Of late years, the ingenuity of watch-makers has been much exercised in the winding up of watches, without the employment of detached keys ; but from the difficulty of applying such an improvement to watches having fusees, their efforts have been solely directed to the winding up of those having going barrels ; and various contrivances have been proposed and adapted to the latter for that purpose. Mr. Berollas, whose patent detached alarum watch we have just been describing, has, however, overcome all the obstacles which the sub ject opposed to him, and has contrived the means of winding up watches of both construction without keys, by a contrivance exhibiting great simplicity as well as ingenuity. For this invention he has taken out a patent, and from the specification of it we make the following extracts; which, together with the annexed engraved figures, will give the reader a full insight into the arrange ment and the mode of constructing this useful improvement. " The first mover, or power, in most borological works, is obtained either by the action of a weight or spring. In pocket watches, the power is obtained by a spring called the main spring, which is enclosed in a box called the barrel. Now there are two distinct ways of applying the power of this main spring to the first wheel of a watch ; one of them consists in the intervention or agency of a fusee, which is put upon the first wheel ; in the other, the first wheel is put upon the barrel itself that contains the spring, which arrangement is distinguished from that having a fusee by the term ' going-barrel.' Watches having going-barrels are wound up by turning round the barrel arbors; and watches having fumes, by the fusee arbors. My invention consists in a new mechanical arrange ment, applicable to the winding up of horological works. First, as respects what is termed a going-barrel, the following are the contrivances that I have invented as applicable thereto : Fog. I represents a watch with a going barrel, to which my invention is applied ; in which figure a part of the dial plate is represented as broken away, for showing the novel parts, the operation of which will be understood by first describing the separate figures, 2, 3, 4, 5. 6, 7, 8, all the same letters of reference refer to similar parts. Fig. 2 is the barrel ratchet with its click and spring, which keeps the maintaining power up ; this ratchet is put on the barrel arbor, which is squared, and the plate is sunk in which it lays—it is on the side of that part of the plate under the dial ; this barrel ratchet is sunk or turned out as far as the teeth to receive another ratchet with its click and spring, shown at a, Fig. 3, which I call the recoiling ratchet. This recoiling ratchet is fastened on to the barrel pulley 6; the upper aide of this barrel pulley is sunk to receive a spring, shown in Figs. 1 and 5, which is the, recoiling spring ; on the edge of the barrel pulley there is a groove to receive a chain d, shown at Figs. 1 and 8, which is hooked on a pin in the said groove. 149.7 gives a perspective view of the stud width keeps the barrel pulley steady and close to the barrel ratchet ; the centre of this stud is round, and the centre of the recoiling spring is hooked on to it; the other end of the recoiling spring is hooked on the barrel pulley. Figs. I and 8 show the impendent, made of the same metal as the case ; it turns freely on a piece of steel g, FFg. 8 ; this steel arbor has a small knob on one side, A, shown at Figs. 1 and 8, to prevent the impendent from slipping off; on the other end it is split to receive the end of the chain which is pinned on ; the pendent of the case is perforated, through which the chain passes. I shall next describe the manner it is to operate, and how it is to be put on the wind ing up arbor. When the barrel ratchet before mentioned is put on the square arbor, the recoiling spring is put on the barrel pulley, and placed over the barrel ratchet, so as to act on its click ; the chain, which is no longer than to produce one revolution of the pulley, is put through the pendent, and hooked on to the pulley : the stud is then hooked on to the recoiling spring; by this stud the recoiling spring is set up one turn, more or less, and the stud is screwed on the plate. To wind up the watch, the impendent is drawn from the pendent as far as the chain will permit it ; the recoiling spring will bring the impendent back again to the pendent ; and this operation is repeated till the impendent remains on the pendent, and cannot be more drawn from it, which indicates that the main spring is wound up. When the works are to be wound up by a fusee arbor, the ratchet, which keeps the maintaining power, is on the fusee itself; the fusee arbor, squared, is on the same side of the plate as the going barrel under the dial. The recoiling ratchet, Fig. 4, is put on the fusee arbor; its click and spring are on the barrel pulley, Fig. 6. Here it is to be observed, that when any works are to be wound up by a fusee, the fusee with the first wheel and its arbor returns back again, winch is not the case with a going barrel. h is the relieving click, which has a double action ; first, it acts as the
