US3666928A - Gasoline pump calculator - Google Patents

Gasoline pump calculator Download PDF

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Publication number
US3666928A
US3666928A US138912A US3666928DA US3666928A US 3666928 A US3666928 A US 3666928A US 138912 A US138912 A US 138912A US 3666928D A US3666928D A US 3666928DA US 3666928 A US3666928 A US 3666928A
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United States
Prior art keywords
volume
counter
sale
pulses
price
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Expired - Lifetime
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US138912A
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English (en)
Inventor
William F Burke
Daniel A Gihring
Thomas E Jones
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PAN NOVA
PAN-NOVA Inc
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PAN NOVA
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B67—OPENING, CLOSING OR CLEANING BOTTLES, JARS OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS; LIQUID HANDLING
    • B67D—DISPENSING, DELIVERING OR TRANSFERRING LIQUIDS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B67D7/00—Apparatus or devices for transferring liquids from bulk storage containers or reservoirs into vehicles or into portable containers, e.g. for retail sale purposes
    • B67D7/06—Details or accessories
    • B67D7/08—Arrangements of devices for controlling, indicating, metering or registering quantity or price of liquid transferred
    • B67D7/22—Arrangements of indicators or registers
    • B67D7/224—Arrangements of indicators or registers involving price indicators
    • B67D7/227—Arrangements of indicators or registers involving price indicators using electrical or electro-mechanical means
    • B67D7/228—Arrangements of indicators or registers involving price indicators using electrical or electro-mechanical means using digital counting
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F7/00—Methods or arrangements for processing data by operating upon the order or content of the data handled
    • G06F7/60—Methods or arrangements for performing computations using a digital non-denominational number representation, i.e. number representation without radix; Computing devices using combinations of denominational and non-denominational quantity representations, e.g. using difunction pulse trains, STEELE computers, phase computers
    • G06F7/62—Performing operations exclusively by counting total number of pulses ; Multiplication, division or derived operations using combined denominational and incremental processing by counters, i.e. without column shift
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q50/00—Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism
    • G06Q50/06—Energy or water supply

