US3805270A

US3805270A - Vehicle data recording device

Info

Publication number: US3805270A
Application number: US00246928A
Authority: US
Inventors: P Grant; A Jebb
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-04-24
Filing date: 1972-04-24
Publication date: 1974-04-16
Anticipated expiration: 1991-04-16
Also published as: CH544353A; TR17156A; GB1385904A; AT345114B; AU475291B2; ZA722751B; ATA359072A; BE782518A; DE2219814A1; IT954466B; JPS5528324B1; LU65211A1; SE377381B; CA972335A; ES402043A1; FR2136644A5; NL7205537A; AU4132972A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device for recording data relating to a motor vehicle comprising means for recording data relating to the vehicle at a first location on the vehicle and means for recording data relating to the vehicle at a second location on the vehicle, the recorded data at said first location being accessible to a first class of persons and the recorded data at said second location being accessible only to a second class of persons.

Description

United States Patent [191 Grant et a1.

[ VEHICLE DATA' RECORDING DEVICE 21 App]. No.: 246,928

7 [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 24, 1971 Great Britain 11232/71 [52] US. Cl. 346/44, 346/74 M, 346/145 [51] Int, Cl G07c 5/08 [58] Field of Search 346/44, 66, 67, 22, 145, 346/114,116,117,136, 74 M [56] References Cited UNITED STATES'PATENTS 523,446 7/1894 Sergeant et a1. 346/67 X 1,256,586 2/1918 Murray et a1. 346/67 X 1,880,008 9/1932 Angus 346/44 X 2,928,707 3/1960 Grimm 346/66 X [451 Apr. 16, 1974 2,743,987 5/.1956 Meer 346/64 2,903,323 9/1959 Riester et al;.. 346/136 3,013,854 12/1961 Vogtlin 346/44 X 3,188,647 6/1965 Davis 346/60 3,388,404 6/1968 Bush 346/66 X 3,394,381 7/1968 Foster 1 346/7 3,501,768 3/1970 Vogtlin 346/45 3,550,151 12/1970 Fuller 346/74 Primary Examiner-Joseph W. Hartary Attorney, Agent, or FirmScrivener Parker Scrivener & Clarke ABSTRACT 9 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures VEHICLE DATA RECORDING DEVICE This invention relates to a device for recording data relating to a vehicle and has particular application to a device which can be fitted to a motor vehicle for recording data relating to the vehicle.

It is well known to measure speed, distance, oil pressure, fuel content water temperature and other such data relating to a vehicle performance and to visually display the measured data at the vehicle dash board. As most of these parameters are related to the vehicle performance at the time the measured data is viewed only the milometer gives an permanent indication of the vehicle history. I

It is also well known to measure and record two parameters, such as speed related to time, by displacing a paper tape at uniform linear speed and allowing a pen in contact'with the paper tape to be displaced from a zero position transversely across the tape at a rate directly related to the speed of the vehicle thus to form a permanent record of the vehicle speed history.

The object of the present invention is to provide a device for measuring and recording data relating to a vehicle.

According to the present invention a device for recording data relating to a motor vehicle comprises means for recording data relating to the vehicle at a first location and means for recording data relating to the vehicle at a second location, the recorded data at said first location being accessible to a first class of persons and the recorded data at said second location being accessible only to a second class of persons.

Preferably the first and second locations are within a common casing and separated by internal wall means of the casing.

The data available at the first location is preferably data relating to the vehicle history but arranged to be separable to constitute a record of each individual drivers history with the vehicle. Conveniently the recorded data at said second location constitutes a permanent record of the vehicle history in a form which can be readily processed by management.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention a device for recording data relating to a vehicle comprises a casing including first and second chambers, the first chamber including at least one permanent record medium and at least three recording means associated with each record medium.

The record medium comprises a paper tape displaced at uniform linear speed and the recording means each include a pen contacting the paper tape. Thus, one pen will trace a speed history of the vehicle in the paper tape, one pen will trace a distance record on the tape, and the third pen will trace the drivers duty periods on the tape.

The or each record medium in the first chamber is accessible to a first class of persons including the vehicle driver, authorised traffic inspectors, and police and thus the recorded data in said first chamber constitutes a visual display of the. vehicle history which can be easily read and understood without further mechanical or electrical aids.

The second chamber separated from the first chamber by a wall within the casing, is closed by a lock which can be opened only by a second class of persons comprising personnel authorised by management. The data record in the second chamber comprises at least the vehicle speed and distance travelled plotted against time and the or each record medium comprises a magnetic tape and the recording means comprises a magnetic writing head.

The means for recording data in the second chamber can include both means for making a permanent visual record of data and means for making a permanent electrical record of the same or different data relevant to the vehicle history.

