US816639A - Speedometer. - Google Patents

Description

No. 816,639. I PATENTED APR. 3, 1906.

J. H. BULLARD.

SPEEDOMBTER.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 30. 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1'.

No. 816,639. PATBNTED APR. 3, 1906.

' J. H. BULLARD.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES H. 'BULLAVRD, or SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

' SPEEDOMETERE Specification of Letters Patent.

"Patented April 3, 1906.

Application filed December 30, 1904. Serial No. 239,001.

is operated by a time-movement, marks being imprinted or impressed on the record disk from a source outside of the time-movement to indicate a number of periods recurring within a given time.

The object of the present invention is particularly to provide a recording instrument associated witha time-movement, as an ordinary clock, the record-disk and the clockdial occupying the same face of the instrument, whereby they may be read simultaneously.

The invention further comprises means to operate the recorddial from the minutehand of the time-movement, sai'id dial being removable therefrom independently of the hour-indicating dial. i

The invention consists, further, in suitable mechanism for rotating the hour-dial by a single movement at the end of each hourly period by means of mechanism controlled by but not operated from the time-movement.

St'll another object of the invention is to provide means to print or impress on.tl1e record-dial hourly records, each occupying a line extending entirely around the dial, the lines of the record'being concentrically disposed instead of spirally disposed.

Having these various objects in view, the invention consists in the construction set forth in the following specification, and clearly pointed out in the claims appended thereto.-

' The invention is clearly illustrated in the drawings accompanyingthe specification, in which- Figure 1 shows a sectional elevation of the device, the plane of the section being on line 11, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation in a plane at right angles to Fig. 1, the plane of the section being on line 2 2 of the last-named figure. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the instrument with the record and record-dial and 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the hour-dial, showing its means of support, dotted lines showing the position to which the dial may be moved. Fig. 5 is a front elevation of. a cam mounted on the hour-arbor, a portion of the lever being shown whereby the hour-dial is rotated and whereby the puncturing'or printing recording device is shifted radially of the dial. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the parts shown nFig. 5 and shows the manner of supporting the lever which rotates the hour-dial, whereby movement may be imparted to said lever lengthwise of the axis thereof to effect its temporary disengagement from its operating-cam. Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view of a circuit breaking mechanism whereby movements may be imparted to any suitable printing or puncturing device associated with the recording instrument by means of an electromagnet.

Fig. 8 shows a detailed construction of a solehoid to operate the puncturing or printing" imprinted or impressed on a dial rotated by and in consonance with the minute-arbor of a clock-movement, the disk being divided by radial lines, as shown in Fig 3, to indicate minutes, the record of speed for each hour being dis layed in concentric circles and the record eing constantly visible to the operator of the vehicle.

'Assuming that the device is employed to record the speed of an automobile, the circular casing a, Fig. 2, would be secured to the vehicle in some position where the disk on the front of the instrument would be easily visible. This circular casing is arranged to receive a cylindrical case I), which contains the clock-movement, with whichthe recording disk is associated, and also the puncturing device or the printing device, whereby the record of the distance traveled may be im printed or im ressed on the disk in such mark ner as to ma e the latter legible on the face thereof. The particularmechanism where by the casing of the puncturing device is operated is of minor importancethat is to say, the kind or type of mechanism used to. actuate the printing or puncturing stylus is unimportant and is not'an important part of the hour-dialin operative position thereon. Fig. 1 present invention and will be claimed only will be in proper relation to the exposed figherein as a device suitable to actuate said stylus. An electrically-operated device to operate the stylus is shown in the drawings,

i I as a device of this character is very easily applied and adapts itself readily to the end in view; but it is not essential that it should be electrically erated.

The cylin ical clock-case b is provided with a glass front a, supported in position on the case by the usual face-ring ()5. Inside the clock-case the'usual time-movement is pro vided mounted inthe rectangular frame e,

.the latter being shown in Figs. l-and 2 .par

ticularly. Only a portion of the time-movement has been shown in these -drawings that is to say, the central. arbor, which is the only one with which any connection is made.

