US3382664A - Shutoff arrangement for spring wound alarm clock - Google Patents

Description

y' 1963 BF. CIELASZYK 3,382,664

SHUTOFF ARRANGEMENT FOR SPRING WOUND ALARM CLOCK Filed Oct. 4, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l llllnil oiull 1 Mar/A (ii/ Jy BY 021% gar/W AUTOF/Vf). I

y 1968 E. F CIELASZYK 3,382,664

SHUTOFF ARRANGEMENT FOR SPRING WOUND ALARM CLOCK 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 M/VEIVTOP. [aw a [612 /2 Filed Oct. 4, 1965 United States Patent 3,382,664 SHUTGFF ARRANGEMENT FOR SPRlNG WOUND ALARM CLOCK Edward F. Cielaszyk, Oglesby, Ill., assignor to General Time Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 4, 1965, Ser. No. 492,525 3 Claims. (Cl. 5821.15)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A spring wound alarm clack including a shutoff arrangement in which slight downward pressure on the housing actuates a blocking lever or toggle which shuts off the alarm and which has manual means for overridingly controlling the alarm.

The present invention relates to spring wound alarm clocks and more particularly to improved means for manually turning off the alarm after it has sounded.

It is an object of the present invention to provide improved means for turning oif the alarm in a spring wound alarm clock by the simple application of finger tip pressure to the top of the clock housing. It is a more detailed object to provide means for shutting off the alarm which remains effective to disable the alarm until it is res which occurs automatically upon winding the spring.

It is another object of the present invention to provide improved means for shutting off the alarm of a spring wound alarm clock by pressing on the clock housing and which is simple and inexpensive requiring only minor modifications in existing design of clock mechanisms and housings. In this connection it is an object to provide an improved shut-off which is not visible upon casual observation of the clock and which therefore may be incorporated in clock housings of various artistic designs without affecting their appearance. Thus it is an object of the invention to provide an improved shut-off means which may be used universally in a line of clocks to take the place of, or supplement, the existing alarm shut-off arrangement.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a pressure responsive shutoff for an alarm clock which is easy to operate and which responds to slight downward movement regardless of the direction, assuming only that it is generally downward, the force is applied.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the attached detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an alarm clock incorporating the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section taken through the center of the housing of the clock in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary section taken along the line 3-3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective of the alarm drive train;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary stop-motion view of the alarm drive train;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but following the triggering of the alarm;

FIG. 7 shows movement of the blocking member into shutoff position;

FIG. 8 shows the resetting of the blocking member upon subsequently winding the spring and FIG. 9 is a fragmentary section showing an alternate base member construction.

While the invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that I do not intend to be limited to the particular embodiment shown but, on the contrary, intend to cover the various alternative and equivalent construction included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Turning now to the drawings there is disclosed an alarm clock having a housing 10,-the usual hour and minute hands 11, 12 and an alarm set hand 13. Projecting out of the back of the clock are a winding key 15, a setting stem 16 and an alarm disabling plunger 17. For the purpose of driving the hands of the clock, a timing train 26 is provided including a main gear 21 which is connected to the inner end of a spring 22. The main gear meshes with a pinion 23 mounted on a shaft 24 which drives an hour wheel 25 and which, extended forwardly, carries the hour hand 11. The details of the timing train are conventional and need not be discussed, primarily the balance, escapement and remaining gears including those connecting the hour gear and the shaft which carries the minute hand.

For sounding the alarm, an alarm drive train is provided having a driven gear 30 which is connected at 31 to the outer end of the spring 22 and which is rigidly connected to a winding stem 32. The driven gear 30 meshes with a pinion 35 mounted on a shaft 36 carrying a star wheel 37 at its forward end. Mounted for oscillatory movement adjacent the star wheel is a clapper 40 having a shaft 41 and pawls 42, 43 which are alternately impulsed by the teeth of the star wheel. The upper end of the clapper engages the inside surface of a bell 45.

For the purpose of normally blocking the clapper but for releasing it for vibration at a pre-set time, a clapper release member or trigger is provided having a bentover end portion 51 which engages a stop 52 on the clap-per, the latter being bent at right angles to the plane of the clapper.

In order to move the trigger axially away from the stop at the pre-set time for which the alarm has been set, a settable index wheel 55 is provided adjacent the hour wheel 25 and having a drop-off cam 56 which engages a registering opening 57 formed in the hour wheel. The hour wheel is biased toward the index wheel by means not shown and the trigger member 50 is made captive to the hour wheel. As a result, when the hour wheel, upon passage of time, is rotated around into register with the index wheel, the drop-off cam 56 engages the opening 57 enabling the hour wheel 25 and the trigger member to move endwise of the shaft 24 to the left as seen in FIG. 4, thereby freeing the stop 52 on the clapper for sounding of the alarm.

