Mechanical horological bearing provided with a damping

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11934153-B2
Application number	US-202117162404-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 29, 2021
Priority date	Feb 26, 2020
Publication date	Mar 19, 2024
Grant date	Mar 19, 2024

Abstract

A mechanical horological bearing (1) intended to be arranged on a mechanical timepiece movement (10), the bearing (1) including, coaxial around a common rotation axis (D), at least one internal frame (4) and at least one external frame (5) forming a running track (20), as well as a plurality of wheels (12) sliding or rolling in the running track (20), during a relative movement between the internal frame (4) and the external frame (5) that guides them and wherein at least one of the internal frame (4) and external frame (5) is a dynamic frame, at least one structural part of the bearing (1) being produced from an elastic metal material with a high damping capacity, the damping factor of which is greater than 10%, preferably greater than 30%.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A mechanical horological bearing configured to be arranged on a mechanical timepiece movement, the bearing including, coaxial around a common rotation axis, at least one internal frame and at least one external frame-forming a running track, as well as a plurality of wheels sliding or rolling in the running track, during a relative movement between said internal frame and said external frame that guides them,
wherein at least one of said internal frame and external frame is a dynamic frame,
wherein at least one structural part of the bearing is produced from an elastic metal material with a high damping capacity, the damping factor of which is greater than 10%,
wherein the bearing comprises a first damping piece configured to be positioned entirely flatly between one of said frames and a bridge of the automatic winding system of the movement, the first damping piece forming the part of the bearing produced from an elastic metal material with a high damping capacity.

2. The mechanical bearing according to claim 1 , wherein the metal material has a tensile strength greater than 100 MPa.

3. The mechanical bearing according to claim 1 , wherein the material is to be chosen from the following list:
an alloy of manganese at at least 80%, and copper,
an alloy of copper at at least 80%, and of aluminum and nickel at 12% and 5%,
an alloy of iron at at least 80%, and of chromium and aluminum at 12% and 3%,
an alloy of iron at at least 60%, and of cobalt, at 35%, an alloy of iron at at least 90%, and of aluminum and carbon at 6% and 0.2%,
an alloy of manganese at at least 70%, and of copper, nickel and iron at 20%, 5% and 2%, and
an alloy of the Nitinol type comprising nickel at at least 50%, and titanium at 45%.

4. The mechanical bearing according to claim 1 , wherein the bearing comprises a second damping piece positioned between one of said frames and means for holding the bearing on the movement, the second damping piece forming the part of the bearing produced from an elastic metal material with a high damping capacity, and wherein a radius of the second damping piece is less than that of the first damping piece.

5. The mechanical bearing according to claim 1 , wherein the first damping piece is a washer.

6. The mechanical bearing according to claim 1 , wherein the first damping piece is a tube.

7. The mechanical bearing according to claim 1 , wherein the external frame is produced from the damping material.

8. The mechanical bearing according to claim 1 , wherein the internal frame is produced from the damping material.

9. The mechanical bearing according to claim 1 , wherein said wheels are balls produced from a metal material with a high damping capacity.

10. A horological movement including at least one bearing according to claim 1 .

11. The mechanical bearing according to claim 4 , wherein the second damping piece is a washer.

12. The mechanical bearing according to claim 1 , wherein the second damping piece is a tube.

Assignees

• Eta Sa Mft Horlogere Suisse

Inventors

• Helfer Jean-Luc
• Huot-Marchand Sylvain

Classifications

• G04B31/0123 Primary

  with metallic ball bearings and metallic roller bearings · CPC title

• G04B31/02 Primary

  Shock-damping bearings {(shock damping in the case G04B37/052, G04B37/055, G04B37/0418)} · CPC title

• G04B5/19 Primary

  Suspension of the oscillating weight at its centre of rotation · CPC title

• C22C9/05

  with manganese as the next major constituent · CPC title

• C22C9/01

  with aluminium as the next major constituent · CPC title