US1438676A - Identification marking for automobiles - Google Patents

Description

F. WENZ'EL. IDENTIFICATION MARKING FOR AUTOMOBILES. APPLICATION FILED APH. Ia. 1922.

Patented Dec. 12, 1922.

l l I l l INDEX lMOTOR ISEO ISZI |922 i323 N0. MAKE H.P N REQNII NO NO N0 I FHAIWLIN 5I V22469 605374 52 FORD 22 33857 3I6I59 A53 NATIONAL 29 I8I35 6|2785 54 ovERLAND I8 27758 665932 55 PACKARD 43 I32I26 654987 56 OVERLAND' I8 42627 643984 57 oLosMoILE 26 |7493 6I3583 58 FORD 22 MIIOOI 643729 5s cADILLAc 32 644I3 624749 6O OLDSMOBILE I9 H38 6IO487 6l GADILLAG 32 64413 65I985 62 cADILLAc :5I M3253 634788 63 OVERLAND 27 847946642680 64 CADILLAC 32 :w63 629388 65 OVERLAND 30 6|I833 673450 66 DODGE 24 275cm 623587 67 aADILLAc 31 |2290 628763 6B FORD 22 |Io25067lo99 69 BUIOK 25 I88492 625755 7o CADILLAC 3| s5N535 653677 7| oHANDLl-:R 29 25945 6421I7 72 CADILLAC 3| ssJszaIIwa 73 BUICK 27 .357.398 6|9s85 74 BUICK 25 26755I 6Io4Io 75 NATIONAL 40 533334 67I9I8 ifm/JA IULM/LOI Patented llllee. l2, lQZlE..

auf :il den FRANK WENIZEL, 0F ALBANY, NEW YORK.

Application filed April 18T, 1922. Serial No. 554,927.

fo all whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, 'Fininir lnNznL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Albany, in the county of Albanyand State of N ew York, have invented` certain new and useful lmprovements in identification Markings for by declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specihcation.

This invention relates to a system of marking automobiles so as to destroy the market for stolen automobiles and has for its principal object the provision of a system that may be carried out without undue complications and which will prevent the purchaser of a stolen car from obtaining a license plate from the Statey authorities provided that the theft of the car has been duly reported.

A further and important obj ect of the invention resides in the provision of the markers per se and in combination with the steering wheel of the automobile.l

The number of cars stolen annually is indeed appallingJ and while more than half the cars stolen are finally returned to their owners the value of cars stolen `and never recovered has reached enormous figures particularly in the metropolitan cities and in the more densely populated sections of States having numbers of relatively large cities separated by only a few hours travel.

lf it were possible to devise some way of preventing the disposal of a stolen car the evil would soon cease, but up to the present time this has been found practically impossible and the present invention relates to the next most logical step, that is, the elimination of the market for stolen automobiles by rendering it impossible for the purchaser of a stolen car to get a clear title to it and hisinability to obtain a license plate for the following year.

Figure lis a plan view of afportion of a steering Wheel embodying the device of the present invention.

Fig. 42 is a vertical section of Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Fig. 4 is a sample page from the records of the State authorities.

The device per se is relatively simple,

on line 2-2 Automobiles; and l do here-` consisting in a plurality of markers a, l), and c representing together the key number of the automobile as registered by the State authorities, and similar markers al,` e, f, and g Vrepresenting together the motor number. lf desired the motor number can always be limited to four digits by utilizing only the last four figures of the mctornumber omitting letters should they 4form part of the makerls motor number.`

The `key ,number is separated from the motor number by a space twice as great or more as the` distance between adjacent markers such as a and b, and it is the intention that the seven bands shall be so located on the steering wheel so that when the car is moving directly forward all seven will be visible to a trallic ollicer7 that is, the bands are centered about the top of the `steering wheel when going straight ahead.

yThe markers are similar and each includes a small strip of copper it approximately live-thousandths of an inch thick and any desired width as for example oneinch or less. On this strip of copper 7L is a numeral la positioned.` within the oval opening Vm in the steel band n which encircles the steering wheel p. "A small sheet ofglass r approximately -llg of an inch thick is placed between the steel band n and the copper strip 71, to protect the latter. from in- `jury." The glass r `(which may be Celluloid or any otherv transparent I'naterial)` is made thin in order that any attempt to change the number would result in the destruction of the extremely thin stripof copper.

