Patents by Inventor Marc STRANCZL

Marc STRANCZL has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 12292714
    Abstract: A micromechanical mechanism (1), in particular for an horological movement (3), the mechanism including a micromechanical device including a mobile element (8) needing to be moved mechanically to trigger its operation. Included is a system for actuating the device, the actuation system including a mobile striker (16, 17, 18) configured to go from a release position (19) to a percussion position (21) in which it transmits to the mobile element (8) a momentum necessary for the release of the device, the actuation system further including a magnet (15) configured to attract the mobile striker (16, 17, 18) in a percussion position (21). Also a horological movement (3) including such a mechanism (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2025
    Assignee: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventors: Marc Stranczl, Polychronis Nakis Karapatis
  • Patent number: 12248279
    Abstract: An impact striking mechanism (1), in particular for a horological movement (3), the mechanism (1) including at least one resonant element (5) enabling a sound to be emitted when it is struck, and a hammer (8) capable of moving between a rest position (9) and a strike position (11) in which it strikes the resonant element (5) in order to cause it to vibrate, characterised in that it comprises a system for actuating the hammer (8) including a movable impactor (16, 17, 18) configured to move from a release position (19) to an impact position (21), in which it at least partially transmits the momentum thereof to the hammer (8) to move it from the rest position (9) thereof to the strike position (11) thereof in order to cause the resonant element (5) to vibrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2025
    Assignee: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventors: Marc Stranczl, Polychronis Nakis Karapatis
  • Patent number: 12174587
    Abstract: A timepiece including a rotating bezel, mounted on a middle with N stable angular positions, and a magnetic device (20) composed of a first set of Z1 magnets (22) carried by the rotating bezel and of a second set of Z2 magnets (24) carried by the middle. The first and second sets of magnets are each arranged circularly in such a way as to have between them a magnetic interaction engendering on the rotating bezel a resisting magnetic torque, over at least a part of an angular pitch, when this rotating bezel is driven in rotation from any one of the N stable angular positions. The numbers Z1 and Z2 are greater than one and less than N. The Z1 and Z2 magnets are distributed angularly so the resisting magnetic torque has a variation according to the stable angular position of the rotating bezel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2024
    Assignee: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventor: Marc Stranczl
  • Patent number: 12045011
    Abstract: A horological movement including a mechanical resonator and a hybrid escapement including an escapement wheel and a pallet assembly with at least one magnetic pallet-stone formed of a magnet and associated with a mechanical banking, the escapement wheel including a periodic magnetised structure defining increasing gradients of magnetic potential energy for the magnetic pallet-stone, and protruding parts associated with the increasing gradients of magnetic potential energy. When the force torque is equal to a nominal force torque or has a value within at least an upper part of a given range of values, one of the protruding parts of the escapement wheel is subjected to at least one shock on the mechanical banking of the pallet assembly after the magnetic pallet-stone has climbed any one of the increasing gradients of magnetic potential energy, thus dissipating at least partially a kinetic energy of the escapement wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2024
    Assignee: The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd
    Inventors: Gianni Di Domenico, Dominique Lechot, Marc Stranczl, Benoît Légeret
  • Patent number: 11934150
    Abstract: A horological movement includes a resonator and an escapement wheel with flexible teeth, and an anchor formed of two mechanical pallets capable of abutting, when the anchor switches between its two rest positions, with any one of the flexible teeth depending on the angular position of the escapement wheel. Each flexible tooth is arranged to bend by undergoing an elastic deformation under a radial force that can be exerted by one of the two mechanical pallets abutting against this flexible tooth while the escapement wheel has an unfavourable angular position and the resonator is braked by the anchor. Each tooth has an elastic capacity to elastically absorb, in a radial direction, most of a maximum mechanical energy that the mechanical resonator may have during normal operation of the horological movement, to avoid breakage or deterioration of the escapement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd
    Inventors: Gianni Di Domenico, Gérard Surmely, Marc Stranczl
  • Publication number: 20240085853
