Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 8th May, 1894
Complete Specification Left, 21st Jan., 1895-Accepted, 2nd Mar., 1895
1, THEODOR SCHROEDER, of New Prague, Scott County, Minnesota United
States of America, Pastor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The object of my invention is to provide an odometer attachment for carriages,
for the use of livery keepers, surveyors, and civil engineers, which will indicate the
number of miles travelled by the carriage in an automatic, reliable, and accurate
manner. Attachments of this kind designed to be operated by the revolution of
one of the wheels have heretofore been devised, but as the circumference of the
wheel is a variable factor, dependent upon the size of the wheel, which differs in
different vehicles, this method is not exact, and requires special computation.
My device is intended to be applicable to wheels of all vehicles independent of
their size, and still secure upon the register an exact measurement record in units
of a single denomination. For this purpose my device is adjustable to the size of
the wheel, analyzing its circumference into so many feet, inches, and fractions of
an inch, and then at each revolution transferring these feet, inches, and fractions
to different gears, to be in turn assembled and recorded in a cumulative way
upon the register of the odometer in miles as will be hereinafter more fully
described.
The case of the odometer which may be made in any suitable manner consistent
with strength and compactness is designed to be supported upon one of the axles of
the vehicle near the inner edge of the hub of one of the wheels, the case being
firmly but detachably connected to the axle in any approved manner, by clips and
bolts for instance, so that it cannot become accidentally detached. Within the case
is journaled in horizontal position a main shaft whose end next to the hub protrudes
through the case and is provided with a sliding or telescopic sleeve carrying at its
outer end a small gear wheel or pinion. This gear is arranged to be engaged by a
segmental toothed flange which is screwed to the hub of the wheel, and the teeth
of which segmental flange exactly correspond in number to the number of teeth in
the pinion so that every time said toothed flange passes the pinion in gear therewith
it rotates the pinion one whole revolution. It will therefore be seen that each
revolution of the wheel causes the main shaft to make one revolution. The sleeve
is adjustable longitudinally on the shaft by means of a slot and set screw so as to be
projected to cause the pinion to engage the toothed flange as it revolves with the
wheel, or be adjusted to a position where it does not so engage the toothed flange
when the odometer is not in use. By tightening up the set screw the adjustable
sleeve may be held in either of these positions according to whether or not it is
desired to have the odometer make a record of the distance travelled.
Upon the main shaft is rigidly attached a drum or hub which is equipped with
three sets of adjustable teeth. One set of teeth projects from the side of the drum
to the right, another set projects from the periphery of the drum and the other set
The first set is designed to record
projects from the side of the drum to the left.
the number of feet contained in the circumference of the wheel to which the
instrument is applied, the second set, the number of inches in the fractional part of
a foot over and above the whole number of feet in the circumference of said wheel,
and the third set, the fractions of an inch in sixteenths over and above the whole
number of inches in said circumference.

page_text: As the wheels of different vehicles vary in size it will be observed that the
number of feet, inches and sixteenths of an inch will vary and necessitate a greater
or less number of teeth in each of the sets. For this purpose these teeth are made
with screw stems which permit the teeth to be turned entirely into the drum so that
they do not project at all, or at least not into range of active work, but may be
screwed out at will in numbers sufficient to correspond with the feet, inches, and
sixteenths of an inch in the circumference of the wheel. Thus if the circumference
of the wheel be eleven feet five inches, and ten sixteenths of an inch, then the first
set of teeth are adjusted so that only eleven protrude, the second set of teeth are
adjusted so that five protrude, and the third set of teeth are adjusted so that ten
protrude. Thus these sets of teeth are adjusted to any size of wheel, so that when
the wheel makes one complete revolution its feet, inches and sixteenths will be
transferred and recorded by these separate sets of teeth through different gears,
which finally assemble them in units of a single denomination and record them as
follows:-
A short horizontal shaft is journaled in the case having a small gear wheel, each
of whose teeth represents one foot and are engaged by the first set of teeth of the
drum. A counter shaft is also journaled in the case through which shaft the inches and
fractions of an inch are transferred to the wheel in feet by an arm which moves said
wheel one tooth every time the counter shaft revolves. The counter shaft bears a
rigid disc and a gear wheel having twelve teeth each of which teeth represents an inch,
so that an entire revolution of the counter shaft represents a foot. This wheel ot
twelve teeth is in the plane of the second set of teeth of the drum representing
inches, and as many teeth of this set as are projecting turn the twelve toothed gear
so many teeth at each revolution of the vehicle wheel, and when this gear shail
have been repeatedly so turned until the fraction of a foot in inches on the drum
shall rotate the counter shaft a complete revolution, then that foot thus
accumulated will be transferred through the arm to the wheel on the horizontal
shaft. To prevent the arm from locking said wheel while the first set of teeth of
the drum is acting upon the latter, the arm is thrown out of the plane of the wheel
when the teeth are acting upon the wheel by means of a peripheral cam on the
drum which bears against the disc and throws the counter shaft longitudinally
against a spring, thus removing the arm from the wheel while the first set of teeth
are acting upon the same.