Definitions

  • This invention relates to calculators for material dispensing and in particular to a new and improved electronic calculator for use with dispensers, such as gasoline and other fuel dispensing devices.
  • the invention will be described herein as applied to a gasoline pump such as is utilized at the modern day service station.
  • a typical gasoline dispenser includes a fluid pump, a pump control switch, a hose with nozzle for insertion into the vehicle tank, a flow control on the nozzle, and one or more manually controlled levers which function to start and stop the pump and reset the calculator.
  • Fluid flow through the nozzle is measured, the volume of material dispensed is calculated and displayed, the cost or monetary amount of the sale of the material is calculated and displayed, and the price, e.g., cents per gallon, is displayed. Some arrangement is provided for changing the price.
  • Giot et al. US. Pat. No. 3,221,149 discloses-another electronic metering and computing apparatus in which the pulses from the flow and in which each pulse provides a full cycle of operation of another thirteen stage counter with the counter cycle shutting off at the 13th count and with the counter being tapped at various count states to provide inputs to an amount of sale counting unit.
  • the th 1 1th and 12th counts are used as controls for permitting advance pulses from a lower decade to a higher decade so that these advance pulses cannot occur simultaneously with the inputs from the first nine counts of the 13 stage counter.
  • the calculator of the invention includes a pulse generator producing electrical pulses at a relatively low rate as a function of material dispensed, and a clock generator which produces pulses ata relatively high rate.
  • the clock output is gated on by each pulse from the pulse generator and is gated off by a price counter which is manually set to the price of the material being dispensed.
  • the clock output is transmitted to a sale accumulator and to the price counter, with the on time being controlled by the number of clock pulses required to advance the price counter to the preset price.
  • the sale accumulator counts the clock pulses and provides an output reading in the amount of sale.
  • the pulse generator output may be counted directly in a volume accumulator to provide an output reading in volume.
  • the price counter setting provides an output of price and all three outputs may be suitably displayed. Circuitry is provided for rounding off the amount of sale at the half-cent and circuitry is provided for resetting the system when the transaction is completed or when a transaction is initiated.
  • a flow meter such as a conventional positive displacement meter, is mounted in the pipeline l0 upstream of the dispensing nozzle.
  • a pulse generator provides electrical pulses as a function of flow and typically may comprise a reed switch 11 actuated by one or more magnets 12 carried on a rotating shaft 13 driven by the meter. Each closure of the switch 11 connects a voltage source 14 to the input of a driver amplifier 15.
  • the pulse generator preferably operates at a relatively low rate, typically pulses per gallon which may correspond to four meter revolutions per gallon with a 25 to 1 step up in the pulse generator, generators of this type being commercially available today.
  • the pulse generator output pulses are referred to herein as the volume pulses, with the number of volume pulses being a direct function of the volume of material dispensed.
  • the volume pulses are connectedas the input to a volume accumulator comprising four counter decades D connected in series. These may be conventional binary coded digital counters, with the output of each decade driving one element of the four element volume display 20. Nixie tubes or other conventional numeral display elements may be utilized.
  • a clock generator provides clock pulses at a relatively high rate, typically in the range of one-half to 2 mhz, with l mhz 'being used in the embodiment disclosed herein.
  • Clock pulses are connected by a gate 21 to an output line 22.
  • the gate 21 is a conventional circuit which is turned on to the open or transmit condition by each volume pulse on line 23 and is turned off to the blocking condition by a stop pulse on line 24.
  • the clock pulse output from the gate is connected as an input to a sale accumulator and as an input to a price counter.
  • the sale accumulator includes a first counter comprising three decade counter units 30, 31, 32, connected to a second counter comprising three more decade counter units 33, 34, 35, by a halfcent decode circuit, with the outputs of the second counter decades feeding three display elements in an amount-of-sale display 36.
  • the price counter has three binary coded digital decade counter units 40, 41, 42 connected in cascade with the clock pulses as an input.
  • the binary coded output of each decade is converted to a decimal output in a decoder 43 and the 10 output lines of the decoders are connected to 10 inputs of selector switches 44, 45, 46.
  • selector switches 44, 45, 46 Various conventional selector switches may be utilized and'the drawing illustrates a conventional wafer switch having 10 input terminals and an output terminal '47 with the output terminal making continuous contact on a rotating conductor 48 and with a tongue 49 of the ring 48 engaging one of the 10 input terminals.
  • the selector switches 44, 45, 46 are set to the price of the material dispensed, typically a figure such as 37.9, representing the cost of the fuel in cents per gallon, with the switch 44 setting the least significant figure or tenths of a cent, the switch 45 setting the units and the switch 46 setting the tens.
  • a price display 50 may include three display elements for displaying the price set by the switches 44, 45, 46, with each switch having a second deck 44', 45, 46', respectively, for providing the signal for actuating the display element.
  • the output terminals 47 of the three selector switches are connected to the stop count logic circuit for producing the stop signal on the line 24 when the price counter has counted to the particular figure set by the three selector switches.
  • the stop count logic may utilize a coincident gate of some type and the preferred embodiment has two of the switch outputs connected as inputs to a nor gate 52 and the'third switch output connected as the input to another nor gate 53, with the outputs of the two nor gates connected as inputs to a' nand gate 54.
  • the set price could be binary coded and compared directly with the count state of the units 40, 41, 42, to provide the stop signal when there is coincidence between the state of the three decades and the binary coded set price.