Since a single spring 22 is provided for driving both the main gear 21 of the timing train and the driven gear 30 of the alarm drive train, means may be provided, as is conventional, for limiting the amount of rotation that the driven gear 30 may undergo. Another feature of the present construction which will be recognized as conventional is the use of a floating pinion in the alarm drive train as a ratchet for holding the wind of the spring and for simultaneously disengaging the star wheel when the winding stem is turned. Thus it will be noticed that the rear end of the star wheel shaft 36, which carries the r pinion 35 is floatingly mounted in a slot 47 and held in the lower end of the slot by a biasing spring 48. Thus when the winding stem 32 is turned in the direction of the arrow (FIG. 4) the gear 30, which is connected to it, rotates lifting pinion angular'ly outward in the slot 47 against the force of the spring 48 and into a position in which the pinion clicks idly against the teeth of the gear while the spring 22 is being wound. When the winding key is released the pinion 35 settles into its normal position at the lower end of the slot Where it acts to block any retrograde movement of the gear 30.

For the purpose of permanen i.e., overriding, shutoff of the alarm, the clapper is movable endwise with the disabling plunger 17. When the plunger is moved all the way inwardly, the stop 52 is additionally advanced in the direction of the end 51 of the trigger so that it remains blocked in spite of the fact that the trigger may be moved end- Wise in the release direction when the hour wheel and index wheel come into a condition of register. In the discussion which follows, it will be assumed that the plunger is pulled out to its alarm on position thereby conditioning the alarm for ringing when the pre-set time is reached.

In accordance with the present invention, a blocking member is provided which is movable into blocking engagement with the alarm drive train together with an out wardly biased base member on the clock housing for operating the blocking member upon applying light downward force on the clock housing. More specifically, in accordance with the invention, the blocking member is in the form of a toggle which is biased out of engagement with the driven gear in the alarm drive train but which is movable into engagement with the gear so that the engaged tooth on the gear is crowded to a stop, thus preventing any further rotation of the star wheel driving the clapper. Turning to the drawings, the blocking member, generally indicated at 60 has a tip 61 arranged adjacent the periphery of the driven gear 30. The blocking member .is rocking'ly mounted on a pivot 62 and biased into .a retracted position by a spring 63 against a stop 64. An arm 65 on the member extends downwardly toward the supporting surface S.

For the purpose of transmitting movement to the arm 65, a base member 70 is provided at the bottom of the clock and biased toward a slightly extended position by a leaf spring '71. The latter is centered on a plunger 72 which extends through an opening 73 on the underside of the housing. The degree of extension of the base member 70 is limited, in the present instance, by stops formed of a pair of screws 75, 76 extending through registering openings in the housing and screwed into tapped holes in the base member. To make the base member practically invisible to a casual observer, the base member may be contained within a recess 77 on the underside of the housing. In the present instance, the recess is defined by a skirt 10a which is integral with the housing 10.

In accordance with one of the features of the invention, the tip 61 of the blocking member, which engages a tooth on the driven gear 30, is arranged slightly upstream from a plane which contains the axes of the gear 30 and the blocking member pivot 62. By the term upstream is meant in the direction of approach of the gear teeth as the gear rotates incident to the sounding of the alarm. Thus referring to FIG. 5 the tip 61 of the blocking member is offset a short distance d from the plane 80 which includes the axes of the gear and pivot. Consequently, when the blocking member is moved into engagement with one of the teeth of the gear 30, indicated at 81 in FIG. 7, the torque exerted by the spring 22 crowds the tooth against the tip 61 so that the blocking member acts as a toggle. The tip is wedged in place so securely that it remains in blocking position notwithstanding the presence of the biasing or return spring 63. However, when the winding key 15 is next rotated turning the gear 30 in the opposite, or clockwise, direction as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 8, the toggle connection is released and the blocking member is wiped out of its engaged position and permitted to return to its fully retracted position by action of the spring 63. As a result the mechanism is restored to its initial condition in readiness for a new cycle of opera-tion when the alarm sounds the following morning.

While the operation of the clock and its improved shutoif means will be apparent in view of the above description, it may be helpful to summarize a full cycle of operation. In putting the clock in readiness, the index wheel 55 and alarm setting hand 13 are rotated to a set time by the setting stem 16. The clock is wound by turning the winding stem 15 which winds the spring 22 accompanied by ratcheting at the star wheel pinion 35. The plunger 17 is pulled out into the alarm on position.

