US2229737A

US2229737A - Indicating apparatus for

Info

Publication number: US2229737A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1941-01-28
Anticipated expiration: 1958-01-28

Description

Jan 28, 1941 J. HANDLEY 2,229,737

INDICATING APPARATUS FOR TOTALIZATORS Filed Deo. '7, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 28, 1941. J, HANDLEY 2,229,737

INDICATING APPARATUS FOR TOTALIZATORS Filed Deo. 7, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 28, 1941. HANDLEY v 2,229,737

INDICATING APPARATUS FOR TOTALIZATORS Filed Dec. v, 1958 s sheets-sheet s T [V111 V-q /9 V"""| JL .L

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Patented Jan. 28, 1941 INDICATING APPARATUS FOR TOTALIZATORS John Handley, London, `England Application December 7, 1938, Serial No. 244,444 In Great Britain December 8, 1937 8 Claims.

This invention relates to indicators for giving a variable indication of the ratio of two varying amounts.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved indicator of this character which is simple and reliable in operation.

The main feature of the invention comprises an indicator for giving a variable indication of the ratio between two varying amounts comprising a pair of coaxial lever arms, means for loading said arms so that they give opposed moments of force around the axis of the arms, means for varying the loads on the lever arms in accordance with said two varying amounts, and indicating means the setting of which iscontrolled by adjustment of the relative effective lengths of the lever arms to maintainsaid moments of force about the axis equal.

The invention will be clearly understood from l the following description of one embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings; in which:

Figs. 1 and 1A when placed above one another form a side elevation of the controlling apparatus of an indicator; while Fig. 2 is an end elevation of said controlling apparatus as viewed from the left side of Figs. 1 and 1A with certain parts broken away to clarify the showing.

Fig. 3 is detail of a governor mechanism comprised in the apparatus of Figs. 1, 1a and 2.

Fig. 4 is a sideelevation of a lever arrangement which may be used to replace'the steelyard of Fig. 1.

The embodiment shown in the drawings works on the"steelyard principle and consists of a steelyard cantilever II, which rests rockingly on top of va gear wheel I9, being provided with gear teeth on its underside to mesh with the teeth of such gearfwheel. Thegear wheel I 9 is mounted ona spindle I8. Rotation of spindle I8 thereforemoves the cantilever II relative to its pivot, that is to the gear wheel I9 on which it rests. The cantilever II is held against the gear wheel I9 both by gravity and by the pull of strips 9, I0 hereinafter described, sideways movement of this cantilever being restrained by guide discs 28. The cantilever II is loaded by spiral springs 8 only one of which can be seen in the drawings one end of each of `which is connected to a corresponding spindle 1 carrying a gear wheel 5, 6, while the other end is xed to a drum 42 on the spindle. Steel strips 9, I connect the drums 42 to knife-

edges

22, 23 which bear in the manner usual for steel yards on the ends of the cantilever II, these knife-

edges

22, 23 being secured to the strips 9, I 0 by hangers 22', 23 respectively. In Fig. 2 the knife-edge 23, the hanger 23 and the upper part of strip IU have been broken away (as well as also the corresponding end of steelyard II) in order to show gear wheel I9 more 5 clearly. The cantilever makes contact withone or the other of contacts i2, I3 when the cantilever tilts in opposite directions. Closure of these contacts respectively completes stepping circuits for step-by-step magnets I4, I arranged to step 10

ratchet wheels

26 and 21 respectively, thus driving spindle I8 in opposite directions of rotation through differential gear I'I.

The operationof the device when used as a betting odds indicator controlled from a totalisator will now be described.

Electrical impulses received by the grand total aggregator are also transmitted to the electromagnet I, Fig. 1A, and impulses received by a competitor aggregator are also transmitted tothe electro-magnet 2. These drive the ratchet wheels 3 and 4 which rotate the gears 5 and 6 imparting tension to the spiral springs l and 8, the resultant effort being applied via the steel strips 9 and I0 to the cantilever II, 25

As more impulses are received by the total magnet I, than the competitor magnet 2, the strip 9 will exert more pull on the cantilever than the strip I0 so that the lever will rock and earth the contact I2. This in turn causes the magnet I4 to operate via its interrupter I6, Fig. 2, and to step its ratchet wheel 26. In so` doing the shaft I8 is rotated in the direction of the arrow via the differential gear I1. This turns the gear I9 which moves the cantilever II and shortens 35 the distance between the knife edge 22 and the centre line of shaft I8 andincreases the distance between the knife edge 23 and the shaft centre. This operation continues until the moment of 22 about I8 balances the-moment of 23 about I8, 40 when the cantilever II rocks away from the contact I2.

If the proportion of impulses received by the competitor magnet 2 relativeto the proportion received by the grand total magnet I assumes a more even ratio, the cantilever I I is rocked in the other direction, the contact I3 `is earthed and this causes the magnet I5 to operate. The magnet I5 rotates the shaft I8 in the opposite direction until equilibrium is again restored. Spindle I8 carries wipers 2l cooperating with a contact bank 24, the contacts of which are connected to control terminals of an electrical digit indicator 44; for instance, each wiper may control the value of a digit on the indicator.

When the setting of the Wipers is changed during movement of the cantilever II, the marking to the indicator is changed and the indicator will set itself to a new position marked by the wipers and display the odds according to the proportionate amounts of bets received by the magnets I and 2.

When the ultimate number of units received is likely to exceed the amount that can be readily accepted and stored, provision may be made so that only one impulse is received for every tenth or every hundredth unit according to the maximum capacity of the aggregators. To accomplish this these pulses may be transmitted by a cam on the aggregators digit carrying axles.

