Method of making a timepiece spring from monocrystalline material and timepiece spring obtained by this method
AssigneePatek Philippe SA Geneve
InventorJean-Luc Bucaille
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed is a method of making a timepiece spring from monocrystalline material including the following steps: drawing the spring; identifying one or more zones of weakness of the spring in which or in at least one of which the spring will break in the event of excessive deformation; manufacturing the spring from a wafer of monocrystalline material extending in a determined plane, while orienting the spring in the wafer such that the direction of the macroscopic stresses in the or each zone of weakness when the spring is deformed is substantially parallel to a plane of cleavage of the material intersecting the determined plane. Also disclosed is a timepiece spring obtained by such a method.
Claims20
A method of making a timepiece spring from monocrystalline material comprising the following steps:
- a) drawing the spring,
- b) identifying one or more zones of weakness of the spring in which or in at least one of which the spring will break in the event of excessive deformation,
- c) fabricating the spring from a wafer of monocrystalline material, while orienting the spring in the wafer in such a way that the direction of macroscopic stresses in the or each zone of weakness when the spring is deformed is substantially parallel to a plane of cleavage of the monocrystalline material, the plane of cleavage intersecting a plane in which the wafer extends.
A timepiece spring made of monocrystalline material, wherein the timepiece spring is elastically deformable in a deformation plane and comprises one or more zones of weakness in which or in at least one of which the spring breaks in the event of excessive deformation, and wherein the direction of macroscopic stresses in the or each zone of weakness when the spring is deformed is substantially parallel to a plane of cleavage of the monocrystalline material, the plane of cleavage intersecting the deformation plane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.