GB2249411A - Timing device - Google Patents

Abstract

A timing device (80), for particular use in a board game, in the form of a sand timer comprises a support (51) and is constructed so that movement of sand (69) between two chambers (55, 56) of the timer causes the device (80) to become unstable after a set period of time has elapsed which causes the device to topple over thus alerting an operator that the time period has elapsed. The device may also have a one-way ball valve (59, 61) which allows the device (80) to be reset at any point either during the measurement of the time period or after the time period has elapsed. In this embodiment sand flows through narrow passage 60 with the ball closing wider passage 59 but inversion allows the ball to fall against retaining bars 64, 65 and the sand to run back quickly through passage 59. <IMAGE>

Description

TIMING DEVICE The present invention relates to a timing device for measuring a predetermined time period particularly, but not exclusively, for measuring time intervals during a board game including such a timer.

There are times when there is a requirement to measure out a predetermined time interval. One example of this is in the playing of board games where each player is allowed a set time to complete his move, while another- example is in boiling an egg. Traditionally, this type of measurement, which is, typically, of between 30 seconds and several minutes duration has been achieved by using a device known as a "Sand Timer" or "Egg-Timer". A representation of this instrument is shown in Fig. 1 and comprises a glass tubular member 1 closed at each end with a constriction 2 in the centre defining two chambers 3,4 joined by a passageway 6 . The tubular member 1 is suspended in a vertical position at the constriction 2 and can be rotated around this point as shown by the arrows in Fig. 1.Sand 5 is contained in the upper chamber 3 and is allowed to flow under the force of gravity through the passageway 6 into the lower chamber 4.

The dimensions of the passageway 6 are such as to hinder the flow of sand 5 between the chambers 3,4 and by the suitable choice of the amount of sand and dimensions of the passageways 6, one can determine the time taken to effect the transfer of all of the sand 5 from the upper to the lower chamber. By rotating the lower chamber 4 through 1800 such that it now becomes the upper chamber, the sand contained in this chamber once again flows, under the force of gravity, into the empty lower compartment and the measuring of the predetermined time period begins once more.

This particular form of timing device, however, suffers from the disadvantage that when using such a timing device the operator must watch the timer constantly to know that the exact moment when all of the sand is transferred to the lower chamber is effected. This may not be practicable if the observer has to carry out some other function while the time period elapses, for example, in considering a move in a board games.

In one aspect of the invention this problem is overcome by providing a timing device having means for transferring the centre of mass of the device such that after a period of time has elapsed, the device becomes unstable and topples over thus alerting the operator that this time period has elapsed.

Another advantage of this aspect is that the chambers do not need to be manufactured from a transparent material to enable the operator to see when the sand has flowed into the lower chamber, thus leading to increased flexibility in design possibilities.

Another problem is that this type of known instrument is not instantly re-settable and one must wait until all sand has been transferred from the upper to the lower chamber before rotating the compartments through 1800 to begin timing the new period.

A second known form of sand timer which is re-settable is shown in Figs. 2A and 2B.

This second known form of sand timer 10 comprises a rectangular housing 11 having a partition 13 connected between the front and rear vertical faces 14 of the housing 11, extending, when the housing 11 is in an upright position, at an upwardly extending oblique angle such that its lower end 13a is located a small distance from one of the vertical side faces 15 of the housing 11 to define a small hole 12 between the partition 13 and the vertical face 15, while its upper end 13b is located at a large distance from the opposite side face. This partition 13b and the first vertical side face 15 thus define a compartment A for holding a volume of sand 5. In the upright position shown in Figure 2A, the sand 5 flows through the hole 12 defined between the partition 13 and the vertical side face 15 under gravity to collect at the bottom of the housing at position B.The time taken for the sand to flow from A to B defines the required time period. Again, as with the first prior art instrument discussed above, by choosing the correct volume of sand and choosing the size of the hole 12 a chosen time period can be defined. The device can be re-set instantly by rotating the housing 11 through 1800 around the housing's horizontal axis to the position shown in Fig. 2B. In this position, the sand collected at B will fall quickly to gather at the bottom of the housing in position C. Any residue left in position A will also fall to the bottom of the housing 11 and collect at C. By further rotation o of the housing 11 through 180 to the original upright position the sand will move from position C back to the compartment A to begin the cycle once more.

However, this known form of sand-timer has the disadvantage that care must be taken-when re-setting and/or rotating the device 10 to ensure that all the sand 5 moves to the correct area of the housing 11, this is particularly true, when transferring the sand from position C to A in Fig. 2A.

In a second aspect of the invention, this problem is overcome by providing a timing device which can be instantly re-settable by simply tipping the device from an operating position without the operator being required to use care when moving the device.

The invention will now be described by way of example, with the aid of the accompanying drawings of which: Figure 1 illustrates a vertical cross section through a first known form of sand-timer; Figure 2A is a vertical cross-section through a second known form of sand-timer in an upright position; Figure 2B shows a vertical cross-section through the known improved form of sand-timer when in an inverted position; Figure 3 shows a vertical cross-section through a first form of the invention; Figure 4 schematically illustrates the way in which the first form of the invention operates; Figure 5 shows a cross-section view of a second form of the invention; Figure 6 shows the cross-section on BB on Figure 5.

