A Taximeter Maker's Mileometer.
Page 21
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The necessity to keep an accurate check upon the running of motorvans on routes which, from the nature of things, vary constantly in distance and direction, is becoming more apparent to owners as time goes on, and as they realize the necessity for the keeping of accurate performance and costs records.
Accurate registration by some simple means is now a sine qua non, for the majority of users, it is desirable for all. We have, from time to time in our columns, described records which traced and revealed the driver's doings throughout each day's work ; his stops and starts, his spurts and breakdowns, all are debited against him on some sort of indicator card. Such minute investigation is, however, not desired by all users, many of whom are content to secure an indisputable return of mileage for tire and fuel-consumption recording purposes.
An apparatus of this class must, effectively to fulfil its purpose, be of the utmost simplicity, be of sufficiently robust construction to defy all normal attempts at tampering, and must also be practically incapable of making a mistake These are the three principal requirements which the Metropolitan Fare Register Co., Ltd., of 80, Belvedere Road, S.E., had before it when Mr. A. Bailey, the company's engineer, set to work to produce a new mileometer. The illustrations included below are evidence of his successful design.
The mileometer in question has been specially con structed to meet, the requirements of heavy motor tractors and lorries, where vibration is an accepted. condition. The instrument is strongly cased in a solid. brass box 54in. long by 2i in. ; the recording drums. are of aluminium alloy, on which the figures show white on a black ground and are therefore easily discernible in almost any light. The mechanism of the recorder is operated by a worm wheel and shaft which. is directly connected with a flexible shaft. Two pawls mounted on the worm wheel operate the main shaft carrying the recording drums, by means of a small toothed ratchet., ensuring an immediate pick-up with. the car going forward, and running free when the motion of the vehicle is reversed. The connection between the worm wheel and drums is through an eccentric actuating an eight-toothed spur wheel meshing with the slots in the unit drum, the action being. carried on to the rest of the drums by means of eighttoothed pinions, mounted on a countershaft. The recorder can be adjusted to any size wheel. The external transmission gear consists of a flexible shaft of live-ply piano wire, extending horn a 10-toothed wheel mounted in a bearing which can be sealed. The star wheel meshes with a malleable-east band mounted on a wheel of the vehicle. The whole of the transmission gear can be sealed, and in addition it is possible to use the recorder for trip or continuous record which, can only be altered by the proprietor.