FR2796169A1 - Procedure for determination of times of high and low tides over a limited period, such as a week, by application of a sticky label to a watch face with appropriate day markings on the label so that the high and low tides are shown - Google Patents

Abstract

Procedure in which a sticky label with a calendar scale, where the graduations correspond to a certain number of days, is stuck on the watch dial itself or on a support above the dial. The dial itself has normal graduations corresponding to the hours of the day. The user simply positions the label for the first day and tide according to a tide table or similar.

Description

Title - Method for determining tide times and tide indicator sticker.

Description of the Invention The present invention relates to methods and devices for predicting and determining tide times or events related thereto.

The knowledge of the tides is of great importance to seafarers (fishermen, boaters, etc.) and to people spending holidays in a seaside resort. Tables are published each year, which indicate the tide times. These tables are often too precise for the use that is made of them, and too cumbersome to be always available. Tide watches are therefore very useful instruments. They make it possible to determine with sufficient accuracy in most cases the hours of high and low tides. Many achievements of tide watches are known to those skilled in the art. They are all based on the principle that the time interval between two consecutive tides is substantially constant because it is related in a simple way to the speed of rotation of the earth and the duration of the moon's revolution around the earth. The average time interval between two high (or low) tides is 12.25 minutes, more precisely 12.4206 hours.

These watches require an expensive drive and display mechanism. In addition, they generally indicate only the tides of the day and do not allow a prediction of the tides for the coming days, which is a major handicap for those who want to plan in advance a navigation or a trip to sea, or a departure to the beach.

In order to overcome these drawbacks, a known device consists in equipping the watch with a disc or a telescope specially adapted thereto, and comprising a calendar scale whose equidistant graduations correspond to a succession of a certain number of days, the space between two consecutive graduations of this scale, measured on the time scale graduated in hours of the watch, corresponding at least approximately to the average time between the hours at which the same phases of the tide occur two consecutive days, about 50 minutes. Patent No. 74 25360, INPI Paris, describes in detail a device based on this principle.

The telescope plays the role of calculator tides. It must be adjusted by matching the high tide (or low tide) time for a day with the corresponding scale of the time scale so that it can be used for all other days indicated on the calendar scale.

The purchase of a watch specially designed for the determination of tide times is not justified for the vast majority of potential users who would only use it for a few weeks or even a few days a year. There is also a risk that the user becomes accustomed to consult his watch without making the necessary adjustment of the telescope and that during its use as a tide watch he forgets this procedure. The use of a regular watch temporarily adapted to tide calculation would greatly reduce this risk. In addition, watches specifically designed to determine tide times are based on an average interval between tides. This is only an approximation. The configuration of the coast also plays a very important role, especially where the sea must pass in narrow passages, but it is precisely in these places that the precise knowledge of the tides is of great importance, especially to determine the meaning currents. The various configurations of the coasts make very significant differences to be noted according to whether the sea is rising or falling. The amplitude of the tide also plays a very important role in this phenomenon. The differences are generally all the more sensitive as the amplitude of the tide is large. But this amplitude depends largely on the relative position of the moon and the sun and the earth, and the configuration of the coast, is very variable. These variabilities introduce too many errors to use tide watches in certain navigation conditions. An object of the present invention is to provide a solution to the lack of precision of portable devices for predicting tides, including mechanical tide watches or equipped with suitable glasses.

The present invention consists of a simple method which allows the prediction for the next few days of tide times or tide-hour events, with an ordinary watch, not intended for its design for this purpose, and with a precision adapted to the needs of the place, the date, the events and the use. The method is characterized in that it consists in appropriately placing a self-adhesive label provided with a calendar scale on the glass of a watch or clock initially not intended for this purpose, or more generally on a surface located above a dial with a time scale whose graduations correspond to the hours of the day.

On the self-adhesive label is printed a calendar scale consisting of graduations corresponding to the succession of a certain number of days. The calendar scale can include graduations established in the same way as the time scales of the tide glasses which we have recalled the principle previously, ie equidistant graduations corresponding to about 50 minutes on the time scale . It may also include non-equidistant graduations to account for differences between mean intervals and local features due to the configuration of the coast and the other phenomena we have previously listed. The method will be more readily understood with the description of particular embodiments. An exemplary embodiment of the self-adhesive label is illustrated in FIG. 1. In this particular embodiment, the label consists of a self-adhesive transparent disc [7] on which the markers of a certain number of days are printed, in which occurring from Saturday to Saturday for the full-sea scale [3] and from Sunday to Friday for the low-water scale [4], which constitute the calendar scale.

The graduations of the calendar scale are distant from an equidistant angle [1] so that the scale of the full seas, covering eight days, occupy in this particular embodiment 180 degrees of the calendar scale. The angle [1] of about 26 degrees is an approximation of the angle corresponding to about 50 minutes on the 1 time scale. (Figure 3 shows a particular example of realization of time scale). This approximation was made for aesthetic considerations and simplicity of reading. The accuracy is sufficient for the seaside use of this particular embodiment.

An open sea indication [2] (or low tide [6]) indicates to the user what portion of the calendar scale he should consult to determine the hours of full seas (or low seas) for the current day and the coming days. The number of days dedicated to each of the scales of full and low seas as well as the starting point (Saturday, Sunday, etc.) can be chosen freely during the design of the sticker. One of these scales can be deleted to lighten the drawing. Due to the average interval of 50 minutes a maximum number of 14 days can be shown on the open sea (or low sea) scale. However having two times the same day on the same scale, for example two Thursdays, can be confusing for the user. The process is therefore particularly suitable for a period of one week (7 days). In addition to the calendar scales, the label includes a disk [5] used for centering the sticker with respect to the time scale of the watch face. The disc [5] can be replaced by a city name, a date, an advertising logo or any other information chosen by the designer of the label or simply deleted if the form itself of the sticker allows a centering with a sufficient accuracy.