To transfer the fractions of an inch in sixteenths from the third set of teeth of
the drum to the counter shaft, a short shaft is journaled in a bracket in the case,
and is provided with a gear wheel whose periphery is divided into sixteen teeth.
This gear wheel is arranged to be operated upon by the third set of teeth of the
drum whenever they pass the same, and every complete revolution of this shaft and
wheel represents one inch, and is made to rotate the counter shaft and its gear one
twelfth of a revolution. This is effected by a tappet arm on the short shaft, which
at every revolution of said shaft engages a large gear wheel on the counter shaft
and rotates the latter one twellth of a revolution, so that when the drum in its
repeated revolution causes its third set of teeth to rotate the gear wheel one
complete revolution, the tappet arm will through the large gear wheel rotate the
counter shaft one twelfth of a revolution representing one inch, so that the fractions
of an inch will be transferred to the counter shaft in full inches to be in turn raised
to a higher denomination and transferred in feet as before described. A drag pawl
or brake serves to hold the large wheel against accidental motion. To prevent the
tappet arm from locking the large wheel and counter shaft while the second set of
teeth are acting upon the said shaft, a cam on the side of the drum is placed
opposite said teeth and this cam acts upon the end of the short shaft and forces it
longitudinally against a spring, so that the tappet arm is out of the plane of the
large wheel whenever the second set of teeth of the drum are acting upon the gear
wheel of the counter shaft.
The feet, inches, and fractions of an inch, being thus transferred to the short
horizontal shaft in single units of one foot, these feet are reduced to miles by the

page_text: following diminishing gears.
On the end of the shaft there is fixed an arm, which
at every revolution acts upon a toothed wheel on a worm shaft, whose worm wheel
engages the worm wheel of a horizontal worm shaft which protrudes through the
case, and is provided with an index haud and dial which registers from to 1 mile.
The worm of the horizontal shaft engages another worm wheel of a vertical worm
shaft whose end protrudes through the top of the case, and is provided with an
index hand and dial, which registers from 1 to 10 miles. The worm of the vertical
shaft engages a worm wheel of a second horizontal worm shaft whose end protrudes
through the side of the case and is provided with an index hand and dial which
registers from 10 to 100 miles. The worm of this second horizontal shaft in turn
engages a worm wheel of a second vertical worm shaft whose end protrudes through
the top of the case and is provided with an index hand and dial which registers
from 100 to 1000 miles. The worm of this shaft engages a worm wheel on a third
horizontal shaft whose end protrudes through the side of the case and is provided
with an index hand and dial which registers from 1000 to 10,000 miles. The worm
of this horizontal shaft engages a worm wheel on a third vertical shaft whose end
protrudes through the top of the case and is provided with an index hand and dial
which registers from 10,000 to 100,000 miles.
I have described this register as carried out to six dials to illustrate how this
may be done in a very small compass with the worm shafts compactly arranged
alternately at right angles to provide for a maximum mileage, but in some
cases it may not be necessary to use more than half the number of shafts and
dials.
