AN IMPROVED PEDOMETER FOR THE WAISTCOAT POCKET, UPON A NEW AND VERY SIMPLE CONSTRUCTION
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, WILLIAM
PAYNE, of New Bond Street, in the Parish of Saint George, Hanover Square,
in the County of Middlesex. Watch and Clock Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of February, in the first year of His reign,
did, for Himself, Ilis heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Payne, Ilis especial licence, sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said William Payne, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others
as I, the said William Payne, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED PEDOMETER FOR THE WAISTCOAT POCKET,
UPON A NEW AND VERY SIMPLE CONSTRUCTION;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso, that I, the said William Payne, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Payne, do hereby declare that the manner in which my said Inven-

page_text: tion is to be performed is fully described and ascertained in and by the
following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawing annexed,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say): -
My improved pedometer is constructed in the form of a small flat watch to
be used in the waistcoat pocket or suspended round the neck, having an
internal vibrating lever or pendulum, which is put in action by the motion of
the body of the wearer in walking or riding. The vibrating action of this
lever is communicated by ratchett wheels and palls through a train of toothed
wheels and pinions, or by an endless screw and toothed wheels to the
arbor or axis which carries the hand or index that moves round upon the face
of a graduated dial to register the number of miles travelled. As the motions
of the body in walking and riding on horseback are different to that when
riding in a carriage, I have so constructed my improved pedometers as to be
applicable to either; that is to say, the motion of the body in walking and
riding on horseback is an up-and-down motion from the springing of the foot
from the ground in walking, or the springing of the body from the saddle in
riding. The vibrating lever must therefore for these adaptations be placed
horizontally in the pedometer; but as the motion of the body when riding in
a carriage is at right angles to the former, or an oscillating motion, the
vibrating lever must for this adoption be placed in a perpendicular or pendant
position in order that the desired effect may be attained. The particular con-
struction of my improved pedometers are fully set out in the accompanying
Drawing and the following description thereof, that is to say:―
Fig. 1, 2, 3, and 4, are representations of the parts of the pedometer as
arranged and constructed for walking or for riding on horseback; Fig. 5 is a
similar representation of a pedometer constructed for riding in a carriage;
Figs. 6 and 7 are representations of a pedometer upon the same principles as
the former, but constructed to register a much greater number of miles. All
these Figures are drawn on a larger scale than the real size, for the purpose
of shewing the parts more distinctly. Fig. 1 is a representation of the face of
a pedometer complete, with the dial plate graduated to register ten miles;
Fig. 2 is a view of the interior of the same, the dial plate being removed;
Fig. 3 is a back view of the same, as seen when taken out of its case; Fig. 4
is a view of the vibrating lever detached with its palls and ratchet wheels,
the respective letters referring to similar parts in all the Figures of the
Drawing. a, a, is the vibrating lever, having the weight b attached near its
end. This lever is affixed by screws to the smaller ratchet wheel c, in the
centre of which is the arbor or axis that the lever hangs upon, and the axis
also carries the larger ratchet wheel d that turns freely upon it. e is the

page_text: spring which keeps up the lever when in a quiescent state against the banking
or adjusting screw f; when by the stepping or springing action of the wearer in
walking or riding the lever is put in motion, the weighty end of the lever
descends, but it is instantly thrown back by the spring into its former position.
On the underside of this second ratchet wheel d is the small pinion g (scc.
Fig. 2), which takes into the toothed wheel h, and through the train of wheels
and pinions marked i, j, k, and 1, communicates its motion to the hand or
index upon the axis of the wheel 1, which moves round the dial plate. Thence
it will be perceived that every descent of the weighted end of the vibrating
lever will cause the larger ratchet wheel d to be driven round one or more
teeth, which will be prevented from returning by the pall m (see Fig. 3), and
consequently remains in a quiescent state while the spring throws up the lever
to its former situation. It must, however, be observed, that in this con-
struction of pedometer the vibrating lever would not act unless placed nearly
in the horizontal position shown, which position is retained when the instru-
ment is worn by suspending it in the waistcoat pocket by a small hook-
attached to the pendant and passed over the band or edge of the pocket.
Having described. the action of my improved pedometer for walking, or
riding on horseback, I proceed to describe some other different constructions
and adaptations of the same principle:-Fig. 5 is a representation of the
interior of an instrument, in which the vibrating lever hangs perpendicularly
and oscillates as a pendulum. This construction is designed to register the
number of miles travelled over by a person riding in a carriage. The
oscillatory motion of the body of the wearer will set the pendulum or lever
vibrating, and actuate the train of wheels and pinions, as before described, only
in this instrument there is no spring required to bring the pendulum back into
its position against the banking, as it moves by its own gravitation.) Figs. 6
and 7 are representatives of a pedometer capable of registering a much greater
number of miles by the addition of the pinion o and toothed wheel p, upon the
arbor or axis of which is affixed the auxiliary index q, registering on the
smaller circle of tens of miles the number of revolutions of the ten mile wheel.
In order to register the distance travelled by any person correctly, it will be
necessary to allow for any violent exertion of the body, as jumping or running,
and the increased length of the strides of the wearer. In Fig. 8 the pendulum
is shewn with an elastic banking or adjustment, by the spring r pressing on
the end of the banking pin s, which will give way to the increased action of
the vibrating lever, and allow it to move the ratchet wheel d round through a
larger arc (that is) to escape a greater number of teeth. In this Figure is
also shewn the coiled spring t, t, employed instead of the spring marked e

page_text: (Fig. 3). This coiled spring is attached at one extremity to the vibrating
lever, and at the other it is fixed to the stationary piece, and is for the
purpose of bringing up the lever to its quiescent situation against the banking.
It is necessary here to state, that as the progress of the ratchet wheel d, and
the train and index connected to it, will depend upon the length of the are
through which the vibrating lever moves. The banking is made capable of
adjustment by means of the screw f, so as to regulate the extent of the
vibrating action of the lever. It must be obvious that the motion of the
vibrating lever may be communicated to the train of wheels and pinions by
other contrivances than the palls and ratchet, above described; I do not, there-
fore, confine myself to that particular mode of communicating the action of
the lever to the hand or index.
Lastly, the mechanism of my improved predometer may be applied to a
common watch by placing the working parts of the instrument under the dial
plate of the watch, and having a small circle on the dial and index to regulate
the number of miles travelled.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Paine, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of April, One thousand eight hundred
WILLIAM (L.S.) PAYNE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of April, in the
first year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the said
William Payne came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and
acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
fifth year of the reign of Ilis late Majesty King George the Third.
Indorsed the Fifteenth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-one.