US1089695A - Mileage-indicating apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

S. M. CUTTER & J. E. MGLAUGHLIN.

MILEAGE INDICATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED .IAN.7,1911. 1,089,695' Patented Mar. 10, 1914.

www

ffy

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co A n w ToN c S. M. GUTTER L J. F. MGLAGHLIN.

MILEAGB INDIGATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. '7, 1911. 1,089,695. Patented Mar. 10, 1914.

3 SHBBTSSHEET 2.

S. M. GUTTER & I. P. MOLAUGHLIN.

MILEAGE INDICATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JANrr, 19u.

Patented Mar. 10, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Wv'nesses:

a. om, r m .W

:y .mmf/4M AA., MW@ 5?/ vwd@ COLUMBIA PLANDQRAPN co.,wAsHxNoToN. DA c.

'UNITED sTATEs PATENT OEEIOE.

SOLOMON M. CUTTER AND JOHN F. MCLAUGHLIN, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

MILEAGE-INDICATING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led January 7, 1911.

Patented Mar. 10, 1914.

Serial No. 601,415.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, SOLOMON M. Cu'rmn and JOI-IN F. MOLAUGHLIN, citizens of the United States, residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mileage-indicating Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

rlhis invention relates to what we shall for convenience term a mileage indicating apparatus, this title having been. adopted simply because the apparatus is shown for indicating mileage. It is conceivable, of course, that the same may be put to other uses. lVhen employed, however, for the purpose set forth, it can be utilized with advantage in connection with an automobile, although it will operate with equal utility in conjunction with vehicles or conveyances of other kinds.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part of the present specification, we have shown in detail one convenient form of embodiment of the invention, which to enable those skilled in the art to practise the same, will be set forth fully in the following description, while the novelty of the invention will be included in the claims succeeding said description. From such obserf vations it will be obvious that we do not restrict ourselves to the showing made by said drawings and description; we may depart therefrom in several and radical respects within the scope of our invention as eX- pressed in said claims.

The apparatus as shown has means for registering the mileage or even the fraction of a mile, in making a trip on an automobile, for instance, and also a separate register for showing a total mileage made by the car within a given period. It also has means for indicating the speed and for recording the distance traveled and the amount of time required in traveling such a distan-ce. It is not essential, of course, that all these different mechanisms be employed together, as it is possible that we may use them separately.

Referring to said drawings: Figure l is a front elevation of a mileage indicating apparatus involving our invention. Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of said apparatus. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the same. Fig. Ll is a horizontal section on t-he line 4;-4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detail view of a portion ofthe total registering mechanism and certain coperating devices. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 7 is a detail view of a portion of the trip indicating register and the resetting means therefor, and Fig. 8 is a detail view of a portion of the winding mechanism hereinafter described.

Like characters refer to like parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

It is our custom to mount certain of the operative parts in a suitable casing or housing and that denoted in a general way by 2 can be effectively utilized for this purpose and in practice we prefer to support this casing on some relatively iixed part of a conveyance or its equivalent. For example, this casing can be rigidly connected to the dash board or other convenient part of an automobile. It will be evident that when the device is to be used in connection with an automobile it is necessary that some moving part of such vehicle beconnected with the apparatus, and w iile any desirable means may be provided for this purpose, the transmission shaft 8 is shown, said shaft being connected in some suitable manner with one of the front wheels of the automobile, eX- tending upward therefrom and into the casing 2. The connections between said shaft 3 and the wheel from which it receives its motion are not shown, as the invention does not concern these, although it will be evident that when the automobile is in motion, the shaft 3 will be rotated.

As will be understood from what we have already intimated the apparatus'has means for registering the distance covered on a trip and also the total amount of travel of the car in a given interval. lt is possible that instead of measuring miles, we might register another standard of measure, this being unimportant, although the two registers indicate in the present instance miles and fractional parts thereof, the fractions in the present case being eighths, and both registers are operated in the construction illustrated, from the shaft 3. The shaft 3 is shown supported by a rigid bearing t in the casing 2 and as also having a worm 5, in mesh with a worm gear G, the bearing 4 having an opening to provide for the mesh between the said worm and worm gear. The worm gear 6 is loose on the shaft 7 supported by suitable bearings on the side walls of the casing 2.

