JP6087906B2 - Clock with bell sound mechanism - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a timepiece having a bell sound mechanism such as a minute repeater mechanism having a particularly high bell sound level.

  Patent Document 1 includes a sealed portion and a non-sealed portion separated by a vibrating membrane, a vibrating body attached to the membrane, and an electric means for vibrating the vibrating body and the accompanying film. The case is directed to a wristwatch-shaped sealed acoustic alarm safety device with a case, wherein the electrical means and the vibrator are within the sealed portion of the case. This specification does not describe any bell sound mechanism other than the vibrating body and the accompanying film.

  Patent Document 2 includes a case including a sealed portion and a non-sealed portion separated by a filter, which may be a metal film, and a timing mechanism having a bell and a hammer provided to strike the bell, It describes a watch in which the hammering mechanism and bell are in the sealed part of the case.

  The timepieces proposed in these patent documents are particularly common in that they aim to obtain a high bell sound level while maintaining sufficient sealing performance.

European Patent Application No. 741344 European Patent Application No. 1892592 European Patent Application No. 1852755

  The main object of the present invention is to further increase the level of the bell sound emitted by the watch while maintaining and rather improving the sealing performance.

  According to the invention, this object is met by a timepiece having the property that the entire bell or bells are located in the unsealed part of the case.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, the bell bell information emitted from the hour-winning mechanism is reproduced in an environment different from the environment in which the mechanism is located.

  Specifically, the movement of the hour-beating mechanism is faithfully reproduced outside the sealed space in which the hour-beating mechanism is placed, so that sound is emitted with maximum efficiency.

  From now on, other features and advantages of the present invention will be described in detail in the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It is a top view of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is front sectional drawing of embodiment of FIG. It is a figure of the film | membrane with a bell hit body in another embodiment of this invention. FIG. 4 is a variation of the membrane of FIG. It is a figure of the film | membrane with another kind of bell hit body in another embodiment of this invention. FIG. 6 is a variation of the membrane of FIG. It is front sectional drawing of a timepiece provided with the film | membrane of FIG. It is a top view of the timepiece of FIG. FIG. 7 is a front cross-sectional view of another embodiment of a watch comprising the membrane of FIG. FIG. 10 is a top view of the timepiece of FIG. 9. FIG. 3 is a top view of a timepiece having two resonance boxes corresponding to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 7 is a top view of a timepiece having no resonance box, corresponding to the embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 6. FIG. 7 is a top view of a timepiece corresponding to the embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 6 with one resonance box divided into two horn parts. FIG. 7 is a top view of a timepiece having two resonance boxes corresponding to the embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 6.

  Thus, a characteristic of the timepiece according to the invention is that its one or more bells are located in the unsealed part of the case.

  Preferably, the timepiece according to the invention is provided with a transmission provided for transmitting the movement of the hour-handing mechanism occurring in the sealed part of the case to one or more bells located entirely in the unsealed part of the case. Means.

  A number of embodiments can be contemplated for the timepiece according to the invention. Some of these are described below as examples. One skilled in the art could easily derive another from the following example without departing from the framework of the present invention.

  According to the first embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the watch case 1 comprises a sealed part 2 and an unsealed part 3. The unsealed part 3 as a whole at least partially surrounds the sealed part 2.

  The partition wall 8 of the case 1 is preferably provided with two holes 4 through which a bell-shaped body 5 having an overall cylindrical shape and a shoulder 6 at one end passes. A part called a seal bush 7 is attached to the hole 4 of the partition wall 8, and the bell hit body 5 passes therethrough. A return spring 9 is disposed around the bell hitting body 5 between the shoulder 6 and the end of the seal bush 7 so that the bell hitting body 5 is pushed back toward the sealing portion 2 of the case 1.

  A bell 10 is disposed in the non-sealed portion 3 of the case 1 so as to be hit by an end of the bell hitting body 5. The other end portion of the bell hitting body 5 where the shoulder portion 6 is located is disposed in the sealed portion 2 of the case 1 so as to be hit by the hammer 11 that forms a part of the hour driving mechanism 40.

