Patent GB-191112331-A (GB)
Title: Route Chart and Location Indicator for Road Vehicles.
Inventor: TAYLOR HERBERT JAMES COX
Filed: 1911-05-22
Granted: 1912-03-28
Abstract: 12,331. Taylor, H. J. C. May 22. Indicating on vehicles their position on road. -A road-vehicle route indicator, of the kind in which a chart in the form of a moving band is driven from t h e wheels, is provided with two alternative sets of gearing whereby t h e chart can be driven in either direction and is provided with devices for automatically plotting the grade and for sighting and marking the bearings of distant points, for military and like purposes. The indicator is contained in a casing mounted on a bracket 2, Fig. 5, a spring 3 engaging with lugs 4, 5 serving to hold it in either of two positions, and is arranged so that the gearing is changed when the casing is reversed, so that the chart always moves towards the driver. The shaft 25, driven from one of the road wheels by means of a flexible shaft and bevel and worm gearing, has cut in it two worms 26, 27, with which the wheels 28, 29 are adapted to engage. These wheels are mounted in a cradle loose on the shaft 22, which carries a spring 36, which in each position of the case engages with a stop so as to cause the cradle to rock and engage one or the other of the wheels 28, 29, with its corresponding worm. The cradle also carries the chart spools 32, 33, which are connected to the wheels 28, 29, by friction clutches, the wheels 28, 29 also carrying spur-wheels 38, 39 adapted to mesh with wheels 40, 41 on the feed-rollers 44, 45, against which the chart 46 is pressed by spring-pressed jockey rollers 61. In order to keep the band taut, the gearing is arranged so that whichever of the wheels 28, 29 is in mesh with its worm, it tends to drive its spool faster than is required to take up the band which is fed by the corresponding feed-roller, the other friction clutch meanwhile acting as a brake owing to the spur-wheel having been stopped by the brake block 80. A roller contact 67 is normally kept from a metal plate 63, but at dangerous points the chart is provided with apertures which allow contact to be made to close an alarm circuit through a bell 70 and red lamp 71. A lamp is provided to illuminate the chart from beneath at night. The feed-rollers are provided with milled-heads 49 whereby they may be turned to adjust the position of the chart, the casing being first turned to disengage both sets of gearing, and they may be provided with sprocket teeth meshing with holes in the band instead of using a friction-drive. The gradeplotting device, which may be removed for ordinary touring work, is one in which the position of a pendulum controls the angular position of a marking-wheel which is free to move in a straight line across the chart. The marking-wheel 131, which has a pair of inking-pads resting against its rim, is mounted on a pin 130 mounted in the middle leaf 125 of a ' Z ' parallel-motion which constrains it to move in a straight line across the chart. The pin 130 has a cross-head 139 connected by links 140 to the cross-bar 141, the ends of which are connected by parallel links 143 to the sector arm 120 which carries a toothed sector meshing with the spur-wheel 115 on the spindle of the pendulum, the vibrations of which are damped by dash-pots 120<Î>. The sighting-device for military and like purposes, shown in Fig. 9, is attached to the lugs 101 on the casing by means of the pin 102. It comprises two folding sighting-leaves 105, 106 mounted on a pivoted bar 103. A sight is taken from two points to any point the bearings of which are required, a pencil being drawn along the front edge of the bar, and the lines so obtained give the position of the point required. The chart is of the kind in which the route to be traversed is shown as a straight central band, its actual direction being shown by a dotted line, and it is provided with a scale for use in testing the speed of the vehicle.