US921280A - Time-indicating system. - Google Patents

Description

A. A. RADTKE.

TIME INDIGATING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION IILED mm: 29, 1908. RENEWED JAN. 25, 1909.

Patented May 11, 1909,

2 SHEBTSSHEET 1.

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a4] 45 L we Y EM i5 F BUM E H n H WA E Wneasas I JCT/1% A. A. RADTKE.

TIME INDICATING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 29, 1908. RENEWED JAN. 25, 1909.

921%861 Patented May 11, 1909,

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Mm Inven U1" E mm 3 AWE E UNITED STATES PATENT ent es.

ALBERT A. RADTKE, OFCHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

'rnm-mnrca'rme SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 1 i, 1909.

Application filed June 29, 1908, Serial No. 140,848. Renewed January 26, 1909. Serial No. 476,352.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, ALBERT A. RADTKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chlcago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful ,Im rovement in Time-Indicating Systems, ass 3,) of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specificatron.

My invention relates to time indicating s stems and has for its object im roved e ectrical control for systems in w ich a plurality of time indicating devices are controlled by a master clock.

In my system I employ contact mechanism comprising a plurality of contact sets, this contact mechanism being driven by the clockwork of the master clock so that the contact sets are actuated in E'oper sequence and at proper intervals. ach time indicating device comprises time indicating mechanism, an armature connected with the timeindicati-ng mechanism and a plurality of electro-magnets for causing rotation of the armature. The electro-magnets are arranged about the armature so that 'if energized repeatedlyin successive order, the armature will be rotated to drive the time indicating mechanism. For each electromagnet there is a circuit-closing contact set \at the master clock. An electrical supply source is also connected with the contact mechanism and with the time indicating units. The circuit arrangement is such that p the indicating contacts of the time indicatin mechanisms are always under the lcontro of the electro-magnets and are, therefore, always ke t in synchronism with the master clock indicating hands. The driving relation between the various parts can be adjusted to suitably adjust theincrement of movement of the minute hand of the indicating mechanism. The arrangement is preferably such that the interval of actuation s one minute. The contact mechanism is therefore driven to close a contact set every minute so that the electro-magnets are successively energized at minute intervals so that the minute hands will move once a minute from one minute mark to another.

My invention will be clearly understood when described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 1s a plan view of a time indicating minute hands of a time indicating unit,

Fig. 6 shows diagrammatically the circuit arrangements for the system, and Fig. 7 shows a modified circuit arrangement.

Each time indicating unit has an annular field frarre 1 from which extend radial poles, of any number, three being shown and lettered 2, 2 and 2, placed 120 degrees apart, On these poles are the energizing windings 3 3 and 3 respectively, and secured'to the top and bottom sides of the field fraine are the upper and lower spider frames 4 and 5, which are preferably of non-magnetic material, but which may be of any form so as to provide upper and lower bearing frames 6 and 7 in which is pivoted asleeve 8 to which is keyed the armature 9 as shown. The armature is in the form of an iron frame having the four polar extensions 10, 90 degrees apart for cooperating'with the field poles 2. At the lower end of the sleeve 8 is formed a pinion 11. Extending through the sleeve 8 is the shaft 12, to whose lower end directly below the pinion 1 1 is pinned the gear 13. A hearing stud or screw 14 extends downwardly from the frame 5 adjacent the pinion and gear 11 and 12, and on said shaft are pivoted gears 15 and 16, connected rigidly together, gear 15 meshing with pinion 11 and gear 16 meshing with gear 13 so that upon rotation of the armature and of the sleeve 8,-

the shaft 1.2 will be rotated, this shaft having a square upper end 17 for receiving the minute hand 18.. Pinned to" the shaft 12 directly upon the sleeve 8 is a sleeve 19, at

whose upper end is formed a pinion 20. Extending upwardly from and parallel with the frame 4 is a bracket 21, between which and the frame 4 is pivoted the arbor 22. On this arbor 22'is a eeve 23 carrying the gear 24 and pinion 25, the gear 24 meshing with the pinion 20. Pivoted on shaft 12 directly abovethe pinion 20 is a sleeve 26 carrying at its lower end the gear 27 which meshes with the pinion '25, and at the upper end of this sleeve the hour hand 28 is suitably secured. The rotation of the armature is trans titted through this gearing train just described to the hour hand. Lugs 29 extend outwardly and upwardly from the field frame and at the top of these lugs is supported a dialplate 30 having the usual ti are characters.

