Patent GB-489334-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to methods of and apparatus for speed control systems for motor vehicles
IPC: B60Q1/54
Filed: 1937-01-22
Abstract: 489,334. Controlling motor vehicles ; signs. HUEBSCHER, J. J. Jan. 22, 1937, No. 1946. [Class 79 (v)] [Also in Group XVIII] A speed-controlling device comprises a member which controls the amount of fuel fed to the engine and is set by the driver to any one of a number of positions according to the speed limit in force at the time, a visual signal being displayed to the driver and the public to indicate the speed selected, and the member being retained in the selected position by an electromagnet against the action of means tending to return it to a low speed position. The visual signals are preferably coloured lights, a different colour being used for each speed limit. The invention may be used in conjunction with a roadway having the surface or a central strip thereon coloured to indicate the speed limit in force, these colours corresponding to the signal lamps on the car. In the construction shown, a casing 14 mounted at the front of the vehicle carries a hand-operated disc 33 rotatable on a fixed stud 28 and connected by a Bowden wire 51 to the fuel supply control means, preferably the throttle, so that the vehicle speed is limited in accordance with the angular position of the disc. The disc is rotated by means of a handle 35 and has three operative positions determined by a pivoted latch 98 adapted to engage any one of three notches 101, 102, 103 in the disc. A spring 48 biasses the disc to the position shown in Fig. 3 in which an arm 34 bears against a stop 42 and the vehicle speed is set at its lowest. limit. In each of the three limit positions a corresponding coloured lamp 21, 22 or 23 is lit and warns the public and the driver which limit is in use. The lamps are connected to contacts 92, 93, 94 earthed in turn by contacts 96, 97 on the disc 33. As the disc is turned from one position to another, the latch 98 enters the notches in turn and holds the disc against the action of the spring 48. The latch has an arm 105 attracted by a magnet 106 normally energized, together with the lamps, through switches 78, 83. To return the disc 33 from either of the higher limits to the lowest, a button 91 is pressed to open the switch 83, de-energize the magnet 106, and allow the spring 48 to return the disc to the position shown in Fig. 3. As the arm 34 of the disc strikes the stop 42, which is rotatable, it rotates the latter and a hammer 44 carried by the stop strikes a gong 46. To return the disc 33 from the highest limit position, in which the arm 34 is indicated in dotted lines at B, Fig. 3, to the intermediate position, a button 89 is pressed. This first rotates a lever 109, Fig. 2, and then opens switch 78 to de-energize the magnet 106 and release the disc 33. As the disc is rotated by the spring 48, the arm 34 is held by a dog 112 on the end of the lever 109 in the intermediate limit position. Release of the button 89 allows the switch 78 to close to energize the magnet 106 again, so that the latch 98 is rocked to engage the intermediate notch 102. The disc 33 is rotated slightly by the latch, thereby releasing the dog 112 which is then withdrawn from the arm 34 by a spring 116 acting on the lever 109. The driver can see, by means of a set of lenses 121, 122, 123 on the top of the casing 14, which of the limit lights is lit, and a second set of lumps 131, 132, 133, in parallel with the first, is provided in a casing at the rear of the vehicle,