UNITED . STATES PATENT OFFICE.

mxOLA ~ OJ' DW yomc. N. Y.,A,SSIGNOR TO W.ALTlIAJ[ WATOlI COlttPABY,OJ'

W .AL~. lrtASSAOlIUSETTS, A. "CORPORATION Ol!".ASSAdm1sETTS.. .

·SPEED·INDIOATOB.--

1,274,816.

Ipec1lcatioJl. of Letter. l'~teJlt.

. Patented Aug; 6, 1918.

AppUoationi1ed ])eoember 18,1918. Bei1arli~~ 137,691.

To'al,lwho.m.itmay.concern,:.. ments respectively adapted to measure rela-

Be it known that I, NIXOLA TESLA, a citi- tively high and low speeds, but nevert}leless sen of the United States, residing at N~w : it 'is .-true that although such' instruments, York,.in the county !Uld. State of New York, when, built !or high-speed indication, may ..

· have Invented certain new anduseful Im- be of sturdy construction, ..they must, when provements in Speed-Indicators, of which " designed for Iow-speed.vmeasurement, be the following is a full, clear, and exact de- built with .greit....Precision and delicacy. scription. . i. . '. ' This because . the inertia of, the secondary

Among the desiderata of speedometer con- element must be kept extremely small for struction are these: that the torque exerted desirable- promptnesS .of response to very upon the. secondary, or' indication-giving, slow startmg s£ee<ls and consequent feebleelement shall be linearly proportional to the, ness of the hmiing effort. .In some inspeed of the primary' member .. rather th~n stances, therefore,. it. is 'highly desirable to to the ,square· of the speed (as instancedin employ a· transmitting medium- glvmg'l1 'centrifugal speedometers);, that the" tor- , much greater torque than air with ooncomisional effect at low' speeds s~all ~ strongtant.extens.ionof ~e low-n.llge of accurate and steady so that p~rt1cular delicacy of ~eed . reading; quickness of response, praccopstruction may 'not be necessary and that ~Icab1e dec~ase of size o.f parts .and lessenminute causes' of theoretical errors (such as mg of sensitivenessto disturbances such as bearing-friction, spring-inequalities and the vibration of the instrument as a whole. . like) may be negligible-in effect j . that the. .All of the stated objects I accomplish by torque .may be su~stantially unaffected by employing as the torque-transmittulg me-

, changeS of extraneous, conditions, as of tem- . dium between the driving and driven' eleperature, atmospheric density and m~gneticmentS a body of suitable' liquid, (e. g.1 merInfluence; that the.instmment'be inherehtly curl') under. conditions. (as set forth In my de&d~beat and relatively insensible to'~ prior applica~ion referred to) proper. to chanical vibration;. and that ruggedness, secure .lmear proportionality of.deflections, Bimplicity and economy, foraUendant dura-·. and, further, bymakingprovision automatibility, ~anufacturiiIg facility and low cost, '~lly ~ coIl).pen~~ for the changes in ~he be attained. . My present speedometer real- VISCoSIty of the liquid that.accompany VarIaizes these adva~ta.g.~ and provides, also, an. ~ons of temperature; . ~~e latter: equipment appliance that IS SUItable for great, as w~n . IS unnecessary In my aIr-drag speedometer, as very small! veloCities, eXact In its read- --but mercury arid other liquids of rela.tively ings uniform y .graduated as to Scale, and great. density ~bat might be employed for lina.1feeted by changes of temperature or. ,my present purposes have not the quality pr~re within as well as "w,itho~ ,. of approximate self-compensation for tem.. In my .Patent ~No. 1,2Q9,35~; 'dated Decem- perature ehanges-that, inheres hi' air, owing

',ber .. ,19, 19. ~6, I JI&v~. descnbed a new:' 'type to the: fact thlJ:t the v. ~ity of Such .. a liqui. d .,(If speed' me&.sUl'lIlg'mstrument. wherein the decreases.rapidly as Its temperature'rl!l6S, :il.dhesion·andvisoositY;9f a. gaseous medium.cand So' to a successful "mercury-drag"· in,pr:ef~~~ly . air,· u.a. ~~zed ':fC?r:torque-trlLns-, ~~ent temperature compensation. is req-

.. mtssl<?n·fi'oJJ1..ap~ry'dnvwg~asecond- ~~ .... .' '1 .:'."