The mechanism thus far described is contained in a cylindrical case 31 to whose cylindrical wall the lugs 29 on the field frame are.

secured. fhis casing, if of magnetic material, will form a secondary field frame. A cover for the casing coisprisesan annular frame'32 in which the glass plate 33 is held. The conductors for connectlng the inclosed parts with the internal circuit may enter through suitable openings 34 in the base of the inclosing case.

The master clock arrangement is shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. The master clock can be of any construction and is shown as comprising the housing 35 on which is mounted a dial 36 over which travel the hour and minute hands 37 and 38. Clock mechanism 39 within the housing connects with the handsin a wellknown manner. Suitably secured from the housing wall is a supporting block 40 of insulating material on which are mounted a plurality of contact springs 41 41", 41" and 41. Suitably pivoted between the clockwork and the contact springs is a shaft 42 on which is inounted a complete contact collar 43 permanently enga ed by the contact spring 4 1. Adjacent the collar 43 is a segmental /contact member 43, adjacent which contact member is a similar contact member 43", and adjacent which segment 43 is another'siinilar segment 43 Also secured to the shaft 42 is a pinion 44 which has gearing connection with the clockworks of the master clock. The contact segments 43 43*, 43 are displaced 120 degrees, and each extends throug -grees so that they will overlap, and so that one contact spring will make firm engagement with its contact segment before the preceding spring and contact segment be come disengaged. Extending from the contact springs 41*, 41 and 41 are the conductors 45 45 and 45, and extending from contact spring 41 is the conductor 45.

In Fig. 6 the simplest circuit arrangement is shown, in which the conductors 45, 45*, and 45 extend to one terminal of the field windings 3, 3 and 3 of the various indicating devices, which are connected in multi le. The other terminals of rthe fn'indings 0 each indicating device are'connected together through a common conductor 46, and these common conductors are all connected with conductor 45 leading from the common spring 41, said conductor 45 including the source of current such as a battery 47. The operation is apparent. With the various an are slightly greater than 120 de ,parts in the position shown in the figures, the spring 41 and contact 43 are in connection, and in each indicating device the pole of the armature is opposite the field pole 2, whose energizing winding 3 is energized through the circuit leading from battery 47, through conductor 45, through s ring 41 of the contact collar 43, through shaft 42 to contact member 43, through spring 41, through conductor 45, through t e field coils 3% of the various indicating devices, through the common conductors 46, back to the conductor 45, and to the battery. The shaft 41 is driven in the direction as indicated by the arrow and before contact 43" leaves spring 41, contact'43 will come into engagement with spring 41", and the energizing coils 3 of the indicating devices will become energized through the circuit which includes the conductor 45*. Jhe armatures, however, will not be rotated until contact 43" leaves spring 41 to open the,circuit to conductor 45*. When this circuit is broken the coils 3* cause the adjacent poles of the armatures to be attracted, and the armatures rotate in a clockwise direction, and the rotation of the armatures is communicated through the various gearing mechanisms to the hour and minute hands. The armatures are, therefore, always under the control of their field frames and their movement in synchronism with each other and with the controlling contactmechanism of the master clock is assured. Before contact 43 leaves the spring 41*, contact 41 1011 comes into engagement with spring 41 and coils 3 become energized, and eventually cause the further rotation of the armatures. Any number of poles and energizing windings could be provided for each indicating 105 unit, and each armature could have any number of projections. I find that three field windings cooperating with. the armature of four polar extensions gives very satisfactor Y and efficient operation. The gear- 110 ing re ation between the master clock and the pinion 44' is preferably such that the shaft 42 is rotated 130 degrees each minute. The armatures are, therefore, given one advancement every minute, that is the arma- 11:) tures are advanced 30 degrees each minute. In order to have the minute hands of the indicating units moved a minutes space or 6 degrees for each advancement of the armatures, the gearing train between the arm'a- 12o 'ture sleeve 8 and the shaft 12 should be adjusted to have a gearing relation of 5 to 1. Also to give the hour hand the pro er relative advancement the gearing train etween the shaft 12 andsleeve 26 should be adjusted 1 2-3 to have a gearing relation of 60 to 1, or in other words, the gearing relation between the armature sleeve 8 and the sleeve 26 should be 300 to 1. Each minute, therefore,

