Automobile timer

Claim 1

Apparatus for timing a vehicle having a wheel which rotates on movement of the vehicle, comprising: means carried by the vehicle for producing at least one signal for each revolution of the wheel; a continuously running clock pulse generator; a counter and display means; selectively actuatable switching means interconnecting the clock pulse generator and the counter and display means; circuit means connected to receive the signal from said means carried by the vehicle for producing a square wave pulse of width inversely related to the vehicle speed; a square wave generator for producing a pulse of selectively variable width; a comparator connected to receive the square wave signal from the generator aNd the square wave pulse of width dependent upon vehicle speed and producing a signal when said pulse dependent upon vehicle speed achieves a width less than that of said generator; means interconnecting the comparator and the switching means for initiating clock pulse counting when the comparator produces an output signal; a second square wave generator for producing a selectively variable width pulse; a second comparator fed by the second square wave generator pulse output and the pulse output of the means dependent upon vehicle speed to produce a pulse when said speed dependent pulse is less than the second generator pulse width; and means interconnecting the second comparator to the switching means for inhibiting clock pulse counting when the vehicle speed dependent pulse has a width less than the width of the second pulse generator.

Claim 5

A system for providing the elapsed time for a wheeled vehicle to make a traversal, comprising: at least one magnet means mounted on a vehicle wheel; a coil carried by the vehicle at a point where the magnet means will induce a signal in said coil each time the wheel rotates; a binary counter actuated by signals induced in the coil, and having a first stage providing pulse output signals the width of which pulses are functionally related to the vehicle speed; a clock pulse generator; time registering means; circuit means interconnecting the clock pulse generator and the registering means; a first switching circuit interconnecting the coil and the circuit means and selectively adjustable to initiate counting of clock pulses on the first wheel rotation; and a second switching circuit interconnecting the binary counter first stage pulse output and the first switching circuit including a selectively variable width square wave generator, a comparison circuit fed by the binary counter first stage output and the square wave generator, said comparison circuit providing an output signal when the binary counter first stage pulse has a width less than that of the square waves, said comparison circuit output being connected to said circuit means for inhibiting said circuit means and stopping clock pulse accumulation by the registering means on generation of a counter first stage ouTput pulse of width less than that of the square wave generator.

Claim 6

A system for providing the elapsed time for a wheeled vehicle to make a traversal, comprising: at least one magnet means mounted on a vehicle wheel; a coil carried by the vehicle at a point where the magnet means will induce a signal in said coil each time the wheel rotates; a binary counter actuated by signals induced in the coil, and having a first stage providing pulse output signals the width of which pulses are functionally related to the vehicle speed; a clock pulse generator; time registering means; circuit means interconnecting the clock pulse generator and the registering means; a first switching circuit interconnecting the coil and the circuit means and selectively adjustable to initiate counting of clock pulses on the first wheel rotation; and a second switching circuit interconnecting the binary counter first stage pulse output and the first switching circuit including a selectively variable width square wave generator, a comparison circuit fed by the binary counter first stage output and the square wave generator, said comparison circuit providing an output signal when the binary counter first stage pulse has a width less than that of the square waves, said comparison circuit output being connected to said circuit means for inhibiting said circuit means and stopping clock pulse accumulation by the registering means on generation of a counter first stage ouTput pulse of width less than that of the square wave generator.

Claim 7

A system for measuring elapsed time of an automobile to move from a first point to a second point, comprising: a permanent magnet fixedly mounted to the inside surface of a steerable wheel of the automobile; a magnetic sensor mounted on the steering arm of said wheel such that on each revolution of said wheel the magnet is moved past the sensor inducing an electric signal therein; pulse generating means connected to said sensor for producing a pulse each time an electric signal is produced in said sensor; a binary counter circuit having an input connected to the pulse generating means for accumulating a pulse count therein, and an output; a decoding network connected to the output of said counter circuit and selectively adjustable to provide an output signal at a predetermined accumulated count in said counter corresponding to rotation of said steerable wheel from the first point to the second point; digital time display means mounted within the automobile for direct viewing by the automobile driver; a free-running electrical pulse generator; first flip-flop means interconnecting the free-running pulse generator and the digital time display means for providing actuating signals to said digital time display means corresponding to the pulses of said free-running pulse generator, said flip-flop means including an inhibit terminal; and second flip-flop means interconnecting said pulse generating means and said first flip-flop means for enabling said first flip-flop means to provide pulses to said display means on the first signal by said sensor, said second flip-flop means being interconnected with said decoding network to provide an inhibit signal to said first flip-flop means on production of an output signal by said decoding network.