.ary p~voted·a.nd Wi-monally res~taIned mem-'.The underlying-Ideas of thIS lnventJon.

· her"under conditiOOs' such' tll~_ the rotary . can' be carried out in. various ways and. are

· effort exerted upon the latter islineadypro-capableof ina'ny valuable uses, but fOl(lpurpoitionafto the rate of rota.tion otthe for- poses ofdisclosure,....-specific reference to a mer. The principles O'f th!iot inrention find form ofs~ indicator.designed for use on 'l!ltLCe)n niypreBeht constructiOn .. SUch."liir an' automobile is-adequate.. ' .. ·dr&.g'''~ometers have beenfonnd capable As mtha structure described in my stated

I ~f,.meetmg·aa.~isfaCtorily ,the C9mmer~ial re-. pP,ot; applicati.0~',,1. provide ~riving and' qUll'emep.ts for bot~ large and small instru- driven members Wlthediifrontmg, closely-

adjacent, non-contacting, smooth, annular a reservoir filled with the liquid, 20, as merfriction surfaces, co-acting for transmiSsion c~ry, and the liquid normally extends' part of torque through, the viscosity and adhesion way up, the very narrow interspace, 21, beof interposed thin films of a suitable me- tween thetwo elements to contact with lea; dium-s-in this case mercury-under condi- 'than the whole of their confronting friction tions to prevent fr!'le exchange of fluid acting surfaces. . With' mercury as the medium, in "on the system] to prevent -its local circula- an instrument with a secqndary cup of one

tion and eddymg, to maintain its flow calm . inch diameter I find an interspace-width of and non-turbulent,' 'and to secure as low ve- ,0.05 inch to be satisfactory.'

locity of the medium with respect to the, It will now be seen that when shaft '11 is system as the circumstances of the ease may rotated the mercury in the' cup is entrained make desirable. 'Thes~ conditions all aid in and in turn produces a drag upon the the attainment of rigorous linear propor- pivoted member 12, the torsional effort being tionality of: deflection of'the secondary to directly proportionate to the active area, the speed ofrota~lQnof'theprimllry element viscosity of the fluid and the speed of rotaunder given temperature conditions. Addi- tion and, inversely, to the width of the inter-. tion~lly, by suitable construction I make if, sl?ace 21 or distance between.the ~otated and possible to obtain a nc!£rly perfect compen- pivoted surfaces. If 11 be coefficient of VlS~ . sation for temperature changes so that the cosity, A the active areal 8, the speed and d deflections may be. rigorouSly proportionate the distance between the Juxtaposed .rotating to speed within limits of temperature varia- and pivoted surfaces, all of the' quantities

-tion wider than I believe likely to occur in being expressed in proper units" then the the practical use of the instrument. I at- twisting force .

tain this compensatory result by providing 'VAB ..,

.t~ermo-respoDsive means to vary the effec- F-a dynes.

bve area of ,the secondary element upon,' _ which the medium 'Q'c~ in approximately When,'through changes in the external eoninverse proportion to temperature-effected "ditions. or work performed 'on the fluid, the changes of yisc~ity of the medium, and as £emperature, of the same is raised, two ef~

'a, preferred specific mea,ns ,to, this end, I feets, separate and di~tinc~, a!e pr?~~ced.' dispose 0; body of the liquid ibeyond, but In the first place, the VISCOSIty IS diminished communicating with, the active portion of according to a certain law; reducing'correthe' Iiquidunedium and of such quantity spondingly the' torque, on the' other' hand, that, in effectively the same measure as vis~· 'the fluid expands thereby enlarging the cosity and, consequently, the' torque is di- areas of the active, or liquid- contracting, minished 'or, increased with temperature surfaces of the elements with an attendant .changes, the active liquid-contacting area of ' increase of rotary effort. Obviously, then, if the secondary member-is enlarged or reduced it is possible so 'to relate these actiona that owing to the expansion or contraction of the they mutually annul each other upon any . fluid.. " '",' .' . .change of temperature, a; complete 'eompen-