  • the pulse train sent to the price counter is also sent to the sale accumulator, where it is counted in the cascaded decades 3035.'We will first consider the operation of the sale accumulator with the half-cent decode circuit omitted and with the decade 32 connected to the decade 33 in the normal manner. With this arrangement and for sales in dollars and cents, each clock pulse at the input of the decade 30 represents a sale of $0.0000l of material dispensed, and each pulse at the input of the decade 33 represents $0.0] or 1 cent. With this arrangement, the calculation of amount of sale and the display of the amount of sale would advance one cent at the completion of the metering of the entire one cents worth.
  • the half-cent decode circuit between decades 32 and 33 provides this mode of operation.
  • the half-cent decode circuit provides for passing a pulse from decade 32 to decade 33 with the fifth input pulse of decade 32 rather than with the th input pulse, the latter being the normal mode of operating the decades in cascade. This is accomplished by utilizing a logic circuit which responds only to the fifth count state of the decade 32.
  • the l, 2 and 4 outputs are connected in a coincident circuit, as by connecting the l and 4 outputs as inputs to a nand gate 60 and connecting the 2 output to the inputs of another nand gate 61, with the output of gate 61 connected as the third input to the gate 60.
  • the gate 61 is operated as an inverter, and a nand gate is used for convenience because the gates 60, 61 come in a single package.
  • a reset circuit 65 provides a reset signal for the decades of the volume and sale accumulators. Typically this may be a switch 66 which normally connects a voltage of a battery or other source 67 to the reset terminal (not shown) of each decade. Actuation of the switch 66 to connect the switch output line 68 to circuit ground provides the reset operation.
  • switch 66 may be actuated by the reset lever which is found on conventional gasoline pumps or a separate lever for actuating the switch may be provided if desired.
  • Another set of volume and sale accumulators, which are not reset by the reset circuit, may be provided to give a total of sales for each day or other period as desired.
  • the calculator provides for continuous measurement, computation and display of the volume of material dispensed and of the amount of sale.
  • the volume and the amount of sale as calculated and displayed are in agreement at all times.
  • the flow meter may operate a relatively low rate, typically producing pulses per gallon or about 25 pulses per second, while the clock generator and the associated circuitry operate at a rate several orders of magnitude higher, typically in the range of one-half to 2 mhz. With a pulse generator rate of 100 pulses per gallon, the maximum rotational error due to the flow meter will be less than one one-hundredth of a gallon per transaction, and will be independent of the amount of material dispensed per transaction.
  • the outputs of the volume accumulator and the sale accumulator and the setting of the selector switches are displayed digitally, for operation of the gasoline pump in the same manner as the conventional pumps.
  • the electrical outputs from the accumulators and switches may be used as inputs for computers and various data processing operations as well as for visual display.
  • each of the selector switches may be utilized to provide price setting for a plurality of dispensers, typically all of the pumps at a station, as by providingan additional deck on the wafer switch for each calculator. Further, the price setting controls and the displays may be remote from each other and from the dispenser. 1
  • volume pulse generator producing volume pulses as a function of material dispensed
  • a clock pulse generator producing clock pulses
  • a sale accumulator including means for counting input pulses and displaying the count state for indicating the monetary amount of a sale of material;
  • a price counter including means for counting input pulses
  • a gate circuit for passing pulses from the gate input to the gate output when the gate is in the on condition and blocking pulses when the gate is in the off condition;
  • volume pulses means connecting said volume pulses to said gate circuit in controlling relation for switching the gate circuit to the off condition; and v means for resetting said price counter to the initial count state for each volume pulse;
  • a calculator as defined in claim 1 in which said volume pulse generator operates at a relatively low pulse rate and said clock pulse generator operates at a relatively high pulse rate at least several orders of magnitude greater than said low pulse rate.
  • a calculator as defined in claim 1 including a volume accumulator having means for counting input pulses and displaying the count state for indicating the volume of material dispensed, and
  • a calculator as defined in claim 3 including price means for displaying said predetermined figure
  • a calculator as defined in claim 4 including a reset circuit having a switch for actuation by the party dispensing the material, and
  • a calculator as defined in claim 5 in which said volume pulse generator includes a meter driving a shaft rotating as a function of flow, and a switch actuated by said rotating shaft.
  • a first counter having clock pulses as an input and counting to a unit-of-sale corresponding to the smallest monetary value calculated and displayed;
  • a second counter providing an output for each of said unitsof-sale and decimal multiples thereof
  • a half unit-of-sale decoder connecting said first counter to said second counter, said decoder transmitting a pulse from said first counter to said second counter when said decoder means for converting the count state of said price counter to a decimal code providing a multi digit decimal output;
  • a selector switch for each digit of the predetermined figure and having 10 inputs and an output
  • each decoder means decimal output to a selector switch as inputs; and g a logic gate having each of said selector switch outputs as an input and providing the stop signal when the count state of said price counter corresponds to the setting of said selector switches.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Mathematical Physics (AREA)
  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Economics (AREA)
  • Strategic Management (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Human Resources & Organizations (AREA)
  • Marketing (AREA)
  • Primary Health Care (AREA)
  • Public Health (AREA)
  • Tourism & Hospitality (AREA)
  • General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Water Supply & Treatment (AREA)
  • Computational Mathematics (AREA)
  • Computing Systems (AREA)
  • Mathematical Analysis (AREA)
  • Mathematical Optimization (AREA)
  • Pure & Applied Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Control Of Vending Devices And Auxiliary Devices For Vending Devices (AREA)
  • Details Of Flowmeters (AREA)
  • Measuring Volume Flow (AREA)
  • Loading And Unloading Of Fuel Tanks Or Ships (AREA)
US138912A 1971-04-30 1971-04-30 Gasoline pump calculator Expired - Lifetime US3666928A (en)

