JPS6310400B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a time telling mechanism for a timepiece, and particularly to a highly accurate time telling mechanism for an analog display timepiece.

Desired announcement time, e.g. on the hour (minute hand points to 0 minute position) and half hour (minute hand points to 30 minute position)
BACKGROUND ART The time-telling mechanism of a clock that strikes or chimes at a certain time is well known, and allows the user to know the time without visually checking the time indicator hand, and is widely used in wall clocks and table clocks.

In recent analog display watches, as the clock mechanism has become electronic, the alarm mechanism is also equipped with an electrical alarm device, and this alarm device is usually driven by a drive motor to produce a mechanical time strike or chime sound. I am doing it. The operation of the above-mentioned alarm device is controlled by a contact device, and in order to control the opening and closing of this contact device, a time cam wheel is provided which rotates in synchronization with the clock train and operates the contact device at a predetermined alarm time. . Normally, the hour cam wheel is interlocked with a minute wheel, etc., which rotates once every hour, and activates an electric alarm device at a predetermined alarm time.

As mentioned above, in the conventional reporting mechanism,
Since the telling time was controlled by a cam wheel when the rotation speed was relatively slow, it was not possible to obtain a highly accurate telling action, and the telling action was performed only after the time display hand had passed the telling time. The drawback was that a so-called after-hit phenomenon often occurred. In particular, in recent years, there has been a strong demand for improved time-telling accuracy in high-precision analog display watches using crystal oscillators. Furthermore, it is preferable that the above-mentioned telling time corresponds correctly with the seconds hand, and for this purpose, it is necessary to improve the accuracy of the telling time and to correctly align the seconds hand and the telling mechanism when assembling the watch. has arisen.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide an improved system that can obtain highly accurate time-telling time and correctly align the time-telling mechanism and the second hand. This relates to the timing mechanism of watches.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes an electrical alarm device, a contact device for electrically controlling the operation of the alarm device, and a contact device that rotates in synchronization with a clock train to generate an alarm at a predetermined alarm time. A time cam wheel that controls the contact device to be in a state where it can be closed, and a one-minute cam wheel that rotates in synchronization with a clock train and controls the contact device to be in a state where it can be closed every minute. , a time-telling mechanism of a watch in which the contact device is closed only when both the hour cam wheel and the one-minute cam wheel enable the contact device to close, and the electric hour-telling device is activated. includes a seconds return heart cam that rotates together with the second hand, and positioning marks consisting of transparent holes are provided on the watch plate, the one minute cam wheel, and the seconds return heart cam, and each alignment mark is connected to the seconds return heart cam. The zero heart cams are provided at positions overlapping each other in the zero state, and in this overlapping position, the assembly position of the one-minute cam wheel is determined so that the closing operation of the contact device by the one-minute cam wheel is performed correctly at the correct second. do.

According to the present invention, since the telling time is controlled by a one-minute cam wheel with a relatively high rotation speed, it is possible to obtain an extremely accurate telling time, and in practice,
It is possible to obtain accuracy within 10 seconds. Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the one-minute cam wheel and second indicator hand are aligned when the watch is assembled, the time-telling action is performed when the second indicated time is in the range of 0 seconds to 10 seconds.
It becomes possible to obtain a timing mechanism with high precision and no after-stroke phenomenon.

In the present invention, the one-minute cam wheel and the movable contact plate of the contact device may be engaged directly or through a transmission mechanism such as a one-minute control lever.

In the present invention, each alignment mark of the one minute cam wheel and the second zero heart cam can be formed from a transparent hole, and furthermore, these transparent holes can be aligned with the alignment mark provided on the watch plate. is suitable.

In the present invention, the above-described alignment marks of the watch support plate are formed from through holes, and the alignment mark through holes are penetrated and engaged with assembly jig pins during watch assembly, thereby making it extremely easy to assemble the watch. It is possible to adjust the notification time.

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

FIGS. 1 to 5 are layout diagrams of preferred embodiments of the time notification mechanism according to the present invention, as seen from a plan view, in accordance with various changes in operation.

