Portable watch

• US 20100220562A1
• Filed: 02/16/2010
• Published: 09/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Instruments Incorporated (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Instruments Incorporated (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Itoh, Kinshuro, Hozumi, Yoshio
• Granted Patent: US 7,942,574 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 368/308
• CPC Class Codes: G04B 3/043 Locking of the operating element, also by mounting in a concealed place

Abstract

A portable watch is equipped with a watch exterior member, a crown, a crown lock button, and an urging member. In a case band with which the exterior member is equipped, there are formed a crown mounting hole and a member mounting portion communicating with this hole and vertically perpendicular thereto. The crown is arranged in the hole. The crown has a crown shaft portion passed through the hole and a crown head portion continuous therewith. The crown shaft is provided with a lock groove continuous in the peripheral direction. The lock button accommodated in the mounting portion has a button head portion (operation end portion) protruding from the mounting portion. The button is movable between a lock position where it is engaged with the groove to constrain the crown and a lock canceling position where it is detached from the groove to cancel the constraint of the crown, and is arranged at the lock canceling position through a one-touch operation of the button head portion. The watch is characterized in that the button is arranged at the lock position by an urging member accommodated in the mounting portion.

Claims

1. A portable watch comprising:

a watch exterior member which is equipped with a case band and which has a crown mounting hole formed so as to extend radially through the case band and a member mounting portion communicating with a portion of the crown mounting hole offset from a central portion of the crown mounting hole, vertically perpendicular to the crown mounting hole, and formed in the case band so as to be open at an upper end;

a crown which has a crown shaft equipped with a peripherally continuous lock groove and a crown head portion continuous with this shaft and which is arranged with the crown shaft inserted into the crown mounting hole;

a crown lock member which has an operation end portion protruding from the open upper end of the member mounting portion and is accommodated in the member mounting portion, which is movable between a lock position where it is engaged with the lock groove to constrain the crown and a lock canceling position where it is off the lock groove and cancels the constraint of the crown, and which is arranged at the lock canceling position through a one-touch operation of the operation end portion; and

an urging member accommodated in the member mounting portion and urging the crown lock member so as to arrange it at the lock position.

2. A portable watch according to claim 1, characterized in that the crown lock member consists of a crown lock button that can be downwardly pushed in, and this lock button has an engagement shaft portion that is engaged with the lock groove at the lock position and that is arranged at the lock canceling position away from the movement path of the crown shaft, and an escape shaft portion continuous with the upper side of this shaft portion and arranged at the lock canceling position away from the movement path of the crown shaft.

3. A portable watch according to claim 1, characterized in that the crown lock member is a crown lock lever that can be tilted so as to move toward and away from the crown shaft around the lower end portion thereof.

4. A portable watch according to claim 1, characterized in that, even in the state in which the crown has been pulled out to a maximum degree, the lock groove is arranged within the crown mounting hole, and shaft portions of the crown shaft continuous with both sides of the lock groove are supported by the inner surface of the crown mounting hole.

5. A portable watch according to claim 1, characterized in that the crown shaft is equipped with a first shaft member connected to the winding stem and having a lock protrusion, and a second shaft member having a surrounding end portion receiving the first shaft member and the lock groove, continuous with the crown head portion, and having in the surrounding end portion a lock groove allowing sliding of the lock protrusion, with an urging body urging the second shaft member toward the case band exterior side being held in a compressed state between the two shaft members.

6. A portable watch according to claim 1, characterized in that the section of the crown lock button taken in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction is circular, and the urging force of the urging body is the same as or smaller than the urging force of the urging member.

7. A portable watch according to claim 2, characterized in that the member mounting portion has an upper hole portion whose upper end is open, a lower hole portion whose lower end is open, and an intermediate hole portion whose diameter is smaller than that of the upper and lower hole portions and which communicates with the crown mounting hole;

the crown lock button has the engagement shaft portion sliding in the intermediate hole portion, the escape shaft portion, and a button head portion continuous with the upper side of the escape shaft portion and capable of retracting into the upper hole portion;

the urging member is provided between the button head portion and the bottom of the upper hole portion in a compressed state; and

a stopper moving toward and away from the bottom of the lower hole portion is mounted to the lower end portion of the engagement shaft portion.

8. A portable watch according to claim 7, characterized in that a cap closing the lower hole portion is mounted to the case band, and this cap is arranged higher than the surface of the case back of the watch exterior member.

9. A portable watch according to claim 1, characterized in that a protrusion is formed on the case band in correspondence with the 3 o'"'"'clock side of a dial arranged on the inner side of the case band, and the crown lock member and the urging member are arranged on this protrusion.