, In the drawing Figure 1 is a top view of sation -may" be obtained; ,This result, I

a speedometer;' ,r,' ,', ' have aseertainedv can be almost perfectly'

Fig. '2 is a central vertical section there- realized wi~ a ~liquid, as mercury, by p:rop-

through; ',." erly proportioningthe volume of the cham-

Fig. 3 shows a 'spring adjusting arrange. .: bar-contained,' or compensating, component

.ment ; and" ',' " 2()C Sf the liquid and the component 2()a of

Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 are" diagrams explana- the liquid in the interspace 21. With a view

tory ,oi the compensatlng; principle. ' , 'to simplifying this explanation; be it sup-

.Tn Fig. 4 the primary or driving member posed that ,the force F is wholly due ,to the is acup,'lO carried by a freely rotatable ver- 'liquid component 2()a (the drag exerted on tical shaft 11. Within it ":the cylinder- the bottom f~ of cylinder 12. being assUm~ : formed secondary member 12 IS, monnt€d on to 00 negligible and the bearings to be, frio- , a spindle 13, journaled in jewels 14 and 15 'tionless). It will be evident that under these of negligible fl'ietion, for' 'pivotal, displace- conditions the' active, area 'will increase as ment'agaipst the restraint of. &: spiral spring .the volume of .the fluid.. Perfect compensa- 16, connected at its', ends respecti~ely to , tion would require that lJPon a rise of temfixed support 17. and spindle-collar 18, so 'pe,~t~re; the active a!ea, and t~erefore the that by .pIvotal displacement ~f the second- torsional ~ffort" be, 'au~~~ted In: the same ary ,cylinder ~amst the resisting spring ratio as VISCOSIty' IS diminished, In other tension, the torSlOnal-efi'orl exerted on the words, the percentage of decrease of vis-, SOOC?nda~y member ~~y be. measured. The cosity divided by that of' increase Of area... spnng'ls ,snch that Its displacements are should be the same rfor all temperatures. linearl.y proportionate to the force applied. ;Attention ~ called, to the table belo~ showThe ..lower portion 19, of the cup-chamber IS mg' that, WIth II1er~ury as the medium, .th~

1,274,816

a

value of this fraction at-ordinary tempera- culation of capacity of the reservoir or tures is about, or not far from, 20. chamber 20' ,beside considering the form of the device, must take account. of the active mercury body in both interspaces.

.. In FIgs. 1 to 3'0. complete commercial.instrument embodying my invention is shown. Specifically,25 ISO. tube threaded at 26·li.nd carrying at thctop a casi~~ head 27 the whole forming a.housing for inclosure of the moving parts. The driving shaft 28 carries a cylindrical cup' 29 in the bottom of which is screwed a .plug -30, turned .down as 31 for the purpose of providing the. reservoir 32. The cup 29 is closed. at Its upper end bI a

. tight.nttinJl: cover 33, having an upwardly' extending shank 34 carrying a pinion 35 to-

vdrive suitable'wheelwork36 of the odometer contained in the.Jow~r.part of th.e 'head 27. This s.tr~cture, pt:0vldmJ!' th~prtmary element, IS rotatable inball-bearings 37 ahda8

This means 'to say that if the total volume fixed in tube 25 and adjustable by means of

of the liquid is twenty times that contained . nuts 39. .

