Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The present invention i5 concerned with a mechanism
adapted to house appliances which require very little power to
work in use and the using time of which is transient, for
example, door bells, which mechanism is manually driven to
produce the requisite electricity for use.
In view of the incessantly increasing population
and shrinking energy source of the world, it is predictable
that the seriousness of the energy crisis will only change
from bad to worse in the future few years. Undèr such cir-
sumstances, it is critically urgent to decrease reliance uponconventional fossil fuels.
In fact, some appliances which consume little power
because they are devised to work only momentarily rather than
continuously in use, for example door bells, can be energized
manually, easily, and conveniently by the user himself to
bring it into operation without the need for a power source,
thus expelling the extra accessories such as wire and plug, or
batteries, saving the consumpkion oE cells, and obviating the
trouble or replacing exhausted cells. Such devices adapt best
to those places where necessities are scant due to poor trans-
portation.
Presently known means operated manually by the user
- to convert his strength into available potential energy stored
in mechanical devices within a transient period, and then re-
lease the energy for use within a short moment fall into two
categories. The function of the first class i5 accomplished
by compressing a spring or the like, and then releasing it to
exploit the energy stored therein. Since the spring resumes
very quickly, the period of operation is too short for `
practical use. ~lthouyh the period of operation can be pro-
longed by mechanically connecting the spring with an accele-
rating gear train t~ansmitting the motion to a relatively
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heavy, terminal flywheel, whereby the rate of resumption
of the spring is reduced in view of the relationship
b~tween mass and acceleration: ~ = ma, when the spring resumes
its unstressed position, the flywheel still possess con-
siderable inextia, which however is not practically avail~
able since the further rotation results in the streiching of
the spring which, unless mechanically disconnected with the
gear train immediately after it has reached its equilibrium
point, will inevitably countervail the momentum of the fly-
wheel and give rise to considerable loss in the availableenergy stored in the form of the inertia therein. In this
case the spring is first stretched to an extent due to the
inertia of the flywheel after passing its equilibrium poin-t,
and then retracts and force the flywheel to counter-rotate.
~eedless to say, in the damping process, much available
energy is lost.
Another class is found in friction drive toys,
which is basically in common with the gyrobus in terms of the
driving system involving a rapidly spinning flywheel. The
ordinary manner of playing with such a toy by rubbing its
wheels vigorously against a flat plane however, is not
adapted to be applied to door bells. Although the flywheel
can be energized by rocking a crank arm connected to the
first gear of the accelerating gear train, this method is not
altogether satisfactory since the crank arm appears unsightly
and clumsy at the door. Moreover, the manner clamping the
crank arm to rock it does not coincide with ordinary habit
by pushing a button or pulling a cord.
According to the invention there is provided a
manually driven generating mechanism for door bells, comprising:
a dynamo to supply power, a spring' a means to stress said
spring' a train of acceleration gears mechanically connected
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to said means; a clutching device w~ich contrc,ls the engage-
ment or disengagement between said means and the first gear
of said acceleration gears, a relatively heavy flywheel, with
its t~o ends respectively connected to the last gear of said
acceleration gears, and to the rotary shaft of said dynamo,
said means being adapted to be conveniently operated by hand
to bring said spring into a stressed state; said clutching
device enabling said means and the first gear of said
accelerating gears to connect mechanically with each other
before the stressed spring resumes its original, unstressed
position, and to disconnect with each other when said spring
reaches its unstressed state.
In a particular embodiment the mechanism may
further include a buzzer adapted to be energized by the
dynamo.
Accordingly~, it is the object of the present
invention to provide an improved gyro-type manually
energizing mechanism to obviate and mitigate the afore-
said disadvantages.
According to an aspect of this invention the
foregoing disadvantages are overcome by means of a
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detachable transmission mechanism which is preferably
positioned between the first gear of the accelerating
train gears and the device through which the force is
exerted to effect the engagement and disengagement
thereof, thereby exploiting the residual kinetic energy
stored in the flywheel in the form of inertia.
These objects of this invention will be accom-
panied by embodiments as referred to in relation with
the annexed drawing of this invention as following.
FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a gear
provided with a crank arm'
FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment
according to this invention,
FIGURE 3 is a top view of another embodiment
according to thi.s invention,
FIGURE 3A is an enlarged view of the detachable
transmission mechanism of Figure 3,
and Figure 3B is a further magnified
view of the push button thereof.
FIGURE 4 shows another winding device.
EMBODIMF.~T I
With reference to Figure 2, the energy is stored
in the tightly wound spiral spring (22) by twisting
winding knob (21) to turn the intermittent gear (23)
coaxially mounted on the winding shaft. Knob ~21) is
provided with a ward (24) which, together with the stop
pin (25), prevents the undue overwinding thereof, since
if the notch of the intermittent gear (23) is turned to
meet the first gear (26) so that their teeth are no more
in mesh with each other, when winding knob (21) is
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released, the too-th located on the edge of notch, not in
mesh with anything, is first swivelled back rapidly under
the resumptive force of the spiral spring, and strikes the
teeth of gear (26) before it meshes with the latter, thus
glving rise to the wear of their teeth. For this reason,
stop pin (25) should be so positioned that when ward (24)
is turned to stop pin (25) and is hampered thereby,
intermittent gear (23) still keeps in mesh with gear (26).
When the windup knob ~21) is released, the
resilience of spiral spring will force intermittent gear
(23) to counter-rotate, to drive flywheel (27) mounted on
the rotary shaft of a dynamo (28) through the trans-
mission of a train of gears to produce an electric
current with a voltage of ~-8 volt which is far enough to
sound a buzzer (not shown in the drawing). When spiral
spring (22) resumes its unstressed condition, meanwhile
the notch of intermittent gear (23) has already reached
the meshing position of intermittent gear (23) and gear
(2~) and resulted in the disengagement thereof, thus
leaving flywheel (27) spinning freely for a moment until
it gradually slowing down, and making the best of the
residual kinetic energy stored in the flywheel.
EMBODIME~T II
Referring now to Figure 3, Figure 3A and Figure
3B, there are shown a top view of a modification according
to this invention, which as well as what is illustrated
in Embodiment I, comprises a train of accelerating gears
and a flywheel operably mounted to a dynamo. It differs
with that in Embodiment I only in that it is operated
by pushing a button instead of turning a knob, and re-
placing -the sector gear of the latter by a straight
toothing structure.
The pushing button comprises a cylindrical
button (31) whereinto a compression coil spring is
incorporated, and a guide seat (32). Button (31) is
provided with a vertical rack (31) on the side adjacent
to the gear train, which rack (31) is positioned in
such a manner that when button (31) is released, it
engages with pinion (26') all the time before the
coil spring resumes its equilibrium point, and disengages
therewith immediately when the coil spring reaches its
original, unstressed state.
The above two exemplary embodiments, however,
do not limit the scope of this invention. For example,
the winding knob (21) in Embodiment I can be inferentially
substituted by a spool wrapped by a cord. In use, the
cord is pull to wind up the spiral spring. The
optimal angle of rotation of the sector gear can be
accomplished by choosing proper length of the cord.
Although the detaching effect of the mechanical
connection according to this invention can also be
achieved by using one way freewheel mechanism, this
however, will necessitate relatively complicated layout,
thus entailing high cost and increasing the probability
of trouble thereof.
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It will be understood that this invention is
susceptible to further modification and, accordingly,
it i5 desired to comprehend such modifications within
this invention as may fall within the scope of the
appended claims.