When the set time is reached, resulting in a condition of register between the hour wheel 25 and the index wheel 55, drop oti occurs at the cam 56 resulting in axial movement of the hour wheel and the release of trigger member 50. This frees the stop 52 on the clapper permitting the clapper to vibrate under the urging of the star wheel 37. This condition is illustrated in FIG. 6- where the limits of movement of the clapper are shown by the full and dot-dash lines respectively.

To shut off the alarm the user presses down on top of the clock housing, as indicated at P in FIG. 2, which causes the base member to press relatively inwardly against the arm 65 on the blocking member 60. This causes the tip 61 of the blocking member to engage the approaching one of the gear teeth indicated at 81. The applied torque and toggle mounting of the blocking member causes the engaged tooth to crowd against the blocking member so that it is firmly wedged into seated position. This positively blocks the rotation of the driven gear 30, and hence the rotation of the star wheel, so that the alarm is efiectively shut off, the return spring 63 being powerless to restore the blocking member to its retracted position. Thus, upon passage of an additional twelve hours, which brings the hour wheel again into register with the index wheel, there will be no further sounding of the alarm even though the alarm release plunger remains pulled out and in its alarm on position.

However, the following evening, rewinding of the clock spring is accompanied by automatic resetting of the blocking member to its disengaged position. Referring to FIG. 8, turning the winding key 15 clockwise is accompanied by clockwise movement of the gear 30. This reverses the torque on the gear, removing the crowding force on the blocking member, and, indeed, the blocking member is wiped free of the gear tooth 81. The return spring 63 thus restores the blocking member to the disengaged and fully retracted position shown. Continued rotation of the gear 30, accompanying winding of the spring 22, produces idle clicking or ratcheting at the star wheel pinion 35 until the spring is fully wound. This restores the clock to a condition of readiness for sounding the following morning. It will be noted that in the entire cycle no reliance is placed upon the shut-ofl? function of the plunger 17; the light downward pressure upon the clock housing sufiices to turn off the alarm, and keep it off, until the mechanism is again conditioned for operation by rotating the winding key.

While the base member 70, in the above preferred em bodiment, is directly coupled to the arm 65 on the blocking member 60, to rotate the blocking member into its blocking position when downward pressure is applied to the clock, such coupling need not be direct and, if desired, the arrangement shown in FIG. 9 may be used without departing from the present invention. In this embodiment the base member, indicated at 70a, and which is outwardly pressed to a slightly extended position by the springs 71a, does not engage the blocking member directly but, instead, the arm 65a on the blocking member is extended downwardly, throughthe clock housing, into a position adjacent the supporting surface S. Thus, when downward pressure is applied to the top of the clock causing the base member 70a to move relatively inward, the arm 65a reacts directly against the supporting surface S to rotate the blocking member into its engaging position. Since the teeth on the gear 30 are relatively shallow, and since distance multiplication occurs in the blocking member, only a slight upward rocking movement of the arm 65a suffices to initiate the engagement between the blocking member and the oncoming gear tooth.

It is one of the features of the construction that the base member 70 is fioatingly mounted for either straight or cocking movement. As a result, the applied force need not be applied along any certain direction and may be applied randomly and casually either by pressing the base member 70 straight in or by cocking it in any direction so that the plunger 72 has a small upward component of movement. The lateral component in any direction whatsoever, simply produces slight scufiing movement at the joint 90 between the members 65, 72. In order to reduce the friction at the joint, one of the members, here the arm 65, may be smoothly rounded as shown.

It is one of the further features of the present shut-off arrangement that it may be used with most current spring wound alarm clock movements and with almost any existing design of alarm clock housing without substantial modification. This is possible since practically all spring wound alarm clocks contain a driven gear equivalent to the gear 30 which is engaged by the blocking member and which is rotated when the clock is wound. Consequently, it suffices to add a blocking member toggled in the direction of the approaching gear teeth and having a light return spring. Similarly, it is a simple matter to provide, in either a new clock or in an existing design, a base member which is biased into a slightly extended position and which may, if desired, be recessed in the lower portion of the clock housing so as to be practically unnoticeable. Coupling the base member and the blocking member will usually present no problem. Consequently, the invention may be added, at very little cost, to many different designs of spring wound alarm clocks as a useful sales feature. The operation is particularly advantageous since the random downward motion is a natural one for a sleepy person with little risk of knocking the clock from the night table.