"lhesystemof the present invention is as follows: On purchase of a new car the owner presents the'bill of sale to' the local State authority and is given alicense tag and at the same time the State authority enters the owners name with make of car, motor number, etc., on the regular blank for forwarding to the State capital, and the' local State authority or hisrepresentative then aiixes to the steering wheel 29 bands such as a, '2)

and c representing the 1key number of the State records and also afines the bands (Z, c, f, and gwhich correspond tothe number of the motor in the vehicle. rlhese bands are permanently secured to the steering wheel-and are not intended to be removed at any time during the life of the car.

If during the year the car should be stolen the thief or the new purchaser would not be able to secure the next years license tag for the reason that if he should give a fraudulentkey and motor'number the discrepancy on the books would be noted at once, and should he give the correct number, reference to the books would disclose that this car had been stolen during the year and the police would be promptly notified.

It isvalso contemplated to stamp the index or key number on the steering wheelv into different parts of the motor in code and preferably by dividing the key number into portions vand: putting the iirst two numerals on one part of the motor, the neXt two on another'part, and the neXt two on still another vpart ofthe motor indicating from their position on the motor their value.

Thus if the car were to bestolen and the parts removed and assembled in another vehicle a subsequent inspection necessary before registration would vat once indicate that the parts had been removed from another vehicle and by means of the code and the key its subsequent identication might be established.

There are at'the present time over eight hundred different makes of motor vehicles op erating in the United States, so that if the motor number alonewas to servey as an index,

eight hundred different indices would be required, but under the method outlined above,

only one index is required. The sheet shown in F ig. 4t isa suggested outline showing how the records might be kept. By reference to this sheet it the co-,ordination'of the two factors,rindex number and motornumber, the make of the car also enters, so that lit would be absolutely impossible for a person not the owner to obtain a registration on the car, since if the car were stolen and the thief gave thc same information as indicated on this sheet, it it would be immediately discovered, because by this method, it is possible to indicate on the record by a simple symbol thetheft of any particular motor vehicle. It is also possible by this method to obtain a complete history of any car for any number of years.

In thefirst columns of the chart shown in Fig. 4 is written the number assigned by the registration bureau, in the second column t iswritten the name of the manufacturer of the vehicle, in theneXt columnav appears the v horsepower of the car this being convenient in many States where the cost of the license varies with the power ofthe car.` In the fourth column o appears the number assigned by the manufacturer to the engine or will be seen that in addition tol motor, and in the next columns to, ai, y, a, etc.7 appear the license numbers assigned by the State motor vehicle bureau for the particular years indicated in the headings of those columns.

WV-hat I claim is:

l.- A. method for preventing theft of automobilesconsisting in applying to the steering wheel of an automobile a plurality of 3. .in combination, a steering wheel, a plurality of separated bands `each having as'- signed toit a value, and a secondplurality of spaced bands also having relative values.

4. ln combination, a steering wheel of an automobile, and a plurality of markersy each bearing a reference character.

5. In combination, a steering. wheel of an automobile, and a plurality of markers thereon, each marker consisting ofl astrip partially surrounding the wheel rim and bearing an insignia, and a non-removable protective covering having an opening therein through which said insignia is visible.

6. ln combination, a steering wheel of an automobile, and a plurality of markers thereon, each marker consisting of anextremely frail strip of material bearing an insignia and partially surrounding the wheel rim, a transparent protective covering therefor, and a closed band of relativelyv strong material surrounding said protection and steering wheel rim and having vanl opening in same for viewing said strip through said covering.

7. A band adapted to be permanently secured to an automobile steering wheel, said band including a strip of material directly and permanently secured to thev steering Wheel, an easily broken transparent protective covering therefor, and a closed me.- tallic band of relatively strong Vmaterial surrounding said protective covering and having an opening therein for viewing the strip throughsaid protective covering, saidstrip being ofsuch extreme fragility as to be de stroyed by an attempt to remove same, or by the breaking of the transparent covering. FRANK WENZEL.

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