JPS58195177A - Display for battery life of analog timepiece - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the mechanical displaying of a battery life with a less number of additional parts, by driving a display plate which warns the termination of the battery life with a step motor for the wheel trains of a timepiece as a driving source. CONSTITUTION:The second hand 4, the minute hand 5 and the hour hand 6 are provided in the space between the dial 2 at the center of a watch frame 1 and a front cover 3, and a display window 7 is disposed in the position of the time digit ''3'' of the dial 2. The digit ''3'' of the plate 8 is normally visible through the window 7, and when the battery voltage drops, the characters ''exchange battery'' are visible. The dial 8 is driven by a step motor for the wheel trains of the timepiece that drive the hands 4-6 as a driving source. When the battery voltage drops down to a specified value or below in this case, the output pulse of a control circuit 37 is impressed through a driving circuit 38 to a motor coil 39 by the output of a detection circuit 40, and a rotor 33 is rotated stepwise in normal and reverse directions. The battery life is predicted by the irregular operation of the second hand 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a battery life display device for an analog timepiece.

In the prior art, there are three-hand type watches in which the second hand moves every two seconds to display m-drops and p-levels, but this method cannot be applied to a 2*R meter.

Therefore, such two-hand watches display battery life by blinking a light emitting element. However, according to this method, battery consumption is accelerated by the blinking of the light emitting element, leading to a situation where the clock stops immediately after the battery life display starts, even though the clock should continue to operate for a while. In addition, when the battery voltage drops below a certain value, an example of displaying it on a battery life display board is, for example, in Utility Model Application No. 55-807.
This is shown in Publication No. 88, etc. In this case, an electromagnetic device separate from the clock mechanism was used to release the battery life display plate, and the structure was extremely complex and required a large number of parts.

The present invention is applicable regardless of whether it is a two-hand type or a three-hand type, and its main feature is that a battery life display plate is driven using a step motor driven by a clock train.

To explain the embodiment, in the first WJ, a second hand At, a minute hand, a minute hand, an hour hand 6 are provided in the space between the dial 2 and the front cover 3 in the inside of the clock frame 1, just as in the conventional case. . A display window 7 is arranged at the position of the time numeral ``6'' on the dial 2, and during normal times, the time numeral ``3'' is printed from this window 7 to the display plate 8 provided behind it. is guilty. This display board 8 prints the words "Battery Replacement" on the display board 8 from the display window 7 using a mechanism to be described later when the battery voltage of the watch falls below a predetermined value. Driven.

The display panel 8 is driven by a step motor for the watch train that drives the hands 4, 5.6 as a power source, and the mechanism for this purpose is shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, there is a rotor pinion 12 between the main plates 9', 10 and 11.
A driving wheel 139, a second hand wheel 14°, a minute hand wheel 151, an hour hand wheel 16, and the like are rotatably supported. The transmission path of the clock wheel train is the same as the conventional one, such that the rotation of the second hand wheel 14 is transmitted to the minute hand wheel 15 via an intermediate wheel (not shown), and the rotation is transmitted to the hour hand wheel 16 via a dial wheel (not shown). It's exactly the same. However, one gear in this clock train, for example, the second hand wheel 14,
is unique in that it has serrated clutch teeth 17 on its back surface, and a gear 19 equipped with these clutch teeth 17 and serrated clutch teeth 18 that can act quickly is rotatably fitted onto the second hand shaft 20. It matches. The gear 19 is urged upward via the leaf spring 21, but when the second hand wheel 14 rotates normally, the rotation is not transmitted to the gear 19, and the gear 19 only moves up and down in the axial direction. Only when the second hand wheel 14 rotates in reverse, as will be explained later, is its rotation driven by the gear 19 via the clutch teeth 17,18. In order to ensure the operation of the gear 19, a stop pawl (not shown) rotatably supported on the main plate (middle plate) 10 engages with the gear 19, and only when the second hand wheel 14 rotates in the reverse direction does this engage the stop pawl (not shown). Rotation is allowed in the same direction. Further, the gear 19 meshes with a transmission gear 22, which is rotatably engaged with a shaft 23 that slides through the base plate 9, and is inserted between the gear 22 and the base plate 9. It is forced downward via the spring 23 which is the main force. At the lower end of the gear 22, a display plate 8 is driven by a pinion 22g.

Therefore, the structure of the display board 8 and its support will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. The central display surface of the display board 8 is divided into two upper and lower display sections 8a and 8b, with a lower section 81
1 is formed with the time numeral “6”, and the upper section 8& is formed with “11L”.
The words ``Ike exchange'' are formed. During normal times, the construction zone 118h faces the display chamber 7 of the dial 3, and the time numeral ``3'' can be seen through there.