  At this time, the striking mechanism is a mechanism for generating sound by a mechanical method. Its content may be a known type of mechanism and therefore need not be shown in more detail. Examples thereof include a conventional alarm clock mechanism, a conventional minute repeater, quarter repeater, ground strike mechanism, and a mechanism that is the subject of Patent Document 3.

  The non-sealed portion 3 of the case 1 is provided with an opening 13 of some shape, such as a round shape, on the outside of the case 1 so that the sound generated by the bell 10 can be emitted.

  Preferably, as can be seen in particular with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the part forming the resonance box 12, for example a hollow cylinder, is arranged in the opening 13 so as to face the bell 10 to generate the generated sound. To be amplified.

  Referring to FIG. 2, two bells 10 are arranged, one of the two may be the hour bell and the other may be the minute bell, and the two bells are hour and minute hammers, respectively. You can see that it is hit by. In this figure, one hammer is on the other, but it goes without saying that it is possible to arrange the hammers side by side at the same level as a modification.

  According to another embodiment of the invention, the sealing part 2 and the non-sealing part 3 are at least partly by an elastic membrane arranged such that the movement of the timing mechanism is transmitted to one or more bells. Separated.

  The membrane must be thin and elastic enough to ensure movement upon impact caused by the timing mechanism, while having a reasonable stiffness, which is This is to prevent the membrane itself from vibrating due to the impact of the wearer of the wearer and to allow the bell to vibrate when the membrane hits the bell.

  Therefore, the membrane can be made of a material such as rubber, metal, organic polymer, especially polymer such as elastomer, but in addition, the material can be a part of case 1 such as a trunk, back cover, It must be possible to be united with the bezel. The fixing can be performed by an appropriate means such as clamping, adhesion, welding, etc., but these operations must be able to obtain the sealing performance of the sealing portion 2 of the case 1.

The thickness and area of the film will vary depending on the material comprising the film. By way of example, the membrane can have a thickness of 1 mm and an area of 1 cm ² .

  The membrane must be located where the hammer of the hammering mechanism can strike, preferably at its center. Furthermore, the membrane is able to accurately reproduce the rhythm and movement that must be transmitted from the sealed space of the case to the unsealed space due to its flexibility. The membrane must then be able to return to its initial position without vibration.

  As a variant, it is also conceivable to attach the hammer of the hour-handing mechanism directly to the membrane so that the hammer can penetrate the membrane and strike one or more bells in the unsealed part 3 of the case 1.

  According to another preferred embodiment, partly illustrated in FIG. 3, the membrane denoted by reference numeral 14 is struck by a timing mechanism on the sealing side and at least one provided for striking the bell on the non-sealing side. Two bells 15 are provided.

  The bell 15 is fixed to the membrane 14 in an integral and generally non-removable manner by any suitable means such as adhesion, welding, crimping, or indentation. The bell-shaped body can take various shapes, particularly a spherical shape. The striking body reproduces the mechanical impact received from the sealed side with the bell 10 located on the non-sealed side of the case 1. Due to the elasticity and shape memory of the membrane 14, after transmitting the impact, the membrane 14 can return to the initial position.

  The striking body 15 can take the form of a sphere having a diameter of 1 mm, for example. Thus, the area of the disc that is created when the sphere is cut at its center can be the same as or around that of the hammer that strikes the sphere.

  FIG. 4 shows a membrane 17 comprising two identical bells 15 and 16.

  According to another advantageous embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 5, the membrane 19 is located in the sealing part 2 of the case 1 and is struck by the hammer 11 of the timing mechanism “passive side half”. A bell striking body 18 comprising a portion 20 called a bell striking body and a portion 21 called a “bell side half striking body” for striking the bell 10 is provided in the non-sealed portion 3 of the case 1. .

  The passive side half-bell 20 and bell side half-bell 21 can be made of any suitable material.

  The two half bells are made of different materials, have different shapes, and cannot be disassembled or kinetically by any suitable means such as screwing, indentation, riveting, gluing, welding, etc. If you want to be able to repair, change or replace them for the purpose of improving transmission, motion efficiency, mechanical properties of bounce and / or wave propagation velocity in the constituent materials, they can be assembled together and assembled together 19 can be assembled.

  When there is only one bell 18 on the membrane 19, the bell 18 is preferably located in the middle of the membrane 19.

