Patents Represented by Attorney, Agent or Law Firm William C. Crutcher
  • Patent number: 4720644
    Abstract: A stator for a stepping motor of an electric watch comprises an elongated yoke member having a free end, a coil arm integrally formed on the other end of the yoke member and having a free end, an exciter coil arranged on the coil arm by being pushed onto this coil arm from the free end thereof, and a bridge member connecting the free ends of the yoke member and the coil arm, the yoke member with the coil arm and the bridge member hereby being flat elements made of a magnetizable sheet metal. In accordance with the invention, the coil arm is of a greater length then the exciter coil and the bridge member rests flat on the free ends of the yoke member and the coil arm and areally overlaps regions of these elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 1986
    Date of Patent: January 19, 1988
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventor: Adolf Sedlak
  • Patent number: 4700091
    Abstract: A wristwatch movement has a Lavet stepping motor directly driving a toothed center wheel by means of a drive pinion which is an integral part of the stepping motor rotor. The rotor comprises a bipolar permanent magnet member and a plastic rotor body molded around the central part of the magnet member to surround it. The rotor body defines a pair of driving pins oriented at a preselected angle with respect to the axis of magnetization. The rotor body also includes journals supporting it for rotation within the stator opening of the stepping motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 1986
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1987
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventor: Paul Wuthrich
  • Patent number: 4679944
    Abstract: The invention relates to an electric watch, wherein the rotor of a stepping motor is arranged between the metal frame and the plastic frame and is mounted in bearing holes of these frames or base plates. In accordance with the invention, the plastic frame has adjacent to the bearing hole of the rotor a partially cylindrical web extending substantially perpendicular to the metal frame and penetrating the air gap between the rotor and the stator of the stepping motor, while the stator with the associated coil is mounted on the outer side of the plastic frame. This construction enables assembly of the rotor without the effects of disturbing magnetic interaction between rotor and stator tending to dislocate the rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 1986
    Date of Patent: July 14, 1987
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventors: Adlof Sedlak, Gerhard Stotz
  • Patent number: 4668101
    Abstract: An improvement in a water resistant seal for a watch case with a bezel having a peripheral wall and a lens having a peripheral edge. The wall has an inwardly protruding flange and the lens edge has an outwardly protruding flange, the flanges being diagonally offset from one another. An elastomeric gasket of L-shaped cross section is clamped between the lens and the bezel. The gasket has an upstanding leg deformed in opposite lateral directions, by the flanges with a shearing force across the gasket leg, and is dimensioned to provide clearances which allow for manufacturing variations in size of the lens and bezel, while still maintaining a water resistant seal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 1985
    Date of Patent: May 26, 1987
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventor: Paul Wuthrich
  • Patent number: 4657408
    Abstract: The invention relates to a base element for a wristwatch in the form of a laminate, which simultaneously serves the purpose of a movement plate or frame and a case back and which consists of two integrally joined plates, these plates being bonded together in particular by means of a foil using ultrasonic heat-sealing. Such a base element may be manufactured with high precision simply and cheaply and has good stability, especially when a circular edge is folded to the inside of one of the plates of the base element for the purpose of reinforcement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 1983
    Date of Patent: April 14, 1987
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventors: Joseph Egger, Adolf Sedlak
  • Patent number: 4653933
    Abstract: A resin watch case with a substantially round bezel is provided with relatively thin lugs or "horns" for conventional attachment of a strap or band with retractable spring bars having pins passing through holes in the lugs. The lugs are angled downward from the bezel to terminate below it. An integral reinforcing cross member extending between the lugs and which is concealed by the strap and bezel serves to reinforce the thin lugs against breakage. The overall attachment gives the appearance of a thin lug in a resin case which is normally only possible with the strength of a metal case.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 1986
    Date of Patent: March 31, 1987
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventor: Judith Reichel
  • Patent number: 4647218
    Abstract: A movement for a two-hand quartz analog watch driven by a Lavet-type stepping motor has a minute hand on a shaft driven by a large center wheel overlapping the energy cell. The center wheel has 60 radial slots directly engaging and driven by the stepping motor rotor through a pair of diametrically opposed driving pins disposed in adjacent radial slots of the center wheel. The driving circuit steps the rotor 180 degrees once each minute. A reduction gear drives the hour hand mounted on a center pinion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 1986
    Date of Patent: March 3, 1987
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventor: Paul Wuthrich
