US 12,405,577 B2
Sound-generating timepiece
Quentin Benoist, Grand-Lancy (CH); Sylvain Geiser, St-Cergue (CH); Eric Le Gall, Nyon (CH); and Alessandro Vandini, Tannay (CH)
Assigned to PATEK PHILIPPE SA GENÈVE, Geneva (CH)
Appl. No. 17/771,740
Filed by PATEK PHILIPPE SA GENÈVE, Geneva (CH)
PCT Filed Oct. 23, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/079955
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Apr. 25, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/078972, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 29, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 19205441 (EP), filed on Oct. 25, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0382218 A1, Dec. 1, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G04B 23/12 (2006.01); G04B 21/08 (2006.01); G04B 23/02 (2006.01); G04B 37/00 (2006.01)
CPC G04B 23/12 (2013.01) [G04B 21/08 (2013.01); G04B 23/028 (2013.01); G04B 37/0075 (2013.01)] 24 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A mechanical wristwatch comprising a case having a middle, a back cover and a bezel, a vibration-generating device for generating vibrations which are intended to produce at least one sound, which is accommodated in said case, a vibration-amplifying device for amplifying the vibrations generated by said vibration-generating device, and a membrane arranged to receive said amplified vibrations and generate a sound from the inside to the outside of the wristwatch, wherein the vibration-generating device is a rotary element having a reading surface comprising at least one groove extending over the reading surface of the rotary element, said at least one groove being arranged to generate sounds, and wherein the wristwatch comprises means for rotationally driving the rotary element, means for actuating said means for rotationally driving the rotary element, and a transmission member arranged to cooperate with the rotary element to transmit, to the vibration-amplifying device, the vibrations generated by the groove during rotational movement of said rotary element,
wherein the transmission member and the rotary element are arranged to be mobile with respect to each other such that the transmission member moves over at least part of the reading surface of the rotary element when said rotary element performs more than one rotation, and wherein the vibration-amplifying device comprises a lever pivotally mounted on a support in a pivoting plane non-parallel to the plane of the membrane and arranged to be actuated by the transmission member to transmit the vibrations to said lever, said lever likewise being integral with the membrane at least translationally in the pivoting plane such that a movement of the transmission member, generated by the vibration of said transmission member linked to the rotary element and transmitted to the membrane by way of the lever actuated by said transmission member, generates an amplified movement of said membrane by a mechanical lever arm effect, so as to generate an amplified sound.