Horology: time measuring systems or devices – With calendar indicator
Patent
1983-08-16
1985-09-10
Miska, Vit W.
Horology: time measuring systems or devices
With calendar indicator
368 34, 368187, G04B 1924
Patent
active
045402914
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to horology modules comprising a display of the time by analogical means and in particular by means of hour and minute hands which are respectively borne by an hour wheel and a cannon-pinion, these two rotary parts being mounted coaxially at the center of the module.
At the present time, horology modules of this kind are in general driven by a stepping motor receiving its power from a battery, and the time standard is constituted by an electronic device such as a quartz oscillating circuit and a frequency divider. When it is desired to incorporate a means of displaying the date into a module of this kind, recourse is had in most cases to a display part of the type which has already been utilized in mechanical watches, i.e., a date ring disposed under the dial, and the indications of which appear in an aperture contrived in the dial. This date ring is driven by a jumping mechanism which winds itself little by little during the hours preceding midnight, so that the stepping motor which actuates the wheel-train encounters a greater resistance during these hours than during the greater part of the hours of the day. This circumstance exerts quite a considerable influence on the construction of the motor as well as on the general consumption of the power and the life of the batteries. To remedy this drawback it has already been proposed, especially in French patent application No. 24 88 703, to provide in the module for a second motor which receives pulses once per day and which causes the date ring to advance by one step around midnight. The control of this second motor results from a counting operation which must be effected in the electronic circuit controlled by the quartz time standard, so that it is necessary to see to it that the synchronization between the position of the hands and the position of the date ring is maintained.
In certain executions the mentioned difficulty is also remedied by providing for a display of the date by means of an electro-optical cell of which the inertia is nil, which is controlled directly by the electronic circuit without passing through a motor and which consequently avoids any momentary overload on the stepping motor driving the hour and minute hands. However, in this case also, it is necessary to see to it that the synchronisation between the counting effected by the electronic circuit and the position of the hands is maintained.
The present invention has as its object to furnish another solution to the problem evoked above, this other solution having the advantage of avoiding any risk of desynchronization between the display of the date and the display of the time.
To this end, the present invention has as its subject a horology module having an electronic circuit, a device for diplaying the time, namely, an hour wheel, and a calendar device having an electronically controlled display mechanism. The module further has a movable contact element rotationally driven by the hour wheel and capable, on each revolution, of establishing a connection with a terminal connected to the electronic control circuit. The electronic control circuit is arranged so as to be controlled by the establishment of this connection.
A first embodiment of the horology module according to the invention was conceived within the framework of a chronograph-watch, while other embodiments applied to modules of standard watches derive directly from the first embodiment.
There are therefore going to be described below, by way of example, three embodiments of the subject of the invention, with reference to the appended drawings, of which
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the first embodiment,
FIG. 2 a top plan view of a horology module which constitutes the second embodiment of the invention,
FIG. 3 is a sectional view along the line III.III of FIG. 2, and
FIG. 4 a view analogous to FIG. 2, showing the third embodiment of the subject of the invention.
It is not necessary to describe the first embodiment in all its details as many of them are background which is well known to one of
REFERENCES:
patent: 4232510 (1980-11-01), Tamaru et al.
patent: 4254490 (1981-03-01), Ganter
patent: 4276628 (1981-06-01), Nomura
patent: 4320476 (1982-03-01), Berney
patent: 4376991 (1983-03-01), Piaget
Miska Vit W.
Nouvelle Lemania S.A.
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