in the ·in~rspace· between the elements, the The secondary element is made ofa. very.; two oppcsite effects, one increasing and the thin metal cup 40, inverted and secured to other reducing, the torque! will approxi-slender spindle. 41 mounted in jeweled bearmately balance. ·This fact IS borne out by ings 42 and 43, respeetivelyxarried in· 0.pracbcaltests· and measurements, which cavity. of plug 30 and by a frame arm 431., have demonstrated that by constructing for' A running bearing 42 call.' usually be emthis volumetric ratio deflections very closely' ployed' without detriment,· but a fixed besrproportionate to the speed are obtained ing may be used if desired. The weight of through a range of .temp'erature "!ariations the secondary member with its movable at-. far greater than ordinarily occurrmg, For tachments should 'be so determined that the commercial purposes it is quite sufficient to upward thrust. agains~ jewel 43 is yery employ a ratio ·of approximately. the stated sh~ht. The torsional t~st of secondary cup value as the 'error involved in a small de- 40 IS resisted by iI. spiral spring 44 lodged parture . therefrom is inconsiderable."Whenina. turned- recess of.a frame plate ·45,hav-' necessary or desirable, greater precision can ing one of its ends connected to collar 46 'be obtained by taking into account four sec- . fas~ o~ the spipd.le 41 .an~. the other to.a· ondary effects, due to expansion or contrac- . split rmg 47 sprmg-gt"!ppmg the wall of tion of the walls, which slightly modify the' the recess in' plate 45. By inse'rtingpincers torque j first,' changes in 'die volume of the in holes 48 (Fig.5)a.ndcontraeting the ring reservoir; second, in the . distance between it is freed sufficiently for adjustment to the opposed .surfaces ; third. inactive area bring the spindle-carried indicator' 49 to . and, fourth; in . velocity ... Increase in the point to zero o~. th.egraduated scale ~ that,

. former. two tend' to diminish; the latter to If all of the principles of my invention are a~ment,. the viscous drag. . A satisfactory . best embodied, may be made uniformly ratio in a' cylindrical type of instrument graduated. ··The scale is ¢"atried on plate has been found to be about 24. . 45 and, together with the support 43', is

Fig. 5 illustrates a different arrangement, held in place bya rim 53 that suitably .earexemplifyingthe 'same principle of employ- ries the glass cover. 52. The odometer mayingareservoir-contained Iiquid body as the have any suitable number of indicating elethermo-responsive means to compensate for ments of different orders sui~ably geared, yiscosity changes of the active . liquid ... In the two hands' 54a.nd .55 swee{ling over this case a spindle-carried disk 12' serves as . graduated dials 56 and 57, typifying 8.l\y a secondary element, 'while the primary suitableconstruction. '" .... . member consists of 8; hollow shelllO' with It will be apparent that the . high torque annular surfaces 23 confronting the disk at low speed developed through the mersurfaces and encompassed by an annular curial transmitting tpedium in~kes the inchamber 20', so that under rotation the met- strument very effectIve. as one for use on cur:r body fills the chamber and occupies automobiles) and while it is . true that with peripheral portions of the interspaces 21 a heavy fluid, as' mercury, the range of vebetween the flat confronting surfaces. It locity of the medium throughout which prois 'hardly .necessary to remark that since portionality of torque to speed, under the there are two such interspaces 21, the cal- 'described conditions, is rigorously linear

Tempera.- Volume VlsCOllt)' Per_tage Percentage ValueoC
oflncireese oCdecreese
~C. of Guld. of !Iuld •. 01 V. 01 _. ratio.
T V ~ •
• • •
<
-20 0.8D1364 0.018401 -0.3S36 -8.2718 22.76
. "1Ii 0.W127J 0.018038 -0.2'127 ·_11.10211 22.38).
-10 0.998182 0.017e81 -0.1818 -4.0074 . 22.04
-6 0.999091 0.017336 -0.0lI0II' -1.9722 . 21.70
0 1.000000 0.017000 0 0 21.35
6 1.000!100 0.01&e83 0.0lI0II . 1.11107 .21.03
10 1.001818 0.01l13li1 0.1818 '3.71103 20.&8
15 1.002727 0.0115057 0.'¥127 5.550S . 20.36
20 I.ClO363& 0.016742 0.3S36 7.2700 20.00
25 LOO4MS 0..015477 o.~ 8.05&4 1'.70
30 1.005465 O.Ol6202 0.5456 10.6750 . 111.38
36 1.00C5385 0.014937 0.1I3e5 12.1410 19.07
40 1.00'127& 0.01t680 0.7275 13.6470 18. 76
46 1.008185 0.01«33 . 0.8185 15.1031 18.65
10 1.00lI0II5 0.01ut4 0-1IOQ5 18.6073 18.16
.. falls below-the range available where air is sponsive means for varying the active areas

