1. Related Applications
This application claims priority to Switzerland Application No. 2009/CH0088, filed Jan. 21, 2009, which is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference.
2. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a chronograph according to the independent claim. Advantageous embodiments arise from the subclaims.
3. Background of the Related Art
The relevant state of the art comprises in particular chronographs that have a rattrapante function. In this case, the rattrapante mechanism is mostly used for intermittently stopping the chronograph hand during the time measurement, whilst the measuring process is still running, and then to have it jump forwards to the total measured time. This is for instance the case in order to allow the elapsed time to that point (split time) to be read easily whilst the total elapsed time still continues being recorded.
Such a chronograph with only one rattrapante hand is known from DE4209580A1. In this known chronograph, after starting, the chronograph hand and the rattrapante hand can be stopped again together by activating a first actuator. It is also possible with a second actuator to stop only the rattrapante hand whilst the chronograph hand continues to run. This allows split times within a minute to be measured. When the second actuator is activated again, the rattrapante hand jumps to the position of the running chronograph hand and continues to run together with it, being ready for a renewed measuring of a split time. Measuring split times is possible as often as desired but the last measured split time is always lost. If one also wishes to stop the chronograph hand, the first actuator needs to be activated. There are thus two states of the standing hand. Either both hands are one above the other or each hand has its own position. This means that only two times are continuously visible through the position of the standing hands.
DE1673837 concerns a stopwatch provided with a rattrapante in which the rattrapante is borne by a pin passing through a tube and is supported by an elastically stressed hammer and a heart.
EP1584997 refers to a chronograph with a movement whose seconds' chronograph hand and, in a number especially of thirty steps per rotation, whose minutes' chronograph hand can be driven in rotation, with a control device for stopping the seconds' chronograph hand and the minutes' chronograph hand that has a trigger element for starting and stopping the seconds' chronograph hand and of the minutes' flyback hand.
EP1491972A1 pertains to a watch, in particular a wristwatch, with an analog time display that has at least a minutes' hand and an hours' hand. The watch is further provided with a rattrapante mechanism having at least a minutes' rattrapante hand and/or hours' rattrapante hand placed coaxially to the hands of the normal time display. In a normal mode of the watch, the rattrapante hand or hands are moved synchronously with the hands of the time display and in superposed position relative thereto, while in a time-measuring mode it/they can be halted to mark any point in time and be brought back afterwards with the hands of the normal time display to an superposed position relative thereto. The frictional coupling of the rattrapante mechanism is preferably arranged non-coaxially to the axis of the watch's motion train.
DE10135110A1 relates to a chronograph having a chronograph gear through which, when a first actuator is manually activated, a chronograph hand staff of a chronograph can be driven in rotation, and having also, coaxially to the chronograph hand staff, a rattrapante hand staff of a rattrapante hand that can be driven in superposed fashion with the chronograph hand. There is on the chronograph hand staff a seconds' heart for resetting the chronograph hand, the chronograph hand staff and the rattrapante hand staff being connected in locked-rotation to one another through a rattrapante heart cam with a frictional coupling. On the rattrapante hand staff, there is a rattrapante wheel that can be hugged by the gripper arms of a rattrapante gripper while under spring preload and whose rotation can be blocked through friction-locking or form-fitting. Furthermore, there is a switch element that is moved by manually activating a second actuator between a locked position and a released position and that allows the gripper arms to be moved removably from their rotation movement by the rattrapante hand.
One aim of the invention is to create a chronograph of the aforementioned kind that allows a differentiated measuring option than is possible with the chronographs known in the state of the art.
Another aim of the invention is to make visible the beginning and end of three events within a process simultaneously for one recording, so that when all three hands stand, three times are lastingly available for recording.
These aims are achieved according to the invention with an embodiment of a chronograph according to the preamble of the independent claim in that a second rattrapante hand is provided, which is connected frictionally with a second rattrapante hand staff arranged coaxially to the chronograph hand staff, wherein chronograph hands and the second rattrapante hand can be driven in movement synchronously in superimposed position and wherein the rotation of both rattrapante hand staffs can be blocked independently from one another in order to display two different lap times.
Because of the fact that on the chronograph hand staffs there are two coaxial rattrapante hand staffs, independent from one another, with one rattrapante hand each, both rattrapante hands after starting together can be stopped independently from one another and it is thus advantageously possible with the inventive chronograph to have two different lap times displayed. The present invention advantageously allows a dynamic tolerance measurement during which only the first rattrapante hand is stopped and it is seen whether an external event occurs within a time span that is being measured with the second rattrapante hand. All further events are measured within the tolerance between both rattrapante hands only with the chronograph hand. This advantageously increases the possibilities of using the inventive chronograph.