lli/Thilo the power for operating the registering mechanism is initially applied to the total upper register, as will hereinafter appear and is thereby transferred to the trip register, this is not essential, as such relation might be reversed. Vile prefer to interpose between the two registers means for transferring the effect of one to the other as will now ap Jear. On what is shown as the inner side face of the worm 6 is an actuating part (shown as a projection or pin 8) which is cooperative in the present instance with a pinion as 9 represented as having` eight teeth, only for the reason that as organized the machine registers eighths of a mile. lf any other fraction of a mile were. to be registered, the teeth of the said intermediate pinion would be of a coi-respondng` number. This pinion 9 is loosely carried upon the shaft 10 su )ported by bearings on the side wall of the easing. rEhe teeth of the pinion i) are made sufficiently wide to be engagged by the pin S and to also engage the primary pinion 11 of the total register, and they also mesh with the teeth of the primary pinion 12 of the trip or lower register, said pinion 12 being` loosely carr'ed by the shaft 13 supported by bearings on the side walls of the casing,` 2. lt will be clear that each of said pinions 9, 11 and 12 has eight teeth. The parts are proportioned that when the car travels one-eighth of a mile, the worm gear is given one full turn, and it follows that owing to the engagement between the pin 8 and the pinion 9, the latter is given one step movement on each full turn of said worm; that is to say, the pinion 9 will be operated a distance equaling that between two teeth thereof on each full rotation of the worin gear 6, and it naturally follows, that the primary pinion 1l of the total mileage or upper register and that the primary pinion 12 of the trip or lower mileage register are each given a one step or one tooth movement, on each full turn of the said worm .cear G or when the car traif'els one-eighth or a mile.

rihe pinion 11 is rigidly connected with the first disk ilL of the total register, while the pinion 12 is rigidly connected with the first disk 15 of the trip register, and these disks have peripheral marks indicating eighths of a mile. -Loosely carried by the upper shaft 7 are register disks each for convenience designated by 16, the disk 16 next the disk lll beingI` the units one of the total register, the adjacent one being the tens and so on after the fashion of registers of the ordinary kind, and each of the said disks 16 will bear on its face the symhols 0 to '9 inclusive., The fraction disk le has on its inner side a projection 17 which when said fraction disk e has made one full turn is adapted to operate the pinion 18, one step or tooth and when the pinion 1S which is loosely carried by the shaft 10 has made said one step movement, it will, through the gear 1S fastened to the first wheel 1G turn the latter one step to register by said first disk or wheel 1G, the fact that the :ar has traveled one mile. The first wheel 1G is provided with similar pin 19 and vhen said disk or wheel 1G has practically made one full turn or virtually registered ten miles, said pin 19 will engage the pinion Q0 also loosely suoporl'ed by sait, shaft ILO and will turn said pinion one step whereby the latter will operate the gear 21 rigidly fastened to the second disk or wheel l-:S of the total register. This same opera Vion will be carried throughout the di'lierent disks or wheels of the total register.

It will. be understood that there are several of the intermediate or idle pinions such as 18 and 2G carried on the intermediate shaft 1G. Although we have for convenience of description given these two las nieiitioned pinions different characters, they are of similar construction, there being, as will be understood, five of such pinions on the said iutermediate shaft 10. lille should also eX- plain that the units, tens and hundreds wheels or disks of the lower or trip register receive their motion from the first three of the pinions such as 1S and 2() carried on said shaft 10, it being remembered that the fracA tion disk or wheel of the trip register re ceives its motion from the eight tooth pinion 9. it should also be explained that all the pinions on the shaft 10 except the pinion 9 have ten teeth after the fashion of registers of the ordinary kind. To prevent accidental motion of the register parts, springs as may be provided. The casingl f2 will hare on its front sight openings as 2? and 2loovered with glass or other transparent inaterial through which the numerals on the two sets of registering' wheels can be lV e have illustrated means for indicatiun` the speed traveled by the car, and although said means may vary, that now to be described is quite satisfactory. To the shaft 3 is fastened the yoke Q5 and to the branche. of this yoke are fulcruined centri'lrugally operated members as the angle levers 20, the outer arms of which may as shown be weighted, while the inner arms bear against a flange 27 on the sleeve 28 slidably connected with said shaft 3, a coiled spring' QS) surrounding` the shaft 3, being; interposed between said slidable sleeve QS and the body of the yoke 25. lt will he clear that as the shaft rotates, the weighted arms of the levers 2G will be thrown outward and the faster the speed of the car, the `rea er will be the extent said weighted arms au thas operated, and we utilize this particular fund tion for securing the speed indication on a scale or otherwise.

