An odometer (often known colloquially as a mileometer or milometer) is a device used for indicating distance traveled by an automobile or other vehicle. Distance is a numerical description of how far apart objects are Vehicles, derived from the Latin word vehiculum, are non-living Means of transport. It may be electronic or mechanical. Electronics refers to the flow of charge (moving Electrons through Nonmetal conductors (mainly Semiconductors, whereas electrical A machine is any device that uses Energy to perform some activity The word derives from the Greek words hodós, meaning 'path' or 'way', and métron, 'measure' (an older name for this device is hodometer). The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c
Recently, exercise enthusiasts have observed that an advanced Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receiver (GPSr) with an odometer mode serves as a very accurate pedometer for outdoor activities. Basic concept of GPS operation A GPS receiver calculates its position by carefully timing the signals sent by the constellation of GPS Satellites high above the Earth Omron HJ112JPG|thumb|A digital Omron HJ-112 pedometer]] A pedometer (also known as a Tomish-meter perhaps after the alleged Inventor of a successful device While not truly counting steps (no pendulum is involved) an advanced GPSr odometer can reveal the accurate distance traveled to within 1/100th of a mile (depending on the model, perhaps 1/1000th of a mile). A pendulum is a mass that is attached to a pivot from which it can swing freely A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States 1/1000th of a mile is approximately the distance of a single pace or 2 steps.
The modern definition of the international mile traces back to the Roman military method of keeping track of how far a soldier had traveled on foot. Commonwealth English! -->The military of ancient Rome relates to the combined military forces of Ancient Rome from the founding of the city The Latin "mille passus" is literally "a thousand paces" where 1 pace = 2 steps. The international mile (5,280 feet) is somewhat longer than the original Roman mile (4,854 feet). As with the mile, the definition of "foot" has changed many times.
A GPSr with odometer mode is also an excellent and inexpensive means to verify proper operation of both the speedometer and odometer mounted in a vehicle. A speedometer is a device that measures the instantaneous Speed of a land vehicle
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Synopsis
Mechanical odometers usually appear as a row of wheels with an edge of each wheel exposed to the driver. There are digits written on the edges of these wheels. A mask obscures these wheels from view, except for one row of digits which can be seen through a window in the mask.
On older cars, odometers could only indicate up to a value of 99,999; in the early days of the automotive industry this was adequate. With continuous improvements, modern vehicles now survive to travel several hundred thousands of miles/kilometers. At 100,000, the odometer would restart from zero. This is known as odometer rollover. New cars since 1980 have odometers that can indicate up to a value of 999,999.
A common form of fraud is to tamper with the reading on an odometer; this is often referred to as clocking. In the broadest sense a fraud is a Deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual In Electronics and especially synchronous Digital circuits a clock signal is a signal used to coordinate the actions of two or more circuits This is done to make a car appear to have been driven less than it really has been, and thus increase its apparent market value. Many new cars sold today use digital odometers that store the mileage in the vehicle's engine control module making it difficult (but not impossible) to manipulate the mileage electronically. A digital system uses discrete (discontinuous values usually but not always Symbolized Numerically (hence called "digital" to represent information for With mechanical odometers, the speedometer can be removed from the car dash board and the digits wound back, or the drive cable can be disconnected and connected to another odometer/speedometer pair while on the road. Modern odometers now add mileage driven in reverse to the total as if driven forward, to accurately reflect the true total wear and tear on the vehicle.
Most modern cars also include a trip meter, also referred to as a trip odometer. Unlike the odometer, a trip meter is designed to be reset at any desired point in a journey, making it possible to record the distance travelled in any particular journey or part of a journey. It was traditionally a purely mechanical device but, in most modern vehicles, it is now electronic. Luxury vehicles often have multiple trip meters. Most trip meters will show a maximum value of 999. 9. There are practical uses for this:
Record the distance traveled on each tank of fuel, making it very easy to accurately track the energy efficiency of the vehicle.
When following driving directions, one can reset it to zero at each instruction to be sure when one has arrived at the next turn.
