be immovably mounted on the support plate.

The actuating gear wheel may be arranged to mesh with the fixed gear wheel during rotation of the actuating gear wheel around the support shaft by the winding barrel such that the actuating gear wheel is caused to rotate about its own axis of rotation relative to the winding barrel.

The switch actuating arrangement may include a switch actuating member which may be provided on the actuating gear wheel. The switch actuating member may project from a side face of the actuating gear wheel and may be co-operable with the switch means to control the operation of the drive means. The switch actuating member may be disposed towards the periphery of the actuating gear wheel.

The gear ratio of the actuating gear wheel to the fixed gear wheel may be predetermined such that the switch actuating member is co-operable with the switch means after a predetermined number of rotations of the winding barrel, said predetermined number of rotations preferably corresponding to a predetermined vertical movement of the weight means.

In one embodiment, the gear ratio of the actuating gear wheel to the fixed gear wheel may be 2:1 and the predetermined number of rotations of the The switch means may include a first switch member for deactivating the drive means and a second switch member for activating the drive means.

The switch actuating member may be arranged to co-operate with the first switch member during rotation of the winding barrel in a first direction, and may be arranged to co-operate with the second switch member during rotation of the winding barrel in a second direction, which may be opposite to the first direction.

The switch actuating member be arranged to co-operate with the first switch member to deactivate the drive means during rotation of the winding barrel in a direction corresponding to an upward movement of the weight means. The switch actuating member may be arranged to co-operate with the second switch member to activate the drive means during rotation of the winding barrel in a direction corresponding to a downward movement of the weight means.

The switch means may include a third switch member which may be arranged to deactivate the drive means or the winding mechanism in the event of failure of either of the first or second switch members. The switch actuating member may be arranged to co-operate with the third switch member during rotation of the winding barrel in either the first or second directions.

The switch means may be provided on a switch mounting plate, and the switch mounting plate may be secured to the support plate.

The winding mechanism is preferably arranged to automatically wind a clock.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a clock incorporating a winding mechanism according to the first aspect of the present invention.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:Fig. I is a cross-sectional side view of a winding mechanism according to the invention; and Fig. 2 is a view along the line A-A of Fig. 1.

Figs. I and 2 show generally a winding mechanism 10 for automatically winding a device (not shown), and especially for winding a clock. The winding mechanism 10 is particularly suitable for use with large-scale clocks such as turret clocks, tower clocks and also with carillon (tune playing) machines.

The winding mechanism 10 includes an epicyclic gear arrangement 12 which, in use, is coupled to and drives an operating mechanism of a clock.

The winding mechanism 10 also includes a winding barrel 14 which is connected to the epicyclic gear arrangement 12.

A weight (not shown) is suspended in use from the winding barrel 14 using a wire loop or other suitable attachment, and the weight is movable in a vertically downward direction, under the action of gravity, to rotate the winding barrel 14 and thereby drive the epicyclic gear arrangement 12, and hence the operating mechanism of a clock.

The construction and principle of operation of the epicyclic gear arrangement 12 and the winding barrel 14 of the present invention is the same as that described in the applicant's earlier U.K. patent no. GB 2290155, the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety.

The winding mechanism 10 includes a control arrangement 16 for controlling a drive means (not shown), such as an electric motor, which is operable in use to reverse the action of the epicyclic gear arrangement 12 and thereby reverse the direction of rotation of the winding barrel 14. This serves to raise the weight and provides for automatic winding of the clock.

The control arrangement 16 includes a switch actuating arrangement 18 which is rotatably mounted on the winding barrel 14 and which is cooperable with switch means 20 to control the operation of the motor.

In more detail, the switch actuating arrangement 18 includes an actuating gear wheel 22 which is rotatably mounted on a stud 24 fixed to the winding barrel 14. The actuating gear wheel 22 is thus rotatable relative to the winding barrel about its own axis of rotation 26 which extends through the centre of the actuating gear wheel 22.