Figure 7 shows the action of the ball valve of this form of the invention when in an open position; and Figure 8 shows a perspective view of the second form of the invention.

In the first form of the invention shown in Figure 3, the timing device 20 comprises a hollow tubular member 21 with sealed ends containing a volume of sand 40 which is constricted at its centre to form two chambers 22,23 joined by a narrow passageway 24, as in the conventional form of sand-timer shown in Figure 1. The tubular member 21 is mounted on a stand 30 for supporting the tubular member 21 in one of two upright positions wherein the tubular member subtends an oblique angle to the vertical as shown in Figure 3. In the first upright position, sand flows as in a conventional sand-timer until the upper chamber 23 is empty and the lower chamber 22 is full.

The device 20 can then be rotated through 1800 into a second upright position such that the position of the two chambers are reversed. The stand 30 is constructed so as to provide two bases for the device 20 in both of the upright positions so that it may be placed on a flat surface 70. The stand 30 may be constructed by a vertical plate 33 having perpendicularly extending feet 31,32 to define each base area. The tubular member 21 is supported by the stand 30 in such a way that the outer portions of the tubular member 21 extend beyond the base area of the stand 30. When in use, at the beginning of a measuring cycle, all the sand 40 is located in the upper chamber 23 of the tubular member 21. Sand 40 will then begin to fall into the lower chamber 22.

The transfer of the sand 40 from the upper to the lower chamber will cause the centre of mass of the device to move in the horizontal direction due to the shifting of the weight of the sand down a diagonal path from the upper to the lower chamber. While the centre of mass is acting vertically through the base 31,32 of the device 20, the device will remain stable in an upright position, but, when the centre of mass is shifted to an extent that it acts vertically outside the base area, the device 20 becomes unstable and will topple over. This is illustrated in Figure 4 which shows that when the centre of mass is at positions A and B the device 20 is stable, but as the centre of mass shifts to position C, the centre of mass now acts vertically downwards outside the base 31,32 and consequently the device 20 will topple over.The action of toppling over onto the surface 70 and the consequential noise which can be heard thus alerts the operator, and he is aware that the required time period has elapsed. Thus, the operator does not need to continuously watch the device 20. The device 20 can be then picked up and placed in the second upright position. The sand 40 will begin to flow once more into the now empty lower chamber and timing will begin again, until once more, the centre of mass of the device acts outside the base 31,32, causing the device 20 to topple over.

The tubular member 21 may be made from glass or from plastics material which may or may not be transparent. The tubular member may, advantageously, be enclosed in a casing 25 prior to attachment to the stand 30, to give extra protection to the tubular member 21. The support may be of the type described above, or it may be encased in an enclosed housing (not shown) having sides acting as bases in the two upright positions as described above. The dimensions of the support and tubular member will depend upon the length of the time period to be measured, the type and volume material used for transferring between the two chambers, and the material from which the device, as a whole, is manufactured.These parameters should be chosen such that when most or all of the sand or other material is located in the lower chamber, the centre of mass of the timing device acts vertically downwards outside the base of the device. A second identical tubular member can be located adjacent the first tubular member to increase the volume of sand 40 without extending the length of the tubular member 21.

The second form of the invention is shown in Figures 5 to 7. The second form of the invention has a cylindrical sand-holder 50 with closed ends 53,54 supported by an L-shaped stand 51 at an oblique angle to the vertical with its lower closed end 54 extending beyond the base of the L-shaped stand 51 as shown in Fig. 5 and connected to the L-shaped stand 51 by a plate 52 integral with the lower closed end 54 of the sand holder 50. The cylindrical sand holder 50 has upper and lower chambers 55,56, each of the chambers having funnelling portions 57,58 whose narrow ends are coincident thus forming a hole 59 through which sand may pass. In an upright position, this hole 59 is closed by means of a ball valve comprising a ball 61 and said hole 59 defining the valve seat 71.The funnelling portion 57,58 of the upper and lower chambers 55,56 are formed by means of inwardly directed walls 62,63,66,67. A narrow passageway 60 is formed through the two funnelling portions 57,58 to provide a means for sand 69 to pass between the upper and lower chambers 55,56 when the ball valve is closed in the manner described in the first form of the invention. Two parallel bars 64,65 are located across the diameter of the of the sand-holder 50 in a plane parallel to the closed edges of the sand-holder 50 and placed at a distance from each other, and from the edge of the cylinder, which is less than the diameter of the ball 61.