The finger or pointer member of the speed l et',

indicator is denoted by o0, and it is in the nature of a floating lever, being fulcrumed at its lower end to the lever 3l pivoted to the back of the casing 2 within the same. The upper portion of the pointer member or floating lever 30 is bent forward as at 32 and extends through a longitudinal slot in the boxing 33 formed on the interior of the casing 2, said boxing being covered by a sheet of glass or other transparent substance Sel. The front face of the bottom of the boxing is provided with a mileage indicating scale 35 which is adapted to be traversed by the finger 36 carried at the extreme forward or outer end of the floating' lever or pointer S0. Fulcrumed within the easing 2 is a lever 37 one arm of which is pivoted to the floating lever 3S and the other arm of which is forked, the branches of the fork be ing provided with pins 39 to enter a peripheral channel or groove in the slidable sleeve 2S. The lever or link 38 is also pivoted t' the pointer or floating member 8O between the ends thereof, the fulcrum for said lever or link being a pin e() carried on a slide fl-fl supported by a bracket or bearing fl-2 in the casing. It will be clear, therefore, that as the automobile speeds up the shaft S will be rapidly rotated, and therefore, as already set forth, the arms 26 will be swung outward whereby the pointer member or floating lever 30 will be swung to the right in Fig. 2 through the described connections thereby causing the finger 3G to travel toward the left in Fig. 1 and to indicate on the scale 35 the speed of the car. Owing to the described construction the linger 3G always caused to follow a straight path which is shown as horizontal, although the action in question may be obtained in other ways.

life also provide means for securing a permanent record, and the record may, of course, vary. ln the present instance the purpose of the record is to show the distance covered by the car in a given time and to also show what is done with the car throughout the day, and these records are advantageous. For example, should the owner of the oar be arrested for speeding, the card on which the record is made will prove whether or not he has, while on the `ther hand a check can be had on the chauffeur, that is to say, the card will show vhe'ther or not the chauffeur has been using the car without the permission of the owner. These are simply two illustrations, as the records on the card may be used for entirely different purposes. They would in case the apparatus is used on a locomotive, be of value in making speed and like tests.

It will be apparent that we use the term card in a generic sense to include devices of different kinds whereon a record can be made by a marking device or its equivalent. Said recording means in the present in stance, is time controlled or cooperates with a time controlled device, and in this event an ordinary clock can be utilized with advantage. 'Ve have shown such a clock and the same is denoted in a general way by s3. The internal construction of the clock is quite well understood, so that it is net necessary for us to show or describe the same. T he clock, however, is mounted for shift-ing movement. The front of the clock casing is 7l shown provided with projections lll porforated to receive the guide rods or rails i5 which are supported by die upright arms of the bracket #i6 fastened suitably to the casing 2. It will be understood that the clock .0 d3 travels on the rods or rails which present a suitable track or way for said clock. The card on which the record is made as already intimated may vary considerably, although it is shown a disk d'7 provided with two separate scales, one scale being?,` a made up of radial lines each denoted by i8 and indicating` fractions of an hour such i s live minute intervals, and the other gage lines e9 being circular and indicating hours.

The minute arbor of the clock il?) is denoted by 50, and the card or disk i9 is clamped to said minute arbor 5() by a clamping device supported thereby, constituting a suitable card carrier and denoted in a general way by 51. From this it will be clear that the card lf) is given one full turn each hour. ln addition to the rotary movement f the card, the card has with the clock a shifting movement bodily, and this operation is effected by 00 the n'1o\,'ement of the clock itself, and can be effected through the hour arbor which is shown having fastened thereto a pinion .3S-l in mesh with a stationary rack bar 5l cai# ried by the upright arms of said bracket lo. is the hour arbor 5i), tru-ns on the operation of the clock work, the pinion is also turned, and being in mesh with 'the teeth of the stationary rack bar 5ft, the clock will he moved thereon, covering a predeterlnincfl distance each twenty-four hours, and ou this movement the card 41T is correspondingly operated. The card, therefore, ha; a compound movement.

There is ein' layed in connection with t card et? a maridevice, a nd this marking o device may vary in c iaracter. lt is shown as a punch ,35 which on each operation is adapted to puncture or perforate the card 1li'. The punch shown suppc-rterl the l2@ upper end of the carrier which illustrated, consist of a sprio f at its biitt to the the said casing havn which the. upper por( i :36 can extend. ly virtu o'. tion the punch can be given accelerated motion which spring arm 56 has L loose connection with 'he arm asened i@ the ruck shaft 58 suppoi'enl by the hearing il. To said roel; shaft 5S is also fastened the zum 59, the tee of which is leczitezl in ehe path of pins GO faisiiecl le the iiiiiei side el 'die clisl; A, hei'e being eiglilY Such plus? and they heilig eq iialisuiiely iliposed. :A eh time Vdie ecu' iii eighth of i1. mile, one @if Said pihs :will 59 zuid will same ilewiwaich hei'eby siif'iiigiiig lhi'eiigh llie Mieli shaft 'jui'- Wiuil :mel ielizieiiig lhe Spring and when "hiel pai'tieiilzii pin pziSSeS ei rieles off the :ii'iii the slii'ii'ig iiiiii 56 will he i'elezisfl se 'that it Casi spi'iiig instantaneously foi'- Waifcl by its iesilieiic and Quise the punch e 5; le puncture 'L'he eziicl unil equally rapidly i-etuii Aeveiiieiils pi'e'leiahly heul;

beth .iii quien/ei 'ahah the iiim'ehieii' ef the Card. 'lt will, l ieieife, he upgm'eiit *chai euch time Qhe cai' ii'zi'vels ui eighth of a mile mi iii li- Gatien of ths lzict W'll be made oii the civ-:cl

cifiiil Shows e" radial. vgeule lires; 41S, cli, l I.