Although not shown in the drawings, the electrical alarm device in the embodiment includes a well-known mechanical timing device driven by a motor, and is provided with a contact device 10 for electrically controlling the motor operation. 10
are provided with movable contact plates 10a and 10b. In order to control the opening/closing operation of the contact device 10,
An hour cam wheel 12 is provided which rotates in synchronization with the timepiece wheel train, and the contact driving force of the hour cam wheel 12 is transmitted to the contact device 10 via an armature gear 14. The hour cam wheel 12 is integrally molded with a minute wheel (not shown), and rotates once per hour together with the minute wheel. On the hour cam wheel 12, cam protrusions 16 corresponding to the hour and cam protrusions 18 corresponding to the half o'clock are formed at intervals of about 180 degrees, which enable the start of the hour and half o'clock alarm operations, respectively. Tips 16 of both cam projections 16, 18
18a and 18a are positioned so as to perform a time alarm setting function, which will be described later, corresponding to approximately 30 seconds before the hour and half past the hour, respectively.

The age cam 14 is swingably supported by a shaft 20 fixed to a watch plate, and a protrusion 22 formed at one end is in contact with the cam peripheral surface of the hour cam wheel 12, and is also formed at the lower end. The pins 24 and 26 are respectively engaged with a counting hook 28 of a counting mechanism to be described later and the movable contact plate 10b. This age cam 14 is always elastically biased in the direction of arrow A, and its protrusion 22 is controlled to swing following the cam peripheral surface of the hour cam wheel 12, so that the cam protrusions 16, 18 of the hour cam wheel 12 and the protrusion 22 are When engaged, each pin 24, 26
is configured to press and move the counter hook 28 and the contact plate 10b.

As described above, the opening/closing operation of the contact device 10 is controlled at a predetermined alarm time in synchronization with the rotation of the clock train, and in order to obtain an alarm action corresponding to the current alarm time, The mechanism is provided with a counting mechanism. In the illustrated embodiment, the alarm action is performed by controlling the number of rotations of the motor so that the number of strikes is set in accordance with the alarm time. The counter hook 28 is swingably supported on a shaft 30 fixed to a watch plate, and a protrusion 32 formed at one end is connected to a lever 34.
It extends so as to be able to engage with the rack teeth 34a as appropriate. This take-up hook 28 is always elastically biased in the direction of arrow B, and an arcuate pressing portion 36 is attached to the movable contact plate 1.
It is provided so as to be able to engage with 0a.

The comb 34 is rotatably supported by a shaft 38 fixed to a watch plate, and is always elastically biased in the direction of arrow C. The rotational speed of the motor, that is, the number of strokes per hour, is selected by the swinging position of the rack teeth 34a of the comb bar 34, and this swinging position is controlled by a counter cam 40.

The counting cam 40 is integrally molded with a clock wheel (not shown), and on its outer periphery there are 12
Twelve stages of cam surfaces 40a are formed corresponding to each hour of the time display. The aforementioned comb 34 is formed with a contact surface 34b that appropriately engages with the cam surface 40a of the multi-take cam 40.

A feed cam 44 is fixed to a rotating shaft 42 of a drive motor (not shown), and a feed pin 46 fixed to the feed cam 44 meshes with the rack teeth 34a of the comb 34, so that the number of spools 28 is increased every rotation of the motor. The projection 32 and the rack teeth 34a of the comb bar 34 are disengaged from each other, and the rack teeth 34a are driven one tooth at a time.

As described above, the hour cam wheel 12 enables the contact device 10 to close at the predetermined alarm time, and the alarm operation is performed for the number of hour strokes selected by the counting mechanism. The hour cam wheel 12 rotates once per hour, and its rotational speed is slow, making it impossible to obtain a highly accurate time-telling action. It is characterized in that the closing operation of 10 is controlled by a 1-minute cam wheel provided separately from the hour cam wheel 12.

The one-minute cam wheel 48 is integrally molded with the third wheel in order to rotate in synchronization with the clock train, and eight one-minute cams 50 are formed on its outer periphery, and each one-minute cam 50 rotates one pitch per minute. It is configured to rotate.

