US 12,405,577 B2Granted

Sound-generating timepiece

AssigneePatek Philippe SA Geneve

InventorsQuentin Benoist, Sylvain Geiser, Eric Le Gall, Alessandro Vandini

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Abstract

Disclosed is a mechanical wristwatch including a case having a middle, a back cover and a bezel, a vibration-generating device for generating vibrations which are intended to produce at least one sound, which is accommodated in the case, a vibration-amplifying for amplifying the vibrations generated by the vibration-generating device, and a membrane arranged to receive the amplified vibrations and generate a sound from the inside to the outside of the wristwatch. The vibration-generating device is a rotary element having a reading surface including at least one groove arranged to generate sounds. The wristwatch also includes a unit for rotationally driving the rotary element, an actuator for such unit, and a transmission member arranged to cooperate with the rotary element to transmit, to the vibration-amplifying device, the vibrations generated by the groove during rotational movement of the rotary element.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A mechanical wristwatch comprising a case having a middle, a back cover and a bezel, a vibration-generating device for generating vibrations which are intended to produce at least one sound, which is accommodated in said case, a vibration-amplifying device for amplifying the vibrations generated by said vibration-generating device, and a membrane arranged to receive said amplified vibrations and generate a sound from the inside to the outside of the wristwatch, wherein the vibration-generating device is a rotary element having a reading surface comprising at least one groove extending over the reading surface of the rotary element, said at least one groove being arranged to generate sounds, and wherein the wristwatch comprises means for rotationally driving the rotary element, means for actuating said means for rotationally driving the rotary element, and a transmission member arranged to cooperate with the rotary element to transmit, to the vibration-amplifying device, the vibrations generated by the groove during rotational movement of said rotary element,

wherein the transmission member and the rotary element are arranged to be mobile with respect to each other such that the transmission member moves over at least part of the reading surface of the rotary element when said rotary element performs more than one rotation, and wherein the vibration-amplifying device comprises a lever pivotally mounted on a support in a pivoting plane non-parallel to the plane of the membrane and arranged to be actuated by the transmission member to transmit the vibrations to said lever, said lever likewise being integral with the membrane at least translationally in the pivoting plane such that a movement of the transmission member, generated by the vibration of said transmission member linked to the rotary element and transmitted to the membrane by way of the lever actuated by said transmission member, generates an amplified movement of said membrane by a mechanical lever arm effect, so as to generate an amplified sound.

A mechanical timepiece comprising a case having a middle, a back cover and a bezel, a vibration-generating device for generating vibrations which are intended to produce at least one sound, which is accommodated in said case, a vibration-amplifying device for amplifying the vibrations generated by said vibration-generating device, and a membrane arranged to receive said amplified vibrations and generate a sound from the inside to the outside of the timepiece, wherein the vibration-generating device is a rotary element having a reading surface comprising at least one groove arranged to generate sounds and extending over said reading surface, and wherein the timepiece comprises means for rotationally driving the rotary element, means for actuating said means for rotationally driving the rotary element, and a transmission member arranged to cooperate with the rotary element to transmit, to the vibration-amplifying device, the vibrations generated by the grooves during rotation of said rotary element, the transmission member and the rotary element being arranged to be mobile with respect to each other such that the transmission member moves over at least part of the reading surface of the rotary element when said rotary element performs more than one rotation, and

wherein the vibration-amplifying device comprises a lever pivotally mounted on a support in a pivoting plane non-parallel to the plane of the membrane and arranged to be actuated by the transmission member to transmit the vibrations to said lever, said lever likewise being integral with the membrane at least translationally in the pivoting plane such that a movement of the transmission member, generated by the vibration of said transmission member linked to the rotary element and transmitted to the membrane by way of the lever actuated by said transmission member, generates an amplified movement of said membrane by a mechanical lever arm effect, so as to generate an amplified sound.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 17/771,740Filed 23 Oct 2020
Priority: EP 1920544125 Oct 2019
Published: US 2022/0382218 A11 Dec 2022
Granted: 2 Sep 2025
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

G04B 21/12
Regular striking mechanisms giving the full hour, half hour or quarter hour: reiterating watches or clocks
G04B 23/12
Alarm clocks: alarm watches to be worn in pockets or on the wrist
G04B 21/08
Regular striking mechanisms giving the full hour, half hour or quarter hour: sounding bodies; Whistles; Musical apparatus
G04B 23/028
Alarm clocks: sounding bodies; boxes used as sounding cases; fixation on or in the case