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US13891271A 1971-04-30 1971-04-30

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CA (1) CA958811A (de)
DE (1) DE2206043A1 (de)
GB (1) GB1345984A (de)
IT (1) IT948568B (de)

Cited By (20)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3764782A (en) * 1971-06-24 1973-10-09 Kienzle Apparate Gmbh Taxi meter with electronic fare computer
US3772916A (en) * 1971-12-08 1973-11-20 Bennett Pump Inc Variable increment transducer for fluid flow metering systems
US3813527A (en) * 1972-10-24 1974-05-28 Takeim Corp Liquid dispenser with electronic computing and display system
US3847302A (en) * 1972-09-20 1974-11-12 R Krone Gasoline dispensing system
US3878377A (en) * 1973-09-12 1975-04-15 Veeder Industries Inc Fluid delivery control and registration system
US3931498A (en) * 1972-04-19 1976-01-06 The Black Clawson Company Cutoff saw
US3949207A (en) * 1973-04-19 1976-04-06 Oxy Metal Industries Corporation Installation for the delivery of liquids
US3979953A (en) * 1974-03-25 1976-09-14 Scientific Instruments, Inc. Mass flow meter for cryogenic fluid
US3984661A (en) * 1974-08-02 1976-10-05 Sun Oil Company Of Pennsylvania Price calculating and indicating circuit for dispensers
US4031362A (en) * 1975-09-17 1977-06-21 Zurn Industries, Inc. Electronic remote reading system for a meter
US4051998A (en) * 1973-07-20 1977-10-04 Tokheim Corporation Digital electronic data system for a fluid dispenser
US4074356A (en) * 1976-09-07 1978-02-14 Veeder Industries, Inc. Fluid delivery control and registration system
US4075463A (en) * 1976-03-04 1978-02-21 Yurramendi Eguizabal Jose Migu Device for automatically supplying drinks and foodstuffs
US4100400A (en) * 1976-09-17 1978-07-11 Rf Products Corp. Gasoline pump price encoder
US4106095A (en) * 1977-05-31 1978-08-08 Electronic Data Systems, Inc. Electrical usage display system
DE2713976A1 (de) * 1977-03-30 1978-10-12 Scheidt & Bachmann Gmbh Vorrichtung zur einstellung von grundpreisen an elektronischen preisrechnern
US4242575A (en) * 1978-02-07 1980-12-30 Rf Products Corp. Gasoline pump digital price encoder
US4304988A (en) * 1979-07-31 1981-12-08 Veeder Industries Inc. Battery powered electronic counter
US4427970A (en) 1974-09-18 1984-01-24 Unimation, Inc. Encoding apparatus
US4829449A (en) * 1986-02-05 1989-05-09 Rockwell International Corporation Method and apparatus for measuring and providing corrected gas flow