In the illustrated embodiment, the cam driving force of the 1-minute cam wheel 48 is transmitted to the contact device 10 via the 1-minute control lever 52, and the 1-minute control lever 52 is pivotable on a pin 54 fixed to the watch plate. The engagement hole 56 provided at one end of the cam 50 is
The actuator 58 provided at the other end is provided so as to be able to engage with the movable contact plate 10b of the contact device 10 as appropriate. The one-minute control lever 52 is always elastically biased in the direction of arrow D.
It is elastically held in a position where it engages with a pin 60 fixed to the watch plate. This elastic retention is necessary only to prevent the one-minute control lever 52 from wobbling, and the weak elasticity is necessary to reduce the influence of the load on the clock train when the lever 52 and the one-minute cam 50 are engaged. It is desirable to use it as a biasing force.

Eight through holes 62 are formed in the one-minute cam wheel 48 near each one-minute cam 50, and positioning marks for assembling the watch are formed therein. In the present invention, the timepiece wheel train is provided with a seconds return device, and in the figure, a seconds hand wheel to which the seconds display hand is fixed is provided with a seconds return heart cam 64 shown by a chain line, and this heart cam 64 has an alignment mark. Through hole 6 forming
6 is provided. Therefore, when assembling the watch, by aligning the through holes 62 and 66 of the 1-minute cam wheel 48 and the seconds return heart cam 64 to predetermined positions, the 1-minute cam 50 closes the contact device 10 and displays the seconds. It becomes possible to accurately align the display position of the hands.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention has the above configuration,
The effect will be explained below.

FIG. 1 shows the time before the hour-on-the-hour warning action, and shows the operating state when the half-hour warning action is completed, which corresponds to, for example, the time of about 1:35. In this state, the tooth hook 14 has its protrusion 22 engaged with the valley surface of the hour cam wheel 12, and the counter hook 28 engages the comb 34 in a position where the protrusion 32 abuts the right end surface of the rack tooth 34a as shown in the figure. It has stopped. In this state, both contact plates 10a and 10b are connected to the pressing part 36 of the counter hook 28 and the pusher hook 14, respectively.
The contact device 1 is positioned and held by the pin 26 of the contact device 1.
0 is in the open state. The alarm device is therefore kept inactive.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which the setting of the first stage of the alarm operation on the hour is completed, and the hour cam wheel 12 is in the first stage.
The figure shows a state in which the clock has rotated clockwise and the time has reached approximately 1:50. In this state, the cam projection 16 of the hour cam wheel 12
As a result, the counter hook 28 is rotated clockwise and the protrusion 32 is moved to a position where it is separated from the lever 34.
As a result, the comb bar 34 rotates counterclockwise to a position where its contact surface 34b abuts the cam surface 40a corresponding to 2 o'clock of the counter hook 40. At this time, both contact plates 10a and 10b of the contact device 10 are pressed and moved to the illustrated positions by the pressing portion 36 of the counter hook 28 and the pin 26 of the folding hook 14, respectively, and the open state of the contact device 10 is still maintained. .

In the operating state from FIG. 1 to FIG. 2, each 1-minute cam 50 of the 1-minute cam wheel 48 engages with the engager 56 of the 1-minute control lever 52 every minute to control the swinging of the lever 52. However, in this state, the actuator 58 of the lever 52 may temporarily engage with the contact plate 10b, but since the position of the contact plate 10b is controlled by the pin 26 of the pinion 14, the contact device 10 cannot be closed. No creation action takes place.

FIG. 3 shows the completion of the setting of the second stage of the alarm function on the hour, which corresponds to the time of about 1:59:30. In this state, the age cam 14 is rotated by the rotation of the hour cam wheel 12 so that the tip end 1 of the cam protrusion 16
6a and rotate clockwise. As a result, the pressing of the counter hook 28 by the pin 24 is released, the counter hook 28 rotates counterclockwise, and its protrusion 32 meshes with the tooth corresponding to 2 o'clock of the rack teeth 34a of the comb 34. At the same time, number 28
The pressing and holding of both contact plates 10a and 10b by the pressing portion 36 and the pin 26 of the bearded hook 14 is released. Therefore, the contact plate 10a rotates counterclockwise from FIG. 2, but the tip of the contact plate 10b engages with the actuator 58 of the one-minute control lever 52 and is held in the position shown in the figure. Therefore, even in FIG. 3, the closing operation of the contact device 10 is not performed.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the time-telling action is started on the hour, and shows the time corresponding to 2:00:00. In this state, the 1-minute cam 50 of the 1-minute cam wheel 48, which is set in synchronization with the control position of the second hand, comes into contact with the engager 56 of the 1-minute control lever 52, causing the lever 5
2 counterclockwise, and as a result, lever 5
The second actuator 58 is detached from the contact plate 10b, and the contact plate 10b is rotated back to the position where it contacts the contact plate 10a due to its elastic action, so that the device 10 can be closed.