Claim 8

A system for measuring elapsed time of an automobile to move from a first point to a second point, comprising: a permanent magnet fixedly mounted to the inside surface of a steerable wheel of the automobile; a magnetic sensor mounted on the steering arm of said wheel such that on each revolution of said wheel the magnet is moved past the sensor inducing an electric signal therein; pulse generating means connected to said sensor for producing a pulse each time an electric signal is produced in said sensor; a binary counter circuit having an input connected to the pulse generating means for accumulating a pulse count therein, and an output; a decoding network connected to the output of said counter circuit and selectively adjustable to provide an output signal at a predetermined accumulated count in said counter corresponding to rotation of said steerable wheel from the first point to the second point; digital time display means mounted within the automobile for direct viewing by the automobile driver; a free-running electrical pulse generator; first flip-flop means interconnecting the free-running pulse generator and the digital time display means for providing actuating signals to said digital time display means corresponding to the pulses of said free-running pulse generator, said flip-flop means including an inhibit terminal; and second flip-flop means interconnecting said pulse generating means and said first flip-flop means for enabling said first flip-flop means to provide pulses to said display means on the first signal by said sensor, said second flip-flop means being interconnected with said decoding network to provide an inhibit signal to said first flip-flop means on production of an output signal by said decoding network.

Claim 10

A system for measuring elapsed time of an automobile to move from a first point to a second point, comprising: a permanent magnet fixedly mounted to the inside surface of a steerable wheel of the automobile; a magnetic sensor mounted on the steering arm of said wheel such that on each revolution of said wheel the magnet is moved past the sensor inducing an electric signal therein; pulse generating means connected to said sensor for producing a pulse each time an electric signal is produced in said sensor; a binary counter circuit having an input connected to the pulse generating means for accumulating a pulse count therein, and an output; decoding means connected to the output of said counter circuit for providing an output signal at a predetermined accumulated count in said counter corresponding to rotation of said steerable wheel from the first point to the second point; digital time display means mounted within the automobile; a free-running electrical pulse generator; first circuit means interconnecting the free-running pulse generator and the digital time display means for providing actuating signals to said digital time display means corresponding to the pulses of said free-running pulse generator, said first circuit means including an inhibit terminal; and second circuit means interconnecting said pulse generating means and said first circuit means for actuating said first circuit means to provide pulses to said display means on the first signal by said sensor, said second circuit means being interconnected with said decoding means to provide an inhibit signal to said first circuit means on production of an output signal by said decoding means.

Claim 11

A system for measuring elapsed time of an automobile to move from a first point to a second point, comprising: a permanent magnet fixedly mounted to the inside surface of a steerable wheel of the automobile; a magnetic sensor mounted on the steering arm of said wheel such that on each revolution of said wheel the magnet is moved past the sensor inducing an electric signal therein; pulse generating means connected to said sensor for producing a pulse each time an electric signal is produced in said sensor; a binary counter circuit having an input connected to the pulse generating means for accumulating a pulse count therein, and an output; decoding means connected to the output of said counter circuit for providing an output signal at a predetermined accumulated count in said counter corresponding to rotation of said steerable wheel from the first point to the second point; digital time display means mounted within the automobile; a free-running electrical pulse generator; first circuit means interconnecting the free-running pulse generator and the digital time display means for providing actuating signals to said digital time display means corresponding to the pulses of said free-running pulse generator, said first circuit means including an inhibit terminal; and second circuit means interconnecting said pulse generating means and said first circuit means for actuating said first circuit means to provide pulses to said display means on the first signal by said sensor, said second circuit means being interconnected with said decoding means to provide an inhibit signal to said first circuit means on production of an output signal by said decoding means.