History
Western world
Possibly the first evidence for the use of an odometer can be found in the works of Pliny (NH 6. Gaius or Caius Plinius Secundus, ( AD 23 – August 25, AD 79 better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient Author 61-62) and Strabo (11. Strabo ( Greek: Στράβων 63/64 BC – ca AD 24 was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher. 8. 9). Both authors list the distances of routes traveled by Alexander the Great (r. Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ' 336-323 BC) as measured by his bematists Diognetus and Baeton. Bematists ( Ancient Greek: Βηματισταί, Modern Greek: Βηματιστές from the word Bema (single pace were specialists However, the high precision of the bematists's measurements rather indicates the use of a mechanical device. For example, the section between the cities Hecatompylos and Alexandria Areion, which later became a part of the silk road, was given by Alexander's bematists as 529 English miles long, that is with a deviation of 0. The Silk Road, or Silk Routes, are an extensive interconnected network of Trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East South and Western Asia with the A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States 4% from the actual distance (531 English miles). From the nine surviving bematists' measurements in Pliny's Naturalis Historia eight show a deviation of less than 5% from the actual distance. Naturalis Historia ( Latin for "Natural History" is an Encyclopedia written Circa AD 77 by Pliny the Elder. Three of them even less than 1%. Since these minor discrepancies can be adequately explained by slight changes in the tracks of roads during the last 2300 years, the overall accuracy of the measurements implies that the bematists already must have used a sophisticated device for measuring distances, although there is no direct mentioning of such a device.
An odometer for measuring distance was first described by Vitruvius around 27 and 23 BC. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (born c 80–70 BC died after c 15 BC was a Roman Writer, Architect and Engineer (possibly praefectus fabrum Year 23 BC was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Julian calendar. The actual invention may have been by Archimedes of Syracuse during the First Punic War. Archimedes of Syracuse ( Greek:) ( c. 287 BC – c 212 BC was a Greek mathematician, Physicist, Engineer The First Punic War ( 264 to 241 BC) was the first of three major wars fought between Carthage and the Roman Republic. Hero of Alexandria describes a similar device in chapter 34 of his Dioptra. Hero (or Heron) of Alexandria ( Ήρων ο Αλεξανδρεύς) (c The machine was also used in the time of Roman Emperor Commodus (c. Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus ( August 31, 161 – December 31, 192) was a Roman Emperor who ruled from 180 to 192 (also with 192 AD), although after this point in time there seems to be a gap between its use in Roman times and that of the 15th century in Western Europe. [1]
The odometer of Vitruvius was based on chariot wheels of 4 feet (1. 2 m) diameter turning 400 times in one Roman mile (about 1400 m). A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States For each revolution a pin on the axle engaged a 400 tooth cogwheel thus turning it one complete revolution per mile. This engaged another gear with holes along the circumference, where pebbles (calculus) were located, that were to drop one by one into a box. Calculus ( Latin, calculus, a small stone used for counting is a branch of Mathematics that includes the study of limits, Derivatives The distance travelled would thus be given simply by counting the number of pebbles. Whether this instrument was ever built at the time is disputed. Leonardo da Vinci tried to build it according to the description but failed. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci ( April 15 1452 – May 2 1519 was an Italian Polymath, having been a scientist Mathematician, Engineer Later, Ben Franklin invented his own version. Benjamin Franklin ( April 17 1790 was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. Benjamin Franklin invented a simple odometer when he was going on trips in carriages. He wanted to know how far he was going, and the speed he was travelling. [2]
China