  • Patent number: 4639704
    Abstract: A solenoid designed to operate immersed in a fluid containing magnetic particles of debris, and having a movable armature slidable toward and away from a fixed core within a bobbin carrying the electromagnetic coil. The bobbin is provided with internal flutes defining longitudinal passages opening at both ends of the solenoid for conducting magnetic particles or debris out through the passages as the solenoid armature moves toward the core.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 1986
    Date of Patent: January 27, 1987
    Assignee: Bicron Electronics Company
    Inventors: J. Richard Shand, Raymond H. LaChance
  • Patent number: 4624529
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display adapted for a solid state analog timepiece has front and rear transparent substrates with radial transparent electrodes to represent hour, minute and second hands. The contact terminals connected to the electrodes are grouped in an array at the center of the front substrate. An elastomeric connector containing multiple discrete conductors extends through a center hole in the rear substrate to connect the array of contact terminals on the front substrate with a similar array of contact terminals on a printed circuit board behind the display. Liquid crystal material is sealed between the substrates both at the periphery of the display and around the central hole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 1984
    Date of Patent: November 25, 1986
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventor: Leonard M. Dorfman
  • Patent number: 4618264
    Abstract: An electronic alarm timepiece has a rotatable ring producing clicks when the ring is rotated from a first position aligned with one of the hands to a second position at which the alarm will be actuated when the hand reaches such position. The clicks are transmitted to the electronic timepiece logic through the same piezoelectric transducer which produces the alarm sound. The logic means actuates the alarm after an elapsed time which is proportional to the number of clicks counted when the ring is rotated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 1985
    Date of Patent: October 21, 1986
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventors: Bruce H. Kamens, George E. Ritter
  • Patent number: 4603978
    Abstract: The invention relates to a base element for a wristwatch and in particular a base element in the form of a laminate composed of two plates and a plastic foil. According to the invention, spacer elements, in particular in the form of a non-woven fiber fleece, are embedded in the plastic foil. This will avoid the plastics material being squeezed out laterally along the edges of openings and the like during heat-sealing of the plates with the plastic foil and, at the same time, a high degree of accuracy regarding the thickness of the finished base element will be achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 1984
    Date of Patent: August 5, 1986
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventor: Fritz Brenk
  • Patent number: 4598337
    Abstract: An electronic circuit board of very thin construction for a wristwatch employs a printed circuit board of insulating material with punched apertures for receiving and locating circuit components, such as capacitors, transistors and integrated circuits, which are of substantially the same thickness as the printed circuit board. A thin metallic conductive backplate is also provided with apertures and with bridging portions supporting the circuit components. Tabs on the backplate or on similar conductive clips for supporting circuit elements may be bent upward and extended through the circuit board apertures for making solder connections to discrete components or to conductive pads on the upper side of the printed circuit board. The backplate includes tabs for other purposes such as holding the backplate to the printed circuit board, making battery connections, providing switch terminals, and retaining the module under spring tension in the case.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 1984
    Date of Patent: July 1, 1986
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventors: Paul Wuthrich, Lyman R. Daigle, Gerald Cozzolino
  • Patent number: D283895
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 1984
    Date of Patent: May 20, 1986
    Assignee: Timex Computer Corporation
    Inventor: Gary E. Grimes
  • Patent number: D285422
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 1984
    Date of Patent: September 2, 1986
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventor: Gary Grimes
  • Patent number: D286512
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 1984
    Date of Patent: November 4, 1986
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventor: Shinpei Ichikawa
  • Patent number: D287341
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 1984
    Date of Patent: December 23, 1986
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventor: Gary Grimes
  • Patent number: D287470
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 1984
    Date of Patent: December 30, 1986
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventor: John T. Houlihan
  • Patent number: D291867
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 1985
    Date of Patent: September 15, 1987
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventor: Barry D. Berger
  • Patent number: D293425
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 1985
    Date of Patent: December 29, 1987
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventor: Shinpei Ichikawa
  • Patent number: D293892
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 1985
    Date of Patent: January 26, 1988
    Assignee: Timex Corporation
    Inventor: Shinpei Ichikawa