When the contact device 10 is closed, the drive motor of the electric alarm device rotates to perform a timing operation, and at this time, the feed cam 44 interlocked with the motor rotates to
The lock teeth 34a of the comb bar 34 are fed and driven every time the driving operation is performed. Therefore, after completing the two time striking actions,
The protrusion 32 of the counter hook 28 separates from the lever 34 and returns to the state shown in FIG. 1, and both contact plates 10a, 1
Open 0b. Therefore, the timing action is performed the number of times determined by the position of the counting cam 40 corresponding to the designated time at each notification time.

As described above, according to the present invention, the 1-minute cam wheel 4
Since the contact device 10 is controlled to be movable in the closing operation by 8, an extremely high-precision time-telling action can be obtained, and the time-telling action can be performed within a range of at least 10 seconds from the minute of the second hand. becomes possible.

FIG. 5 shows the completed setting of the second stage of the alarm function at half o'clock, and shows the time corresponding to about 1:29:30. FIG. 5 is almost the same as the hourly state shown in FIG. 2, but the cam protrusion 1 of the hour cam wheel 12 is
8 has a lower cam height than the cam protrusion 16 at the hour, and as a result, it is understood that the amount of movement of the counter hook 28 rotated by the age hook 14 is small. That is, at half o'clock, the projection 32 of the counter hook 28 does not completely release the comb 34, but releases the comb 34 to the position where the projection 32 meshes with the tooth at the right end of the rack tooth 34a. Therefore, regardless of the indicated time, one hour striking action is always obtained, and a half-hour striking action is performed.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, an extremely accurate time-telling effect can be obtained. must be properly aligned. In the present invention, in order to perform this alignment, as described above, the through holes 62 and 66 provided in both the one-minute cam wheel 48 and the second return heart cam 64 are used as alignment marks. Correct positioning of the hour and second hands is performed. In other words, when assembling the watch, the second return lever activates the second return zero heart cam 6.
4 is set to the zero return state, the through hole 66 of the second zero heart cam 64 is aligned with the through hole 62 of the one minute cam wheel 48, thereby aligning the two. This positioning work can be done by simply visual assembly or by using a jig such as tweezers.
This can be done by inserting it into 66.

Furthermore, FIG. 6 shows a configuration for easily aligning the one-minute cam wheel 48 and the second hand during assembly, and in FIG. Positioning marks are provided, and the through holes 70 of the receiving plate 68 are aligned with the jig pins 74 of the assembly jig 72.
By further engaging the through hole 62 of the one-minute cam wheel 48 and the through hole 66 of the second zero heart cam 64 with the jig pin 74, positioning of each part can be performed extremely easily. In FIG. 6, the one minute cam wheel 48 is formed integrally with the third wheel 76, and the seconds return heart cam 64 is fixed to the second hand shaft 78. In the aligned state shown in FIG. 6, the seconds display wheel indicates the correct second, and at this time the second zero regulating lever 80 is in a state to return the heart cam 64 to zero. Furthermore, the alignment state shown in FIG. 6 indicates the start state of the alarm action shown in FIG. , when assembling the watch, in the state shown in Figure 4,
By locating the fixed position of the contact device 10 such that the contact plate 10b is separated from the actuator 58, it is possible to obtain extremely high-accuracy timing alignment. The positioning of the contact device 10 can be performed by adjusting the fixing position with a set screw, or fine adjustment can be made using other eccentric screws or the like.

The alignment of the second return heart cam 64 according to the present invention described above will be explained in more detail below.