The positioning of the sticker must be done appropriately on the dial of the watch. 4n proceeds in practice as follows. The label is centered with respect to the time scale using the circle [5], and is placed in such a way that the one-day mark chosen on the high tide (or low tide) calendar scale ) be placed next to the time scale corresponding to the time of the high tide (or low tide) of the selected day found in a tide directory.

There are usually two high (or low) tides per day. It is possible to differentiate the graduations "from high tides (or low tides) in the morning to those of evening on a calendar scale." It is possible as it has been done in this particular embodiment to use only one benchmark placed at the average of the morning and evening hours. For example if Thursday, the open sea is at 3:30 and the open sea at 3:50 pm. The I mark of 1 'scale of open sea will be placed next to the scale 3h40 of the time scale of the watch.

The hour hand will naturally pass the Thursday mark at high tide (or low tide) on Thursday. Because of the graduation established according to the general principle and known tide watches, it will pass the benchmarks of other days also during high tide (or low) of these other days.

In certain circumstances the precision of the usual tide watches is not sufficient, especially when the tides are very irregular. The method, which is the subject of the present invention, makes it possible to obtain a prediction accuracy much greater than that obtained by the usual tide watches. This possibility can easily be demonstrated in the observation of the particular embodiment shown in FIG. 2.

Figure 2 shows a self-adhesive label [10] with a centering disc [16] and an alignment mark [15]. Unlike the device of Figure 1, this sticker is specially designed for a particular place, in this case <I> Portsmouth, </ I> and a particular period, here from October 13 to 19, 1997. This information is printed on the label. sticker [13], [14]) to avoid any misuse.

The implementation is therefore simplified. Just match the vertical mark marked 12H [15] with the 12-hour scale of the time scale, and center the sticker with the center disc [16]. This procedure is equivalent to the procedure described above but has the advantage of not requiring any tide table consultation.

The calendar scale was plotted to take into account exactly the high and low tide times of the place at that time. The calendar scale is composed of a full-sea scale [11] and a low-sea scale. The low-sea scale was split into low morning seas [17] and low evening seas [12]. The graduations in days of the calendar scale [18] are printed with respect to these graduations. The user can directly determine, with precision, the hours of the different tides: of the period considered.

Because of the configuration of the coast, the full sea slats are quite long and the hours (modulo 12 hours) overlap widely between morning and evening tides, so only one high sea mark [11] per day ensures in this case a sufficient accuracy. The low tide slats are much shorter. Two marks per day ([17], [12] provide additional precision.

It should be noted that the mean interval between the low tides of consecutive days for the period under consideration is 46 minutes, which is approximately equal to the average value of 50 minutes, but that large variations are detectable: 70 minutes at the beginning of the week and 30 minutes minutes at the end of the week. Note also the local peculiarity which consists of a very strong difference between the tides of rising and falling tides, respectively 7.5 hours and 5 hours. The method makes it easy to take into account these features.

This particular embodiment shows how the degree of precision can be adapted to the needs and circumstances. Increased accuracy is possible because the sticker is for temporary use and can therefore be set for a specific place and time, and thus take into account variations from the mean values of the intervals between tides. As the method allows the accurate determination of tide times, it also allows to determine with the same precision events related to the latter, such as the time when the sea at a particular water level, useful for the passage of an underwater bar or obstacle, or the opening time of an entry lock at the port.

Events can be marked by a marker on the calendar scale or by an arc corresponding to the total duration of the event for the day. Note that any event of too long duration and which would lead to excessive overlaps of the arcs, can be transformed into a start event and a fine event.

Additional precision, which may be useful in particular for short-term events, can be obtained by completing the calendar scale relating to the time scale graduated in hours, by a secondary scale referring to a time scale graduated in minutes. Just as in the use of an ordinary watch it is the simultaneous reading of both scales that provides the precise information.

Those skilled in the art will have no difficulty in determining how to set the tick markings for specific applications.

 The tide prediction function (calculator) does not require the rotation of the hands. The needles are only needed to indicate the current state of the tide. It is therefore possible to isolate the prediction function and use the method to determine the tide times, or events related to them, for the next few days by affixing the sticker on a print representing a dial. of a watch, in particular on a paper support as schematically shown in FIG. 3.

 One possible application would be to reserve space on the ship's logbook where the image of a watch face would be printed and a sticker would be affixed according to the method described above. This would allow the navigator to plan their navigation for the week according to currents and passages whose times are related to the tides, such as port entry locks or high current passes.

Claims (6)

claims A method for determining tide times or events related thereto, characterized by appropriately positioning a self-adhesive label with a calendar scale whose graduations correspond to a number of days, a support located above a dial or directly on the dial itself, said dial being provided with a time scale whose graduations correspond to the hours of the day. 2. Method according to claim 1 characterized in that the self-adhesive label is temporarily positioned on a watch glass or clock not provided for this purpose. 3. Method according to claims 1 or 2 characterized in that the graduations of the calendar scale are equidistant and correspond approximately to the average time between the hours at which the same phases of the tide occur two consecutive days. 4. Method according to claims 1 or 2 characterized in that the graduations of the calendar scale are established so as to take account with the desired accuracy of the local and temporary characteristics of the tides or events indicated. 5. Method according to claims 1, 2, 3 or 4 characterized in that the calendar scale consists of a scale whose graduations refer to the graduations in hours of the time scale, and a scale secondary whose graduations refer to the graduations in minutes of the time scale. 6. Method according to claims 1, 3, 4 or 5 characterized in that the time scale is printed directly in the ship's logbook or on a document inserted therein.