GB791898A - Improvements in or relating to indicator instruments - Google Patents

Abstract

791,898. Indicating-apparatus. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION. Aug. 23, 1956 [Sept. 14, 1955], No. 25768/56. Class 106 (4). Indicating - apparatus comprises an indicator member 40 movable in accordance with a variable and having one or more apertures 42, 44 defining a pointer or pointers arranged to reveal one or more colours carried by an adjacent screen 32. The case 10 of a vehicle petrol supply gauge includes a faceplate with a rectangular window, sealed by a transparent closure 16, preferably of polymethyl methacrylate, which has indicia, preferably cut and filled with light reflecting paint. An opaque member 20, with a viewing slot 24, is spaced from a screen 32, having green and red areas 35, 36 exposed successively through the slits 42, 44, as the indicator member 40 moves clockwise with the consumption of petrol, thus the pointer 45 defined by the slits 42, 44 is outlined in green when there is sufficient petrol and in red when the supply is low. A lamp 52 may illuminate the screen 32 by reflection from the rear face of the opaque member 20 and may edge light the closure 16 to illuminate the indicia by reflection from the casing between the projections 22. A shield 53 directs light where needed. A coloured screen in an ammeter may have a neutral coloured central zone between a green and a red zone, the neutral colour preferably matching that of the indicator member 40, so that in the central region the pointer 45 will be inconspicuous, whereas the green and red zones, respectively, may denote charging and discharging of the battery. The slits 42, 44 may be replaced by a single U-shaped aperture or by three apertures converging to form an arrow head.