JPH0442089A - Timepiece using optical fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make timepieces easier outlooking at the end of side surface absorption optical fiber by fixing side surface absorption type optical fiber on the shaft of timepiece hands and radiating light on the side surface of side surface absorption type optical fiber. CONSTITUTION:At the fixing part of a drum wheel 4, an hour hand 11 of absorption type optical fiber is attached, at the fixing part of a minute wheel 5, a minute hand 12 is, and at the fixing part of a second wheel 6, a minute hand 12 is attached. Each of the hour hand 11, minute hand 12 and second hand 13 have a certain gap and are built-in so that the end of them face perpendicularly to a spherical glass with keeping some gaps for the glass 3. The side and the upper part of the timepiece body 1 is protected by fixing a watch body cover 2 on the glass 3. An electric bulb 21 is connected with a controlling circuit via a socket 22 and a lead cable 26. As light from the bulb 21 goes in the hands 11a, 12a and 13a of the absorption type optical fiber, the ends 11b, 12b and 13b of the optical fiber are illuminated. The hour, minute and second hands 11, 12, 13 rotate by the movement of the watch body 1, which notifies time information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] This invention relates to a clock using an optical fiber that displays time information based on the position of the optical fiber.

[Summary of the invention]

This invention provides a timepiece using an optical fiber, in which a side light-absorbing optical fiber is fixed to a pointer shaft of the timepiece, and a light source is irradiated onto the side surface of the side light-absorbing fiber, so that the end surface of the side light-absorbing fiber is illuminated. The purpose is to display time information.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 3, end faces 52 of a large number of optical fibers are arranged radially on the surface of a dial 51 to display time information in an analog display depending on the irradiation position of the light source, and as shown in FIG. A clock is known in which optical fibers 53 are arranged in a 7-segment pattern 54 to display a digital display.

For example, JP-A-63-262584, JP-A-50-
Such a conventional structure is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 37467 and the like.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in watches using conventional optical fibers, the light that shines on one end of the optical fiber causes the other end of the optical fiber to glow, making it difficult to use the optical fiber as a pointer. It wasn't.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a timepiece using an optical fiber, in which a light source is irradiated onto the side surface of a side-light absorption type optical fiber on the pointer shaft of the timepiece, and the time is determined by the position of the light on the end face of the side-light absorption type optical fiber. Information is now displayed.

0 action] In a watch using an optical fiber configured as described above, light is irradiated onto the side of the side absorption type optical fiber attached to the hand attachment part of the watch body, and the light is emitted in accordance with the movement of the watch.
The optical fiber rotates.

With this configuration, the current time can be determined by looking at the position of the end face of the optical fiber.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

In FIG. 1, the lower part of a spherical and translucent spherical glass 3 is fixed to a support frame 31. A light bulb 21 is fixed to a support frame 31 through a socket 22 to a square located at the center of a bulb glass 3. A cylindrical cover 32 is fixed to the support frame 31 so that the light from the bulb 21 can be irradiated only in a certain direction of the bulb glass 3.
The clock body 1 is fixed to the upper part of the bulb glass 3.The clock body 1 includes an hour wheel 4 that rotates once every 12 hours, a minute wheel 5 that rotates once every 1 hour, and a seconds wheel 6 that rotates once every minute. , protrudes downward from the hole at the top of the glass bulb 3. An hour hand 11 made of light-absorbing optical fiber is attached to the hour wheel 4's hand attachment section, a minute hand 12 is attached to the minute wheel 5's hour attachment section, and a second hand 13 is attached to the second wheel 6's hour attachment section. The minute hand 12 and the second hand 13 are each assembled with a certain gap between them and the glass bulb 3 so that their end faces are oriented in a direction substantially perpendicular to the glass bulb 3.

The side and top surfaces of the watch body 1 are protected by fixing the watch body cover 2 to the bulb glass 3.

The light bulb 21 is connected from a socket 22 to a control circuit 25 via a lead wire 26. The control circuit 25 is connected to the plug 27
It operates by connecting it to a power source.

The light bulb 21 lights up due to the operation of the control circuit 25.

Then, the arms 11a and 12a of the light-absorbing optical fiber.

The light beam from the light bulb 21 is incident on the light bulb 13a. Then, the ends 11b, 12b, and 13b of the light-absorbing optical fibers glow.

Since the optical fiber hour hand 11, minute hand 12, and second hand 13 rotate according to the movement of the watch body 1, time information can be obtained.

Note that the second hand 13 of the optical fiber has another end 13C on the opposite side of the end 13b with respect to the center of rotation.

Another end portion 13c is provided to prevent imbalance of the primary moment of the second hand. Furthermore, since the other end 13c of the second hand 13 of the optical fiber lights up, the movement of the seconds can be seen from many directions.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a timepiece using the optical fiber of the present invention.A scale 2a indicating the time is attached to the top surface of the timepiece body cover 2.

Furthermore, in the watch using the optical fiber of the present invention, by changing the color of each hand, it is also possible to distinguish what information is indicated by the color.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in a watch using an optical fiber, this invention uses a structure in which a side light-absorbing optical fiber is fixed to the pointer shaft of the timepiece, and a light source is irradiated with a light beam on the side surface of the side light-absorbing optical fiber. In addition to being able to tell the time from the end of the light-absorbing optical fiber, by using different colors of the optical fiber, it is also possible to obtain a more easily understandable and beautiful appearance than the hour hand, 2 minute hand, and 1 second hand.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is an assembly diagram of a clock using optical fiber of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof. 3 and 4 are schematic diagrams of a conventional clock using optical fibers. 1...Clock body 3...Ball glass 11...Hour hand 12...Minute hand 13...Second hand 21...Light bulb or more 4 closed

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a watch that uses optical fibers, a side light-absorbing optical fiber is fixed to the hand shaft of the watch, a light source is irradiated onto the side surface of the side light-absorbing optical fiber, and time information is determined by the position of the light on the end face of the side light-absorbing optical fiber. A clock using optical fiber for display.