Patent Grant
10675910
This application claims priority to European Patent Application No. 17210337.6 filed on Dec. 22, 2017, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a timepiece display device including at least one roller pivoting about an axis. The invention also concerns a writing instrument including at least one such display device.
The invention concerns the field of timepiece display devices, especially for watches and writing instruments.
Generally speaking, timepiece displays are rarely made using rollers since indications in this form have a relatively high thickness due to the diameter of the roller, comprising, for example, up to 31 indications for the days of the month, 12 or 24 indications for the hours, or even 60 indications for the minutes. This type of embodiment is even more difficult in the case of a writing instrument such as a pen where the available space is limited.
There is known from WO Patent No 2014174364 a writing instrument comprising a tubular gripping body inside which there is a housing for receiving a reserve of ink, a writing nib at one end of the tubular body being able to be connected to a reserve of ink arranged inside the housing, and a timepiece mechanism housed inside the tubular gripping body.
However, such a timepiece mechanism remains cumbersome inside the writing instrument because of its tiered design. This design has several drawbacks: on the one hand this limits the available display surface, and, on the other hand, this reduces the available reserve of ink since the mechanism extends upwardly.
It is an object of the invention to overcome the various drawbacks of these known techniques.
More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide a compact mechanism wherein the movement components are in the same plane.
It is also an object of the invention, at least in a particular embodiment, to provide a display device offering an easily visible display surface.
These objects, in addition to others which will appear more clearly hereinafter, are achieved by the invention by means of a device for displaying at least one time-related magnitude, the display device including a timepiece movement comprising at least one time base and at least one energy source which extend in a first same plane, and at least one roller pivotably mounted about an axis of rotation A and which extends in a second plane parallel to the first plane, the at least one roller comprising a display strip disposed on an outer periphery and on which at least one indication of the time-related magnitude is inscribed, the timepiece movement driving the at least one roller in rotation about axis A via drive means which extend in the same second plane as the at least one roller, the at least one roller and the timepiece movement being centred on axis A.
According to other advantageous variants of the invention:
The invention also concerns a writing instrument including a display device according to the invention, the mechanism being housed at one end of the pen or inside the body of the writing instrument.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will appear more clearly from the following detailed description of an example embodiment of a device for displaying time according to the invention, this example being given solely by way of non-limiting illustration with reference to the annexed drawings, in which:
The invention is illustrated in the Figures, in a non-limiting manner, with a timepiece display device including two rollers respectively displaying an item of information relating to the current time and an item of information relating to the date.
In the following description, the device includes, by way of non-limiting illustration, two rollers. Those skilled in the art could adapt the invention to a single roller or to more than two rollers without any particular difficulty.
Thus, the invention concerns a device 1 for displaying at least one time-related magnitude, the magnitude may be the current time for example, namely the hours and minutes; the seconds can also be added, and the date can also be displayed.
More specifically, display device 1 includes a timepiece movement 100 including at least one time base and at least one energy source which extend in a first same plane, and at least one roller 2, 3, pivotably mounted about an axis of rotation A and which extends hr a second plane parallel to the first plane, the at least one roller 2, 3 comprising a display strip 20, 30 arranged on an outer periphery and on which at least one indication of the time related magnitude is inscribed, The timepiece movement 100 driving in rotation the at least one roller 2, 3 about axis A via drive means 4, 5 which extend in the same second plane as the at least one roller 2, 3, the at least one roller 2, 3 and timepiece movement 100 being centred on axis A.
In a conventional manner, the timepiece movement includes a drive member such as a barrel, transmission means in the form of a train, energy distribution means such as an escapement, regulating means such as a balance/balance spring and display means. The movement can also include manual or automatic winding means.
According to the invention, the aforecited components forming movement 100 are mounted on a same plane, and on a same bar which is arranged to carry the components.
The Figures illustrate in a non-limiting manner a device 1 comprising a first roller 2 and a second roller 3, each roller comprising a display strip 20, 30 arranged on a circumference of the roller and in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the roller.
Advantageously, rollers 2 and 3 are concentric to movement 100, i.e. axis of rotation A passes through their respective centre, and the display strip of rollers 2, 3 is perpendicular to the plane formed by movement 100. Display strip 20 of the first roller is arranged to receive current time indications and display strip 30 of the second roller is arranged to receive date indications; the information can take the form of Roman or Arabic numerals for example.