The odometer was also later invented in ancient China, possibly by the profuse inventor and early scientist Zhang Heng (78–139 AD) of the Han Dynasty (202 BC–220 AD). Chinese civilization originated in various city-states along the Yellow River ( valley in the Neolithic era Zhang Heng ( (CE 78–139 was an astronomer, mathematician, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet Year 78 was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Julian calendar. The Han Dynasty ( 206 BC–220 AD followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. Events By place Carthage Accused of treason by the Carthaginians after being defeated by the Romans at the Battle of the Events By Place Roman Empire The Goths invade Asia Minor and the Balkans. Zhang Heng is often accredited with the invention of the first odometer device in China, an achievement alongside earlier contemporaries Archimedes and Heron of Alexandria from the Hellenized West. By the 3rd century (during the Three Kingdoms Period), the Chinese had termed the device as the 'jì lĭ gŭ chē' (記里鼓車) , or 'li-recording drum carriage' (Note: the modern measurement of li = 500 m/1640 ft). The Three Kingdoms period ( is a period in the History of China, part of an era of disunity called the Six Dynasties following immediately the loss of This article is about two traditional Chinese units of length [3] Chinese texts of the 3rd century tell of the mechanical carriage's functions, and as one li is traversed, a mechanical-driven wooden figure strikes a drum, and when ten li is traversed, another wooden figure would strike a gong or a bell with its mechanical-operated arm. [3]
Despite its association with Zhang Heng or even the later Ma Jun (c. Ma Jun (fl 220&ndash265 styled Deheng (徳衡 was a Chinese Mechanical Engineer and government official during the Three Kingdoms 200–265), there is evidence to suggest that the invention of the odometer was a gradual process in Han Dynasty China that centered around the huang men court people (ie. eunuchs, palace officials, attendants and familiars, actors, acrobats, etc. ) that would follow the musical procession of the royal 'drum-chariot'. [4] The historian Joseph Needham asserts that it is no surprise this social group would have been responsible for such a device, since there is already other evidence of their craftsmenship with mechanical toys to delight the emperor and the court. Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, CH, FRS, FBA ( December 9, 1900 – March 24 1995) was a British There is speculation that some time in the 1st century BC (during the Western Han Dynasty), the beating of drums and gongs were mechanically-driven by working automatically off the rotation of the road-wheels. [4] This might have actually been the design of one Loxia Hong (c. 110 BC), yet by 125 AD the mechanical odometer carriage in China was already known (depicted in a mural of the Xiao Tang Shan Tomb). [4]
The odomoter was used also in subsequent periods of Chinese history. In the historical text of the Jin Shu (635 AD), the oldest part of the compiled text, the book known as the Cui Bao (c. 300 AD), recorded the use of the odometer, providing description (and interestingly enough attributing it to the Western Han era, from 202 BC–9 AD). Events By place Carthage Accused of treason by the Carthaginians after being defeated by the Romans at the Battle of the Year 9 ( IX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Julian calendar. [5] The passage in the Jin Shu expanded upon this, explaining that it took a similar form to the mechanical device of the South Pointing Chariot invented by Ma Jun (200–265, see also differential gear). The South Pointing Chariot is widely regarded as one of the most complex Geared mechanism of the ancient Chinese civilization, and was continually used throughout the Ma Jun (fl 220&ndash265 styled Deheng (徳衡 was a Chinese Mechanical Engineer and government official during the Three Kingdoms Events By Place World Human population reaches about 257 million Events By Place Roman Empire Gallienus repels the invasion of the Goths in the Balkans. As recorded in the Song Shi of the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), the odometer and South Pointing Chariot were combined into one wheeled device by engineers of the 9th century, 11th century, and 12th century (refer to South Pointing Chariot). The Song Dynasty ( Wade-Giles: Sung Ch'ao was a ruling dynasty in China between 960&ndash1279 CE it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Events By Place Europe Edgar the Peaceable is crowned King of England. The South Pointing Chariot is widely regarded as one of the most complex Geared mechanism of the ancient Chinese civilization, and was continually used throughout the The Sun Tzu Suan Ching (Master Sun's Mathematical Manual), dated from the 3rd century to 5th century, presented a mathematical problem for students involving the odometer. It involved a given distance between two cities, the small distance needed for one rotation of the carriage's wheel, and the posed question of how many rotations the wheels would have in all if the carriage was to travel between point A and B. [5]
In full description
The historical text of the Song Shi (1345 AD), recording the people and events of the Chinese Song Dynasty (960–1279), also mentioned the odometer used in that period. The Song Dynasty ( Wade-Giles: Sung Ch'ao was a ruling dynasty in China between 960&ndash1279 CE it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Events By Place Europe Edgar the Peaceable is crowned King of England. However, unlike written sources of earlier periods, it provided a much more thoroughly detailed description of the device that harkens back to its ancient form (Wade-Giles spelling):