Advantageously, the chronograph hand staff is perforated and accommodates the first rattrapante staff. The second rattrapante hand staff is also perforated and accommodates the chronograph hand staff, so that both rattrapante staffs are arranged on both sides of a movement of the chronograph.
In order to keep the distances of the chronograph hand and of both rattrapante hands as low as possible, the normal motion train of the chronograph for the clock time is located outside the chronograph hand staffs.
On each of the rattrapante hand staffs, rattrapante wheels can also advantageously be placed that can be hugged by the dedicated gripper arms of both rattrapante grippers while under spring preload and whose rotation can be locked through friction-locking or form-fitting, where the respective gripper arms can be moved removably by the respective rattrapante wheel through manually activating an actuator and can be held by the gripper arms through a movable column wheel in a blocking position and in a final blocking position. Both rattrapante grippers can be placed on the movement side or on the dial side.
Further advantageous embodiments are indicated in the subclaims.
Examples of representations of the invention are given in the drawing and are more closely described hereinafter. The figures show:
The staff 3 and the first rattrapante staff 4 are connected to one another in locked-rotation with a frictional coupling through the first rattrapante heart cam 5 and the spring-loaded hammer 6 with its return-to-zero controller roll 7, so that both hands can be driven synchronously and superimposed over one another. In the outer radial area of the rattrapante wheel 8, the rattrapante hammer 6 is articulated by one of its extremities so that it can be pivoted around an axis parallel to the chronograph hand staff 3. This rattrapante hammer 6 can be pivoted in the same plane in which the rattrapante heart cam 5 is located. By means of a hammer spring, the free extremity of the rattrapante hammer 6 is forced into abutment, by way of a coupling surface, against the encircling lateral surface of the rattrapante heart cam 5. The hammer spring is fastened on one extremity to the fastening point 8a that is on the rattrapante wheel 8. In order to enhance comprehensibility, this fastening point is not represented exactly in
If the rattrapante wheel 8 can be rotated freely, then the rattrapante hammer 6 slides along the lateral surface of the rattrapante heart cam 5 until the lateral surface is positioned next to the chronograph hand staff 3 and, in this position, couples the rattrapante wheel 8 and chronograph hand staff 3 to one another in a force-fitting manner. When the chronograph hand staff 3 is driven in rotation, the rattrapante hand staff 4 is rotated along synchronously over the frictional coupling of the rattrapante hammer 6, so that the chronograph hand 24 and the first rattrapante hand 25 move together as if connected to one another.
If, as the chronograph hand staff 3 is being driven, the rattrapante wheel 8 is blocked, the rattrapante hammer 6 through tensioning of its hammer spring slides along the lateral surface of the rattrapante heart cam 5 by way of its roll, with the result that the first rattrapante hand 25 remains stationary, while the chronograph hand 24 continues turning. When the blocking of the rattrapante wheel 8 is eliminated, the rattrapante hammer 6 slides along the lateral surface of the rattrapante heart cam 5 until it is positioned next to the chronograph hand staff 3, in order then to continue rotating synchronously with the first chronograph hand staff 3.
In order to block the rotating movement of the rattrapante wheel 8, the latter is encompassed by the free ends of the gripper arms of an approximately u-shaped first rattrapante gripper 9, so that a form-fitting connection between the rattrapante wheel 8 and the gripper arms can be established. The rattrapante gripper 9 can be opened and closed by means of gripper arms on the other end independently with an actuating element by means of a combined switching and column wheel 10, working against a spring 11 that is tensed between both gripper arms. Said actuating element for actuating the combined switching and column wheel 10 at the outer edge of the watch's housing remains freely accessible to the user in order to trigger the corresponding stopwatch function of the first rattrapante hand 25 of the chronograph. When activating the actuating element a second time, the split time is cancelled and the first rattrapante hand 25 continues to run again with the chronograph center hand 24 through the mentioned mechanism.
The chronograph hand staff 3 according to the invention bears on the dial side a second rattrapante hand staff 19, on which a second rattrapante hand 23 is fastened on the dial side and a rattrapante wheel 18 is fastened on the dial side. The second rattrapante hand staff 19 itself is completely perforated and accomodates the chronograph hand staff 3. On the chronograph hand staff 3, a second rattrapante heart cam 15 is also affixed in locked-rotation and engages with the rattrapante wheel 18 over the hammer 16 with its return-to-zero controller roll 17 in a frictional coupling together. The mechanism of frictional coupling and uncoupling between both staffs 3, 19 corresponds to the mechanism described above for the first rattrapante staff 4. In the outer radial area of the rattrapante wheel 18, the rattrapante hammer 16 is articulated by one of its extremities so that it can be pivoted around an axis parallel to the chronograph hand staff 3. This rattrapante hammer 16 can be pivoted in the same plane in which the rattrapante heart cam 15 is located. By means of a tension spring, the free extremity of the rattrapante hammer 16 is forced into abutment, by way of a coupling surface, against the encircling lateral surface of the rattrapante heart cam 15. The hammer spring is fastened on one extremity to the fastening point 18a that is on the rattrapante wheel 18. In order to enhance comprehensibility, this fastening point is not represented exactly in
If the rattrapante wheel 18 can be rotated freely, then the rattrapante hammer 16 slides along the lateral surface of the rattrapante heart cam 15 until the lateral surface is positioned next to the chronograph hand staff 3 and, in this position, couples the rattrapante wheel 18 and chronograph hand staff 3 to one another in a force-fitting manner. When the chronograph hand staff 3 is driven in rotation, the second rattrapante hand staff 19 is rotated along synchronously over the frictional coupling of the rattrapante hammer 16, so that the chronograph hand 24 and the second rattrapante hand 23 move together as if connected to one another.