  According to the variant shown in FIG. 6, the membrane 22 is divided into two parts, which are preferably identical, and are divided into two parts comprising passive half-bells 26, 28 and bell-side half-bells 25, 27, respectively. The bell hitting bodies 23 and 24 are provided, and one of the bell hitting bodies 23 and 24 is assigned to the first bell and the other is assigned to the second bell.

  The bell according to the invention, which is a vibration device, is fixed to an unsealed part 3 of the case 1, for example, the case, the back cover, the bezel, or any other part constituting the watch. The bell may be concentric with the torso if the torso is circular. Thus, the bell is located within the unsealed portion 3 of the case 1 and the entire bell is located around the sealed portion 2 so that the circumference exceeds the circumference of the prior art bell contained within the sealed portion of the case. With the advantage of being able to have This difference in circumference appears directly at a louder volume generated from the bell.

  In addition, according to the present invention, since the bell is in the non-sealed portion 3 of the case 1, that is, the portion having the opening 13, the sound can be easily out of the case 1.

  As a result, in the case of the present invention, the volume of the sound generated from the bell is tripled as compared with the prior art timepiece having no non-sealed portion.

  FIGS. 7 and 8 show a timepiece according to the invention comprising a variant of the membrane shown in FIG. The shoe 29 shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is a component that plays a role of supporting the bell 30 fixed to the shoe basically by indentation fitting, adhesion or welding. In these two figures, one of the bells 30 is located on the other, but as a variant, the bells can be arranged side by side at the same level.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the membrane 22 is fixed to a part of the case 1 at its center 31, whereby the membrane 22 is divided into two identical portions, each supporting the bells 23, 24.

  As a variant, two membranes, each with one bell, could be used.

  The bell 30 shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is a generally circular conventional bell, such as that shown in FIG.

  According to another embodiment shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the bell 10 has the shape of a board, such as a xylophone sound board, each associated with a dedicated resonance box 12. The shape of the resonance box can be selected according to aesthetic criteria.

According to an advantageous variant (not shown), a shoe 29 for supporting the bell 30 is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 in which the vibration of the bell 30 is configured in any one of the cases of the watch. is separated from the thus casing 1 in an intermediate part article having a role of isolating the bell 30 so as not attenuated is absorbed by the element.

  According to another embodiment (not shown), the partition of the case is not provided with a membrane or a hole. The one or more hammers comprise magnets or electromagnets, and the one or more bells arranged to cooperate with the one or more hammers comprise magnets or electromagnets, thereby providing one or more A plurality of hammer movements are electromagnetically transmitted to corresponding bells. Specifically, if there is a magnet or electromagnet at the end of the hammer, when the hammer reciprocates, they will approach other magnets or electromagnets attached to the bell and (reverse polarity) Then move away. Thereby, information about the movement is transmitted from one side of the septum to the other side without the need to prepare a membrane or a bell.

  According to another embodiment not shown, one or more of the hammers can each operate a switch associated with the electrical system, the electrical system cooperating with the respective hammer. Current can be sent to one or more vibrators or actuators that are associated with the bells provided so that the movement of the hammer is electrically transmitted to the corresponding bell.

Production of a timepiece according to the invention One of the advantages of the invention is that it does not require any major changes to the known time-lapse mechanism (alarms, minute repeaters, etc.) in the production of the timepiece. As such, the present invention can be used with any type of bell bell for the generation of sounds in which one part strikes another using a reciprocating system.

  The production of a timepiece according to the invention is essentially characterized by placing at least one bell in the unsealed part of the case.

  Furthermore, it is possible to provide a transmission means capable of transmitting the movement of the bell striking mechanism occurring in the sealed portion of the case to one or more bells.

  According to one variant, it is possible to consider changing the hammer shape of the hour-handing mechanism so as to hit the bell directly in the tangential direction with respect to the inner frame diameter of the bell bell circular movement.

According to another aspect of the invention, the timepiece can comprise:
A case (1) comprising a sealed part (2) and an unsealed part (3);
A first mechanism disposed in a sealed portion (2) of the case (1), and a second mechanism for operating the first mechanism or for being operated by the first mechanism, the case A second mechanism located in the unsealed part (3) of (1), in particular completely located.

