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US 3,972,179 AGranted
Changeable display device
OwnerPierre Bodetinventor
Life of this patent
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OwnerPierre Bodetinventor
Estimating the term…
Automatic indicia changer, such as a clock-calendar for displaying months, days of the month, days of the week, hours and minutes, comprises a plurality of series of plates bearing the various indicia, each series being rotatable about its axis under the influence of a ratchet wheel that is moved stepwise by a dog, each step changing the indicia one increment. The dog is swung by a lever which in turn is swung by a rotary cam. The first series of indicia is driven by a motor; while the first series drives the second and the second drives the third, and so on. Thanks to the ratchet wheel and pawl drive, each series of indicia can be manually adjusted without interrupting the automatic drive. Manual adjustment may be effected either rapidly, by turning the ratchet wheel with an external knob, or stepwise by pressing with the finger on a protrusion on the associated swingable lever.
A horological instrument that displays a plurality of time units of different lengths, comprising a plurality of modules each adapted to display a different one of said time intervals, motor means for automatically driving a first of said modules, means for driving the other said modules each from another module, each said module comprising a drive shaft individual to said module, a plurality of said drive shafts of different said modules being spaced apart and parallel to each other, a chassis supporting said modules, and a knob on each of said plurality of shafts of said other modules, said knobs being disposed outside said chassis and being rotatable by the fingers of an operator thereby manually selectively to adjust the display of each of said other modules associated with one of said plurality of shafts without interrupting said automatic drive and without changing the display of the other said modules.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.