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US 10,018,967 B2Granted
Magnetic and/or electrostatic pivot
AssigneeMontres Breguet S.A.
InventorsSylvain Marechal, Davide Sarchi, Olivier Karlen, Arnaud Todeschini
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AssigneeMontres Breguet S.A.
InventorsSylvain Marechal, Davide Sarchi, Olivier Karlen, Arnaud Todeschini
Estimating the term…
A method for orienting a timepiece component including ferromagnetic material, where, on both ends of this component, two magnetic fields each attract it onto a pole piece, with an unbalance in the intensity of these fields around this component, in order to create a differential in the forces thereon and to press one of these ends onto a contact surface of one of the pole pieces, and to hold the other end at a distance from the other pole piece. A magnetic pivot includes such a component with two ends. It includes a guide device with surfaces of two pole pieces each generating a magnetic field attracting one of these ends, the magnetic forces exerted on the two ends being of different intensity, in order to attract only one end into contact with only one of these pole piece surfaces.
A method for orienting a timepiece component to guide the pivoting of said component, the component including a shaft-like portion which includes at least two areas made of a ferromagnetic material and arranged in a direction of a longitudinal axis, wherein said two areas made of ferromagnetic material are positioned at a first end and a second end of said shaft-like portion according to said longitudinal axis, and, on both sides of said first and second ends, on a first and a second pole piece, respectively, a first and a second magnetic field, respectively are created, in the same direction and in opposite senses, each tending to attract said component onto said respective pole piece, and an unbalance is created between said first and second magnetic fields around said component, so as to create a differential in the forces thereon in order to press one of said ends of said component onto a contact surface of one of said pole pieces and to hold the other of said ends at a distance from a contact surface of the other pole piece, said unbalance between said magnetic fields being created around an air gap formed by a space comprised between said contact surfaces, and wherein said magnetic fields are asymmetrical relative to each other.
A device for guiding pivoting of a timepiece component, said component including a shaft-like portion which includes at least two areas made of a ferromagnetic material and arranged in a direction of a longitudinal axis, said two areas made of ferromagnetic material are positioned at a first end and a second end of said shaft-like portion according to said longitudinal axis, wherein said device includes, at a greater air-gap distance, by the value of a determined operational play, than the distance between said first end and said second end, a first surface of a first pole piece and a second surface of a second pole piece, wherein said poles pieces are each arranged to generate a magnetic field attracting one of said first end or said second end of said component, such that the magnetic attraction forces being exerted on said component at the two ends thereof are of different intensity, so as to attract said component via only one of said two ends thereof, into direct or indirect contact on only one of said surfaces of said pole pieces, said different intensity between said magnetic fields being created around said air gap formed by a space comprised between said contact surfaces, and wherein said magnetic fields are asymmetrical relative to each other.
A magnetic pivot including a timepiece component made of material which is, or at least partially magnetically permeable with a magnetic relative permeability comprised between 100 and 10,000, or at least partially magnetic and able to be magnetized so as to have a remanent field comprised between 0.1 and 1.5 Tesla, wherein said component includes a shaft-like portion which includes at least two areas made of a ferromagnetic material and arranged in a direction of a longitudinal axis of said component, and said two areas made of ferromagnetic material are positioned at a first end and at a second end of said shaft-like portion according to said longitudinal axis, and said magnetic pivot includes a device for guiding the pivoting of said timepiece component, said device including, at a greater air-gap distance, by the value of a determined operational play, than the distance between said first end and said second end, a first surface of a first pole piece and a second surface of a second pole piece, wherein said poles pieces are each arranged to generate a magnetic field attracting one of said first or second ends of said component, such that the magnetic attraction forces being exerted on said component at the two ends thereof are of different intensity, so as to attract said component via only one of the said two ends thereof, into direct or indirect contact on only one of said surfaces of said pole pieces, and wherein said different intensity between said magnetic fields is created around said air gap formed by a space comprised between said contact surfaces, and wherein said magnetic fields are asymmetrical to each other.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.