Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
  • G04B31/00—Bearings; Point suspensions or counter-point suspensions; Pivot bearings; Single parts therefor
  • G04B31/02—Shock-damping bearings
  • G04B31/04—Shock-damping bearings with jewel hole and cap jewel
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
  • G04B1/00—Driving mechanisms
  • G04B1/10—Driving mechanisms with mainspring
  • G04B1/14—Mainsprings; Bridles therefor
  • G04B1/145—Composition and manufacture of the springs
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
  • G04B15/00—Escapements
  • G04B15/14—Component parts or constructional details, e.g. construction of the lever or the escape wheel
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
  • G04B17/00—Mechanisms for stabilising frequency
  • G04B17/04—Oscillators acting by spring tension
  • G04B17/06—Oscillators with hairsprings, e.g. balance
  • G04B17/066—Manufacture of the spiral spring
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
  • G04B19/00—Indicating the time by visual means
  • G04B19/06—Dials
  • G04B19/12—Selection of materials for dials or graduations markings

Definitions

• the present invention relates to the use of a particular material, diamond, for the manufacture of mechanical parts, in particular of parts entering into a watch movement or in a micromechanical device.
• the invention also relates to a mechanical part at least partially made of diamond as well as a timepiece and a micromechanical device using such parts.
• diamonds in industry is known; especially as a precious stone, for decorative purposes, or in comparison with the hardness qualities of the diamond, as a cutting element or an abrasive element.
• the diamond has other qualities, low coefficient of friction, impact resistance, mechanical resistance, low density, high elastic modulus, low coefficient of thermal expansion, ability not to be scratchable and transparent. These various qualities can advantageously be used, alone or in combination, for the manufacture of mechanical parts, such as for example parts in friction and having to resist wear or parts having to resist shocks or parts having to be totally or partially transparent. as well as elastic parts, parts of this kind being commonly used in watchmaking or micromechanics.
• the object of the invention is therefore to propose using diamond, natural or synthetic, for making mechanical parts subjected to friction or mechanical parts subjected to shocks or parts comprising at least one transparent portion or parts elastic.
• FIG. 1 represents a first example of the use of diamond for making mechanical parts, that is to say for making cam parts,
• FIG. 2 represents another example of the use of diamonds for making mechanical parts, that is to say making parts for a timepiece escapement
• FIG. 3 represents yet another example of the use of diamonds for making mechanical parts, either for making discs or date display crowns,
• FIG. 4 represents yet another example of the use of a diamond for making mechanical parts, that is to say for making a spiral spring, and
• Figure 5 shows another embodiment of a diamond spiral spring.
• the first example of a mechanical part shown in FIG. 1 relates to the use of the diamond for making cam parts, in particular in the example shown of the hour cam of a mechanical timepiece.
• the wear of the diamond parts is much less than that of the corresponding parts of common materials; this characteristic brings yet another advantage, that is to say the great longevity of the parts where the sharp angles must persist as they are found on certain cams.
• the advantage of the high mechanical strength of the diamond, combined with its low density of the order of 3.5 kg / dm 3, makes it possible to produce a movable lever 11 that is significantly thinner, that is to say with a significantly smaller section and mass. , that the corresponding lever made of conventional material this leading to a marked reduction in the inertia of this element.
• FIG. 2 Another example of the use of the diamond is shown in Figure 2 where we see a portion of an escapement device of a clockwork movement of known type in an operating position.
• many mechanical shocks occur between the various components; in particular between two teeth 200 of the escape wheels 2 coming into contact, between the blocking lever 201 of the blocker 20 and the teeth 200 of the escape wheels 2, between the blocking portions 202 and the teeth 200 of the escape wheels 2, as well as between the horns 203 of the blocker 20 and respectively the stop pins 21 and the lift 22 of the pendulum.
• the impact resistance of diamonds significantly higher than that of usual materials, all or part of some or all of the constituent parts of the above exhaust device, or any other mechanical device subjected to shocks repetitive, can be made in diamond.
• the thickness of the pieces in question can simply be greatly reduced by using very thin diamond blades.