To obtain a more accurate display in cases Where the odds are high, the proportions of units may be altered so that the total magnet I receives a different proportion of impulses to the competitor magnet 2, for instance, the competitor magnet 2 may receive an impulse for every 10 units received by the competitor aggregator whereas the total magnet I may receive one impulse for every 50 units received by the grand total aggregator. It will still be possible to indicate the correct odds by choosing relevant markings for indicator positioning and instead of the distances 22 to 18 and 23 to 18 being in the ratio of 50 to 1, for a 5() to 1 indication they will only be 10 to 1, and a more practical application of the cantilever. It is to be understood that such variations are to be regarded as included in the term varying the loads in accordance with varying amounts.

So as to prevent the indicator continuously changing, a timing device may be employed to apply battery to magnets Il and i at intervals say twice per minute for one or two seconds only.

Where it is not desirable to instal indicating digits, a hand 25, may be attached to spindle I8. The wipers 2| and bank 24 would in this case be unnecessary. A suitable dial may be provided and the relative odds may be painted at intervals round the dial. Should a very large hand be required which could not be operated by the electro magnets I4 and I5 a motor drive may be employed to drive the spindle in opposite directions of rotation under control of circuits earthed by contacts I2 and i3.

Zeroizing is effected by energising solenoid 28, Fig. 1, which lifts the levers 29 and mounting plates 30 which in turn disengage the feed pawls 3l by means of a nger 39 integral with backstop 4i! and detent springs 32 by means of a iinger 4I so that the springs l and 8 may unwind and return the Wheels 3, Il, 5 and G to their zero positions controlled by the Geneva wheels 33 which also serve to prevent overloading the springs by limiting rotation of the gear-wheels 5, E to live complete rotations.

To control the speed of zeroizing, a governor 34 is tted to the ratchet wheel 3 and 6l. rThese governors only rotate when the ratchet wheels 3 and 4 turn in the reverse direction and are driven by ratchet wheels 35 mounted on the shafts of the ratchet wheels 3 and 4, and engaged by the pawl 35 mounted on the governor.

The governor as may be seen from Fig. 3 is controlled by centrifugal force causing the pads 38 to apply a braking elect in the drum Si.

Instead of a steelyard device, two levers in xed angular relation with each other and arranged to rotate about a common axis EB may` be used as shown in Fig. 4. The levers 43 may be at about 90 to each other and will be turned by the unbalanced loads themselves exerted by strips 9 and I6) and

knife edges

22 and 23 until equilibrium is reached. It is apparent from the illustration in Fig. 4 that as the load on the lever 43 is increased by either of the strips 9 or i9 (being tensioned by torsional springs) lever t3 will rotate until the force exerted by one strip times its effective lever arm length about the axis I3 is equal to the force exerted by the other strip times its effective lever arm length about the axis I. As before, the spindle could carry a direct reading dial hand or a marker switch for a digit indicator.

What is claimed is:

l. An indicator for giving a variable indication of the ratio between two varying amounts comprising a pair oi lever arms rotatable about a common axis, means for loading said arms so that they give opposed moments of force around the axis of the arms, means for varying the loads on the lever arms in accordance with said two varying amounts, means for varying the relative effective lengths of the lever arms responsive to rotation of said arms, said adjustment being in such direction as to tend to equalize said moments and indicating means the setting of which is controlled by adjustment of the relative eiective lengths of the lever arms to maintain said moments of force about the axis equal.

2. An odds indicator for totalisators comprising a pair of lever arms rotatable about a co-mmon axis, means for loading said lever arms so that they give opposed moments of force around the axis, means for varying the loads on the lever arms in accordance with the total bets on a race or the like and the total bets on an in.- dividual runner or the like respectively, means for varying the relative ei'ective lengths of the lever arms responsive to rotation of said arms, said adjustment being in such direction as to tend to equalize said moments, and indicating means the setting of which is controlled by adjustment of the relative effective lengths of the lever arms to maintain said moments of force about the axis equal.

3. An indicator for giving a variable indication of the ratio between two varying amounts which comprises a single steelyard member rotatably supported for rotation about an axis intermediate its ends and capable of longitudinal movement relative to said axis so as to form two lever arms of variable length, means :for loading said arms so that they give opposed moments of force around said axis, means for varying said loads on said arms in accordance with said two varying amounts, means for causing longitudinal vmovement of said member with respect to said axis responsive to rotation of the said member caused by inequality of said moments, said longitudinal movement being in such direction as to tend to equalize said moments, and indicating means the setting of which is controlled by said means for causing longitudinal movement oi said steelyard member.

4. An indicator as claimed in claim 3 wherein said means for causing longitudinal movement of said member comprise electrical switching means actuated in response to the tilting of said steelyard member in a certain direction and electrically controlled means responsive to the actuation of said switching means to cause the steelyard to be moved in one direction or the other to restore equilibrium.

5. An indicator as claimed in claim 3 and in which the steelyard member is provided with gear teeth engaging a gear-Wheel on a rotatable spindle, and wherein said means for causing longitudinal movement of steelyard member comprise electrical switching means actuated in response to the tilting of said steelyard member and electrically controlled driving means for rotating said spindle responsive to actuation of said electrical switching means.

6.. An indicator as claimed in claim 1 and in which the lever arms are xed together and are arranged to rotate together about their axis in one direction or the other to restore equilibrium when the proportion between the loads varies.

'7. An indicator as claimed in `claim 3 wherein varying said loads comprises a pair of pawl and ratchet devices operable in accordance with variations in the amounts to be compared and coupled to said springs for variably winding them up JOHN HANDLEY,