GB854986A - Improvements in or relating to recording and indicating instruments, more particularly for recording time and speed conditions of travel of motor vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

854,986. Speedometers; recording-apparatus. ETABLISSEMENTS E. JAEGER. June 18, 1958 [June 25, 1957], No. 19519/58. Classes 106 (3) and 106 (4). An indicating and recording instrument, for recording conditions of travel, e.g. the speed of a motor vehicle, comprises on its front face, a clock dial, a speedometer dial provided with a mileage indicator window, and an opening behind which a time-controlled recording tape moves from one side of the opening to the other, the tape being marked by recording styles placed at the side of the opening from which the tape moves. As shown, a style 13, Figs. 1 and 2, is actuated parallel to the left side of an opening 11 in response to speed variations of a vehicle. The style is formed on the end of a cranked arm 79 carried by a rack 77,engaging a pinion 76 on the central shaft of a magnetic speed indicator 75. The style is periodically pressed into contact with a metallized recording tape 12, thereby completing an electric circuit including the metallic layer on the tape 12 which is partially destroyed by sparking between the tape and style. Thus a record, as shown by the wavy line on the tape, of the speed variations, of the vehicle carrying the speedometer may be obtained. The tape 12 has a time scale 15 graduated in hour and five minute intervals, while longitudinal lines are marked with corresponding speed values. A further style 18, oscillated by a cam 99 driven through a flexible shaft 98 from an odometer shaft 97, records the miles travelled by the vehicle. Fixed styles 17 are connected to the current supply through switches operated, e.g. upon application of the vehicle brakes, thereby producing a record on the tape 12, in the same manner as the styles 13 and 18 of such applications. Other styles may record fuel consumption, operation of the trafficators, horns, or ignition circuit. The tape 12 has perforations, not shown, engaged by teeth 54, Fig. 6, of a roller 49 mounted in a box 43 readily removable from the speedometer casing 5. The box 43 has troughs 44 housing tape spools having shafts 51 one of which is driven by a pinion 54 through gearing to wind tape on its spool. The pinion 54 is driven through gearing by a pinion 42, Fig. 2, intermittently driven through gearing by a ratchet wheel 38 rotated by a pawl 36 pivoted to an armature 33 of an electromagnet 31, supplied with current impulses by an electric contact associated with a motor 20 driving an electric clock 6, Fig. 1. A signal lamp 90, Fig. 2, is lit when the vehicle attains a predetermined speed by a wiper 85 on the rack 77 making contact with a conductive slider 86 connected to the lamp. The slider 86 is connected by a stud 91 to a lever 92 carrying an index co-operating with a speed scale for setting the speed at which the lamp is lit. A style 107 is raised by a bevel 106 on a key 103 (Fig. 13, not shown), when this is inserted in a lock 102 (Fig. 11, not shown), thereby marking line of a particular length on the tape 12. By supplying keys having bevels 106 spaced at different distances from an upstanding tooth 104 (Fig. 13, not shown), to different drivers of the vehicle who operate the lock with their key before driving, these drivers may be identified by the length of line marked on the tape 12. The speed and mileage indicators may have a mechanical drive or may be driven by an electric motor connected to a generator driven by the vehicle engine. Reference has been directed by the Comptroller to Specification 812,499.