The mounting provided by the stud 24 also provides for rotation of the actuating gear wheel 22 with the winding barrel 14 around a support shaft 28 on which the winding barrel 14 is rotatably mounted. The actuating gear wheel 22 is rotated in use by the winding barrel 14 about the axis of rotation 30 of the winding barrel 14. The actuating gear wheel 22 meshes with a fixed gear wheel 32 which extends over the support shaft 28, and the actuating gear wheel 22 therefore rotates about its own axis 26 as it is rotated around the support shaft 28 by the winding barrel 14.

The fixed gear wheel 32 is immovably mounted on a support plate 34 of the winding mechanism 10, the support shaft 28 extending through the support plate 34 and being rotatable relative to the support plate 34 and the fixed gear wheel 32.

The actuating gear wheel 22 includes a switch actuating member 36 in the form of a fixed stud member which projects from a side face of the actuating gear wheel 22 at a location towards the periphery of the actuating gear wheel 22. The switch actuating member 36 is co-operable in use with the switch means 20 to control the operation of the drive means, as will be described in more detail later.

In one embodiment, the switch means 20 includes first and second switch members 38, 40. The first and second switch members 38, 40 are mounted on a switch mounting plate 44 which is secured to the support plate 34. The first switch member 38 is arranged to deactivate the motor, for example by cutting off the power supply to the motor, when the first switch member 38 is engaged by the switch actuating member 36. The second switch member 40 is arranged to activate the motor when it is engaged by the switch actuating member 36.

In operation, when the motor is deactivated, the weight will falls under the action of gravity and causes the winding barrel 14 to rotate. Rotation of the winding barrel 14 drives an operating mechanism of a clock via the epicyclic gear arrangement 12, as has been briefly described above and as is described in detail in GB 2290155.

The direction of rotation of the winding barrel 14 under the action of the weight is determined by the direction of winding of the loop, from which the weight is suspended, onto the winding barrel 14. In the illustrated embodiment, the winding barrel 14 rotates in an anti- clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2, under the action of the falling weight.

As the winding barrel 14 rotates in an anti-clockwise direction under the action of the falling weight, the winding barrel 14 simultaneously rotates the actuating gear wheel 22 in an anti-clockwise direction around the support shaft 28. The actuating gear wheel 22 is also caused to rotate in an anti- clockwise direction about its own axis 26 by virtue of the fact that it meshes with the fixed gear wheel 32. Accordingly, the switch actuating member 36 also rotates about the axis of rotation 26 of the actuating gear wheel 22 in an anti-clockwise direction.

The gear ratio of the actuating gear wheel 22 to the fixed gear wheel 32 is predetermined so that the switch actuating member 36 co-operates with the switch means 20, and in particular with the second switch member 40, after a predetermined number of rotations of the winding barrel 14, the predetermined number of rotations of the winding barrel 14 corresponding to a predetermined vertical movement of the weight.

In one embodiment of the invention, the gear ratio of the actuating gear wheel 22 to the fixed gear wheel 32 is 2:1. This means that the actuating gear wheel 22 makes one complete rotation about its own axis 26 for every two complete rotations that it makes around the fixed gear wheel 32, about the axis of rotation 30 of the winding barrel 14.

In use, the weight is in its uppermost position when the switch actuating member 36 is in contact with the first switch member 38. This is because, as described above, the motor is deactivated by the first switch member 38.

When the motor is deactivated, the lowering of the weight under the action of gravity rotates the winding barrel 14 and thereby causes the actuating gear wheel 22 to rotate about its own axis of rotation 26, as described above. The switch actuating member 36 is also thereby rotated and, after the actuating gear wheel 22 has made two rotations around the fixed gear wheel 32, the switch actuating member 36 engages the second switch member 40. This activates the motor which operates to reverse the direction of rotation of the winding barrel 14, via the epicyclic gear arrangement 12, and the weight is thereby raised in the vertical direction.

Due to the reversal of the direction of rotation of the winding barrel 14, the direction of rotation of the actuating gear wheel 22 is also reversed such that it rotates in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2, around the axis 30 of the winding barrel 14 and about its own axis of rotation 26.