one of the contact sets at the master clock cause a will close and the minute hands of the indicatin units will advance one minute.

In ig. 7 is shown a modified circuit anrangement which is preferably used wheres great number of indlcatingunits are used on a circuit, and Where the current flow would have to be considerable. Instead of con necting the units directly with the contact members as in Fig. 6, relays intervene, which relays are controlled by the contact members, and which in turn control the circuit for the units. A source of current 48 connects the common conductor 49 with the common spring 41, and between thes rings 41*, 41 and 41 and this common condhctor are bridged. relays 50, 50 and 50. The relays have the armatures 51*, 51 and 51 and the conductors 52, 52 and 52", these conductors being connected to a common conductor 53 connected with another source of current 54, which connects with the conductor 45. Each conductor, as shown in Fig. 6, connects with the common conduc tors of the field windings. Leading from the armatures 51 51 and 51 are the conductors 45 and 45, which connect with the field windings asshown in Fig. 6. With this arrangement, the current flow at the contact mechanism is constant and ne d be suflicient only to cause proper actuation of the relays 50 and. 50. Upon energization of a relay its armature is attracted and the circuit closed from the main suppl 1 battery 54 to the indicating units throng the corres onding conductor.

It will t us be seen that by means of my system .I can synchronously control any number of time Indicating units from a master clock with a number of conductors equal only to the sum of the'electro-magnet coils provided for each indicating unit,'in addition to one common conductor. In the system illustrated four conductors will supply any number of indicating units. By means of the contact arrangement, the armatures are alwaIys held magnetically and altsolutely in sync ronism with each other and every minute are brou ht into synchronism with the master clocE. This, is a distinct improvement over systems of the prior art in Which the indicating units are brought into synchronism erhaps only once every hour. The time in icating' units, therefore, di-

. rectly, at eachdnstant, give thesame time indication as the master clock.

I do not wish to be limited to the precise construction and arran ement of the partsshown, as changes and modifications can readily .be made which will still come within the scope of my invention.

Having. described one modification of my invention, I desire to secure the following claims by United States Letters Patent:

1. In a system of the class described, the

combination of a master clock, a plurality of time indicating units, time indicating meta anism for each unit, armatures for each unit about the armature, contact mechanism driven by the master clock, and electrical circuits connecting said contact mechanism with said electro-magnets, said contacts and mechanism being driven by the clock mechanism to cause the circuits to be affected to cause successive energization of the electro magnets of the units whereby the unit time indicating mechanisms are actuated tov indicate time in accordance with the time indicated by the master clock.

2. In a system of the class described, the

combination of a master clock, contactmechanism driven by said clock, a plurality of time indicating units, a time indicating mechanism for each'unit, an armature for each unit connected with the time indicating mechanism thereof, a plurality of electromagnets for each unit arranged at regular intervals about the armature so that successive energization of the electro-magnets will,

causerotation of the armature and actuation of the time indicating mechanism, current supply conductors leading from the contact mechanism to the units, the electro-magnets of the units being connected in bridge of the said conductors, and means whereby said contact mechanism will control the current flow through said conductors to cause repeated successive energization of the electromagnets at the units, whereby the armatures are driven simultaneously and synchronously, and whereby thetime indicated by the indicating mechanisms will, be in ac cordance with the time indicated by the master clock.

