IMPROVEMENTS IN PEDOMETERS
Year: 1878

page_text: "
LETTERS PATENT to Bristow Hunt, of Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN
PEDOMETERS." A communication from abroad by Benjamin Sillman Church,
of Scarborough, in the State of New York, United States of America, Civil
Engineer.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Bristow Hunt at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th October 1878.
BRISTOW HUNT, of Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex;
Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PEDOMETERS." A communication from abroad by
Benjamin Silliman Church, of Scarborough, in the State of New York, United
States of America, Civil Engineer.
The object of this Invention is to secure a more perfect operation of this class of
instruments than has heretofore been attained, and to that end the Invention con-
sists in an improved construction of the parts and combinations thereof, whereby
distances walked over may be accurately measured and recorded, whether the stops
taken in passing over the distance recorded be long or short.
Such being the nature and object of the said Invention I will now proceed to
describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed
or carried into practical effect, and in order that the same may be completely
understood I have annexed hereunto one Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof,
and have marked the same with figures and letters of reference corresponding with
those in the following explanation thereof; that is to say,-
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of the instrument, showing the cover of its.
case removed in order to expose the face of the registering disc and indicator.

page_text: Figure 2 represents a similar view of the internal driving mechanism which 19
attached to the back plate, the registering disc and the parts carried by it being
removed to expose the same, and one of the differential wheels being shown in
-dotted-outline_to_indicate their relation to the driving pinion.
Figure 3-represents an edge elevation of the registering and driving-mechanisms.
as adjusted in their operative positions.
Figure 4 represents an enlarged vertical sectional view of the registering
mechanism, thus showing the indicator, registering disc, its hub, the differential
wheels, and the fastening spring.
Figure 5 represents an edge-elevation of the back plate without the mechanism
it supports.
And Figure 6 represents a rear view of the registering mechanism which is
carried by the registering disc, showing more particularly-the-mode_of_fastening_
the parts in place.
The mechanism is all contained in a case A, similar to a watch case, which may
be provided with a hook, pin, loop, or button for securing the instrument to the
person in an upright position, and with a protecting cover D.
The actuating or driving mechanism is attached to D supported by a circular
back plate B, which is secured to the inner side of the back of the case A by means
of screws passing through screw holes 21.
The actuating weighted lever 10 is fulcrummed upon a pivot 23 which projects
from the back plate B, passes through an arm 12 of the lever and is fixed in place
by a bridge piece 13; it is counterbalanced by means of a bow spring 15 which,
scated in the end of an adjusting block 16, is connected to the arm 12 of the lever
by a link 2, and the power of this spring 15 is capable of regulation by means of
the adjustable block 16 which is made preferably as a swinging lever as shown, and
is slotted so as to move to and fro over a fastening set screw 24 by which its
position may be fixed.
The lever which vibrates between limits constituted by the stop pins 11, 17, is
thus suspended from the spring 15, the power of which is nicely adjusted so as to
overcome the gravity of or balance the weighted end of the lever and hold it in its
uppermost position against the stop pin 17, or in its lowermost position against the
stop pin 11 as may be desired. The lever has projecting from its lower side pallets
6, 8, which are so shaped, as to alternately engage the teeth of a star wheel 4
according as the lever is in its uppermost or lowermost position, and when the
lever is vibrated so act as to revolve the star wheel step by step. The star wheel
is fast upon a stud, upon which is also fixed a driving pinion 3 which engages with
and drives the differential toothed wheels 18, 19, when the star wheel is revolved,
as will presently appear.
The registering mechanism consists of an indicator 20 and a registering disc C,
which devices are revolved in the same direction at different speeds by means of
the wheels 18, 19. The wheel 18 is centred on the hub 9 and fixed to the rear
face of the registering disc C by means of a pin 7, and hence the disc C and wheel
18 may freely rotate together upon the hub 9, which has a flanged head which
rests upon the face of the disc C, while its stem projecting from the rear side thereof
is stepped so as to form independent shouldered seats for the wheels 18, 19, which
latter may be separated by a friction disc (shown in dark line, Figure 4). The
wheel 19 is secured to the hub 9 so that the same shall revolve with it by means
of a forked-spring 22, the limbs of which enter a recess cut in the stem of the hub
near its inner end and bear upon the outer face of the wheel 19, while the end of
the spring has a right angular stud which engages in a hole made in the outer face
of the wheel. The spring 22 thus by its friction holds the wheels 18, 19, and
registering disc C in their proper relative positions on the hub 9, while at the saine
time permitting the hub which carries the indicator 20 to be turned by hand
without moving the said wheels when it is desired to adjust or set the indicator at
any point upon the registering disc. The indicator 20 is bifurcated so as to pro-

