FR2637402A1 - Tamper-proof portable parking meters - Google Patents

Abstract

Devices intended to give the whole of the time spent in one operation and, possibly, the partial time of each, characterised in that their counting and visual display means 1, as well as their start and stop means are, with their energy source, enclosed in a hermetic assembly (welded for example), which is tamper-proof, degradable in extreme temperature conditions, and bearing a tell-tale (ferrite) of untimely magnetisation.

Description

The object of the invention is the realization of a concept of paid light parking and operating costs based on the use of portable time counting devices, therefore individual, but foolproof.

There are many systems for counting and charging the parking time of a vehicle in a given area; these systems range from the piggy bank terminal with countdown of time by clock movement, passing through the piggy bank terminal, or card, issuing a ticket marked with the time of issue, to that at the end of duty.

More recently, like telephoninyest cards, an individual parking time counting device has been produced, the inviolability of which is given by a code entered in a micro-processor ",
The invention presented consists of a very economical means of production, allowing instantaneous wide distribution, and, presenting all the guarantees against fraud by users.

This means consists of a time counting device going from O å ... x, triggerable and stopable by one or two keys b contact, as carried out on calculator and microcomputer for example, the whole, as well as the source of energy (battery for example) being enclosed in a removable bolier (welded for example), and, having to be discarded after a long useful counting time (4000 hours for example.

These meter boxes can be operated in the following manner, without limitation of the invention.

Customers contacting certain authorized dealers (Tobacco, Newspapers, grocery stores), pay for the device, which gives them a certain number of hours of parking; and the depositary filled in a label, on which appears the registration number of the vehicle (or driving license, or identity card), the hour, the minutes; and the date displayed by the device; when we trigger it. He keeps a double carbon on a stump notebook and, after having affixed a dry seal preferably on the departure dates, hours and minutes, he sticks the label on the face of the device or the dial of the viewing the count.

Each time the motorist has to park by "paying", he triggers the departure of his device and places it clearly visible for control (suction cup for sticking on a window for example). He stops him before leaving.

A controller passing through will therefore see the counting take place.

 T05 every 6 months or a year, depending on the municipal decree, the devices must be present at the end of the day to record past times and .. payment accordingly. 11 re can not be fraud, since the devices can not be tampered with inside, and, p - e er boot selected in a material such as "celluloid @ for example would be destroyed by the action of heat or cold excessive, in the same way a small ferite bar located inside would indicate if the device was subjected to an intense magnetic field. These means of visual or passive cortrcle (aspect, magnetization) characteristic of the invention allow, a sight, to see if there was an attempt to cheat.

 It is quite possible to plan the purchase of x hours of parking, the attendant marking and sealing on the label the dates, hours, minutes of departure and those of end of rights. A road controller will see if the counting numbers are within the authorized limits.

The counter-totalizing devices in accordance with the invention are based on the fact that they must be able to be produced with very inexpensive and therefore current watchmaking equipment, in order to have rapid, numerous operations for a low investment.

The following figures and descriptions, which do not limit the invention, will make it easier to understand the spirit of the latter.

Figure I is an exemplary embodiment from a small quartz watch at a price of 12 francs.

FIG. 2 is a more elaborate embodiment, with several digits, and of an electronic clock, as found on mini-calculators, with, at the start of the general counting start, the triggering of at least two digits of partial counting for limited parking.

Figure 3 is an example of realization without clock, with a measurement by a coulombmetre of the time spent: a small relaxer with capacity makes oscillate an indicator to materialize & the eye that the device is triggered.

FIG. 4 is an electromechanical solution based on the swallowing by perforating teeth of an ineradicable card and whose drive mechanism is irreversible.

All these exemplary embodiments are characterized according to the invention, by complete protection by soda housing of their mechanisms; they are therefore consumable devices, except if they are only by the user, equipped with a mini-battery; 115 can be recharged by induction; through the plots, at the attendant's.

The apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is constructed from a standard wristwatch 1, the battery of which has been implanted to implant the supply wires allowing the operation of the On and Off buttons 2 and 3.

A small electromagnet 4 can act on the date display pusher, when its winding is supplied by two contact plates 5 which are inside the jumper 6 which is used to hang the device against the glass.