In a system of the class described, the combination of a master time indicating instrument, a time indicating unit, time indicating mechanism for said unit, an armature for said unit connected with the time indicating mechanism, a plurality of electromagnets arranged about the armature in regular order to cause rotation of the armature upon successive energization of the electro-m'agnets, contact mechanism driven by the master instrument, contact sets for said contact mechanism, one for each electromagnet, and circuits connecting said contact sets with said e'lectro-magnets, said contact sets upon actuation of'the contact mechanism by the master instrument causing the circuits to be affected to cause the electromagnets to be repeatedly successively energlzed whereby sald armature is rotated and the time indicating mechanism actuated to indicate time.

4. In a system of the class described, the

combination of a master timeindicating device a time indicatmg umt, t1me mdlcatmg mechan sm for sand umt, an armature connected with said indicating mechanism,.a

plurality of electro-magnets surrounding the armature, a series of electrical switch contacts connected in groups with said electromagnets, a switch member driven by the master time indicating device and cooperating with said contact grou s to control the flow of current through-Sal electro-magnets to cause rotation of thearmature and actua-V tion of, the time indicating'mechanism toindicate time in accordance with the time indicated by the master device.

described, the

' ture and actuation of the time indicating mechanism, and means for causing said time indicating mechanism to indicate time in accordance with the time indicated by the mas.- ter device. I I 6. in combination, a master indicating mechanism, a plurality of indicating units, a plurality of electro-magnets for each unit, an armature for each unit associated with said electro-magnets, indicating mechanism for each indicating unit having connection with the armature, a plurality ofmain circuits leading from the master indicator to the indicating units and of a number equal to the number of electr'o-magnets er unit, and contact mechanism controlled the master indicator for afiecting said circuits in cyclic succession, thereby causing cyclic operation of the electro-magnets of the units and rotation of the armatures to cause synchronous actuation of the indicating mechanisms in accordance with the indication of the master indicator.

C 7; In combination,amaster indicator'hav-. mg indicator members, a plurality of indicating units," three electro-magnets for each ceases unit, an armature associated with said electro-magnet s, indicating mechanism connected with each armature, contact mechanism controlled by the master indicator, three main circuits leading from the master indie cator contact-mechanismto the indicating units, and with the electro-magnets thereat, and means whereby actuation of the contact mechanism by the master indicator will cause said circuits to be effected in cyclic succession whereby electro-magnets at the units will be synchronously energized in cyclic s'uccession and whereby the armatures willbe rotated synchronously to cause the indicating mechanism of the, units to indicate in synchronism with each other and with the master indicator. 1

8. In combination, a master indicator, a

plurality'of indicator units, indicating mechanism for each unit, an armatu'i'e for each umt connected with the indicator mechanism, three electro-magnets for each unit arranged about the armature, contact mechanism controlled by the master indicator, three conductors leading from said contact mechanism to the units, each conductor being connected with one terminal of one of the electro-ma nets of the units, the other terminal of the electro-magnets at each unit being connected to ether, a common'conductor leading from t e contact mechanism and connecting with the other terminals of the electromagnets," a source of current for the circuits, and means whereby the contact mechanism is operated by the master indicator to cause said sourceof current to be connected repeatedly in successive order with the conductors to cause repeated cyclic energization of the electro-magnets of the units, thereby causing synchronous rotation of the unit 'armatures and actuationof the indicating mechanisms of the umts m synchronism with each other and with the master indicator.

ln'witness whereofl have hereunto subscribed my name, this 23rd day of June,

ALBERT A. RADTKE. Witnesses: CHARLES J. SCHMIDT,

Gnonen E. HIGHAM.

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