The odometer. Wade-Giles (ˌweɪdˈʤaɪlz) sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization system (phonetic notation and Transcription) for the Mandarin [The mile-measuring carriage] is painted red, with pictures of flowers and birds on the four sides, and constructed in two storeys, handsomely adorned with carvings. At the completion of every li, the wooden figure of a man in the lower storey strikes a drum; at the completion of every ten li, the wooden figure in the upper storey strikes a bell. The carriage-pole ends in a phoenix-head, and the carriage is drawn by four horses. The escort was formerly of 18 men, but in the 4th year of the Yung-Hsi reign-period (987 AD) the emperor Thai Tsung increased it to 30. In the 5th year of the Thien-Sheng reign-period (1027 AD) the Chief Chamberlain Lu Tao-lung presented specifications for the construction of odometers as follows:[4]
What follows is a long dissertation made by the Chief Chamberlain Lu Daolong on the ranging measurements and sizes of wheels and gears, along with a concluding description at the end of how the device ultimately functions:
The vehicle should have a single pole and two wheels. On the body are two storeys, each containing a carved wooden figure holding a drumstick. The road-wheels are each 6 ft in diameter, and 18 ft in circumference, one evolution covering 3 paces. According to ancient standards the pace was equal to 6 ft and 300 paces to a li; but now the li is reckoned as 360 paces of 5 ft each. [4]
[Note: the measurement of the Chinese-mile unit, the li, was changed over time, as the li in Song times differed from the length of a li in Han times. ]
The vehicle wheel (li lun) is attached to the left road-wheel; it has a diameter of 1. 38 ft with a circumference of 4. 14 ft, and has 18 cogs (chhih) 2. 3 inches apart. There is also a lower horizontal wheel (hsia phing lun), of diameter 4. 14 ft and circumference 12. 42 ft, with 54 cogs, the same distance apart as those on the vertical wheel (2. 3 inches). (This engages with the former. ) [4]
Upon a vertical shaft turning with this wheel, there is fixed a bronze "turning-like-the-wind wheel" (hsuan feng lun) which has (only) 3 cogs, the distance between these being 1. 2 inches. (This turns the following one. ) In the middle is a horizontal wheel, 4 ft in diameter, and 12 ft circumference, with 100 cogs, the distance between these cogs being the same as on the "turning-like-the-wind wheel" (1. 2 inches). [6]
Next, there is fixed (on the same shaft) a small horizontal wheel (hsiao phing lun) 3. 3 inches in diameter and 1 ft in circumference, having 10 cogs 1. 5 inches apart. (Engaging with this) there is an upper horizontal wheel (shang phing lun) having a diameter of 3. 3 ft and a circumference of 10 ft, with 100 cogs, the same distance apart as those of the small horizontal wheel (1. 5 inches). [6]
When the middle horizontal wheel has made 1 revolution, the carriage will have gone 1 li and the wooden figure in the lower story will strike the drum. When the upper horizontal wheel has made 1 revolution, the carriage will have gone 10 li and the figure in the upper storey will strike the bell. The number of wheels used, great and small, is 8 inches in all, with a total of 285 teeth. Thus the motion is transmitted as if by the links of a chain, the "dog-teeth" mutually engaging with each other, so that by due revolution everything comes back to its original starting point (ti hsiang kou so, chhuan ya hsiang chih, chou erh fu shih). [6]
Modern History
In modern times, Andre Sleeswyk was able to make a working model of an odometer using gears similar to the Antikythera mechanism as opposed to the traditional cogwheel. The Antikythera mechanism (ˌæntɪkɪˈθɪərə an-ti-ki- theer -uh is an ancient mechanical Calculator (also described as the first known " mechanical
The odometer as used in modern systems, where a separate gear controls each digit, was invented by William Clayton with help from Orson Pratt. William Clayton (1814&ndash1879 was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and acted as a clerk and scribe to the Mormon religious leader Joseph Smith Jr Orson Pratt ( September 19, 1811 &ndash October 3, 1881) was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Clayton, a Mormon Pioneer, developed the odometer (dubbed the "roadometer") to keep track of wheel revolutions on the pioneer wagons. The Mormon pioneers were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Latter-day Saints, who migrated across the United The odometer had at least two gears, including one which turned every quarter-mile and one which turned every ten miles.