    Abstract: A mechanism for actuating a flexible display hand including a first drive pipe and a second drive pipe connected to a first end of a second flexible arm, the first and second flexible arms being connected to one another by a tip at their second end, the first pipe being mounted at a defined first prestressing angle, and the second pipe being mounted at a defined second prestressing angle in the opposite direction to that of the first pipe, so that the elastically prestressed flexible display hand constantly maintains the entire actuating mechanism under tension during normal operation of the actuating mechanism, the actuating mechanism including a first cannon-pinion onto which the first drive pipe of the flexible display hand is driven.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2023
    Publication date: March 14, 2024
    Applicant: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventors: Lionel MATTHEY-DE-L'ENDROIT, Marc STRANCZL
  • Patent number: 11927917
    Abstract: The horological movement includes a mechanical resonator and an escapement including an escapement wheel, which has a plurality of teeth, and an anchor formed by a stick and two arms having respectively two mechanical pallets likely to come into contact, when the anchor is subject to an alternative movement, with any of the teeth according to the angular position of the escapement wheel. To avoid damage to the escapement during rocking of the anchor while the escapement wheel is positioned in an unfavourable angular position, the anchor is arranged, during the rocking of this anchor, to be able to bend being subjected to an elastic deformation. The anchor has an elastic capacity between each of the two mechanical pallets and a fork of the anchor, enabling it to absorb elastically, during the elastic deformation, a maximum mechanical energy that the mechanical resonator can have during the normal functioning of the horological movement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd
    Inventors: Gianni Di Domenico, Dominique Lechot, Marc Stranczl, Benoît Légeret
  • Patent number: 11886147
    Abstract: A variable timepiece display mechanism includes a resilient hand with a drive pipe integral with a single-piece flexible strip including flexible segments joined at tips, a first segment thereof extends between the first pipe and a first tip. The mechanism also includes a driver for driving the pivoting of the pipe, and a stressor for stressing the first flexible segment in order to vary the position of the first tip relative to the output axis, as a function of the forces applied to the flexible strip. The drier and/or the stressor includes a first shaped gear train and/or a second shaped gear train in order to accelerate, stabilize the speed of, or slow at least the pipe over a part of the angular travel thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventors: Marc Stranczl, Jan Pittet
  • Patent number: 11886146
    Abstract: A horological movement includes an escapement with a magnetic system to generate magnetic force impulses, so as to sustain the oscillation of the mechanical resonator associated with the escapement. In order to make possible an effective self-starting of the assembly formed of the mechanical resonator and of the escapement during a winding of the barrel, after a stop of the horological movement due to the unwound barrel spring, the escape wheel includes teeth and the pallet assembly includes two mechanical pallet-stones arranged to receive, upon starting, at least one mechanical force impulse of the escape wheel via one of the teeth thereof, the mechanical force impulse generating a starting force torque on the pallet assembly that is transmitted to the balance of the mechanical resonator to begin an oscillation of the latter so that the assembly can operate normally after a starting phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd
    Inventors: Gianni Di Domenico, Dominique Lechot, Marc Stranczl, Benoît Légeret
  • Patent number: 11860577
    Abstract: A variable timepiece display mechanism includes a resilient hand with two drive pipes integral with a one-piece flexible strip includes a tip or an index, with a driver for driving the pivoting of the pipe, and a stressor for stressing the strip so as to vary the position of the tip relative to the axis of the pipes, which includes an accelerator or decelerator device arranged such that it accelerates, or stabilizes the speed of, or slows down the first pipe and/or the second pipe over at least part of the angular travel thereof, which includes a device with a first differential gear on the drive gear train of the first pipe and/or a second differential gear on the drive gear train of the second pipe, and at least one cam forming an input of a differential gear.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventors: Marc Stranczl, Jan Pittet
  • Publication number: 20230418227
    Abstract: An actuation mechanism (60) of a flexible hand (44) to which a clockwork movement applies a first angular rotation (?1), the flexible hand (44) including a first drive barrel (46) and a second drive barrel (50) connected to a tip (54) of the flexible hand (44) by a first and a second flexible arm (48), the first drive barrel (46) being provided with a first toothing (56) and the second drive barrel (50) being provided with a second toothing (58), the first and second drive barrels (46, 50) being mounted so the first toothing (56) of the first drive barrel (46) engages with the second toothing (58) of the second drive barrel (50) in the stressed position of the flexible hand (44), the angular rotation (?1) applied by the clockwork movement to the actuation mechanism (60) being modulated by an angle of rotation (?) by the actuation mechanism (60).