As can be observed in
Advantageously, each support member 41, 51 includes a movable peripheral portion 410, 510 integral with the roller and a fixed central portion 411, 511, a ball or roller bearing which can be placed between the movable portion and the fixed portion in order to limit friction and facilitate the movement of roller 2, 3.
As represented in the Figures, the device includes a frame 10 about which first and second rollers 2 and 3 rotate. As illustrated, frame 10 is surmounted by a case 11 of cylindrical shape and is arranged to receive movement 100, case 11 being integral with the frame and including a through hole for transmission from the movement to rollers 2, 3.
As can be observed in the Figures, frame 10 includes at least one bar at each of its ends, namely a first bar, called upper bar 12 and a second bar, called lower bar 13, upper bar 12 and lower bar 13 also being centred on axis of rotation A. According to a particular aspect of the invention, upper bar 12 forms a one-piece element with case 11, upper bar 12 being directly machined at the base of case 11. Evidently, those skilled in the art could also envisage two distinct elements that are subsequently assembled to each other, but the fact that upper bar 12 is machined directly in the case allows, amongst other things, savings of material and easier and quicker assembly.
Thus, first roller 2 pivots about upper bar 12, and second roller 3 pivots about lower bar 13, each roller 2, 3 respectively comprising first and second drive means 4, 5 for pivoting about axis of rotation A.
Further, the device includes an intermediate bar 14 which is fixedly mounted, arranged between first roller 2 and second roller 3, and arranged to be visible between the two rollers. Advantageously, intermediate bar 14 has, on its periphery, an indicator 15 allowing the time and/or date to be read.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, intermediate bar 14 carries frame 10.
As can be observed in
Second drive means 5 include a second toothed ring 50, mounted on support member 51, and more specifically on movable peripheral portion 510, second toothed ring 50 being thus integral with second roller 3, coplanar with roller 3 and also pivoting about axis of rotation A.
Toothed rings 40, 50 can be removably mounted on support member 41, 51 respectively, by means of screws for example. It is also possible to envisage permanently fixing the toothed ring on support member 41, 51, by means of a weld for example.
Thus, first toothed ring. 40 is driven by an output arbor 42 movement 100 under the upper bar, the arbor 42 comprising a pinion 43 arranged to meth with a toothed wheel 44 which drives toothed ring 40 at the rate of one revolution in 12 or 24 hours in the case where first roller 3 is arranged to display the current time. This gear kinematics is shown in
Second toothed ring 50 is driven by means of an arbor 52, integral with toothed wheel 44 via one of its ends, arbor 52 passing through central portion 411 of support member 41 and intermediate bar 14 through an orifice provided for this purpose and including a second pinion 53 mounted at its free end. This second pinion 53 is thus housed inside intermediate bar 14 and is arranged to mesh with a date wheel 54 driving second toothed wheel 50.
As can be observed in
As illustrated, lower bar 13 is surmounted in succession by second roller 3, intermediate bar 14, first roller 2 and case 11, with frame 10 acting as central support member for these elements, and lower bar 13, intermediate bar 14, case 11 and fixed central portions 411, 511 being removably secured thereto.
According to the preferred embodiment illustrated in
To secure the assembly, frame 10 is fixed to case 11 on one hand, and to fixed central portion 511 on the other, by its lower and upper ends by means of screws. Lower bar 13 is fixed to fixed central portion 511 once crystal 6 is set in place.
The different variants of the invention allow roller displays to be made for all sorts of indications inside the reduced volume of a writing instrument or of a watch of normal dimensions.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17210337 | Dec 2017 | EP | regional |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2748560 | Clark | Jun 1956 | A |
| 3574995 | Turner | Apr 1971 | A |
| 3690063 | Strachan | Sep 1972 | A |
| 3807167 | Chappatte | Apr 1974 | A |
| 3898792 | Insley | Aug 1975 | A |
| 3903687 | Marquis | Sep 1975 | A |
| 4192136 | Robinson | Mar 1980 | A |
| 4568197 | Lam | Feb 1986 | A |
| 7946757 | Buttet | May 2011 | B2 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 155 514 | Jun 1932 | CH |
| 1411453 | Oct 1975 | GB |
| 2 135 481 | Aug 1984 | GB |
| Entry |
|---|
| European Search Report dated Jun. 6, 2018 in European Application 17210337.6, filed on Dec. 22, 2017 (with English Translation of Categories of Cited Documents). |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20190193456 A1 | Jun 2019 | US |
