US1059985A - Speed-indicator. - Google Patents

Description

C. FINSTER & F. H. TUTTLE.

SPEED INDICATOR.

APPLIOATION FILED FEB. 23, 1912.

Patented Apr. 29,1913.-

WES: {W M ATTORNEY.

COLUMBIA FLANOGRAPH (QC-.WASHINGTON. D. c.

UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHESTER G. FINSTER ANDFRANKH. TUTTLE, OF HIGHLAND PARK, MICHIGAN.

SPEED-INDICATOR.

Patented Apr. 29, 1913.

Application filed February 23, 1912. Serial No. 679,503.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHESTER G. FIN- STER and FRANK H. TUTTLE, citizens of the United States, residing at Highland Park, county of \Vayne, State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Speed-Indicators, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to speed indicators and its object is a simple and inexpensive device for ascertaining the speed at which a vehicle may be moving. More particularly, a device by means of which the speed of a moving vehicle may be comparatively accurately determined by a person outside of the vehicle and for the use of traffic oilicers or others desiring to ascertain such speed.

The device is of the nature of a stop watch having, in addition to the usual dial, a movable dial carried by the stem of the large seconds hand on which appear indicia giving the miles per hour determined by the space traversed in any particular period of time. The miles per hour are read in relation to a fixed line or bar beneath which the dial moves and, in fixed relation to said bar or line ap pear numerals indicating the distance traveled on which the miles per hour indicia are based.

In carrying out our invention certain structural details and novel arrangement of parts are employed which are hereinafter more fully described and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a stop watch embodying our invention. Fig. 2 is an edge view thereof partly in section.

' Similar characters refer to similar parts throughout the drawing and specification.

1 indicates an ordinary stop watch in which. the seconds hand 2 is started and stopped by a plunger preferably in the stem of the watch (not shown) as is usual in such devices. The watch, as shown, is provided with the usual hour, minute, and second in dicia and the usual hour and minute hands 3 and 4 although neither of these are essential to the operation or utility of the device as stop watches are frequently made without such appurtenances, with which form the device herein shown is equally well adapted for use.

Carried by the seconds hand 2, for which purpose the said hand is made longer than usual and is provided with clips 5 and 6, is a dial 7 having a series of circles 8, 9, and 10 thereon. These circles are each divided into segments of unequal length, each succeeding segment being longer than the preceding one. Opposite these divisions appear the figures 70, 60, 40, etc., which indicate the miles per hour a body or vehicle may be moving during any particular period of time as hereinafter shown. The dial 7 should be of comparatively light weight material as paper or aluminum in order that the watch mechanism may not be subjected to undue strain.

Mounted on the watch dial and extending across the face of the watch above the movable dial is a bar 11, one edge of which is on the center line of the dial. On the bar, in proper relation with the series of circles S, 9, and 10, appear the numerals 100, 300, and 500 which indicate the distance in feet on which the figures indicating the miles per hour are based. In each instance the miles per hour have been arrived at by the number of seconds required to traverse the distance of 100 ft., 300 ft., or 500 ft., as the case may be and consequently, in the use of the device no note need necessarily be taken of the number of seconds required to traverse either of the stated distances as the miles per hour at which the observed body may be moving will appear directly beneath the edge of the fixed bar 11 and no computation is required to arrive at the speed of travel.

The device may be used by a person either in or out of a moving vehicle and, in operation, the dial is set in motion at the time the vehicle is passing some particular point, by means of the plunger mentioned, and is stopped by again actuating the plunger at the time of arrival at some other point situated 100, 300, or 500 feet distant from the first mentioned point and the speed of travel is indicated in miles per hour as heretofore stated.

The device will be found particularly useful for traflic o-flicers whose duty is to report violations of the speed ordinance in which case the distance traversed by a moving vehicle may be estimated or may be definitely known if the vehicle, while under observa tion passes from one intersecting street to the next.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is- 1. In a watch or an analogous mechanism, in combination, a seconds hand extending substantially across the face of the watch and provided with a pointer upon one end thereof, clips or lugs on the seconds hand, a dial secured to the seconds hand by said clips, and a bar secured to the watch-face extending across the face of the dial and out of contact therewith; said dial being provided with a series of figures increasing in the direction of the forward movement thereof and adapted to indicate the speed of a moving object, and said bar being provided with space indicia upon which the onds hand, a dial carried thereby having a series of figures circularly arranged and increasing in the direction of the forward movement of the dial and adapted to indicate the speed of a moving object in miles per hour, a fixed bar extending across the face of the movable dial, and figures on the bar indicating the space traversed on which the speed indicia are based.

4. In a stop-watch, in combination, a seconds hand, a dial carried thereby having a plurality of series of figures circularly arranged, one series of figures being within the other, and each series increasing in the direction of the forward movement of the dial and being adapted to indicate the speed of a moving object in miles per hour, a fixed bar extending across the face of the movable dial and out of contact therewith, and space or distance indicia on said bar for each series of speed indicia on which said speed indicia are based.

In testimony whereof, we sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

CHESTER G. FINSTER. FRANK H. TUTTLE.

WVitnesses:

RICHARD ALsrAs, CHAS. E. WISNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

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