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2023
    Publication date: December 28, 2023
    Applicant: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventors: Marc STRANCZL, Lionel MATTHEY-DE-L'ENDROIT
  • Publication number: 20230408980
    Abstract: A date display device (10) including: a dial (11) including date indications in the form of a character scale (15), of which a part is of apertures (150), a mobile index (12) with respect to the dial (11); a date mechanism configured to move the index (12) by one step per day, such that each position occupied by the index (12) denotes one of the characters (15); and a mobile element (13) arranged between the dial (11) and the date mechanism having on a surface facing the dial, a portion of interest (131), the mobile element being linked with the date mechanism such that the latter drives it in an active position, wherein the portion of interest is visible through the aperture (150) and in a rest position wherein the portion of interest is set back from the aperture and wherein a marking zone (160) is visible through the aperture.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2023
    Publication date: December 21, 2023
    Applicant: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventors: Peter HYDE, Marc STRANCZL, Lionel MATTHEY-DE-L'ENDROIT, René PIGUET
  • Patent number: 11841684
    Abstract: A timepiece resilient hand with drive pipes at the ends thereof, including a display index which is at a variable distance from the pipes, and including flexible segments between each pipe and the index each with a web having a substantially constant section, at least one flexible segment thereof includes discontinuous elements projecting from the web thereof in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the pipes and defining, along this web, an alternation of sections, the stiffnesses thereof per unit of length are different from one another, and/or at least one web includes a succession of areas of opposite concavities, projecting on a plane perpendicular to the axis of the pipes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventors: Marc Stranczl, Patrice Golay, Pierre Cusin, Alexandre Fussinger
  • Patent number: 11841685
    Abstract: A horological display mechanism (10) with elastic hand (1), including means for driving barrels (2; 4) coaxial at the ends of a flexible blade (3), including a differential mechanism with an input frame (180) including an input toothing (182), free to rotate and carrying an intermediate wheel (103) and a satellite (101) meshing with each other, this satellite (101) including an eccentric finger (1010) traveling the track (105) of a fixed cam (104), and returned against it by the elasticity of the elastic hand (1), the input frame (180) including a shaft (185) carrying, coaxially, a first cannon-pinion (1020) including the first barrel (2) and a second cannon-pinion (1040) including the second barrel (4), the toothing (1049) of one of which meshes with the toothing (1039) of the intermediate wheel (103), and the toothing (1029) of the other one of which meshes with the toothing (1019) of the satellite (101).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventor: Marc Stranczl
  • Patent number: 11822294
    Abstract: A timepiece movement includes a magnetic escapement formed of a magnetic escape wheel with an annular magnetized structure and a pallet fork whose shaft is formed by a ferromagnetic material. The pallet shaft exerts on the escape wheel a magnetic disturbance torque due to the fact that the annular magnetized structure exhibits an angular variation of at least one defining physical parameter thereof, such that the magnetic attraction varies as a function of the angular position of the escape wheel and has a tangential component. A magnetic compensation pin is incorporated in the timepiece movement, this magnetic compensation pin being arranged such that the second magnetic disturbance torque that it exerts on the escape wheel exhibits an angular phase shift relative to the first magnetic disturbance torque generated by the pallet shaft, so as to compensate largely for this first magnetic disturbance torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd
    Inventors: Gianni Di Domenico, Marc Stranczl, Benoit Legeret, Rene Piguet
  • Publication number: 20230367265
