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US 9,310,771 B2Granted
Pallet lever mechanism for timepiece escapement
AssigneeNivarox-FAR S.A.
InventorsMarc Stranczl, Thierry Hessler
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A pallet lever mechanism for an escapement mechanism including a structure carrying a balance and an escape wheel, the pallet lever including pallet stones cooperating with the escape wheel, and a flexible, multistable element, and the pallet lever cooperates with the balance with horns of a first portion of the pallet lever connected by one such flexible element to the structure or to a second portion of the pallet lever carrying the pallet stones connected by one such flexible element to the fixed structure or to the first portion. One flexible element includes a prestressed beam buckled in an S or Z shape, the pallet lever mechanism including a pivot forcing the beam to have a node at the middle thereof.
Claims20
A pallet lever mechanism for an escape mechanism, comprising:
- at least one fixed structure carrying a balance and an escape wheel cooperating with each other, the pallet lever mechanism configured to limit or to transmit angular travel of the balance and/or of the escape wheel, the pallet lever mechanism including pallet stones cooperating with the escape wheel, and at least one flexible, multistable element,
- wherein cooperation of the pallet lever with the balance is achieved by horns of a first portion of the pallet lever mechanism, the first portion being connected by the at least one flexible element to a second portion of the pallet lever mechanism carrying the pallet stones, the at least one flexible element including at least one prestressed beam buckled in a mode wherein the beam adopts an S or Z shape, and the pallet lever mechanism including a pivot forcing the beam to have a node at the middle thereof, and
- wherein interaction between the horns and the balance, and/or the pallet stones and the escape wheel, is achieved with no contact or with attenuated contact, and wherein first surfaces of the horns and/or of the pallet stones are magnetized or electrized to cooperate in repulsion with opposing second surfaces of the balance and/or respectively of the escape wheel, which are made of suitable material and/or are magnetized or respectively electrized in a complementary manner.
A pallet lever mechanism for an escapement mechanism comprising:
- at least one fixed structure carrying a balance and an escape wheel cooperating with each other, the pallet lever mechanism configured to limit or to transmit angular travel of the balance and/or of the escape wheel, the pallet lever mechanism including pallet stones cooperating with the escape wheel, and at least one flexible, multistable element,
- wherein cooperation of the pallet lever mechanism with the balance is achieved by horns of a first portion of the pallet lever mechanism, the first portion being connected by the at least one flexible element to a second portion of the pallet lever mechanism carrying the pallet stones, the at least one flexible element including at least one prestressed beam buckled in a mode wherein the beam adopts an S or Z shape, and the pallet lever mechanism including a pivot forcing the beam to have a node at the middle thereof, and
- wherein the at least one flexible element is mounted prestressed and buckled in relation to the structure.
A pallet lever mechanism for an escapement mechanism comprising:
- at least one fixed structure carrying a balance and an escape wheel cooperating with each other, the pallet lever mechanism configured to limit or to transmit angular travel of the balance and/or of the escape wheel, the pallet lever mechanism including pallet stones cooperating with the escape wheel, and at least one flexible, multistable element, and
- wherein cooperation of the pallet lever mechanism with the balance is achieved by horns of a first portion of the pallet lever mechanism, the first portion being connected by the at least one flexible element to a second portion of the pallet lever mechanism carrying the pallet stones, the at least one flexible element including at least one prestressed beam buckled in a mode wherein the beam adopts an S or Z shape, and the pallet lever mechanism including a pivot forcing the beam to have a node at the middle thereof, and
- wherein the at least one element includes two prestressed buckled beams, and a third beam fixed to the structure forces the beam formed of the two beams to deform in the second mode, and wherein the third beam forms the pivot.
A pallet lever mechanism for an escapement mechanism comprising:
- at least one fixed structure carrying a balance and an escape wheel cooperating with each other, the pallet lever mechanism configured to limit or to transmit angular travel of the balance and/or of the escape wheel, the pallet lever mechanism including pallet stones cooperating with the escape wheel, and at least one flexible, multistable element,
- wherein cooperation of the pallet lever mechanism with the balance is achieved by horns of a first portion of the pallet lever mechanism, the first portion being connected by the at least one the flexible element to a second portion of the pallet lever mechanism carrying the pallet stones, the at least one flexible element including at least one prestressed beam buckled in a mode wherein the beam adopts an S or Z shape, and the pallet lever mechanism including a pivot forcing the beam to have a node at the middle thereof, and
- wherein the at least one flexible element is made of silicon, and includes a parallel structure including a set of parallel beams which are oxidized and ensure bending and buckling of a flexible element to be prestressed formed by at least one the beam, buckling resistance of the parallel structure being greater than that of the flexible element to be prestressed.
A pallet lever mechanism for an escapement mechanism comprising:
- at least one fixed structure carrying a balance and an escape wheel cooperating with each other, the pallet lever mechanism configured to limit or to transmit angular travel of the balance and/or of the escape wheel, the pallet lever mechanism including pallet stones cooperating with the escape wheel, and at least one flexible, multistable element,
- wherein cooperation of the pallet lever mechanism with the balance is achieved by horns of a first portion of the pallet lever mechanism, the first portion being connected by the at least one flexible element to a second portion of the pallet lever mechanism carrying the pallet stones, the at least one flexible element including at least one prestressed beam buckled in a mode wherein the beam adopts an S or Z shape, and the pallet lever mechanism including a pivot forcing the beam to have a node at the middle thereof, and
- wherein a structure of the first portion and/or of the second portion of the pallet lever mechanism includes a central single crystal quartz core, which is coated on the upper and lower surfaces thereof with a deposition having a coefficient α lower than the coefficient αx,y of quartz, which is 7.5 ppm/° C.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.