. all of the-other devices associated with the instrument being so applied to-ithe clockmovement as to not interfere with the. ordinary construction of the latter. The hands of the clock are eliminated. The central arbor consists, as-usual, of a shaft and a-sleeve thereon, the sleeve rotating once in twelve hours and thelshaft once an hour.; The shaft is indicated by f, and the sleeve by f Thecentral shaft of the clock mechanism is extended far enough beyond the face of the record-disk g topermit the a plication thereto of a disk h, bearin aroun the edge thereof numerals running om 5 to 60, dividing said disk into twelve spaces. is a circular plate and screwed onto the end of the shaft f is a t umb-nut 7c. Fixed on the arbor back of the disk 9 isanother disk m, which serves as a sup ort between which and the circular plate j t e disk It and the disk 9 are clamped. On thedisk m is a inc, which extends beyond the face of t e disk far enough to receive the disk g, the disk h,-. and

ate 3', whichare each provided with a hole for. thepin 0, whereby these parts-may always bea lied in the same position relative to the is m, whereby when the recorddisk is applied the numeralson the. .disk h ure on the hour-dial 1). When the-numeral is in the position of 5 in Fig. 1, it will indicate the point on the record-disk at which the hourly record begins, and it is when this number 60 arrives in. this position that the radial shifting of the uncturing, orprinting stylus q, Fig. 2, is e 'ected to beginsaid hourly record in vone of the cir c1 1lar paths comprised between the concentric lines 1',

Fig. 3, A glance at said disk 9 in this last- Outside. of said disk siepse 'dial and the record-disk, it is only necessary hind the glass face 0, the base of the plug having a flange w, whereby it may be secured to the case by screws, and in said plug is mounted on a stem 00 a cylindrical pad y of some material which will absorb. colored'ink, one

.side of saidcylinder lying in .close proximity to the front'of the record-disk g, the latter being made, preferably, of relatively stifi' paper. This stem 00 extends through the casingand is provided with a. thumb-nut as,

whereby it may be rotated. Lying directly back of the plug w is an electromagnet 3, preferably in the form of a solenoid, a detail of which isshown in Fig. 8. Reference to this figure shows that the armature 4 of the soleno1d 3 is connected by a cross-head 5 at the rear end thereof to posts 6, extending from the ends of said cross-head to a plate 7, extending across the. front of the solenoid, constituting a sort of frame, actuated by the solenoid to move toward the backside of the record-disk'g. The plate 7 is provided with a vertical groove 8, which is T-shaped in cross-section, in which the uncturing or printing stylus g mayslide free y. Said plate and posts 6 are supported at one end by the solenoid and at the opposite ends thereof by the plates 6,- through which the posts 6 pass,

saidplates being secured to or forming part of the' frame 6. A lever 9, pivotally supwith a forked end toengage said stylus, the opposite end of the lever-also bein forked to engage apin 12in the end of an e bow-lever 13, ivotally supported-on the frame of the 0100 at 14,- the upper arm of said lever being provided with a se mental rack 15, which engages a pinion 16, ed on the shaft 17 of the our-dial .The lower endof the segmental rack, as s own in Fig. 4, is provided with an inturned end 18, which bears normally on the .outeredge of a step-cam 19, which is shown in Figs. 2, 5, and 6 of the drawings. This cam 19- is a s iral cam and is secured on the sleeve; f and consequently rotates with" the latter once in twelve hours, and is provided with steps 20 011.,theperi hery thereof the distance between each of w fu to one hour. The shaft 14, which constitutes the axis of the elbow-lever 13, extends across the frame of the clock, as shown in Figs. 2

' and6, and is, provided with aspring 21,which has the doublefunction of pressing the elbowlever toward the'cam l9, audit is also a torported on the clock-frame at 10, is provided 'ch is equivalent tion. When the cam has rotated such a distance as to cause the end of the elbow-lever 13 to dro off the last step, the inturned end 18 of sai lever will drop onto the sleeve 7, as shown in Fig. 5, on which it may rotate indefinitely wi'thout imparting further movement to the hour-dial p. To permit this movement of the end of the elbow-lever 13,

I the hub of the cam has an'annular channel or groove 22 out therein, as shown in Fig. 5, the wall of which is cut away at the foot of the last of the steps 20 to permit the rectangularly-disposed end 18 of the elbow-lever to enter said groove, the point at which this hub is cut away being indicated at 23, Fig. 5. It is evident, there ore, when it becomes necessary-to put on a new dial this in'turned end 18 of the elbow-lever 13 must be disengaged from said groove 22, and this is efiected by opening the front of the instrument and ressing on the shaft 14, on which the elbowever is secured, moving the latter toward the back of thecasing far enough to disengage the end 18 and then rotating the shaft 14 to swing the upper arm of said lever upward to the position shown in Fig. 1, which will rotate the hour-dial p back to twelve oclock, provided the cam is in the position it would occupy at twelve oclock. Otherwise the lever will swing down onto the ed e of the cam and set the dial p to the correct our, for the cam being continuously rotatable will be in position to set the hour-dial at whatever point the lever 3 will be located on the cam in resetting. The cam being frictionally secured on its arbor may be adjusted, whatever may be the hour at which the record begins, so that the end of the lever 13 will rest on the hi h-.