    Abstract: A flexible hand actuation mechanism to which a disk of a horological movement applies a first angular rotation (?1), the flexible hand including a first cannon and a second cannon connected to a point of the flexible hand via flexible arms, an operating position where the first cannon and the second cannon are coaxial about an exit axis, the first cannon being fitted with a first defined prestress angle, the second cannon being fitted with a second defined prestress angle of opposite direction to that of the first cannon, the actuation mechanism being arranged to actuate the flexible hand such that the latter changes shape and length in the desired manner by varying the angular position of the second cannon with respect to the first cannon by pivoting about the exit axis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2023
    Publication date: November 16, 2023
    Applicant: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventors: Marc STRANCZL, Lionel MATTHEY-DE-L'ENDROIT, Peter HYDE, René PIGUET
  • Patent number: 11754976
    Abstract: Timepiece striking mechanism, including a fixed structure supporting at least one gong or radiant element and a mobile hammer in a plane under the action of an activation mobile component controlling the pallet of the hammer (3) and the release thereof for the percussion of the gong, and including, for the suspension of the hammer, at least one planar flexible guide between the structure and the hammer (3) to allow movements of the hammer solely on the plane, forming the sole mechanical link between the structure and the hammer, and, more particularly, for the execution of a striking mechanism, the striking mechanism (drives the activation mobile component, and has same carry out a winding cycle during which it supplies constant quantity of energy to the flexible guide while driving the hammer before releasing same for the execution of the striking mechanism by percussion of the gong during letting down.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventor: Marc Stranczl
  • Publication number: 20230195037
    Abstract: A watch case (6) including a rotating bezel (1), a middle (3) and a connecting spring (2) between the rotating bezel (1) and the middle (3), the connecting spring (2) being accommodated within a first groove (7) formed in an external wall (3a) of the middle (3) and within a second groove (8) formed in an internal wall (1 a) of the rotating bezel (1), the first and second grooves (7,8) being preferably arranged opposite one another. The connecting spring (2) is made of an alloy with memory of shape.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 25, 2022
    Publication date: June 22, 2023
    Applicant: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventors: René PIGUET, Marc STRANCZL, Adrien CHAPPUIS
  • Publication number: 20230195034
    Abstract: A flexible guide assembly for a horological movement, in particular for a display device of the horological movement, the assembly including two flexible guides arranged in series in a substantially head-to-tail manner, the first flexible guide including a support and a first movable element that is capable of moving relative to the support, as well as a first elongate, flexible body connecting the support to the first movable element, such that the first movable element can move by bending the first elongate, flexible body in a circular motion, the second flexible guide including a second movable element capable of moving relative to the first movable element and to the support of the first flexible guide, a second elongate, flexible body connecting the second movable element to the first movable element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 7, 2022
    Publication date: June 22, 2023
    Applicant: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventor: Marc STRANCZL
  • Publication number: 20230185246
    Abstract: A linkage mechanism (100) for a horological mechanism, for transmitting a movement between an actuator and a receiver, including a structure (10) relative to which a carrier (9), movable according to a single degree of freedom under the action of the actuator, is connected to the structure (10) by at least one flexible guide (50), each of the carrier (9) and the structure (10) being more rigid than each flexible guide (50), at least one flexible guide (50) is planar, and includes flexible necks (51), with a smaller section than the elements that are adjacent thereto, and/or flexible blades (5, 6, 52), with a smaller section than the elements that are adjacent thereto, and forming articulations. At least two arms are articulated to the structure (10) at two distinct points, and kinematically cooperate with each other, or with a tertiary bar or a tertiary structure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2021
    Publication date: June 15, 2023
    Applicant: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventor: Marc STRANCZL