Watch End

Abstract

A watch end is provided as a tubular member on the end of a bracelet, the member having a pair of sleeves inserted therein one in each end and of a size to receive therethrough a pin for fastening the bracelet between spaced watch arms, each sleeve being slidable in the member to a first fixed position in which a tang on the sleeve engages a notch in the tubular member so that the sleeve projects a first distance beyond the end of the member and to a second fixed position in which the sleeve engages a stop so as to project a second distance beyond the end of the member, thereby enabling the watch end to fit closely between differently spaced watch arms.

Description

The invention relates to watches, and more particularly to the attachment of watches to watch bracelets.

A watch end is a device at each end of a watch bracelet which extends substantially across the width of the bracelet and through which extends a spring bar which is itself retained in notches in the arms of the watch. Watch arms are normally spaced apart at three different distances in men's watches and in women's watches, the distances being different in the two types of watches. Thus, with a watch end having a fixed length (which must be no greater than the distance between the narrowest separation of watch arms with which the watch end may be used) to use that watch end with a watch having a larger separation of the watch arms will result in the watch end, and the bracelet itself, being able to slide on the spring bar.

With the foregoing in mind, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a watch end which will be useable with any of the three sizes of watch arm spacings (for a given type of watch) and will prevent sliding of the watch end with respect to the spring bar. Further objects include the provision of such a watch end in a construction which is easy to manufacture, inexpensive, and easy to operate.

To achieve these and other objects which will appear below, a watch end is provided which comprises a tubular member rigidly affixed to the end of a watch bracelet and is of a size to receive an aforesaid spring bar projected therethrough. The tubular member includes a central stop located midway between the opposite open ends of the tubular member and a notch intermediate the central stop and each of those open ends. Also provided are sleeve members which are sized for insertion into the open ends of the tubular member, the sleeve members themselves being hollow with the opening therethrough of sufficient size to permit the bar to project through them. Each sleeve member has a tang sized for engagement with the respective notch and located longitudinally on the sleeve so that when the tang engages the notch the sleeve projects beyond the open end of the tubular member a fixed distance. The sleeve member itself has an overall length such that when the end inserted into the tubular member abuts the central stop the other end projects beyond the open end of the tubular member a second distance which is less than the first distance. With this construction, it may be seen that a watch end is provided which is suitable for use with watch arms having a narrow separation (i.e., with the sleeve members removed from the tubular member and discarded), watch arms having an intermediate separation (i.e., with the sleeve members inserted into the tubular members and the inserted end of each sleeve member abutting the central stop), and watch arms having the widest separation (i.e., with the sleeve members inserted into the tubular member and each tang engaging its associated notch). In preferred embodiments of the invention the notches are equidistant from the central stop, the sleeve members are mirror images of one another, the tubular member and each sleeve member have the same cross-sectional configuration which is asymmetric with respect to the axis of the tubular member, and the tubular member and each sleeve are formed with a longitudinal separation between adjacent walls.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description of a preferred embodiment taken together with the attached drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a portion of a watch bracelet with a watch end constructed according to the invention attached to the end of the bracelet, a portion of a watch with attachment arms thereon and a spring bar for fastening the watch end between the arms.

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the watch end shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view taken at 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3 showing the sleeve members of the watch end in a different position;

FIG. 5 is a view taken at 5--5 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a sleeve.

Referring to the drawings, a watch bracelet 10 has a tubular member designated generally 12 which may be spotwelded thereto along flat wall 14 of member 12. Member 12 has a generally arcuate wall 15 (see FIG. 5) which is integral with wall 14 at one end and has its other end separated slightly from wall 14 for reasons hereafter specified. The opening through tubular member 12 is of a size to receive with clearance the usual spring bar B, the reduced spring pressed ends of which are received in depressions in the arms A of a watch W. The tubular member 12 has a centrally located internal stop means 16 and notches 18 disposed on either side of the stop means. The notches and the stop means are preferably on the underside of the tubular member as it is in position on the wrist. As shown, stop means 16 may be conveniently formed by cutting away a portion of wall 15 to form a tang that is bent inwardly.

A pair of sleeve members designated generally 20 are provided having a cross-sectional size and configuration which permits their insertion into tubular member 12 and the insertion of bar B therethrough. Sleeve member 20 has a flat wall 21 and a generally arcuate wall 22 conforming in shape to wall 15 of member 12 (see FIG. 5) and being integral at one end with wall 21 and slightly separated at the other end from wall 21. The length of each sleeve member 20 is fixed so that when its inner end 23 abuts an end of stop means 16, its outer end 24 projects a fixed distance beyond the open end 26 of tubular member 12. Each sleeve member 20 is provided with a tang 28 which resiliently projects from the sleeve member 20. The tang 28 is located longitudinally on the sleeve member 20 so that when the tang 28 engages notch 18 the end 24 of sleeve member 20 projects a fixed distance beyond open end 26 of tubular member 12, which fixed distance is greater than the fixed distance mentioned above (compare FIG. 4 with FIG. 3). It will be observed that the cross-sectional configuration of the tubular member 12 and each sleeve member 20 is asymmetric with respect to the axis of the tubular member 12 (see FIG. 5). The tang 28 is positioned on the sleeve member 20 so as to align with the notch 18 when, and only when, the sleeve 20 is inserted into tubular member 12 with the only orientation that their cross-sectional configuration permits.