At the beginning of the timing period, the timing device 80 is in an upright position, a volume of sand 69 is located in the upper chamber 55, the lower chamber 56 is empty, and the ball valve is in the closed position as shown in Figure 5. Sand 69 falls under gravity through the narrow passageway 60 into the lower chamber 56, as in a conventional sand-timer. As in the first form of the invention, the action of the sand 69 moving from the upper to the lower chamber causes the centre of mass to shift and at the point where the centre of mass acts vertically downwards outside the base 68 of the stand 51 then the device 80 topples over. The device can be re-set at any point, i.e. after, or during, the timing process, by simply tipping the device such that the ball 61 in the ball valve falls, thus opening the valve and the sand 69 falls into the empty chamber through the hole 59.Because the the hole 59 is large in diameter, the sand 69 falls quickly into the empty chamber 55. During this tipping and resetting action, the ball 61 is prevented from falling to the far end of the upper chamber 55 as it is trapped by the bars 64,65. This position is shown in Fig. 7. To begin timing once more, the device 80 is returned to the upright position and the ball 61 returns to its seat 71, blocking the hole 59 to close the valve once more.

Because the ball 61 falls only a short distance from the valve seat71 to the bars 64,65 during the resetting process, whereas the sand 69 falls to the far end of the chamber 55,the ball 61 has only a short distance to fall before closing the valve and so the valve will be closed before the sand 69 reaches the funnelling portion 57 of the upper chamber 55. The sand 5 is therefore channelled through the narrow passageway 60 only. The timing period now begins again.

This second form of the invention may be provided with a second ball (not shown) and a second set of bars (not shown) and a second L-shaped stand (not shown) so that the device can be supported in one of two upright positions and so operates in the same manner as the first form of the invention. However, in this particular case, the device can only be reset once all the sand has been transferred to the lower chamber 56.

The second form of the invention is preferably made by injection moulding or vacuum forming from thermoplastic material, the L-shaped stand 51 and two semi-cylindrical shells in which are formed the inwardly directed walls 62,63,66,67. The two semi-cylindrical shelLs can then be ultrasonically welded together to form the cylindrical sound holder 50 which can then be ultrasonically welded to the stand 51. The ball 61 is preferably made of a resilient material, for example rubber, to form a snug fit in the hole 59 to form a tight seal for the one-way valve. The bars 64,65, sound 69 and ball 61 are placed in the shells prior to ultrasonic welding.

Although, in this description, the material used in both forms of the device is sand, another material which is capable of flowing from an upper to a lower compartment at a predetermined rate could be used, for example a liquid or another granular material.

Again, as in the first form of the invention, other support means may be utilised providing the criteria of instability, i.e. the centre of mass acting vertically downwards outside the base area, are met.

The small passageway 60 between the two chambers 55,56 can be located through any part of the funnelling portions 57,58. Similarly, other one-way valve systems may be utilised rather than the ball valve mechanism shown here. Also, other materials, for example, water, may be used as the shifting mass between the two chambers.

To ensure that the correct time period elapses when the device tips over, it may be advisable to have an excess volume of sand than that actually required to topple the device in the device, so that any small amounts of sand that do not fall into the lower chamber, because for example they are trapped by the ball, do not effect the point at which the device becomes unstable.

Claims (12)

1. A timing device comprising a support and means for moving the centre of mass of the device to cause said device to become unstable at the end of said elasped time period and topple over to alert an operator when a time period has elapsed.

2. A timing device according to claim 1, comprising a hollow member having a constriction defining a first and a second chamber and a passageway allowing flowable material contained in said hollow member to pass from one of said first and second chambers to the other when in an upright position such that such transfer of flowable material causes said movement of said centre of mass of the device.

3. A device according to claim 2, wherein said support comprises a base part and is arranged to support said device in the upright position when placed on a flat surface such that a portion of said hollow member extends beyond said base part.

4. A device for measuring a pre-determined time period comprising a first and second chamber, said chambers containing a volume of flowable material, and being connected to each other by a passageway having a cross-sectional area which allows the flowable material to pass from one of said first and second chambers to the other a support for supporting said first and second chambers in a position such that the flowable material contained in said one of the chambers is transferred into the other of said chambers when said device is in an operating position, said timing device further comprising a one-way valve which is operative when the device is in said operating position to allow flowable material to pass through said passageway only and is operative when said device is tilted from said operating position to allow the return of said flowable material to said one of said first and second chambers at a greater rate than when flowing through said passageway.

5. A device according to claim 4, wherein said one-way valve comprises a ball supported by a valve seat while in said closed position.

6. A timing device according to claim 5, further comprising means for trapping said ball at a short distance from said valve seat.

7. A timing device according to claim 6, wherein said trapping means comprises at least one bar extending across the width of one of said first and second chambers.

8. A timing device according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein said first and second chambers comprise a funnelling portion whose narrow ends are coincident to form a hole defining said valve seat.

9. A timing device for measuring a predetermined time period comprising a first and second chamber, one of said chambers containing a volume of flowable material, said chambers being connected to each other by a passageway having a cross-sectional area which allows the flowable material to pass from one of said first and second chambers to the other at a predetermined rate, a support for supporting said first and second chambers in a position such that the flowable material contained in said one of the chambers is transferred into the other of said chambers when said device in an upright position wherein said first and second chambers are arranged such that transfer of flowable material from said one of said chambers to the other causes said device to become unstable after the predetermined time period and topple over.

10. A board game having a timing device according to any of claims 1 to 9.

11. A timing device as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying Figure 3.

12. A timing device as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying Figures 5 to 8.