est pointof the cam, thus insuring aull "twelve-hour record. When this change of adjustment of the cam is effected, it becomes .necessary to change the relation of the hourdial to its actuating-rack 15, and for this purpose this dial-may be moved to disengage its pinion 16 from the rack 15, and to this end its shaft 17 is endwise slidable in its bearings 23, and, as. shown in the drawings, the shaft 17 is supported therein by one end only, and there is an annular groove between the dial p and the end of the pinion 16 into which an arm 24 may drop, said arm, if desired, being held in engaging position by a spring 25; In said Fig. 4'aport1on of the arm-24 is shown in a raised posltion in dotted lines. It is thus apparent that the adjustment of the dial 1? ma be made independent entirely ofthe rac 15. Obviously a record-disk may be put on at any time before'the cam 19 has completed its cycle, and the record will begin in that one of the concentric spaces, countlng from the outermost inward, which corresponds with the number of ste s 20 on the cam which have passed under t 1e end of the lever 13.

Referring now to Figs. 2 and 9, it is seen that the solenoid 3 is supported on a piece of insulating material 26, which by a screw 27 is secured to the back side of the clock-frame e, and to this piece 26 two spring-fingers 28 and 29- are secured with which the ends of the wire 30 are connected, with which the solenoid is wound.

Secured to the casng a and insulated therefrom are two spring- fingers 31 and 32, which are connected with binding-posts 33 on the back side of the case a, from which posts the wires 34 extend which constitute the electrical circuit shown in Fig. 7, and in which.

figure the solenoid is conventionally shown only and the circuit coin rising a battery or other suitable source of e ectricity 35. One terminal of the circuit is secured to a'station- 'ary spring-finger 36, located in suitable position to bear on a rotatin member 37, which ordinarily is rotated by t e hub of the wheel of the vehicle, and on this member are metal ribs 38, which are electrically connected with the other terminal of the circuit, whereby as the member 37 rotates and these strips come in contact with the finger 36 the circuit will be closed and the solenoid 3 energized, thereby causing the plate 7, connected with the armature of the solenoid and bearing the stylus g, to be moved sharply toward the back side of the record-disk g, bringing the stylus into contact with the latter-and forcing it against the inked pad y, causing a spot or point to be rinted on the front of the dial. As soon as t e circuit is opened by the rotation of the member 37 the spring 39, (see Fig. 8,) located between the end of the solenoidcoil and the cross-head 5, will retract the plate 7 and the stylus. This movement takes place so quickly as not to interfere in any way with the rotation of the recorddial. Referring again to Fig. 7 and assuming that the rotating member 27 is moved at such speed that the circuit will be closed to indicate each quarter-of-a-mile run, then at some point on said rotating member the metal ribs 38 will be doubled, as shown, whereby a double dot would be printed on the recorddial at the end'of each mile. The hour which appears in the aperture u of the case will indicate the hour at which the rotation of the cam was completed, and consequently when the record was finished. Therefore by tak-. ing note of this when a new record-disk is put on some time after note may be made on the completed record of the time at which the run finished, the hour being indicated as above and the minute by observing at what point on the-dial relative to the fi res surrounding the inner edge thereof t e record terminates. 7

It is-of course quite obvious that the dial p, indicating the hour, may be dispensed with altogether; but this would not affect in an way the operation of the device as a spec i cording instrume' It is to be noted that each of the annular spaces comprised between the lines r, Fig. 3, on the record-disk is -the space allotted to each hourly record, the disk rotating once in that time. Therefore the cam 19 is so laid out that the number of steps in its periphery will coincide with the number of these annular spaces referred to. Furthermore, it is to be noted that when the inturned end 18 of the arm 13 falls off the last step and into the annular groove 22 the largest diameter of the cam lies directly over the end of the last step of the cam, and therefore as soon as one record-disk has been filled another may be put on to take its place immediately, if desired, and the arm 13 pushed back and swung up over the edge of the cam again. If the record-disk is not replaced, it will continue to run without, however, receiving any record within the spaces between the lines r. The stylus, however, will continue to mark the disk, but always in the same path on the margin thereof outside of the record-spaces, and the dial p will remain stationary at the point where the last record was completed, the numerals on this dial, together with the point of termination of the record, constituting a record of the time at which the run was completed. It is therefore seen that some means to reset the time-dial p is necessary,

as any length of time may elapse between the completion of one record-disk and the beginning of another, and this adi'ustment, of the time-dial has beenabove exp ained. From the foregoingdescription it is clear that this instrument combines a clock to show the lapse of time and a record-dial to indicate and record the speed of the vehicle for each minute of the time ela sed, both the clock-face and the dial 7 face eing on the same side of the instrument and easily readable together, the record-dial being easily. removable by simply opening the face of the instrument.