By means of this device it will be seen that the livery stable keeper or owner
of the vehicle may obtain an accurate record of the distance travelled by his
team on any one trip by simply adjusting and applying the odometer to any size
of wheel, and the same device affords an accurate, and portable instrument at
small cost, for the use of surveyors and engineers in making long distance
measurements.
When my invention is used in countries employing the metric system, or other
systems of measurements than the one herein described, it will be understood that
the number and progression of the pins or teeth will be changed to adapt them to
the units of measurement of that system.
1
CM 1904
T. SCHROEDER,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.
COMPLETE SIMITT
Improvements in Odometers.
I, THEODOR SCHROEDER, of New Prague, Scott County, Minnesota, United
States of America, Pastor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :—
The object of my invention is to provide an odometer attachment for carriages,
for the use of livery-keepers, surveyors, and civil engineers, which shall indicate
the number of miles travelled by the carriage in an automatic, reliable, and
accurate manner. Attachments of this kind, designed to be operated by the
revolution of one of the wheels, have heretofore been devised, but as the
circumference of the wheel is a variable factor, dependent upon the size of
the wheel, which differs in different vehicles, this method is not exact and requires
special computation.
My device is intended to be applicable to wheels of all vehicles, independent of

page_text: their size, and still secure upon the register an exact measurement record in units
of a single denomination. For this purpose my device is adjustable to the size of
the wheel, analyzing its circumference into so many feet, inches, and fractions of an
inch, and then at each revolution transferring these feet, inches, and fractions, to
different gears, to be in turn assembled and recorded in a cumulative way upon the
register of the odometer in miles, as will be hereinafter more fully described with
reference to the accompanying drawing, in which
Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section, shewing the working parts of the
device applied to the hub of a wheel. Figure 2 is a plan view, on a larger scale.
Figure 3 is a section through line 1-1 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of
the arrow.
Figure 4 is a horizontal section of the register gears, taken through line 4-4 of
Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a section through line 5-5 of Figure 2.
Figure 6 is a section through line 6-6 of Figure 2.
Figure 7 is a detail in perspective of the drum on the main shaft.
Figure 8 is a sectional detail, shewing the adjustable teeth on the drum.
Figure 9 is a perspective view of the exterior of the case, showing the registers
and index hands.
In the drawing A represents the case of the odometer which may be made in
any suitable manner consistent with strength and compactness. This case is
designed to be supported upon one of the axles of the vehicle near the inner
edge of the bub of one of the wheels, (see Figure 1,) the case being firmly but
detachably connected to the axle in any approved manner, by clips and bolts
for instance, so that it cannot become accidentally detached. Within the case
is journaled in horizontal position a main shaft B whose end next to the hub
protrudes through the case and is provided with a sliding or telescopic sleeve B',
carrying at its outer end a small gear wheel or pinion B2.
This gear is
arranged to be engaged by a segmental toothed flange B3 which is screwed to
the hub of the wheel, (Figures 1 and 3,) and the teeth of which segmental flange
exactly correspond in number to the number of teeth in the pinion B2, so that
every time that said toothed flange passes the pinion in gear therewith it rotates
the pinion one whole revolution. It will therefore be seen that each revolution
of the wheel, partly shewn in dotted lines, causes the shaft B to make one
revolution. The sleeve B₁ is adjustable longitudinally on shaft B by means of
a slot b and set screw so as to be projected to cause pinion B2 to engage the
toothed flange as it revolves with the wheel, as shewn in Figure 1, or be
adjusted to a position, shewn in dotted lines, where it does not so engage the
toothed flange when the odometer is not in use. By tightening up the set screw
the adjustable sleeve may be held in either of these positions according to whether
or not it is desired to have the odometer make a record of the distance travelled.
