Patents Examined by Jeanne-Marguerite Goodwin
  • Patent number: 7154818
    Abstract: Disclosed is a radio controlled clock movement control system, including two stepper motors, two gearings, and a photo electronic control unit. The two stepper motors are operated independently each one driving a gearing, where the first gearing contains a second wheel, and the second gearing contains an hour wheel and a minute wheel. The photo electronic control unit contains a first photo detector, a second photo detector, and a light source. Multiple through holes are formed in succession over one sector near the rim of the second and minute wheels, which are moved in the direction of rotation over the photo detectors that undertakes to check the minute and second wheels for the zero alignment. Therefore, a radio controlled clock having the present clock movement control system can be self reset in a fast manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2006
    Assignee: Ele Gancy Tleleancy Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tsai-Te Liu
  • Patent number: 7149153
    Abstract: In an electronic watch containing an electric battery assembly of large size, particularly a battery assembly including several batteries or accumulators (41, 42), the diameter of a removable cover (20) closing a large bottom opening of the back cover (14) of the watchcase is limited by the fact that the cover is provided with a bayonet fitting device having locking members (56) radially directed towards the interior. These locking members catch on a fixed support (22) having one or more housings for the battery assembly. They are arranged at the top of a substantially cylindrical annular portion (50) of the cover. A sealing gasket (52) is placed around this annular portion and compressed radially against a cylindrical surface (16) of the periphery of the opening in the back cover, which ensures water-resistance even if the bayonet fitting is not screwed all the way in. According to a variant, the cover can form the entire back cover of the case.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2006
    Assignee: Asulab S.A.
    Inventor: Frédéric Meylan
  • Patent number: 7146731
    Abstract: A magnet assembly connectable to a metal assembly in an engaging fashion, a metal assembly connectable with the magnet assembly in an engaging fashion and a snapping mechanism comprising the magnet assembly and the metal assembly are disclosed, to be used with a strap and a watch case. A leaf spring element and a base element to be used with a watch case are also disclosed, together with manufacturing processes and a system and method to teach the concept of time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2006
    Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Stephanie Kraus, Chris Heatherly, Randal Ouye, Julie Nishioka, John Holland, Jeffrey Sand
  • Patent number: 7144151
    Abstract: The invention relates to a wrist device, particularly to a fastening mechanism of a cover part and a plastic body part of the wrist device. The fastening mechanism comprises a fastening structure, which in turn comprises a projecting grip structure extending at least partly into the body part, setting against a positioning surface of the body part, and blocked in relation to the mounting direction of the cover part to prevent the fastening structure from moving in a direction opposite to the mounting direction once the fastening structure has been pressed into the body part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2006
    Assignee: Polar Electro Oy
    Inventors: Jarmo Saaski, Tero Mattinen
  • Patent number: 7137732
    Abstract: A portable timepiece has a bezel rotatably disposed on a case body, and an elastically deformable gasket interposed between the case body and the bezel in an elastically deformed state to exert a frictional force on the case body and the bezel sufficient to maintain the bezel in a stationary rotational position though permitting the bezel to be manually rotated to any desired position by overcoming the frictional force. One or more lock members are movably disposed on the bezel and contact a slip-preventing part provided on the case body. A manually rotatable holding ring engages with the lock members and is rotatable in one direction to increase the contact pressure between the lock members and the slip-preventing part to thereby prevent unintended rotation of the bezel, and is rotatable in the other direction to decrease the contact pressure to thereby permit manual rotation of the bezel by overcoming the frictional force exerted by the elastically deformed gasket.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2006
    Assignee: Seiko Instruments Inc.
    Inventor: Koremoto Takeda
  • Patent number: 7139226
    Abstract: A long term rapid color changing time indicator includes a front part and a back part. The front part includes a transparent layer, an opaque layer, a colorant layer, and a neutralizing layer. The colorant layer includes a matrix and a colorant having a non-migratory form that does not migrate in the matrix and having a migratory form that migrates in the matrix. The back part has a reactant. When the front part and the back part are placed in contact, the reactant migrates into the neutralizing layer and a portion of the reactant is depleted by a coreactant. The unreacted reactant migrates into the colorant layer and reacts with the non-migratory form of the colorant converting the non-migratory form to the migratory form such that the migratory form of the colorant migrates through the opaque layer to cause a visual color indication in the transparent layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2006
    Assignee: Brady Worldwide, Inc.