  A watch according to this other aspect of the invention may include the features described above in the section “DETAILED DESCRIPTION” as long as they are technically consistent with each other. A watch according to this other aspect of the invention is additionally or alternatively in any combination, as long as it is technically consistent with the features described in the dependent claims below. Can be included.

  The second mechanism can in particular comprise a push button and the first mechanism can comprise any watch mechanism, in particular a chronograph mechanism or a correction mechanism, in particular a calendar correction mechanism.

Claims (11)

A case (1) comprising a sealed part (2) and an unsealed part (3);
A time striking mechanism (40) disposed in the sealed portion (2) of the case (1);
A timepiece comprising at least one bell (10, 30) for being operated by said hour-handing mechanism (40),
The one or more bells (10, 30) are located entirely within the unsealed portion (3) of the case (1) ;
The unsealed part (3) of the case (1) comprises at least one resonance box (12);
The movement of the timing mechanism (40) occurring in the sealed portion (2) of the case (1) is located completely in the unsealed portion (3) of the case (1). Comprising transmission means (4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 14-28) provided for transmission to one or more bells (10, 30);
The transmission means includes an elastic and non-vibrating membrane (14, 17, 19, 22) that at least partially separates the sealed portion (2) and the non-sealed portion (3) of the case (1). watch characterized by Rukoto arranged such that the film (14,17,19,22) to transmit the motion of said time out mechanism (40) wherein the one or more bells (10, 30) . A case (1) comprising a sealed part (2) and an unsealed part (3);
A time striking mechanism (40) disposed in the sealed portion (2) of the case (1);
At least one bell (10, 30) to be operated by said timing mechanism (40);
A watch comprising:
The one or more bells (10, 30) are located entirely within the unsealed portion (3) of the case (1);
The unsealed part (3) of the case (1) comprises at least one resonance box (12);
The movement of the timing mechanism (40) occurring in the sealed portion (2) of the case (1) is located completely in the unsealed portion (3) of the case (1). Comprising transmission means (4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 14-28) provided for transmission to one or more bells (10, 30);
The transmission means (4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 14-28) is struck by the hour-turning mechanism in the sealing portion (2) of the case (1), and the case accordingly A timepiece characterized by being arranged so as to be able to strike the one or more bells (10, 30) in the unsealed part (3) of (1). The transmission means
At least one hole (4) provided in a partition wall (8) separating the sealed portion (2) and the non-sealed portion (3) of the case (1);
At least one seal bush (7) disposed in the hole (4);
At least one bell striking body (7) penetrating the seal bush (7), the striking mechanism (40) being struck and at least one being arranged to strike the bell (10) accordingly Two bells (5),
3. Timepiece according to claim 2 , comprising at least one return spring (9) for returning the bell (5) to a rest position. At least one striking body (14, 17, 19, 22) provided to be struck by the timing mechanism (40) and / or to strike the bell (10, 30) ( 15. A timepiece according to claim 1, comprising 15 , 16, 18, 23, 24). The bell striking body (15, 16, 18, 23, 24) includes a portion (20, 26, 28) located in the sealing portion (2) of the case (1) and the non-contact of the case (1). 5. Timepiece according to claim 4 , comprising parts (21, 25, 27) located in the sealing part (3). The timepiece according to claim 4 or 5 , wherein the bell (18, 23, 24) comprises a plurality of parts (20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28). The timepiece according to claim 4 or 5 , wherein the one or more bells (18, 23, 24) are removably secured to the membrane (19, 22). 6. The at least one magnet or electromagnet associated with the timing mechanism comprising at least one magnet or electromagnet cooperating with an electromagnet associated with a bell . The watch according to one item . 6. The at least one switch of claim 1 to 5, wherein the transmission means comprises at least one switch operated by the timing mechanism and connected to an electrical system that controls operation of at least one bell . A timepiece given in any 1 paragraph . At least Tsunokane a (10, 30) arranged in the non-sealing portion (3) of the casing (1), a method of fabricating a timepiece according to any one of claims 1 to 9. Transmission means (4, 5) capable of transmitting the movement of the hour mechanism (40) generated in the sealed portion (2) of the case (1) to the one or more bells (10, 30). and disposed 6,7,9,14～28) the method of claim 10.