Upon the main shaft B there is rigidly attached a drum or hub C which is
equipped with three sets of adjustable teeth, (see Figure 1). One set of teeth c
projects from the side of the drum to the right, another set c' projects from the
periphery of the drum, and the other set 2 projects from the side of the drum
to the left. The first set c is designed to record the number of feet contained
in the circumference of the wheel to which the instrument is applied, the second
set the number of inches in the fractional part of a foot over and above the
whole number of feet in the circumference of said wheel, and the third set c²
the fractions of an inch in sixteenths over and above the whole number of inches
in said circumference.
observed that the
and necessitate a
For this purpose
As the wheels of different vehicles vary in size, it will be
number of feet, inches, and sixteenths of an inch, will vary
greater or less number of teeth in each of the sets c, c¹, e².
these teeth are made with screw stems (see Figure 8) which permit the teeth to
be turned entirely into the drum so that they do not project at all, or at least
not into range of active work, but may be screwed out at will (see Figure 7) in

page_text: numbers sufficient to correspond with the feet, inches, and sixteenths of an inch,
in the circumference of the wheel. Thus if the circumference of the wheel be
eleven feet, five inches, and ten sixteenths of an inch, then the teeth care
adjusted so that only eleven protrude, the teeth e' are adjusted so that five
protrude, and the teeth are adjusted so that ten protrude. Thus these sets of
teeth are adjusted to any size of wheel so that when the wheel makes one
complete revolution its feet, inches, and sixteenths, will be transferred and
recorded by these separate sets of teeth through different gears, which finally
assemble them in units of a single denomination and record them as follows:-
D, Figure 2, is a short horizontal shaft journalled in the partition D¹ and
having a small gear wheel d, each of whose teeth represents one foot and are
engaged by the set of teeth c of the drum. E is a countershaft journalled in
the case and partition D¹ and through which shaft the inches and fractions of
an inch are transferred to the wheel d in feet by an arm e which moves the
wheel done tooth every time shaft E revolves. This shaft E bears a rigid
disc e and a gear wheel e having twelve teeth, each of which teeth represents
an inch, so that an entire revolution of shaft E represents a foot. This wheel e² of
twelve teeth is in the plane of the second set of teeth c¹ of the drum representing
inches, and as many teeth of this set clas are projecting turn the gear e² so
many teeth at each revolution of the vehicle wheel and when this gear e shall
have been repeatedly so turned until the fraction of a foot in inches on the
drum shall rotate shaft E a complete revolution, then that foot thus accumulated
will be transferred through the arm e to the wheel d. To prevent the arm e from
locking wheel d while the set of teeth c of the drum is acting upon the latter the
arm e is thrown out of the plane of the wheel d when the teeth care acting
upon the wheel d by means of a peripheral cam on the drum which bears
against the disc e¹ and throws the shaft E longitudinally against a spring e³, thus
removing arm e from wheel d while teeth c are acting upon the same. To transfer
the fractions of an inch in sixteenths from the teeth c² to shaft E, a short
shaft F is journalled in a bracket in the case, Figures 2 and 5, and is provided
with a gear wheel whose periphery is divided into sixteen teeth. This gear
wheel is arranged to be operated upon by the set of teeth c² of the drum
whenever they pass the same, and every complete revolution of this shaft F and
wheel represents one inch and is made to rotate the shaft E and its gear e² one
twelfth of a revolution. This is effected by a tappet arm f' on shaft F which at
every revolution of shaft F engages a large gear wheel 2 on shaft E and rotates
the latter one-twelfth of a revolution, so that when the drum in its repeated
revolution causes its teeth c² to rotate gear wheel fone complete revolution, the
tappet arm will through wheel rotate shaft E one-twelfth of a revolution
representing one inch, so that the fractions of an inch will be transferred to shaft E
in full inches, to be in turn raised to a higher denomination and transferred in feet,
as before described. A drag pawl or brake g, Figure 5, serves to hold wheel f
against accidental motion. To prevent the tappet arm f1 from locking wheel
and shaft E while the set of teeth care acting upon the said shaft, a cam f³ on the
side of the drum is placed opposite the teeth e and this cam acts upon the end of
sbaft F and forces it longitudinally against a spring 4, Figures 2 and 5, so that
tappet arm is out of the plane of wheel f' whenever the teeth c¹ of the drum are
acting upon the gear wheel e² of shaft E.