sizil'eeii of siieh that heemi has; iizivelen "ity-eiiimiles iii lie-iii'. By the aid, iii-e ei these eziey ne @bmi-mine iii :i give time. will iiiflieziae :uml '1i' 'ev-eh h ii )i i" mii i iii Oil

:i3 can he ii'ifuiuzill y wound 'haft this i-eaiill' he @.iitoiiinilieally seeuree., imei-eut ways can lie provided for iittziiii l'liiS enel. ly Seial au 'miizflzie :pei'zil'ien siii-e that *alle iiiiiii'i A i will lie liegt pi'zielieiilly iiiulei high leiisimi al: all limes so as to ,s ue llie "iimisVei-Se ei' lieclily mei ihe @leek wi'llioii del I he inea is sz th' o i 'he Worm gezu- 67, it will he zippaieiiu ilmt when a full wiiicliiig of l colliltlelecj i Slii will Oe ii'lioi and We-iii geni' S inf; of Vthe la L 'eel. ,Said Slm' eiicl by a hi'ziel; u, (5S i and exeiiiliiig; f

The Shula;

OllLCl' QV i makes i peine :Nun he Lu yisziiil leiei' il". The other iii'ih carries :i pifaileil pziwl 7S) 'lhe leyei' mieifzxieil iii the lifilf" Wlwel Y() lelle wiiieliii end :using s inside 01:1 n i l ly described, eoii'ipi'ises iiecl i which pinions as 18 and 20. It will be clear that when the shaft 13 is drawn outwardly, the several disks Will be carried out of mesh with the gears of the transmission mechanism, so that by then turning the shaft 13, the disks l5 can be reset, and when their zero marks are opposite the sight opening Q4, spring lingers as 83 Within the casing Will spring into notches 84 in the adjacent faces of the said disks l5. When the said trip register has been reset, the shaft 13 will be released7 and the normal relation Will be restored by the spring 82.

lVhat We claim is:

l. In an apparatus of the class described adapted for attachment to a movable vehicle, the combination of a card carrier, and a marking dei/*ice for the card on the card carrier, a clock having means Vfor causing a relative motion et the marking device and the card' about an axis and for also causing the movement bodily of the card radially of said axis, and independent means operable by and on the movement of the vehicle for causing a third relative motion of the card and marking device to obtain a mark on the card,

Q. In an apparatus of the c ass described adapted for attachment to a movable vehicle, the combination of a card carrier, and a punch for punching the card on the card carrier, a clock having means for causing a relative motion of the marking device and the card about an axis and for also causing the movement bodily of the card radially or said. axis, and independent means operable by and on the movement of the vehicle for causing a third relative motion of the punch and card to effect the punching of said card.

23. In an apparatus of the class described,

the combination of a clock and a card carrier, one of the arbors of the clock having said card carrier connected therewith, means operable by another arbor of the clock itor bodily shitting said clock and thereby the card carrier and card, and a marking device i'or the card.

Ll. In an apparatus of the class dcscril ed, the combination of a clock having minato and hour arbors, a card carrier connected with the minute arbor, and mechanism :t'or .bodily shifting the clock, operable by said hour arbor.

In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a card carrier, and a clock, the clock haring independent members rotative at dii'iferent speeds, one ot said members being connected with the card carrier, and means for shifting the clock, connected with the other of said members.

G. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a clock having a minuto arbor and an hour arbor, a card carrier rotatably connected With the minnte arbor, and rack and pinion mechanism operable by the hour arbor, for bodily shifting the clock.

7. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination oi a clock mounted lor traveling n'ioif'ement, having minute and hour arbors, a pinion fastened to the hour arbor,a stationary rack in mesh with said pinion, and a card carrier connected with the minute rbor.

In testimony Ywhereof We allix our signatures in presence of two Witnesses.

SOLOMON M. CUTTER. JOI-IN F. MCLAUGI'ILIN. lVitnesses I-Inn'rrr SUTHERLAND, MILTON E. LoivaY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for iive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner ot Patents, Washington, D. C.

Images