Further, rib portions 8a and 8d are formed on both sides of the display plate 8, and rack teeth 8-, which can mesh with the pinion 22g, are formed on a portion of the collar portion 86. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, an opening 26 is formed in the dial holder 25 of the watch frame 1 at a position corresponding to the display chamber 7, and guide bins 27 and Display board 8 by...
The brim portions Be and ad are held slidably up and down. The opening 26 has a length sufficient to allow the display board 8 to move with a required stroke. A return spring 30 is tensioned between a pillar 28 that protrudes from the back of the display board 8 and a pillar 29 that is a window on the back of the dial holder 25.
In normal times, the spring force of the return spring 30 causes the display board 8 to come into contact with the upper edge 26m of the opening 26 (FIG. 5), and at this time, the lower display section 8a on the front surface of the display board 8 is brought into contact with the display window 7. is facing. Note that the pinion 22a is located on the main plate 1 in FIG.
1 protrudes through and is located in the hole 31 of the dial holder 25, and meshes with the rack teeth 8- of the display board 8 at this position.

A two-pole step motor driving the above mechanism is shown in FIG. 6, with a rotor 33 rotatably supported between stators 52.52 and notches 54.54 formed in the stators 32.52. 33 is α-α when not energized
Stay stable on the line. hh@ indicates the dynamic stable position.

This step motor is controlled by a circuit shown in FIG. 7, in which 65 is a crystal oscillator, 36 is a frequency divider,
Reference numeral 37 represents a control circuit for the motor drive circuit, 38 represents a drive circuit for the motor coil 39, and 4o represents a battery voltage detection circuit.

Next, the operation will be explained. At first, the display board 8 is number 5'! '1 Is it in the position shown? , when the lower display section 8 of the display board 8 is aligned with the display window 7, the time numeral "3" can be seen through there (first FgJ), and when the battery voltage is sufficient, the output from the detection circuit 40 is The control circuit 37 generates a control pulse every minute, and the pulse P0 shown in FIG. 8(A) is applied to the motor coil 39 via the drive circuit 38 in the same way as in a normal step-type clock. This pulse causes the rotor 32 to rotate intermittently by 180 degrees, and the rotor pinion 12. Second hand wheel 14 via drive wheel 13. The intermediate wheel (not shown), the 9th minute wheel, the 151st day wheel (not shown), and the 1 hour wheel 16 are driven in this order. When the second hand wheel 14 rotates normally, the clutch teeth 17 only slide on the clutch teeth 18, and the rotation is not transmitted to the gear 19 and beyond.

When the battery voltage drops below a predetermined value as time passes, the detection circuit 40 generates an output. When this output arrives, the drive circuit 58'l) is driven by a pulse from the control circuit 37 to the %-1 fill 39 as shown in FIG. 8(B).
pulses are applied. That is, after the normal pulse P0, the pulse PIsP! , P3 are applied. Now, if the rotor 33 is rotated to the position shown in FIG. 3 by the normal pulse P0, the stator 32 is excited as shown in FIG. Rotate 1800 times in the forward direction as shown in (B).

Twitehals P. When a pulse P2 with the same polarity and short width is applied, the rotor 53 moves to the 9th v! By rotating in the positive direction to the vicinity of the dynamic neutral III e -a within a range not exceeding the dynamic neutral III e -a as shown in J(0), and then immediately applying the pulse P, the p-plane 53 becomes as shown in FIG. 9(D). The rotor 35 is attracted by the stator 32 and rotated in the opposite direction, and then the application of the pulse P is stopped, but the rotor 35 rotates due to its inertia to the static stable position shown in FIG. 9 (1c). That is, the rotor 33 rotates two steps in the forward direction and returns one step in the opposite direction, resulting in a one-step advance, and the clock display advances normally. Such behavior of the rotor 33 is performed every second. Incidentally, in this embodiment, pulses Pl and Pj are pulses P. With the same pulse width of 47 ms, pulse P, is set to 15 ms, pulses P0, PlyPl and P! each time interval flt
T! were set to the same 47 milliseconds, and the time interval t1 between pulse P2 and pulse P was set to 15 milliseconds. However, these numerical values are appropriately determined in consideration of the motor characteristics, and are not limited to the above embodiments. Also rotor 3
It is also easy to change 3 so that it advances one step, then goes back one step, and then advances one step.