What is claimed is:

1. In a spring wound alarm clock the combination comprising a housing, a timing train, an alarm drive train having a driven gear and star wheel, an escapement type clapper associated with the star wheel, spring motor means for applying torque to the timing train and alarm drive train and having a manual winding stem, said timing train having an hour wheel, an associated index wheel settable to a desired wake-up time, trigger means for normally blocking the clapper but responsive to a condition of register between the wheels for releasing the clapper to sound the alarm, a floating pinion operatively connecting said driven gear and star wheel for holding said spring motor means in a wound condition when said clapper is blocked and for disengaging said star wheel from said driven gear when said spring motor means is being wound by said winding stem, a blocking lever having a first arm directly movable into engagement with the teeth of the driven gear and pivoted with respect to the gear to form a blocking toggle when in engaging position, means for biasing the blocking lever into a disengaged position, a base member recessed in the housing, said base member being mounted for movement relative to said housing and biased outwardly to a slightly extended supporting position at both the front and rear edges thereof, said lever having a second arm integral therewith in the path of movement of the base member between the front and rear edges thereof so that when downward pressure is applied to the housingthe blocking lever is moved against the force of bias into engagement with the driven gear with the result that the engaged tooth thereof crowds against the blocking member thus preventing further movement of the driven gear and shutting off the alarm, said winding stem being coupled to the driven gear so that when the winding stem is subsequently rotated the blocking lever is released for return to its disengaged position, and means including a shut-ofl plunger for overridingly preventing the sounding of the alarm upon operation of the trigger means when the blocking member is in its disengaged position.

2. In a spring wound alarm clock the combination comprising a housing, a timing train, an alarm drive train having a driven gear and star wheel, a clapper coupled to the star wheel, spring motor means for applying torque to the timing train and alarm drive train and having a winding stem, said timing train having an hour wheel, an associated index wheel settable to a desired wake-up time, trigger means for normally blocking the clapper but responsive to a condition of register between the wheels for releasing the clapper to sound the alarm, a floating pinion operatively connecting said driven gear and star wheel for holding said spring motor means in a wound condition when said clapper is blocked and for disengaging said star Wheel from said driven gear when said spring motor means is being wound by said winding stem, means including a blocking member having a first arm directly engageable with the alarm drive train, a base member recessed in the lower portion of the housing, said base member being mounted for movement relative to said housing and biased outwardly into a slightly extended position at both the front and rear edges thereof, stop means for defining said extended position so arranged as to permit limited inward movement as well as slight cocking movement in any direction having an inward component, said member having a second arm integral therewith for coupling the central portion of the base member between the front and rear edges thereof to said blocking member so that when the clock housing is pressed downwardly the inward component of relative movement of the base member is applied to the blocking member to move the blocking member into engaging position with the alarm drive train thereby to shut off the alarm, means for retracting the blocking member incident to turning the winding stem thereby placing the blocking member in readiness for subsequent movement into blocking position following the next sounding of the alarm and means including a manually operated plunger for overridingly preventing the star wheel from vibrating the clapper.

3. In a spring wound alarm clock the combination comprising a housing, a timing train, an alarm drive train having a driven gear and star wheel, a clapper coupled to the star wheel, spring motor means for applying torque to the timing train and alarm drive train and having a winding sltem, said timing train having an hour wheel, an associated index wheel settable to a desired wake-up time, trigger means for normally blocking the clapper but responsive to a condition of register between the wheels for releasing the clapper to sound the alarm, a floating pinion operatively connecting said driven gear and star wheel for holding said spring motor means in a wound condition when said clapper is blocked and for disengaging said star wheel from said driven gear when said spring motor means is being wound by said winding stem, a blocking toggle member rockable about a pivot so that one arm is brought into direct blocking engagement with the alarm drive train, a base member recessed in the lower portion of the housing and mounted for movement relative to said housing, means for biasing the base member outwardly into a slightly extended position at both the front and rear edges thereof while permitting limited inward movement as well as cocking movement in any direction having an inward component, a second arm on the toggle member for coupling the central portion of the base between the front and rear edges thereof to said toggle member so that when the clock housing is pressed downwardly the inward component of relative movement from the base member is applied to the blocking member 7 8 to move the blocking member into engaging position with FOREIGN PATENTS the alarm drive train thereby to shut off the alarm and 1018 342 10/1952 France manually operated means for overridingly preventing the 12/1961 Great Britain sounding of the alarm upon operation of the trigger means when the toggle member is in its disengaged posi- 5 RICHARD B WILKINSON Primary Examiner tion.

References Cited STEPHEN J. TOMSKY, Examiner. UNITED STATES PATENTS L. M. LORCH, EDITH c. SIMMONS, 2,360,589 10/1944 Schlenker 58--21.15 Assistant Examiners.

2,996,875 8/1961 Graef "58-21

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