As shown in FIG. 6, tang 28 may desirably be formed by cutting away portions of wall 22 of the sleeve member on the side adjacent but separated from wall 21 thereof to leave a tab which is turned up at its end, the tang thus having a spring action toward and from the interior of the sleeve. Preferably, as previously mentioned, each sleeve member 20 has a longitudinal separation between walls 21 and 22 at one edge thereof, as indicated at 30 in FIGS. 5 and 6, and a like separation is provided in the tubular member 12 as indicated at 32 in FIGS. 2 and 5. This separation not only provides desirable resilience for ease of assembly but also permits the member 12 and the sleeves to be formed and cut flat, then rolled to shape in simple manufacturing steps.

In operation the watch end may be used with a watch having any of three watch arm separations. By discarding the sleeve members 20 entirely, watch arms having the minimum separation may be accommodated by inserting the spring bar B through the tubular member 12. By depressing tangs 28 and inserting sleeves 20 to the position shown in FIG. 4, an intermediate spacing of watch arms may be accommodated with spring bar B inserted through the member 12 and the sleeves. Finally, by depressing tangs 28 and inserting sleeves 20 until tangs 28 resiliently snap outwardly and engage notches 18, the wider separation of watch arms may be accommodated (see FIG. 3).

An important feature of the invention is that the sleeves may be supplied to the jeweler assembled in the watch ends of the bracelet. By inserting the sleeves in the watch ends at the factory until the tangs snap into the notches, the sleeves are firmly held against dislodgement except as desired. If an intermediate arm spacing watch is to be fitted the jeweler presses the sleeves inwardly with an appropriate tool until they engage the stop means. If the arm spacing is the minimum, the sleeves may be withdrawn with pointed pliers and discarded, and to assist engagement of the sleeve ends with pliers, the ends of wall 15 of member 12 may be cut away as indicated at 34 in FIG. 2. To facilitate gripping the sleeve end with pliers, the outer end of wall 22 thereof may be cut away as indicated at 36 in FIGS. 2 and 6. The outer end of the outwardly curved portion of tang 28 is desirably convexly curved so that it may be removed from a notch 18 simply by pulling or pushing on the sleeve, the curved end acting as a cam. However, the tang can be depressed with a pointed tool to assist in displacing it from the notch.

While a particular embodiment of the invention has been described, other embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art and are within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. For use in attaching a watch bracelet to a watch by a bar securable between spaced apart arms of the watch, a watch end comprising an open-ended tubular member affixed to the end of said bracelet, said tubular member sized to receive a said bar therethrough and having stop means therein intermediate said open ends and a notch intermediate said stop means and each said open end, a pair of hollow sleeve members each being sized to receive a said bar therethrough and to permit insertion of the sleeve within one of said open ends of said tubular member until an end portion thereof engages said stop means, each sleeve member having a resilient projection extending laterally therefrom of a size to fit within a said notch, said projection having a spring action so that it is depressible inwardly of the sleeve member to permit insertion and sliding of the sleeve member in said tubular member with the projection resiliently urged outwardly to snap into said notch when slid to a position opposite said notch, and said projection being so depressible out of said notch to permit further sliding of said sleeve member, said projection being positioned lengthwise on said sleeve member so that said sleeve member projects a first distance beyond said open end when said projection is in said notch, said sleeve member having an overall length such that when the end thereof which is inserted within said tubular member engages said stop means said sleeve member projects beyond said open end a second distance which is less than said first distance.

2. The invention as claimed in claim 1 wherein said stop means is centrally located in said tubular member and said notches are equidistant from said stop means.

3. The invention as claimed in claim 2 wherein said tubular member and each said sleeve member have approximately the same cross-sectional configuration.

4. The invention as claimed in claim 3 wherein said cross-sectional configuration is asymmetric with respect to the axis of said tubular member, whereby insertion of said sleeve member into said tubular member with said projection rotationally misaligned with said notch is prevented.

5. The invention as claimed in claim 1 wherein said sleeve member is longitudinally separated between adjacent walls.

6. The invention as claimed in claim 1 wherein said tubular member is longitudinally separated between adjacent walls.

7. The invention as claimed in claim 1 wherein said projection has a convexly curved outer end portion acting as a cam to enable depressing of the projection by pressing the sleeve member to force said portion against an abutting edge portion of said tubular member.