    Inventors: David J. Haas, Robert J. Holt, Leonard H. Davis
  • Patent number: 7134783
    Abstract: The device for adjusting a time indicator includes a gear train (1), the kinematic chain of which includes a sliding pinion (2) driven by a driving wheel set (3). The sliding pinion drives a driven wheel set (4) when the driving wheel set rotates in a first direction (A) and disconnects from said driven wheel set when said driving wheel set (3) rotates in a second direction (B), opposite to the first direction. The shaft (6) that the sliding pinion (2) includes is engaged in a groove (7) having first (9) and second (12) end portions, at least the first end portion (9) of which is directed radially (R) to the driven wheel set (4).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2006
    Assignee: Glashütter Uhrenbetrieb GmbH
    Inventors: Christian Schmiedchen, Mathias Schneider, Patrick Streubel
  • Patent number: 7136138
    Abstract: A timepiece provided with a liquid crystal display panel (9) for displaying thereon at least one of time information (5) and calendar information (4), wherein a solar battery unit (12) is provided to face at least a part of a visual recognition side surface of the liquid crystal display panel (9) or an opposite-side (lower-side) surface thereof, the light being applied to a power generation portion of the solar battery unit (12) through a transmission portion of the liquid crystal display panel (9) to generate electric power or what is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel (9) being visually recognized through a transmission portion of the solar battery unit (12), a timepiece circuit and the liquid crystal display panel (9) being driven by utilizing the electric power generated by the solar battery unit (12).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2006
    Assignee: Citizen Watch Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kanetaka Sekiguchi, Katsumi Aota, Kozo Miyoshi, Yuichi Akiba
  • Patent number: 7136326
    Abstract: A watch for displaying time in hours and hundredths of an hour. The watch includes a housing assembly being designed for being worn by the user. A timing assembly is positioned in the housing assembly and operationally coupled to a power supply. The power supply supplies power the timing assembly. The timing assembly is designed for providing a pulse every second when the power supply supplies power to the timing assembly. A processing assembly is positioned in the housing assembly. The processing assembly is operationally coupled to the power supply for supplying power to the processing assembly. The processing assembly is operationally coupled to the timing assembly to receive the pulse from the timing assembly and process the pulse into a time to be displayed on a display member operationally coupled to the processing assembly. The processing member displays minutes calculated by the processing assembly in hundredths of an hour.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2006
    Inventor: Kelly S. Smith
  • Patent number: 7128465
    Abstract: A clock is disclosed including a clock body, a clock drive mechanism mounted on the clock body, an hour hand and a minute hand driven by the clock drive mechanism, and a pendulum driven by the clock drive mechanism. The clock body has a front surface, a perimeter, and a back surface that are shaped to resemble a musical instrument. The pendulum resembles a feature of the musical instrument.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2006
    Inventors: Paul T. Neumann, James W. Woodhouse
  • Patent number: 7106660
    Abstract: A sun dial including a housing, a light detector mounted on the housing exposed to detect ambient light, a logic circuit mounted in the housing for processing the detected light for determining over a preselected period of time the average light detected by the light detector, and an indicator to indicate upon demand, the average light detected during the preselected period of time. A method for determining average light detected over a period of time by detecting light above a preselected threshold indicative of darkness, while noting the time of darkness, adjusting the period of time by subtracting the time of darkness from the period of time, calculating the average light detected over the adjusted period of time, and giving a visual indication of the average light detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2006
    Assignee: New Ventions, Inc.