The feet, inches, and fractions of an inch, being thus transferred to the shaft D
in single units of one foot, these feet are reduced to miles by the following
diminishing gears :-On the end of shaft D there is fixed an arm h (Figures 2
and 4) which at every revolution acts upon a toothed wheel H on a worm shaft H¹
whose worm engages the worm wheel 1 of a horizontal worm shaft I¹ which
protrudes through the case (Figures 4 and 9) and is provided with an index hand
and dial, marked No. 1. (see Figure 9) which registers from 1 to 1 mile. The
worm of shaft I¹ (Figures 1, 2, and 4,) engages another worm wheel J of a vertical
worm shaft J' whose end protrudes through the top of the case and is provided

page_text: with an index hand and dial, marked No. 2. which registers from 1 to 10 miles.
The worm of shaft J'engages a worm wheel K of a horizontal worm shaft K¹
whose end protrudes through the side of the case and is provided with an index
hand and dial, marked No. 3. which registers from 10 to 100 miles.
The worm of shaft K¹ in turn engages a worm wheel L of a vertical worm
shaft L whose end protrudes through the top of the case and is provided with an
index hand and dial, marked No. 4. which registers from 100 to 1000 miles. The
worm of shaft L' engages a worm wheel Mon a horizontal shaft M' whose end
protrudes through the side of the case and is provided with an index hand and dial,
marked No. 5. which registers from 1000 to 10,000 miles. The worm of shaft Mi
engages a worm wheel N on a vertical shaft N' whose end protrudes through the
top of the case and is provided with an index hand and dial, marked No. 6. which
registers from 10,000 to 100,000 miles.
I have shewn this register carried out to six dials to illustrate how this may be
done in a very small compass with the worm shafts compactly arranged alternately
at right angles to provide for a maximum mileage, but in some cases it may not be
necessary to use more than half the number of shafts and dials.
By means of this device it will be seen that the livery-stable keeper or owner of
the vehicle may obtain an accurate record of the distance travelled by his team on
any one trip, by simply adjusting and applying the odometer to any size of wheel,
and the same device affords an accurate and portable instrument at small cost, for
the use of surveyors and engineers in making long distance measurements.
When my invention is used in countries employing the metric system, or other
systems of measurement than the one herein described, it will be understood that
the number and progression of the pins or teeth will be changed to adapt them to
the units of measurement of that system.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. An odometer attachment to vehicles, having an analytical transferring gear
for taking off the revolutions of the vehicle wheel, in its circumferential subdivisions
of feet, inches, etc., and assembling and recording these variable units of
measurement in a cumulative way into units of a single denomination, substantially
as shewn and described.
2. The combination of an odometer attachment to vehicles, having main shaft B,
the slotted and adjustable sleeve B' with set screw and gear wheel B2, and the
segmental toothed plate B³ adapted to be secured to the hub of the vehicle wheel,
substantially as shewn and described.
3. An odometer attachment for vehicles, having a main shaft arranged to be
geared to the hub of the vehicle wheel, a set of recording dials and index hands, and
a transferring gear having one set of teeth to transfer the feet in the circumference
of the wheel, another set to transfer the inches, and another set to transfer the
fractions of inches, substantially as shewn and described.
4. In an odometer attachment to vehicle wheels, an analytical transferring gear
having different sets of teeth for transferring the different units of measurement in
the circumference of the wheel, the said teeth being made adjustable to bring a
greater or less number of them into operation, according to the size of the wheel,
substantially as shewn and described.
5. In an odometer attachment to vehicle wheels, an analytical transferring gear
having different sets of teeth for transferring the different units of measurement in
the circumference of the wheel, gears for receiving these different units of measure-
ment, and cams for throwing these gears out of position so that only one can be
operated at a time, substantiaily as shewn and described.
6. The shaft B with drum-C having the three sets of adjustable teeth c, c¹, c²,
and cams c³, f³, the shaft D with gear wheel d, the longitudinally adjustable
countershaft E having arm e, disc e', gear wheel e², and large gear f², longitudinally

page_text: adjustable shaft F having gearf and tappet arm f³, and the registering devices, all
combined substantially as shewn and described.
Dated this 21st day of January 1895.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.