In 7 is stuck (or slipped, the stamped reference label,
When parking, the driver activates the start button and jams, raising the window of the device using the jumper (end) 6.

The eventual controller sees the hour counting, and, with a battery case fitted with two contact terminals which he presses on the contacts 5, he triggers the display of the date, which allows him to compare with the figures of the label.

Of course, in this case, for a parking limited in time (Blue Zone), the use of the disc is compulsory.

Also, in a total hermetic wandering case, there is a clock and digits 1. to the number this 12, for example, divided into two parts: iv counting and totaling all the minutes passed, MP triggering at each departure and arriving at each stop counting and counting the minutes from each parking optratzon, thus allowing control of parking lots with limited time.

The eventual controller has a direct and comparative reading with the label 7.

The device is placed on the car's dashboard or on a window using a suction cup, for example.

Figure 3 shows a device according to. the invention characterized in that there is no longer a clock, but a colombmeter 6 powered by a battery stabilized by a Zener diode and which has on reading a colored column 9 unpleasant in front of graduations of a quarter of 'hour 10, in proportion to the time elapsed.

An indicator light allows the eventual controller to see that the device has been put into operation.

FIG. 4 shows a device according to the invention, the clockwork movement of which is electro-mechanical. In a hermetically sealed bowl is a gear motor 12 with a very high gear ratio. This gearmotor ends with a perforating tooth wheel 13 which will cause a card 14 to be dotted with it. This card 14 is graduated, for example in quarter hours, with an arrow mark 15 downstream. Naturally, which is a characteristic of the invention, the motor-reducer 12, therefore the drive pinion 13. are absolutely irreversible 'as much by the use of worms as by possibly a non-return click on one of the stages of reduction.

When the motorist requests a certain number of hours of parking from a dealer, the latter cuts a card 14 from above, which he introduces into a slot 15 by pressing the start button 2 or gearmotor 12. I1 gives the device "armed" to the customer.

The card 14 is inserted according to arrow 15 and "meshed-perforated" until a mark provided on 14.

 At this stage, he can no longer take action on card 14, without destroying his "geared-up" area.

An electromagnet 16, driven for example through a capacity giving it only one impulse, will be triggered each time the device is started up, thanks to a notch made on the card by its profiled core, to mark the point start in parking time.

The remnants of cards cut to measure the requested parking time cannot be used, as they do not have the indicator arrow 15.

The invention is mainly intended for time-of-use measurements without the possibility of fraud, for paid parking for example.

Claims (6)

1- Devices according to the invention intended to allow the realization of a very simplified and economical concept of metering Cie total and possibly partial time of use of a space (packing1 for example), characterized in that they include a movement watchmaking 1, or linked to the progress of a time 8, its display device, its start-up device 2 and stop 3, and, its power source enclosed in a waterproof and tamper-proof case, the assembly therefore making a "consumable" block. 2- Devices according to claim i characterized in that the counting and display means 1 pet advantageously come from a cheap and classic digital watch 1 which can be triggered from outside by displaying the date thanks has an electro-mechanical means 4, supplied by an external portable power source; acting by two contacts 5. 3- Devices according to claim 1 characterized in that their digital display 1, identical to that of a calculator, displays two series of increasing minutes, the first MT giving the total time of minutes passed, the second M;, triggered at each "counting, giving the part-time runs out at each parking lot, for example. 4- Devices according to claim 1 characterized in that the electronic clock device is replaced by the action over time of a voltage stabilized by Zener diode on a display coulombmeter 8: an indicator 11 controlled by an oscillator materializing for a observer the reality of the system start-up. 5- Devices according to claims 1,2,3 and 4 characterized in that they can receive a label glued or inserted 7 on their front, like the digital display device. labels that can carry all indications and authentication stamps deemed good according to the management method chosen. 6- Devices according to claim 1 characterized in that the electronic counting is replaced by an electro-mechanical regulating motor 12 and irreversible, entrainnant par meshing-poinSonnage ", a non-disengageable card which serves as an indicator of the time spent : an electromagnet, for example, powered by an impulse at each start-up tapping by drilling or cutting on an edge the start of part-time counting.