recoiling click, by its action in the ratchet ; secondly, it acts as a reliever of the said click ; it is planted on the under side of the barrel pulley, Fig. 6, with its spring, and must be made in the form shown in the drawing. That part which is near the edge of the barrel pulley has a small pin, which pin goes through an aperture of the barrel pulley into the groove where the chain lies. When the works are wound up, the impendent rests upon the pendent, and the chain lays round the pulley, which is the same as with the going-barrel. The pin of the relieving click, which goes into the groove of the barrel pulley, receives a pres sure from the chain ; it brings the click part out of the ratchet, and gives free action to the ratchet on the fusee arbor to return back again without any drag or incumbrance of the click. 1, Rg. 1, is the finger touch : it is made of gold, or some metal which will not rust. By referring to the drawing, it will be seen that it is a kind of cup with a milled edge, and the minute-hand is fastened to it : when the hands are to be set, a slight pressure with the end of the fore finger is required to turn the hands. In case it is desired to have a watch or clock wound up in one pull, the multiplying of the turns of the chain round the barrel pulley will have that effect.
The engraving on the next page exhibits a simple but very ingenious contri vance, termed by the inventor, (Mr. Knight, of Birmingham,) the " Patent Duty Register," which is designed to operate as a check upon public watchmen, and to ensure vigilance upon their part, by causing them to register the time at which they go their rounds, in a manner that will admit of no deception. Its uses, however, are not limited to this purpose, as it is equally serviceable as a check upon servants in general, and as a conviction of the correct informa tion which it will infallibly afford to employers, it has a tendency to ensure punctuality on the part of those from whom it may be required. The train of wheel-work in Mr. Knight's machine being similar to those in ordinary clocks, the invention must be regarded as an addition or appendage, which is capable of being applied to clocks already made, as well as to those which are manu factured purposely to receive the new combination. The only essential variation consists in causing the circular dial-plate, which is usually fixed, to revolve, and the hand or index, which usually revolves, to be fixed. This stationary index is placed at the top of the circle, and the hours, as they successively come under it, denote present time. This index forms part of a banded lever, the fulcrum of which is in the interior or back of the clock, and the other extremity of it is attached to a bell wire, with suitable cranks to carry the line of com munication to the required place, where a handle is connected to it for the individual who is upon duty or guard, to pull at stated times; this operation raises the power end of the lever, and depresses the index, which makes a mark upon a temporary scale of hours fixed to the dial-plate, and indicates the precise time at which each mark was made. As the lever has only one centre of motion, it follows that the index, which forms a part of it, moves in the arc of a circle, and consequently would only strike upon a point; but to enable it to make a line, there is a springjoint where the lever is bent to a right angle, which allows the extremity of the index to move in a right line over the plate. The clock face has two concentric circles of hours, the outer permament and of a full size, the inner temporary, and of small dimensions. The latter is an engraved print, the divisions upon which correspond radially with those on the outer circle, and it is intended that a fresh card should be put on the dial-plate every day ; it is contrived so as to enable them to be put on with accuracy and expedition ; the card taken off forming a register of the duty performed. a is the revoking metal dial-plate ; b the revolving card; c an ornamental metal shield, to confine the card down to the plate, which is fixed to it by means of a thumb screw d ; I is the marker, formed of a little shwheel, revolving in a cleft at the extremity of the index, like a spur teeth ; at f is the spring joint of the lever, before mentioned, forming the upper extremity of the lever. On depressing the lever, the end f takes the position of e, while c descends on the card dial and makes the mark. In our drawing, the time expressed is two o'clock ; and if the handle be pulled, the index will descend from the position represented, and make the line drawn between the II, marked r; there are two other lines made upon the drawing, also marked a, which are iigended merely as examples to show that such marks were made at the time expressed by the person on duty. The projection of the index in front of the dial is exhibited by the projection of its shadow thereon.