. th~· .mediura a. construction presenting ·t;he of said surfaces in· predetermined' proporfriction sudaces of the elements In eo cylin- tion tothermally-effected.changes ot.·liquid

der-form as-suggestedin Figs. 2 and 4 per- viscosity. '- . . .

mits of the use of a suitably constructed de- 4 .. In a temperature-compensating'. speed . vice with a small-diameter secondary to indicator, the. combination of variable sp'eed

. measure very high speeds without imparting primary and movement-restrained secondary to the medium a linear velocity beyond its elements" that are suitably supported foYl stated range. For the su~£ul use of. 'separate movement and· have opposed mercury in the present" described instrument closely-adjacent non-()Ontacting friction sur- . (or. other rotary devices) it" is important faces; a liquid hodYlartially fillliig the inthat the mercury be pure, the surfaces con- terspace between sai surfaees,and· thermo- . tacting therewith smooth, clean and non- responsive means for va.rying the .Iiquid granular (preferably nickel-plated or made quantity wi~in in'sai~ interspace in preof non-corrosive, high grade steel) to mini- determined mverse ratio to "thermo-effected mize abrasion .and keep the mercury clean, changes of liquid visCosity. . . ' and that the linear velocity of the" mercury 5. The combination with driving' and 'be kept low, preferably below six feet per driven elements" having opposed, closelysecond, in order that it may not break up into adjacent" non-cont~ing£rlction surf8;C6S minute droplets or apparently-powdered and an interposed liquid body' contacting

form. . . . with active portions thereof, of a compen-

What I claim is: satin~ liquid body communication with the

1. In combination, driving and driven ele- said mterposed or. active one, and properments, having. opposed, closely-adjacent, tioned to vary the effective contact area of non-conta.cting friction . surfaces; a liquid" the active liquid 'approximately inversely body interposed between active areas thereof to its temperature-effected :visco.:;ity.changes. through which." the driving element fric-' 6. The combina.tion with ;freely movable' tionally drags 'the driven one and thermo- . driving and movement-resisted driven eleresponsive means for varying the active ments, having friction surfaces in opposed, .areaof the secondary in approximately in- closely-adjacent non-contacting relation, of· verse proportion to the thermo-effected va- means providing a reservoir; communicatriati~ns in viscosity of 'the liquid. . . .' ing with the, int;ersp,ace between said e!e~

2~ In a temperature-compensating speed ments, and a liquid OOdy baving a reservoirindicator, the combination of variable speed filling. component and an . active· torqueprimary and movement-restrained secondary transmitting com~on~nt that normally, elements that are suitably supported for partly occupies said Interspace, these comseparate movement and have opposed· frio- ponents proportioned) volumetrically for tion surfaces in close but non-contacting temperature-effected change of. the contact juxtaposition; an interposed liquid body area of the. active component in approxi'contacting normally with .active areas of mately iriverse ratio to the attendant

said surfaces less than. the whole thereof, changes. of liquid viscosity. .

and thermo-responsive means for varying .7. In a temperature-compensating speed the liquid-contacting areas of said elements indicator, the combination of a' freely rota·approxim&tely inversely to. the thermo- table cylindrical cup; a;" cylinder-formed effected variations of liquid viscosity. member ill the upper· portion thereof,

3. In a temperature-compensating speed pivoted and filh:g:restrained; anel a body indicator, the combination of variable speed of mercury . g tne reservoir-portion of primary and movement-restrained secondary the cup below the pivoted" member and ex. elements 'that, are. suitably supported, for tending partially in the narrow interspaee separate movement and have opposed closely- between the cup and cylinder~ .

adjacent non-contacting friction surfaees ; Jn.testimony whereof I affix my ~ature.

an interposed liquid body and . thermo-re- . NIKOLA TESLA. '

N. TESlA.

SPEED INDICATOR.

APPLICATtO" FlLEO DEC. 18.1916.

1,274,816 ..

Pig .. 1.

Patented Aug. 6, 191ft.

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