After the actuating gear wheel 22 has made two rotations around the fixed gear wheel 32 in the clockwise direction, and one clockwise rotation about its own axis of rotation 26, the switch actuating member 36 engages the first switch member 38 and thereby deactivates the motor. The winding barrel 14 then, once again, rotates in the anti-clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2, under the action of the weight until, after two revolutions thereof, the switch actuating member 36 engages the second switch member 40, thereby activating the motor and repeating the winding process. This continues indefinitely to provide continuous power to the clock attached to the winding mechanism 10.

Although in the embodiment described, the switch actuating member 36 contacts the first and second switch members 38, 40 after two revolutions of the winding barrel 14, and hence after two revolutions of the actuating gear wheel 22 around the fixed gear wheel 32, the number of revolutions may be predetermined by selecting an appropriate gear ratio. For example, if the gear ratio of the actuating gear wheel 22 to the fixed gear wheel 32 is selected to be 3:1, the actuating gear wheel 22 will make a complete rotation for every three rotations of the winding barrel 14, and the switch actuating member 36 will contact the first or second switch member 38, 40, depending on its direction of rotation, after three rotations of the winding barrel 14.

Referring to Fig. 2, the switch means 20 also includes a third switch member 42 which is positioned between the first and second switch members 38, 40. The third switch member 42 acts as a safety override switch so that upon contact by the switch actuating member 36, for example in the event of failure of either of the first or second switch members 38, 40, it interrupts the power supply to the motor and thereby disables the winding mechanism 10.

This enables the cause of the failure to be investigated and the winding mechanism 10 to be manually reset.

There is thus described a winding mechanism 10 which enables a clock to be wound automatically without manual user intervention.

Embodiments of the invention are particularly advantageous since they allow a user to predetermine the number of rotations that the winding barrel 14 will make, and hence the amount of vertical movement under gravity of the weight, before the motor is activated to wind the clock. The number of times that the motor is required to operate to continuously power the clock can therefore be reduced compared to prior winding mechanisms.

Although embodiments of the invention have been described in the preceding paragraphs with reference to various examples, it should be appreciated that various modifications to the examples given may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, any suitable gear ratio may be selected between the actuating gear wheel 22 and the fixed gear wheel 32. Any suitable arrangement of switch members 38, 40, 42 may be adopted. The switch means 20 may comprise a single switch member which may operate to activate and deactivate the motor upon successive contact by the switch actuating member 36.

Although the winding mechanism has been described for use with a clock, it should be understood that the winding mechanism may be used with any device that requires winding to power the device.

Whilst endeavouring in the foregoing specification to draw attention to those features of the invention believed to be of particular importance, it should be understood that the Applicant claims protection in respect of any patentable feature or combination of features hereinbefore referred to and/or shown in the drawings, whether or not particular emphasis has been placed thereon.

Claims

Claims 1. A winding mechanism for automatically winding a device, the

winding mechanism comprising: a gear arrangement for driving an operating mechanism of a device; a winding barrel connected to the gear arrangement and carrying weight means movable under gravity to rotate the winding barrel and thereby drive the gear arrangement; * 10 and a control arrangement for controlling a drive means which is **** operable in use to reverse the action of the gear arrangement and thereby reverse the direction of rotation of the winding barrel to raise the weight means; the control arrangement including a switch actuating arrangement rotatably mounted on the winding barrel and co-operable with switch means to :. control the operation of the drive means.

2. A winding mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the gear arrangement is an epicyclic gear arrangement.

3. A winding mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the winding mechanism is arranged so that when the action of the epicyclic gear arrangement is reversed by the drive means, the drive means is operable to reverse the direction of rotation of the winding barrel to raise the weight means without interference with the drive of the operating mechanism of the device.

4. A winding mechanism according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the switch actuating arrangement is arranged so that it is co-operable with the switch means after a predetermined number of rotations of the winding barrel corresponding to a predetermined vertical movement of the weight means.

5. A winding mechanism according to claim 4, wherein the predetermined number of rotations is two.

6. A winding mechanism according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the winding barrel is mounted on a support shaft for rotation about the support shaft.