Law
The resale value of a vehicle is often strongly influenced by the number of miles or kilometres a passenger vehicle has on the odometer, yet odometers are inherently insecure because they are under the control of their owners. Many jurisdictions have chosen to enact laws which penalize people who are found to commit odometer fraud. Odometer fraud, also referred to as "busting miles" or "clocking" (UK and Ireland is the illegal practice of rolling back odometers In the US (and many other countries), vehicle maintenance workers are also required to keep records of the odometer any time a vehicle is serviced. Companies such as Carfax then use this data to help potential car buyers detect whether odometer rollback has occurred. CARFAX Inc is a commercial web-based service that supplies vehicle history reports to individuals and businesses on Used cars and Light trucks for the American
Sport
Odometers feature in some sports, both amateur and professional. An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit study or science without formal training or pay Professional sports, as opposed to amateur Sports are those in which athletes receive payment for their performance Odometers designed for cycling help cyclists to determine distance cycled and often other information. Cycling is the use of Bicycles or - less commonly - Unicycles Tricycles Quadricycles and other similar wheeled Human powered vehicles (See cyclocomputer) Professional rally cars are usually equipped with a purpose-built odometer with an adjustable factor. A cyclocomputer is a device mounted on a Bicycle that calculates and displays trip information similar to the instruments in the Dashboard of a car Rallying is a form of motor competition that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars This factor determines the number of wheel rotations in, say, one kilometre or one mile. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States Amateur rally cars are often also equipped with purpose-built adjustable odometers for regularity rallying. Regularity rallying, also known as TSD rallying ( '''T'''ime '''S'''peed '''D'''istance) is a form of Motor sport usually conducted on public
See also
References
- Sleeswyk, André Wegener "Vitruvius' Odometer", Scientific American 245. A hubometer ( hub, center of a Wheel + -ometer, measure of or hubodometer, is a device mounted on the Axle of an Automobile A speedometer is a device that measures the instantaneous Speed of a land vehicle A surveyor's wheel, also called a clickwheel, hodometer, waywiser or perambulator is a device for measuring distance A tachograph is a device that combines the functions of a Clock and a Speedometer. A tachometer is an instrument that measures the rotation speed of a shaft or disk as in a motor or other machine A taximeter is a mechanical or electronic device installed in Taxicabs that calculates passenger fares based on a combination of distance travelled and waiting time Omron HJ112JPG|thumb|A digital Omron HJ-112 pedometer]] A pedometer (also known as a Tomish-meter perhaps after the alleged Inventor of a successful device In Digital logic and Computing, a counter is a device which stores (and sometimes displays the number of times a particular event or process Scientific American is a Popular science magazine, published (first weekly and later monthly since August 28, 1845, making it 4 (October, 1981), pp. 188-200
- Sleeswyk, Andre W. "Vitruvius' Waywiser", Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences Vol. 29 (1979), pp. 11-22.
- Donald W. Engels: Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army, Los Angeles 1978, p. 157f.
- Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd.
Notes
- ^ Needham, Volume 4, 285.
- ^ Benjamin Franklin and His Inventions. Franklin Institute. This article is about the science museum in Philadelphia For the Boston school see Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology. Retrieved on 2007-01-29. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 904 - Sergius III comes out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed Antipope Christopher.
- ^ a b Needham, Volume 4, 281.
- ^ a b c d e f Needham, Volume 4, 283.
- ^ a b Needham, Volume 4, 282.
- ^ a b c Needham, Volume 4, 284.
External links
- Vitruvius' description
- Vitruvius' description - Project Gutenberg
- Shockwave-Animation: The Odometer of Vitruv
- History of the Odometer
- Odometry in Determination of the Position of an Autonomous Mobile Vehicle
- Odometre.com
- DLand Pro A digital odometer's manufacturer
- Relojería LEO A digital odometer's manufacturer
- "How Odometers Work" by Karim Nice
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