GB549674A - Apparatus for automatically controlling the travel of a mobile body - Google Patents

Abstract

549,674. Automatic control systems. PAULUS, C. L., and STOUT, R. K. April 22, 1941, Nos. 5179 and 5180. Convention dates, April 22, 1940, and Aug. 19, 1940. [Class 38 (iv)] [Also in Group XL] In a leader gear system for automatically controlling the steering mechanism of a moving body, the pick-up system on the body comprises a pair of tuned inductance coils disposed so that, when the body is correctly following the course, the axes of the coils intersect at a point located vertically above or below the cable at a distance therefrom which is a fraction of the distance between the cable and the coils. The invention may be applied to power driven vehicles including lawn-mowers, agricultural implements, and may be used for controlling aircraft on the ground or when landing and taking off. The system may be provided with lamp indicators for use when the body is manually steered, and with auxiliary arrangements for controlling speed, indicating mileage, stopping the power-unit and applying brakes. One form of the complete system is shown in Fig. 18, the relationship of the pick-up coils to the leader cable being shown in Fig. 23. The cable comprises a main coursedefining member 161a with off-set portions 161b-d for the auxiliary controls. Different control frequencies or different cables may also be used for the various controls. The course controlling pick-up coils 164, 165 are tuned to the leader cable frequency by condensers and have their axes inclined to meet a short distance above the cable a as shown in Fig. 23 so that when the body is on-course, the coils are equally excited, but when slightly off-course one coil has maximum excitation, both coils being ineffective when the body is off-course to a considerable extent. Coils 166-168 effect the auxiliary controls in conjunction with cable portions b-d. The outputs of the course-controlling coils 164, 165 after amplification, control a right-left indicator 170 and a pair of relays 178, 179 which control right and left lamps 188, 189 and differential circuits of a control solenoid 184 or differential relay which actuates the steering mechanism under hydraulic control, Fig. 12 (not shown), or by means of an electric motor, Fig. 24 (not shown), when neither relay 178, 179 is operated .(badly off-course), red lamp 190 is lit and magnet 192 releases a member 193 which short-circuits the sparking plugs. Speed control is effected by displaced cable portions 161b, 161d which generate impulses in coils 166, 167 to control increase and decrease of speed. The impulses, after amplificaton, operate relays 199, 200 which repeat them to magnets 202, 204 whereby ratchet wheels on a shaft controlling the throttle 174 are driven in opposite directions. A mileage indicator 217 is driven by impulses from coil 168 due to spaced effect portions 161d of the cable.