    Inventor: Nevin Jenkins
  • Patent number: 7083326
    Abstract: An adjustable watch crystal apparatus includes a watch body, a flexible lens having a changeable amount of curvature, and means for adjusting the amount of curvature of the flexible lens. The flexible lens is positioned upwardly adjacent a watch face for adjustably refracting light to make the watch face legible for a user with farsighted vision. The flexible lens includes top and bottom sides having convex configurations, an outer edge, and a center. The adjusting means includes a collar member attached to the watch body for retaining the flexible lens outer edge. In one embodiment, an adjustment screw controls the curvature of the flexible lens by moving the flexible lens center between adjacent-center and displaced-center configurations. In another embodiment, the collar member moves perpendicularly to the watch face to control the curvature of the flexible lens by moving the flexible lens outer edge between displaced-edge and adjacent-edge configurations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2006
    Inventors: Ryan C. Ast, Janet S. Ast
  • Patent number: 7085198
    Abstract: A method for producing a computer-assisted real-time system that includes at least one processing unit. Data exchange between the processing unit and the environment or one or more additional processing units is synchronous or asynchronous. At least one real clock is allocated to the processing unit to correlate data exchange.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2006
    Assignee: Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg
    Inventors: Ralf Münzenberger, Frank Slomka, Matthias Dörfel, Oliver Bringmann
  • Patent number: 7085199
    Abstract: Watch movement comprising a housing (26, 28, 30, 32, 34) and a gear train, formed from a series of spindles (36, 38, 40, 42), pivotably mounted on the housing, of which a first of said spindles (42) is provided with a shank (42a), for fixing a first hand (16) and a second of said spindles (50) is provided with a cylinder (50b), arranged co-axially to said shank, for fixing a second hand (20). According to the invention, the second spindle (50) is rotationally mounted on said housing (34) by means of a ball bearing (54).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2006
    Assignee: Chronoswiss Uhren GmbH
    Inventor: Gerd-Rüdiger Lang
  • Patent number: 7075860
    Abstract: This hour and minute display device comprises four disks, two for displaying, respectively, the tens and units of hours, two for displaying, respectively, the tens and units of minutes, each disk being fixedly connected to a toothed wheel linked to a jumper, said toothed wheels, fixedly connected to the two disks for displaying, respectively, the units of hours and of minutes, being linked to respective yoke mechanisms pressed by elastic members against respective instantaneous-jump cam elements, and further comprises, between said cam elements and the toothed wheels fixedly connected, respectively, to said tens of minutes and of hours disks, mechanisms for connecting these latter toothed wheels to said respective instantaneous-jump cam elements with each change of tens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2006
    Assignee: Manufacture Roger Dubuis S.A.
    Inventor: Carlos Dias
  • Patent number: 7070320
    Abstract: The mechanism (9) for triggering a striking work, is disposed between a timer (11), which is used to countdown and to display a pre-determined time interval on a dial, and a strike train (14) in order to make said striking work heard when the timer has counted down completely. The mechanism essentially comprises a lever (1) which is fitted with a leaf spring (3) and a locking stone (2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2006
    Assignee: Glashütter Uhrenbetrieb GmbH
    Inventors: Christian Schmiedchen, Mathias Schneider, Patrick Streubel
  • Patent number: 7061832
    Abstract: A baby bottle timer includes a timer configured to have a maximum two-hour time period and an adjustable band attached to the timer and configured to removably attach the baby bottle timer to a baby bottle. The timer has a switch mechanism and a display with changeable indicia displaying an initial indicia at the beginning of the time period and a different indicia at the end of the time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2006
    Inventor: Robert F. Lansing
  • Patent number: 7057977
    Abstract: A one-piece molded plastic bridge for use in a timepiece module that itself comprises a frame assembly, at least two stepping motors each comprising at least a stator and rotor, and a plurality of gears assemblies, is provided. In a preferred embodiment, the bridge comprises sections separated by connecting members, with each of the connecting members being sufficiently flexible to accommodate for the needed spacing constraints on each section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2006
    Assignee: Timex Group B.V.
    Inventor: Jacques Muller
  • Patent number: 7057975
    Abstract: A method and device for automatic timing of mass sporting events is described. Participants of the mass event each wear a transponder with an individual code, which is read after the finish and is associated with a recorded time. Upon finishing, an internal timer of the transponder is activated and its transponder time is evaluated with the determination of a finish time from the recorded time as the adjustment amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2006
    Assignee: ASTRA Gesellschaft für Asset Management mbH & Co. KG
    Inventor: Anatoli Stobbe
  • Patent number: 7050358
    Abstract: An electronic device comprising a secondary display made up of a plurality of display segments each of which is made up of a multilayered assembly comprising a transparent substrate having a first and a second surface; a transparent electrically conductive layer formed on the second surface of the transparent substrate; an electroluminescent layer formed on the transparent conductive layer; an insulating layer formed on the electroluminescent layer; and an electrically conductive layer formed on the insulating layer; and including means for selectively illuminating electroluminescent layers of each of the plurality of display segments, wherein light emanating from the illuminated electroluminescent layers during an illuminated condition passes through the transparent substrate; whereby secondary information is provided by the selected illumination of the electroluminescent layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2006
    Assignee: Timex Group B.V.
    Inventors: John L. Garay, Surendar Bhan, Bernd Becker