• the use of thin parts makes it possible to greatly reduce the masses in motion, which reduces their inertia as well as the energy required to set them in motion.
• the reduction in the dimensions of the mechanical parts of a timepiece movement obviously makes it possible to produce such movements of reduced dimensions.
• FIG. 3 shows a date display device 3 comprising two discs or crowns 30 and 31, normally superimposed but shown here shifted laterally in order to better understand their operation.
• Each of the discs 30 and 31 carries a numbering, engraved or printed, the numbering 300 of the disc 30 going from 1 to 15 while the numbering 301 of the disc 31 goes from 16 to 31.
• Each of the discs 30 and 31 is rotated by the clockwork movement of the watch on which they are mounted so that during the first 15 days of the month, each digit of the numbering 300 of the disc 30 is successively visible behind a window on the watch face, not shown on FIG, while the I6 th to the last day of the month, the disc 30 is stationary and has its portion behind said aperture 302, this portion 302 being transparent so as to make visible the scroll dial 310 of the disk 31.
• Such a device known in itself, has the advantage of allowing a larger date display than by a device with a single disc.
• the known devices using materials customary to such devices have a relatively large thickness, consequently increasing that of the watch.
• the numbering 300 of the disc 30 is arranged on the underside of said disc, while that 310 of the disc 31 is arranged on its upper face, so that the planes on which the two numberings are arranged are the closest possible from each other to facilitate the convenience of reading the date.
• the portion of the disc 30 carrying the numbering 300 will be coated with an opaque layer 301, so as to hide the numbering 310 of the disc 31 during the first 15 days of the month.
• the disc 31 can also be provided with an opaque layer 311. It should be noted that for the operation of the device it is not absolutely essential that the lower disc 31 is also made of diamond since it is not this disc must be transparent on one of its portions.
• the spiral spring 4 of FIGS. 4 and 5 is obtained by a known method of engraving a thin diamond plate.
• it includes the flange 40 for fixing the inner end of the spiral spring and the turns 41 of the spiral spring, while the example of Figure 5 further includes a flange 42 for fixing the ferrule on the outer end of the spiral spring.
• a first advantage of manufacturing a spiral spring by engraving a thin diamond plate rather than by stretching a wire therefore appears from these figures, namely the possibility of including in one piece one or two flanges d end 40 or 42 with the turns 41.
• Yet another advantage of this manufacturing method is that it is possible to obtain a last turn 43, or a portion of the latter, with a circular path and not in a spiral. The engraving therefore making it possible to give the desired shape and section to each portion of the spiral spring, it thus becomes possible to balance the spiral spring directly during the engraving as well as to soften or stiffen it in one or more selected zones.
• the intrinsic physical parameters of the diamond still make it advantageous to use this material for the manufacture of spiral springs.
• the modulus of elasticity of the diamond being approximately six times higher than that of the steel usually used for this purpose and its mechanical resistance to rupture being approximately ten times higher than that of steel, it is possible, for a determined oscillation frequency, to greatly reduce the section , respectively the mass of the diamond spiral spring.
• the low density of the diamond further enhances this effect.
• Such a diamond spiral spring despite its small section, will have a much better impact resistance than a conventional balance spring since the stresses to which it is subjected depend essentially on its mass and its acceleration.

Landscapes

• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Metallurgy (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Carbon And Carbon Compounds (AREA)
• Crystals, And After-Treatments Of Crystals (AREA)
• Audible-Bandwidth Dynamoelectric Transducers Other Than Pickups (AREA)
• Micromachines (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (5)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=32043807

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

Families Citing this family (20)

Family Cites Families (6)

• 2003
  • 2003-03-04 WO PCT/CH2003/000151 patent/WO2004029733A2/fr not_active Ceased
  • 2003-03-04 EP EP03702274A patent/EP1543386B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-03-04 AT AT03702274T patent/ATE412205T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2003-03-04 DE DE60324292T patent/DE60324292D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-03-04 AU AU2003205503A patent/AU2003205503A1/en not_active Abandoned

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events