If, as the chronograph hand staff 3 is being driven, the rattrapante wheel 18 is blocked, the rattrapante hammer 16 through tensioning of its hammer spring slides along the lateral surface of the rattrapante heart cam 15 by way of its coupling surface, with the result that the second rattrapante hand 23 remains stationary, while the chronograph hand 24 continues turning. When the blocking of the rattrapante wheel 18 is eliminated, the rattrapante hammer 16 slides along the lateral surface of the rattrapante heart cam 15 until it is positioned next to the chronograph hand staff 3, in order then to continue rotating synchronously with the first chronograph hand staff 3.
In order to block the rotating movement of the rattrapante wheel 18, the latter is encompassed by the free ends of the gripper arms of an approximately u-shaped second rattrapante gripper 20, so that a form-fitting connection between the rattrapante wheel 18 and the gripper arms can be established. The rattrapante gripper 20 can be opened and closed by means of gripper arms on the other end independently with a second actuating element by means of a combined switching and column wheel 21, working against a spring 22 that is tensed between both gripper arms. Said second actuating element at the outer edge of the watch's housing also remains freely accessible to the user in order to trigger the corresponding stopwatch function of the second rattrapante hand 23 of the chronograph. When activating the second actuating element a second time, the split time is cancelled and the second rattrapante hand 23 continues to run again with the chronograph center hand 24.
Because of the fact that on the chronograph hand staff 3 there are two coaxial rattrapante hand staffs 4, 19, independent from one another, with one rattrapante hand 23, 25 each, both rattrapante hands 23, 25 after starting together can be stopped independently from one another and it is thus advantageously possible with the inventive chronograph to have two different lap times displayed.
The present invention advantageously also allows a dynamic tolerance measurement during which only the first rattrapante hand is stopped and it is seen whether an external event occurs within a time span that is being measured with the second rattrapante hand. All further events are measured within the tolerance between both rattrapante hands 23, 25 only with the chronograph hand 24. For this, the chronograph hand 24 is reset to zero whilst both rattrapante hands 23, 25 remain on the originally measured position. This advantageously increases the possibilities of using the inventive chronograph.
In
1 Chronograph center wheel
2 Heart-shaped return-to-zero controller
3 Chronograph hand staff
4 Rattrapante staff
5 Rattrapante heart cam
6 Hammer
7 Return-to-zero controller roll
8 Rattrapante wheel
8
a Fastening point
9 Rattrapante gripper
10 Column wheel
11 Spring
12 Blocking cam
13 Return-to-zero hammer
14 Movement
15 Rattrapante heart cam
16 Hammer
17 Return-to-zero controller roll
18 Rattrapante wheel
18
a Fastening point
19 Rattrapante staff
20 Rattrapante gripper
21 Column wheel
22 Spring
23 Rattrapante hand
24 Chronograph center hand
25 Rattrapante hand
26 Minutes' hand
27 Hours' hand
28 Switching wheel
29 Switching element
30 Spring
31 Detent spring
32 Actuating element
33 Chronograph
34 Dial
35 Display of the halting state of the rattrapante hand 23
36 Display of the halting state of the rattrapante hand 25
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
00088/09 | Jan 2009 | CH | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
253338 | Audemars | Feb 1882 | A |
394933 | Piquet | Dec 1888 | A |
426396 | Schlatter | Apr 1890 | A |
550182 | Lecoultre | Nov 1895 | A |
552715 | Lugrin | Jan 1896 | A |
5122995 | Vuilleumier | Jun 1992 | A |
6196713 | Meis et al. | Mar 2001 | B1 |
6842403 | Meis | Jan 2005 | B2 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
1673837 | Jan 1971 | DE |
4209580 | Sep 1993 | DE |
10135110 | Feb 2003 | DE |
1491972 | Dec 2004 | EP |
1584997 | Oct 2005 | EP |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20100182878 A1 | Jul 2010 | US |