. Obviously the inked pad may be dispensed with and a puncture serve to mark the dial.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is 1. In an instrument of the class described, the combination with a suitable power mech anism, of a record-disk rotating continuously at minute-hand speed and receiving during its rotation the record of successive occurrences, and a time-dial having a partial rotary movestates ment at periods, said time-dial being ar ran ed in complemental relation to the recor -disk on the same sideor face of the instrument.

'2. In an instrument of the class described, the combination of a power mechanism having an arbor rotating at minute-hand speed,

a record-disk turning with said arbor and.

having minute-period indications, a separate time-dial having hour-period indications and exposed for reading on thesam'e side or face of the instrument as the record-disk, and means for periodically rotating the time-dial to bring its indications into complemental reading relation to those of the record-disk.

3. In an instrument of the class described, the combination with a clock mechanism and the center arbor thereof, of a record-disk supported on, and rotatable with the latter,'a device to mark the dial intermittently during its rotation, a second time-disk and suitable mechanism to impart artial rotatory movement to the time dis synchronously with the radial movement of the markin device. 4. In an instrument of the class ascribed, the combination with a clock mechanism and the center arbor thereof, of a record-disk supported on said arbor to rotate at minutehand speed, a helical cam supported on said arbor to rotate at hour-hand speed, said cam having steps on its periphery corresponding to hourly divisions of t1me; a second timedisk; a device to intermittently mark the record-disk during its rotation, and a member bearing on the peripheryof the cam and connected with the marking device and with the time-disk, whereby the assing of a step of the cam will shift the marking device radiially ofthe record-disk, and impart partial rotatory movement to the time-disk.

5. In an instrument of the class described, the combination with a clock mechanism and .the center arbor thereof, of a record-disk supported on said arbor to rotate at minutehand speed, and provided with radial divi- -sional 7 lines to indicate minute periods; a

second time-dial provided with hour-divisions indicated by numerals; said time-dial being rotatably supported on a separate arbor; and exposed for reading at the same side or face of the instrument as the recorddisk and bearing a complemental relation to the latter mechanism to mark the record-dial during its rotation, and means of connection between the marking mechanism and said time-dial, whereby it may be rotated at periods to shift from one hour to the next for each revolution of the record-disk,

6. In an instrument of the class described, the combination with a clock mechanism and the center arbor thereof, of a record-disk supported on said arbor to rotate at minutehand speed, and provided with radial divisional lines to indicate minute periods; said periods being indicated by numerals; a sec- 0nd time-dial provided with hourly divisions indicated by numerals, both dials being readabl'e on theface of the instrument, mechanism to rotate said record-disk continuously, and means to rotate the time-dial to bring each hourly division thereof into a certain position relative to a fixed point at the completion of each revolution of the record-disk.

7. The combination of a clock mechanism and a center arbor thereof, of a record-disk supported on the arbor to rotate at minutehand speed, a helical cam supported on said arbor to rotate at hour-hand speed, a marking device for the record-disk, a lever bearing on the periphery of the cam and connected with the marking device to move the latter radially of the disk by the movement of one end of said lever toward the axis of the cam, the latter having an annular groove in the hub thereof opening toward the side of the cam, there being an opening extending into said groove at right angles to the axis of the cam to permit the end of the lever bearing on the cam to drop into said groove 3 said lever being movable away from the cam to disengage it from the groove in the latter and to permit its engagement again with the periphery of the earn.

8. In an instrument of the class described, the combination of a clock mechanism and the usual rotatable center arbor therefor, of a record-disk supported on the arbor, a device to mark the record-disk, and electrically-actuated means to actuate the marking device comprising an electromagnet within the instrument and a circuit extending through the casing of the instrument and including said magnet, a battery and a makeand-break device, together with other means to automatically break the circuit when the instrument is removed from its support.

9. In an instrument of the class described, a rotatable record-disk and mechanism to mark a record on said disk in paths encircling the axis thereof, certain points in the path of the recording-marks being distinguished from the others by a change in the character of the mark.

JAMES H. BULLARD.- Witnesses:

WM. H. CHAPIN, KVI. OLEMoNs.

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