Bistable Escapement Mechanism with Asymmetric Winding Torques
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing bistable exhaust mechanisms in watchmaking struggle to maintain equal thrusts in both directions of rotation, necessitating additional components like single-sided blades and extra linkage organs to compensate for torque variations.
Innovation Solution
The proposed exhaust mechanism features a bistable elastic blade working in buckling around a central inflection point, with a rocking armage system that ensures equal or significantly equal thrusts in both directions of rotation without the need for additional springs or linkage organs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If a single escape wheel with winding member is used to drive the winding lever, then the overall size of the mechanism is reduced, but the driving torques applied to the winding lever in opposite directions become unequal
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by providing two separate escape wheels (first and second escape wheels) with different configurations instead of using a single symmetric escape wheel. The first escape wheel has a first winding member with specific geometry, while the second escape wheel has a second winding member with different geometry. This asymmetric design compensates for the unequal lever arms in opposite directions, ensuring that the driving torques applied to the winding lever during clockwise and counterclockwise rotation are equal, thus resolving the torque inequality problem while maintaining compact size.
2Force
If a monostable elastic member is added to compensate for torque variation, then the thrust equality is restored, but the number of parts and device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the need for the monostable elastic member by directly addressing the root cause of torque inequality through the asymmetric escape wheel design. By modifying the escape wheel configuration itself, the invention removes the requirement for additional compensating components, thereby reducing device complexity and the number of parts while maintaining thrust equality in both directions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the torque compensation function into the escape wheel structure itself by designing the first and second winding members with different geometries. This integration eliminates the need for separate compensating mechanisms, combining multiple functions (driving and torque equalization) into a single component system, thus reducing overall device complexity.
3Force
If additional connecting members are provided to embed the monostable blade, then the torque compensation is achieved, but the manufacturing complexity and assembly difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the need for additional connecting members by eliminating the monostable elastic member entirely. The asymmetric escape wheel design directly provides torque compensation without requiring extra connecting components, thereby simplifying both manufacturing processes and assembly operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The escape wheel is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: driving the winding lever and compensating for torque inequality. The first and second winding members are configured to directly provide the necessary torque balance, making the escape wheel a multi-functional component that eliminates the need for separate torque compensation mechanisms and their associated connecting members.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution allows for efficient transmission of mechanical impulses from a motor source to a watchmaker's regulator, maintaining consistent energy delivery and reducing the complexity of the mechanism by eliminating the need for extra components.
Implementation Method 1
a bistable elastic blade working in buckling around a median inflection point between two embedding points of said bistable elastic blade
Implementation Method 2
a bistable elastic blade working in buckling around a median inflection point
Implementation Method 3
arranged to be subjected to a torque, respectively to torques equal in standard in the same direction or in opposite directions, provided by a wheel set of the finishing train
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4~6
AI summary
The present invention relates to an escapement mechanism comprising a bistable elastic blade working in buckling around a median inflection point between two fixed points, a winding rocker (10) of said bistable elastic blade, and first and second winding mobiles (40a, 40b) arranged to sequentially apply a driving torque to the winding rocker (10) so as to rotate said winding rocker (10) in one direction or the other, and a release rocker fixed to the bistable elastic blade at its inflection point and arranged to cooperate with an oscillating regulator of the clock movement at each alternation of the latter so as to transmit to it an impulse following a disarming of the blade.The said first and second winding wheels (40a, 40b) comprise a first, respectively a second, escape pinion (42a, 42b) and a first, respectively a second, winding wheel (38a, 38b), the said escape pinions (42a, 42b) being intended to mesh with a wheel (4) of the finishing gear of the watch movement to pivot simultaneously in the same direction in order to subject the said winding wheels (40a, 40b) to equal torques, the said first and second winding wheels (38a, 38b) being intended to cooperate with a corresponding winding pallet (36a, 36b) of the winding lever (10).The first and second winding wheels (38a, 38b) are configured so that the ends of their teeth have different radii chosen such that the winding angle traversed by the second winding wheel (38b) in contact with the right winding pallet (36b) during a winding of the winding rocker (10) in the counterclockwise direction is equal or substantially equal to the winding angle (αag) traversed by the first winding wheel (38a) in contact with the left winding pallet (36a) during a winding of the winding rocker (10) in the clockwise direction, so that the work of the torque supplied by the winding wheels (38a, 38b) to the winding rocker (10) is equal or substantially equal in both winding directions.