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3043508A (en) * 1958-09-24 1962-07-10 Sun Oil Co Electronic multiplier for fluid dispensers
US3549868A (en) * 1966-06-23 1970-12-22 Shell Oil Co Fuel-mileage computer

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3043508A (en) * 1958-09-24 1962-07-10 Sun Oil Co Electronic multiplier for fluid dispensers
US3549868A (en) * 1966-06-23 1970-12-22 Shell Oil Co Fuel-mileage computer

Cited By (21)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3764782A (en) * 1971-06-24 1973-10-09 Kienzle Apparate Gmbh Taxi meter with electronic fare computer
US3772916A (en) * 1971-12-08 1973-11-20 Bennett Pump Inc Variable increment transducer for fluid flow metering systems
US3931498A (en) * 1972-04-19 1976-01-06 The Black Clawson Company Cutoff saw
US3847302A (en) * 1972-09-20 1974-11-12 R Krone Gasoline dispensing system
US3813527A (en) * 1972-10-24 1974-05-28 Takeim Corp Liquid dispenser with electronic computing and display system
US3949207A (en) * 1973-04-19 1976-04-06 Oxy Metal Industries Corporation Installation for the delivery of liquids
US4051998A (en) * 1973-07-20 1977-10-04 Tokheim Corporation Digital electronic data system for a fluid dispenser
US3878377A (en) * 1973-09-12 1975-04-15 Veeder Industries Inc Fluid delivery control and registration system
US3979953A (en) * 1974-03-25 1976-09-14 Scientific Instruments, Inc. Mass flow meter for cryogenic fluid
US3984661A (en) * 1974-08-02 1976-10-05 Sun Oil Company Of Pennsylvania Price calculating and indicating circuit for dispensers
US4427970A (en) 1974-09-18 1984-01-24 Unimation, Inc. Encoding apparatus
US4156129A (en) * 1975-09-17 1979-05-22 Zurn Industries, Inc. Electronic remote reading system for a meter
US4031362A (en) * 1975-09-17 1977-06-21 Zurn Industries, Inc. Electronic remote reading system for a meter
US4075463A (en) * 1976-03-04 1978-02-21 Yurramendi Eguizabal Jose Migu Device for automatically supplying drinks and foodstuffs
US4074356A (en) * 1976-09-07 1978-02-14 Veeder Industries, Inc. Fluid delivery control and registration system
US4100400A (en) * 1976-09-17 1978-07-11 Rf Products Corp. Gasoline pump price encoder
DE2713976A1 (de) * 1977-03-30 1978-10-12 Scheidt & Bachmann Gmbh Vorrichtung zur einstellung von grundpreisen an elektronischen preisrechnern
US4106095A (en) * 1977-05-31 1978-08-08 Electronic Data Systems, Inc. Electrical usage display system
US4242575A (en) * 1978-02-07 1980-12-30 Rf Products Corp. Gasoline pump digital price encoder
US4304988A (en) * 1979-07-31 1981-12-08 Veeder Industries Inc. Battery powered electronic counter
US4829449A (en) * 1986-02-05 1989-05-09 Rockwell International Corporation Method and apparatus for measuring and providing corrected gas flow

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Publication number Publication date
DE2206043A1 (de) 1972-11-16
GB1345984A (en) 1974-02-06
IT948568B (it) 1973-06-11
AU3813272A (en) 1973-07-26
CA958811A (en) 1974-12-03

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