page_text: vide two prongs which pass through corresponding holes provided in the head of
the hub 9, as is clearly shown in Figure 1.
The parts of the registering mechanism held together by the spring 22 are placed
on the centre post 14 which projects from the centre of the back plate B and finds
its bearing in a central perforation through the hub 9, in which position the toothed
wheels 18, 19, will properly gear with the teeth of the pinion 3. In this adjust-
ment of the parts the inner end of the hub rests upon a shoulder at the base of the
post 14, and the inner surface of the indicating disc C rests upon the ends. of
the stop pins 11, 17. These parts may then be adjusted fixedly in place by
means of a screw 1 which is entered into a tapped hole in the end of the post. 14,
and has its flanged head seated in a socket formed. in the outer. end of the per-
foration in the hub 9.
The indicator carrying wheel 19 has a less number (one or more) of teeth than
has the registering disc carrying wheel 18, and it therefore follows, since both are
simultaneously rotated in one direction by the same pinion 3, that the wheel 19
will move faster than and gradually gain upon the wheel 18, and thus that the
indicator 20 will be advanced on the registering disc C a distance equal to the
width of one or more teeth during each revolution of the wheels.
In its use this instrument will be adjusted upon the body of the user so that the
medial line of the actuating lever 10 will be. horizontal, as in Figure 2. Now as
each step is taken the concussion produced thereby will overcome the counter-
balancing spring 15 and cause the lever 10 to be vibrated one pulsation, which
will through the pallets 6 and 8 advance the star wheel 4 one tooth, and through
the driving pinion 3 move the toothed wheels 18, 19, a corresponding distance..
The indicator 20 and registering disc C will thus be simultaneously moved onward
or rotated in the same direction, the result being that when the wheels 18 and 19
have each made one revolution the indicator 20 will have gained a certain distance
upon the registering disk C, which distance will be registered by the scale marked
thereon, and which may indicate a mile or any other distance.
As it is obvious that there are fewer long steps than short ones taken in passing
over a mile of distance, and therefore that the number of pulsations of the actuating
lever 10 is decreased accordingly, the instrument must be adapted to register the
distance travelled over, whether the number of steps taken in traversing each mile
be greater or less as they are shorter or longer than the average. Supposing that
the average number of steps taken in travelling a mile be such as will, through the
vibrations of the actuating lever 10, cause the indicator 20 to advance over the
registering disc a distance equal to that between two of the scale lines 0 to 11
along a given one of the graduating lines X, it follows that a less number of steps
as longer ones, fewer of which constitute a mile of distance, will produce a less
number of vibrations of the actuating lever 10, and therefore that the indicator
will advance over the registering disc a less distance, or if the number of steps be
greater than the average a correspondingly increased number of vibrations of the
Jever 10 will ensue, and a greater extent of movement of the indicator will result,
as will be readily understood.
1n order that this difference in the length of steps taken by different individuals
may be compensated for, and each mile traversed be correctly registered, no matter
what the length and consequent number of steps constituting it may be, the
registering disc is provided with a varying scale increasing from the outermost
where it is divided into twelfths, to the innermost graduation thereof, where it is
divided into eighths, and the indicator 20 is made adjustable in the hub 9, so that
its point may be readily moved to coincide with any one of the graduated scales
marked upon the registering disc.
In adjusting the instrument to suit the length of step taken by the user it is
only necessary to ascertain by trial the average length of step in inches and then
to adjust the indicator as that its point coincides with the graduation on the
registering disc which corresponds to that number of inches, whereupon the instru-

page_text: ment will record the number of steps taken and consequently the distance in miles
travelled over.
As shown in the Drawing the indicator is set to register distances traversed by
-steps-equal to twenty-eight inches in length, hence when the point of the indicator
Creaches-the-line-1 of the scale, one mile-will-have been travelled over, and so on, it
being understood that for a longer-or-shorter step the indicator is to be set at the
proper graduation on the line 0.
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention together with
the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into prac
tical effect, I would remark in conclusion that I claim as the Invention communicated
to me by the above-named Benjamin Silliman Church-=-
In a pedometer,-
Firstly. The combination-of-the-actuating lever 10 having pallets 6, 8, the star
wheel 4, and driving pinion 3.
Secondly. The combination of the weighted actuating lever 10, the connecting
link 2, and compensating spring 15.
Thirdly. The combination of the registering mechanism, the weighted actuating
lever 10, the compensating spring 15, and the adjusting spring 16.
Fourthly. The combination of the registering disc C. differential wheels 18, 19,
flanged and stepped hub 9, and spring 22.
Fifthly. The combination of an adjustable indicator with the registering disc
having a variable scale, the divisions of which increase in number from the inner-
most to the outermost, or vice versa, and which are subdivided by a unit line
graduated by a scale of inches whereby the pedometer may be set to suit the length
of step of the user and record the distance travelled over.
Each and all, substantially as herein-before described, and as illustrated on the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bristow Hunt, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
ODISTATU TITTAtm