English/metric conversion mechanism for speedometers
First Claim
1. A speed conversion apparatus adapted for attachment to a speed measuring device of a motor vehicle and the like wherein said speed measuring device has a rotatable drive member which is driven by a motive drive source and a speed indicator indexed in units of a first system of measurement to indicate the speed of said motor vehicle in response to the rate of rotation of said rotatable drive member, said speed conversion apparatus comprising:
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Accused Products
Abstract
A conversion mechanism is attached to a speedometer in such a way that the input into the speedometer can be mechanically altered to establish a conversion ratio between a first system of units and a second system of units and the speedometer is indexed to display the speed measured in either system of units. The conversion apparatus is switchable between two modes to cause the speedometer to register selectively either of the two systems of units, and the apparatus is designed to be interposed at any point along the mechanical drive or input for the speedometer.
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Citations
15 Claims
- 1. A speed conversion apparatus adapted for attachment to a speed measuring device of a motor vehicle and the like wherein said speed measuring device has a rotatable drive member which is driven by a motive drive source and a speed indicator indexed in units of a first system of measurement to indicate the speed of said motor vehicle in response to the rate of rotation of said rotatable drive member, said speed conversion apparatus comprising:
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2. a gear train interposed between said rotatable drive member and said speed indicator including a first set of gear members rotatable in response to rotation of said rotatable drive member to cause said speed indicator to indicate speed in units of the first system of measurement and a second set of gear members rotatable in response to rotation of said rotatable drive member to cause said speed indicator to indicate speed in a second system of measurement;
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shifting means operatively arranged on shaft means of said gear train and adjacent to said gear train including first means to selectively shift said first set of gear members into a position in which said first set of gear members is rotatable in response to rotation of said rotatable drive member to cause said speed indicator to indicate speed in units of the first system of measurement and second means to selectively shift said second set of gear members to a position rotatable in response to rotation of said rotatable drive member to cause said speed indicator to indicate speed in units of the second system of measurement, and a shift activator operative to cause said shifting means to selectively shift one of said first and second sets of gear members into engagement with said rotatable drive member.
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5. A conversion apparatus for attachment to a speed indicating device of a vehicle and the like wherein said speed indicating device has a drive system including a plurality of rotatable elements and being indexed in units of a first system of measurement, said conversion apparatus comprising:
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a rotatable input means connectable to a first element of said drive system; a rotatable output means connectable to a second element of said drive system; a gear train interconnecting said input and output means and including gear members operative to rotate said output means in response to rotation of said input means at a rate whereby the ratio of the rates of rotation of said output and input means is representative of a conversion ratio between said first system of measurement and a second system of measurement, said gear train having first and second sets of gear members, said first set of gear members operative to rotate said output means at a rate representative of said conversion ratio, said second set of gear members operative to rotate said output means at a rate substantially corresponding to the rate of rotation of said input means; and shifting means operatively arranged on shaft means of said gear train and adjacent to said gear train including magnetic induction means having an electrically conductive coil for magnetically inducing one of said pair of output gear members into engagement with said other of said common gears and biasing means for urging the second one of said pair of output gears into engagement with said intermediate gear and said first one of said output gears out of engagement with said other of said common gears, said shifting means including remote activating means for selectively activating said magnetic induction means.
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10. Apparatus for selectively converting the miles per hour indexing of a speedometer to kilometers per hour by mechanically altering the rate of rotation of the rotatable drive train associated with said speedometer, comprising:
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a housing; a gear train having a plurality of gear members in said housing; an input shaft attachable to a first portion of said drive train for receiving rotational motion therefrom and connected to said gear train; an output shaft connected to an output gear member and attachable to a second portion of said drive train, said gear train having first and second gear paths and operative to rotate said output shaft in response to rotation of said input shaft; and shift means operatively arranged on shaft means of said gear train and adjacent to said gear train for selectable shifting between said first and second gear paths, said first gear path operative to rotate said output shaft at the same rate as the rate of said input shaft and said second gear path operative to rotate said output shaft at an altered rate from the rate of said input shaft, said altered rate being at a ratio to reflect a conversion whereby said speedometer registers kilometers per hour.
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Specification