When the device is to make identical records of selected parameters i.e. speed/time, in both chambers common mechanisms can'be provided for displacing the recording means in both the first and second chambers.

of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a front view-of a device in' accordance with the invention with the front wall removed;

FIG. 2 shows a section through the device on the line lI-II. of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows diagrammatically an alternative arrangement for handling the record medium;

FIG. 4 shows diagrammatically a further alternative arrangement for handling the record medium;

FIG. 5 shows a mechanism for maintaining the device clockwork spring fully wound;

FIG. 6 shows a mechanism for applying magnetic sig nals to a tape;

FIG. 7 shows an arrangement for applying a write signal to a magnetic head within the device;

FIG. 8 shows an alternative arrangement for applying a write signal to a magnetic head within the device, and

FIG. 9 shows a perspective view of a keyboard and writing arrangement for applying coded information onto a magnetic tape.

In the device illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 a housing for the device comprises a casing 11 formed by side walls 12, 13 a rear wall 14, front wall 15, and a transverse wall l6 which divides the interior of the casing 1 l to define upper and

lower chambers

17 and 18 respectively. The upper chamber 17 is closed by a hinged lid 19 and the lower chamber 18 is closed by a hinged base 20 which may be secured by a lock 21 to prevent unauthorized access to the lower chamber 18.

The transverse wall 16 provides a rigid support for a spindle 22, bearings for rotatably supporting a driven shaft 23, a driving shaft 24, and a sliding bearing 25 for a rack 26. Spindle 22, driven shaft 23, and driving shaft 24, all extend upwardly into chamber 17 and downwardly into chamber 18 and

shafts

23 and 24 are axially supported by

flanges

23a and 24a respectively resting on the transverse wall 16.

The rack 26 is slidably disposed for vertical displacement in bearing 25 and in a bearing 27 attached to rear wall 14, and the rack 26 has a flexible arm 28 attached to its upper end which carries two

pens

29 and 30. The rack 26 is vertically located by a gear wheel 31, mounted on a spindle 32 rotatably supported in rear wall 14 and geared to a speed sensitive device (not shown) on the vehicle, engaged with the teeth of rack 26, so that the vertical displacement of rack 26 from a zero position is directly related to the speed of the vehicle.

The driving shaft 24 is rotated at constant speed by a clockwork mechanism 33 and mechanism 33 also ex- The invention will now be described further by way by mechanism 33.

The upper chamber 17 contains two identical cassettes 35, each of which comprises a casing 36 of clear plastics material supporting, a rotatable unwind spool 37, a rotatable wind spool 38, and a roller 39, in the windspool side of the cassette 35. Roller 39 is rotatably supported in the cassette 35 and has two spaced peripheral regions provided with teeth 39a engaged in perforated edge regions 40a of a paper tape 40 which constitutes the record medium and is unwound from spool 37 onto spool 38 when roller 39 is rotated.

The first cassette 35 is positioned in chamber 17 so that spindle 22 enters the bore of unwind spool 37 driven shaft 23 enters into the bore of wind spool 38 and the driving shaft 24 enters into the bore of roller 39 when an internal key 39b of roller 39 engages in a longitudinal keyway 24b in shaft 24 (see FIG. 2). When the first cassette 35 is fully inserted into chamber 17 a fixed boss 22a on spindle 22 and the flange 23a on shaft 23, enter through the base of the cassette 35 to frictionally engage respectively platform 37a and platform 38a of

spools

37 and 38 respectively.

The second cassette 35 is positioned in chamber 17, above the first cassette and in like manner to the first cassette 35 spindle 22 is entered into the bore of unwind spool 37, shaft 23 is entered into the bore of wind spool 38 and shaft 24 enters into the bore of roller 39 with the internal key 39b of roller 39 engaged in the longitudinal keyway 24b in shaft 24. The

cores

37b and 38b of

spools

37 and 38 project upwardly through the upper face of the cassette 35 so that the

cores

37b and 38b of the first cassette 35 enter through the lower wall of the second cassette 35 into frictional engagement with the

platforms

37a and 38a respectively of the second cassette 35. With this arrangement the

platforms

37a and 38a are spaced apart by the height of the

cores

37b and 38b of the first cassette 35, thus accurately spacing the paper tapes 40 of the two cassettes 35.

Each paper tape 40 has spaced longitudinal lines printed thereon to define three different recording facilities on the tape 40. Thus, the lower lines 40b, equally spaced apart by an amount related to the rate of displacement of rack 26 to the vehicle speed, constitutes a speed scale for the vehicle, line 400 constitutes a distance scale for the vehicle and lines 40d constitute a scale for recording the drivers duty periods. As the paper tapes 40 always lie a fixed distance apart the speed, displacement, and driver duties scales of the two cassettes 35 are always the same distance apart.

The lowest line 40b of the lower tape 40 coincide with the zero position of pen 29 and thereby constituting a zero line on the lower tape 40 indicative of a stationary condition of the vehicle. The pen 30 is spaced from pen 29 by the same distance as the spacing of the bottom line 40b of the upper tape 40 from the bottom line 40b of the lower tape 40 so that the bottom line 40b of the upper tape is engaged by pen 30 in a stationary condition of the vehicle. The lines 40b of both tapes 40 are spaced in relationship to the vehicle speed/rack displacement relationship so that said lines 40b define a speed graph for the vehicle.

