The present invention relates generally to meter registers and, more particularly, to registers in which flat indicia wheels are used to present numerals or other appropriate indicia at openings in a faceplate by incrementally moving the indicia wheels.
Many types of meter registers have been developed to indicate the usage of some measurable quantity. The measured value may be electrical power consumption, peak electrical demand or the consumption of another measurable substance such as water or natural gas. Meter registers in general can be classified into two basic categories: analog and digital. A typical example of an analog meter register is the electrical watt-hour meter used to measure electrical consumption in most households. An analog meter register is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,398,367 which issued to Benbow on Aug. 20, 1968. This type of meter register typically utilizes a stationary faceplate on which numerals are arranged in a circular pattern around a central point. Generally, an indicator is attached to a rotatable shaft which extends through the main plate at a point coincident with the center of the numeral arrangement. The indicator, such as a needle, rotates in direct response to electrical consumption. At any particular time, the needle may point at a particular numeral or at any location between numerals as it rotates about the central axis of its associated shaft. Usually, a plurality of shafts and associated indicators are used with each indicator being associated with a circular arrangement of numerals. Movement of the shafts of an analog meter register is controlled by a series of gears. The relative sizes of the gears are generally chosen to cause the indicators of the register to rotate in decade relationship with each other. Drive mechanisms of this type are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,398,367 and also in U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,194 which issued to Halstead et al. on Dec. 21, 1982.
One disadvantage of analog meter registers is that, at any particular point in time, the register's indicators will most probably be pointing to locations which are between the numerals of its associated faceplate. The analog nature of this type of register therefore requires some interpretation of the exact numeric value represented by the plurality of dial indicators.
Digital meter registers are generally easier to interpret than analog meter registers. In a digital register, the indicia wheels are locked into place in such a way so as to result in none of the individual indicators representing a value which lies between integers except for the first wheel which represents the least significant digit. In other words, when a particular indicator of a digital meter register changes value, it does so rapidly and then dwells for a sustained period of time at an exact integer value. In order to accomplish this intermittent movement, various mechanisms have been employed. One mechanism that results in the intermittent angular movement of the shafts of a register is the so-called Geneva drive. One type of Geneva mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,385 which issued to Harvey et al. on Mar. 2, 1982. That particular Geneva mechanism has a slotted Geneva wheel and a driving cam wheel which is engageable with the Geneva wheel to impart stepwise rotation thereto. When a wheel is rotated by a Geneva mechanism, it exhibits an intermittent motion which results in a stepwise rotation that dwells at a particular angular position for a period of time and then, in a relatively rapid manner, rotates to another dwell position.
The beneficial result of a register driven by a Geneva mechanism is that, at any particular instant in time, most or all of the decades of the register are stationary and easily readable. Furthermore, each of the decade positions of the register are stationary at particular integer digits which can be read through openings of a faceplate.
Meter registers which utilize Geneva mechanisms also typically utilize indicia wheels which have numerals imposed on the outer circular surface of the wheel. An example of this type of usage is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,870 which issued to Malavazos et al. on Apr. 8, 1975. That patent relates to a postage meter and employs an indicia wheel which has the numbers, 0 through 9, disposed on the outer circumference of the wheel. Another example of indicia wheels, or drums, can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,252 which issued to Haydon on Nov. 11, 1975. That invention is a digital clock which utilizes a plurality of indicia wheels, or drums, that are used to represent hours, minutes and seconds.
Examples of a plurality of indicia drums being associated with a faceplate having a plurality of openings located therein for viewing of the numerals on the wheels are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,116,875 which issued to Wolfenden et al. on Jan. 7, 1964 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,758 which issued to Wolfenden on Oct. 13, 1964. An example of a cyclometer meter register which utilizes indicia-bearing counterwheels, or drums, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,178,110 which issued to Knecht et al. on Apr. 13, 1965. A particular design of indicia wheels, which is intended for use in cyclometer registers, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,279,691 which issued to Daley et al. on Oct. 18, 1966.
When Geneva mechanisms are used in conjunction with cyclometer registers, drum-type indicia wheels are generally used. These indicia drums, which are disclosed in the patents discussed above, represent one disadvantage toward which the present invention is directed. When the numerals are disposed on the circumference of an indicia drum, the indicated numeral is not presented to an opening in a faceplate in a manner which results in the numeral appearing as a flat indicia. The use of a curved numeral, which results from the numeral being imposed on the curved outer circumference of a drum, can be disadvantageous when used in conjunction with a meter register. For example, depending on the direction of sunlight and the height of the register in relation to a person viewing the register, glare may present a problem in the accurate reading of the value represented by a plurality of such indicia wheels. More importantly, when automated reading techniques are employed by a meter reader, the curved indicia surface may introduce problems of registration between the automated reading device, such as a light pen, and the indicia wheel's surface. This problem can be especially severe when a bar code is used to represent a digital value which is presented through an opening of a meter register faceplate for the purpose of being read automatically.
The present invention provides a meter register which utilizes a type of driving mechanism which moves its indicia wheels in an intermittent fashion with rapid angular movements between preselected positions followed by dwell periods during which the indicia wheels present one of their numeric digits through an opening in an associated faceplate. Furthermore, the present invention utilizes indicia wheels which are flat discs that have the numerals imposed on one of the disc's flat surfaces. The indicia wheels of the present invention rotate about an axis which is perpendicular to the faceplate. Therefore, a numeral is presented, to an opening in the associated faceplate, which is flat when viewed through the opening. As discussed above, the presentation of a flat indicium through the opening of the faceplate is advantageous when viewed by a human observer and especially helpful when the indicium is automatically read by a device such as the type which utilizes a light pen. The numerals of the flat indicia wheels can be combined with or replaced by a bar code representation. The use of such a bar code, in conjunction with the flat indicia wheel, facilitates the automatic reading of the wheel's representation.