Due to the above-mentioned behavior of the rotor 35, the second hand 4 follows suit and repeats a peculiar movement every second, thereby letting you know that the battery life is nearing the end.However, in this invention, the rotor 33 is returned in the opposite direction. The rotation of the timer is transmitted to gear 19 via clutch teeth 17 and 18. The rotation of the gear 19 is transmitted to the gear 22, and the rack teeth 8 of the display board 8
The pinion 22g meshed with # is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. As a result, the display board 8 is lowered against the spring 30, and finally the upper display section 8b faces the display 5i17, and the old characters "[Battery Replacement]" appear in the display chamber 7 (Fig. 2). ). This makes it possible to reliably recognize the warning that the battery life is approaching. When the display plate B moves downward by a predetermined stroke, the rack teeth 8- are disengaged from the pinion 22a and continue to maintain that position.

When the knob 55 in FIG. 3 is pulled upward after replacing the battery, the binion 22a is also displaced upward and the rack $
8g is released, and thereby the display plate 8 is returned to the position where it abuts the upper edge 26a of the opening 26 (see FIG. 5) by the force of the spring 30, and the display plate 8 returns to the normal display shown in FIG. return.

In the above embodiment, the display window 7 can be placed at any other arbitrary position, and if the display board 8 is made to protrude outside the clock frame 1, the display window 7 is not necessary. Furthermore, it is not always necessary to display time numerals on the display board 8. The battery life warning may be given not only in letters but also in a color such as red or as a mark. Furthermore, the support structure of the display board 8 and its transmission drive mechanism can be changed as appropriate1, and it is also easy to make the display board 8 displace by one rotation. When applying that dragon, for example to a two-hand watch,
Check the rotor behavior as described above, for example every 10 seconds! It may be performed at any suitable time interval.

According to the present invention described in detail above, since the display board warning that the battery life is nearing is driven by the step motor for the watch train, the number of additional parts is very small. A battery-based display device can be realized and manufactured at low cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a front view in normal conditions, and FIG. 2 is a front view when battery life is displayed.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the internal mechanism, FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view of the display board, FIG. 5 is an enlarged rear view of main parts showing the support state of the display board, and FIG. 6 is an enlarged front view of the step motor. Figure 7 is a circuit block diagram, Figure 8 (A) is a pulse waveform during normal operation, Figure 8 (B) is a pulse waveform diagram after battery life has been detected, and Figure 9 is a pulse waveform diagram for explaining the rotational behavior of the rotor. This is an explanatory diagram. 1... Clock frame 2... Dial plate 4... Second hand 5... Minute hand 6
...Hour hand 7 ...Display window 8
...Display board 8-...Rack teeth 12.15, 14, 15.16...Clock train 17.1B...Clutch teeth 19... ... Gear 22 ... Transmission gear 22s + ... Binion 23 ... Reset shaft 24 ... Spring 25 ... Dial plate holder 26 ... ...Aperture s 27...
・Guide pin 30...Return spring 31...
...Through hole portion 32...Stator 33...
... Rotor 34 ... Notsuchi 37 ...
... Control circuit 38 ... [l+ circuit 39.
...Motor coil 40...Detection circuit and above Applicant Kinsha Seikosha Co., Ltd. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 4 Figure 7 Figure 4υ Figure 8 Figure 9

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An analog timepiece in which a clock train is driven by a two-pole step motor consisting of a rotor and a stator, which includes a detection circuit for detecting battery voltage, and an output from this detection circuit to operate the rotor for a certain period of time. a control circuit that causes reciprocating rotation by 180" in the forward and reverse directions in addition to the normal rotation; and a one-way rotation clutch that is disposed in the clock train and transmits rotation only when the rotor rotates in the reverse direction. A battery life display device for an analog watch, comprising: a battery life display plate driven via a transmission mechanism interlocked with the one-way rotation clutch. In an analog clock that drives a clock train by a polar step motor, there is a detection circuit that detects battery voltage, and the output of this detection circuit causes the rotor to rotate reciprocatingly by 180 degrees in forward and reverse directions in addition to normal rotation at regular intervals. A one-way rotation clutch disposed in the timepiece wheel train and transmitting rotation only when the rotor rotates in reverse, and a transmission mechanism interlocked with the one-way rotation clutch. and a battery life display board, the battery life display board being supported by a part of the clock frame so as to be movable in parallel and having rack teeth, and the transmission mechanism being engaged with the rack teeth at its final stage. A battery life display device for an analog watch, characterized in that the gear has a pinion that moves the gear in the axial direction manually. A battery life display device for an analog timepiece, wherein the pinion is released from its engagement with the rack teeth, and this release causes the battery life display board to return to its original state.4 In claim 2, a clock dial board is provided. At the time of m
A battery life display device for an analog watch, wherein a display window is opened on the dial plate at a position corresponding to one of the numbers "r3J, rdJ I rl I rl 2", and the battery life display board is arranged behind the display window. 5 In claim 4, the battery life of an analog clock is such that time numerals corresponding to the display window are formed on the battery life display board, and the time numerals can be seen through the display window during normal times. Display device.