In other words, in a watch with excellent time-telling accuracy such as the one of the present invention, it is naturally necessary to accurately set the time indicator hand, especially the second hand, and as is well known,
In a time telling mechanism including a second return zero heart cam, the second hand must be set when the second return zero heart cam is in the zero return state.

Further, according to the time notification mechanism of the present invention, when the second return zero heart cam is in the zero return state, the one minute cam wheel must be assembled in a position where the one minute control lever operates the contact device. As is clear from the embodiments described above, the axis of the one-minute cam wheel 48, the axis of the one-minute control lever 52, and the fixing position of the contact device 10 are fixed in advance in the design state of the watch, and of course the dimensions of each member are fixed. Since these are also predetermined, it is impossible to change their arrangement and geometrical position during assembly, except by fine-tuning the contact device 10, which will be described below.

When actually assembling, as mentioned above, 1
The minute cam wheel is assembled first, meshing with the clock train, and the second heart cam is assembled last.

Therefore, according to the present invention, after assembling the one-minute cam wheel 48, the second zero heart cam 64 is assembled,
At this time, both the 1-minute cam wheel 48 and the seconds return heart cam 64 align their pre-provided through holes 62 and 66 with the positioning mark, that is, the through hole 70 provided on the watch plate 68. By doing so, a desired positional relationship can be obtained.

At this time, since the second return zero heart cam 64 is assembled last, the second return zero heart cam 64 is attached to the bearing or shaft pin with all the alignment marks overlapped with all other wheel trains being assembled. By assembling the parts in a drop-down manner, it becomes possible to set the desired timing very easily.

According to the assembly of the present invention as described above, even when the state of engagement between the 1-minute cam 50 of the 1-minute cam wheel 48 and the engagement element 56 of the 1-minute control lever 52 cannot be visually or observed, each of the above-mentioned positioning operations can be performed. By overlapping the marks, alignment can be extremely easily performed, for example, by coaxial engagement with the jig pins described above.

Normally, the state of engagement between the 1-minute cam 50 and the engaging element 56 is blocked by other gears and cannot be directly observed in most cases. Extremely useful.

Further, according to the present invention, desired alignment is possible by overlapping the alignment marks made of the transparent holes, so automatic assembly etc. are extremely easy. Even in a watch in which the 56 and 56 are visually visible, it is practically impossible to determine such an engagement state during automatic assembly. It has an extremely large effect.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the timing accuracy is determined by the 1-minute cam wheel having a relatively high rotation speed, and it is possible to significantly improve the accuracy compared to the conventional one. Further, according to the present invention, the notification time can be adjusted extremely easily by aligning the 1-minute cam wheel and the second return heart cam, and it is possible to reliably eliminate the after-hitting phenomenon. Become.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are plan views showing respective operating states of preferred embodiments of the alarm mechanism according to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a main part for explaining the positioning action of the minute cam wheel and the second return heart cam. 10...Contact device, 10b...Movable contact plate, 1
2... Hour cam wheel, 48... 1 minute cam wheel, 50...
1 minute cam, 52...1 minute control lever, 56...engaging element, 58...operating element, 62...through hole, 64...
Second return zero heart cam, 66... through hole, 68... watch plate, 70... through hole, 74... jig pin, 76...
...Third wheel, 78...Second hand axis, 80...Second return zero regulation lever.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An electrical alarm device, a contact device that electrically controls the operation of the alarm device, and a contact device that rotates in synchronization with a clock train to close the contact device at a predetermined alarm time. a hour cam wheel that controls the contact device to be in an operable state; a one-minute cam wheel that rotates in synchronization with the clock train and controls the contact device to be in a closing operable state every minute;
, wherein the contact device is closed only when both the hour cam wheel and the one-minute cam wheel enable the contact device to close, and the electric warning device is activated. The time mechanism includes a seconds return/zero heart cam that rotates together with the second hand, and the watch plate, the one-minute cam wheel, and the seconds return/zero heart cam are each provided with alignment marks consisting of transparent holes, and each alignment mark is The second return zero heart cams are provided at positions that overlap each other in the zero return state, and in this overlapping position, the assembly position of the 1-minute cam wheel is determined so that the closing operation of the contact device by the 1-minute cam wheel is performed correctly at the correct second. The distinctive feature of the clock is the timing mechanism.