7. A winding mechanism according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the switch actuating arrangement includes an actuating gear wheel rotatably mounted on the winding barrel so that it is rotatable relative to the winding barrel about its own axis. Se.. S...

8. A winding mechanism according to claim 7 when dependent on claim 6, wherein the actuating gear wheel is arranged for rotation with the winding a barrel around the support shaft about the axis of rotation of the winding barrel.

9. A winding mechanism according to claim 7 or claim 8, wherein the axis of rotation of the actuating gear wheel is spaced in a radially outward direction from the axis of rotation of the winding barrel.

A winding mechanism according to any of claims 6 to 9, wherein the winding mechanism includes a fixed gear wheel which extends over the support shaft, the support shaft being rotatable relative to the fixed gear wheel 11. A winding mechanism according to claim 10, wherein the winding mechanism includes a support plate through which the support shaft extends, and the fixed gear wheel is immovably mounted on the support plate.

12. A winding mechanism according to claim 10 or claim 11, wherein the actuating gear wheel is arranged to mesh with the fixed gear wheel during rotation of the actuating gear wheel around the support shaft by the winding barrel such that the actuating gear wheel is caused to rotate about its own axis of rotation relative to the winding barrel.

13. A winding mechanism according to any of claims 7 to 12, wherein the switch actuating arrangement includes a switch actuating member provided on the actuating gear wheel.

14. A winding mechanism according to claim 13, wherein the switch actuating member projects from a side face of the actuating gear wheel and is co-operable with the switch means to control the operation of the drive means. * *.

15. A winding mechanism according to claim 14, wherein the switch actuating member is disposed towards the periphery of the actuating gear wheel.

S * I *5

16. A winding mechanism according to any of claims 13 to 15, wherein the gear ratio of the actuating gear wheel to the fixed gear wheel is predetermined such that the switch actuating member is co-operable with the switch means after a predetermined number of rotations of the winding barrel.

17. A winding mechanism according to claim 16, wherein said predetermined number of rotations corresponds to a predetermined vertical movement of the weight means.

18. A winding mechanism according to claim 17, wherein the gear ratio of the actuating gear wheel to the fixed gear wheel is 2:1 and the predetermined number of rotations of the winding barrel is two.

19. A winding mechanism according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the switch means includes a first switch member for deactivating the drive means and a second switch member for activating the drive means.

20. A winding mechanism according to claim 19, wherein the switch actuating member is arranged to co-operate with the first switch member during rotation of the winding barrel in a first direction, and is arranged to co- operate with the second switch member during rotation of the winding barrel in a second direction, opposite to the first direction.

21. A winding mechanism according to claim 20, wherein the switch h1 actuating member is arranged to co-operate with the first switch member to * deactivate the drive means during rotation of the winding barrel in a direction :. corresponding to an upward movement of the weight means.

22. A winding mechanism according to claim 20 or claim 21, wherein the switch actuating member is arranged to co-operate with the second switch member to activate the drive means during rotation of the winding barrel in a direction corresponding to a downward movement of the weight means.

23. A winding mechanism according to any of claims 19 to 22, wherein the switch means includes a third switch member which is arranged to deactivate the drive means or the winding mechanism in the event of failure of either of the first or second switch members.

24. A winding mechanism according to claim 23, wherein the switch actuating member is arranged to co-operate with the third switch member during rotation of the winding barrel in either the first or second directions.

25. A winding mechanism according to any of claims 11 to 24, wherein the switch means is provided on a switch mounting plate secured to the support plate.

26. A winding mechanism according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the winding mechanism is arranged to automatically wind a clock.

27. A winding mechanism for automatically winding a device substantially as hereinbefore described and/or as shown in the accompanying drawings.

28. A clock incorporating a winding mechanism according to any of the preceding claims.

29. A clock substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. I.. S..

30. Any novel subject matter or combination including novel subject matter disclosed herein, whether or not within the scope of or relating to the same * invention as any of the preceding claims.

S S. * . S.