The lines 400 of the upperand lower tapes 40 are engaged respectively by

pens

41 and 42 which

pens

41 and 42 are mounted on

flexible arms

43 and 44 respectively and

arms

43 and 44 are secured to a slidable member 45 actuated by a solenoid arrangement 46. In an inoperative condition of solenoid arrangement 46

pens

41 and 42 rest on their respective lines 400 and when solenoid arrangement 46 is energized and then released by a signal from a distance measuring device (not shown) for the

vehicle pens

41 and 42 are deflected downwardly when arrangement 46 is activated and return upwardly to lines 400 when arrangement 46 is released, to record actuation of solenoid arrangement 46:

A pen 47 is mounted on an arm 48 attached to a spindle 49 which is rotatable in the front wall 15 and the spindle 49 has a manually operable switch 50 on its external end. Thus, by manual operation of the switch 50 the pen 47 can-be selectively placed on the first, second, or third, line 40d of the upper tape 40. A pen 51 mounted on an arm 52 secured on a spindle 53 which is rotatable in the front wall 15. A manually operable switch 54 is mounted on the external end of spindle 53 so that, by manual operation of the switch 54 the'pen 51 can be selectively placed on the first, second or third lines 40d of the lower tape 40.

The tapes 40 also have vertical lines at equally spaced intervals thereon indicating time periods, when related to the output speed of the clockwork drive through roller 38.

The apparatus described thus far operate as follows.

When a single driver first takes possession of a vehicle he inserts his personal cassette 35 into the upper chamber 17 in the manner described above, the cassette 35 will be in the lowest position, and, at this point,

pen 29 will scribe a line from the edge of tape 40 to the zero line 40b on the tape 40. The clockwork mechanism acts through shaft 24 and flange 24a .frictionally engaging platform 38a, to provide a force tending to unwind tape 40 but tape 40 is displaced at uniform linear speed through the positive engagement of roller 39 with the tape 40 and thus whilst the vehicle is stationary pen 29 draws a line along the zero line 40b of the speed graph.

During all movement of the vehicle rack 26 is vertically displaced commensurate with the vehicle speed so that pen 29 draws an accurate speed curve on the time displaced tape 39 for all movement of the vehicle. The pen 42 rests on a displacement line 40c on tape 40 and the solenoid arrangement 46 is operated and released at fixed displacements of the vehicle so that pen 42 is depressed and returned to draw a substantially vertical line each time the vehicle travels a fixed distance and pen 42 thus draws a permanent record of vehicle displacement on tape 40.

Throughout the period that the drivers cassette 35 is within casing 11 the driver will manually manipulate the switch 54 to displace pen 51 and thus record his periods of duty on lines 40d of tape 40. Thus the upper line 40d is designated DRIVER and the driver will adjust the pen 51 onto this line when he is actually driving the vehicle. The driver will adjust the pen 51 onto the lowest line 40d when he is taking rest breaks, and the pen 51 will be adjusted onto the centre line 40d when the driver is engaged in duties other than actually driving or taking a rest period.

speed graphand the lines 40d areomitted. The speed record is marked onthe tape of cassette 55 by a pen 62 ber 17 and, as shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings, a speed graph and a displacement graph will be drawn on the tapes 40 of both cassettes 35, and each driver will manipulate the

switch

50 or 54 associated with the drivers personal cassette so that a record of the activities or periods of the duty of each driver is recorded on the drivers personal cassette.

The casing 11 has a window W in the front wall 15 of the casing ll so that the section of tape 40 between wind and unwind

spools

37 and 38 of both cassettes 35 in chamber 17 can be viewed without opening the chamber 17. The

pens

29, 30, 41, 42, 41 and 51 operates through a vertically open section in the front of the cassette casing near the unwind spool 37 so as to expose the maximum amount of marked tape 40 before rewind.

To effect a closer, or more extensive, examination of a drivers tape 40 the cassette 35 is readily removed from the chamber 17 and the tape 40 can be rewound by hand as required. In removing the tape 40 from the device the cassette 35 must be lifted vertically and

pen

29 or 30 will draw a vertical line between the zero line 400 and the lower edge of the tape 40 to indicate that the cassette 35 has been removed.

With the above arrangement a permanent record, easily examined, of a driver or each drivers performance is obtained and each driver can take his personall cassette 35 from vehicle to vehicle to provide a record of the drivers performance rather than a specific vehicle performance.

The lower chamber 18 contains three cassettes, 55, 56 and 57 all of which have their unwind spools mounted on spindle 22, their rewind spools mounted on shaft 23 and'drive rollers, identical with roller 39, mounted on drive shaft 23. The

cassettes

55, 56 and 57 are spaced apart by discs 58 on spindle 22 and discs 59 on shaft 23, each disc 58 has an internal key (not shown) engaged in a longitudinal groove 220 of spindle 22 and each disc 59 also has an internal key engaged in a longitudinal groove 230 in shaft 23 so that

discs

58 and 59 are fixed for rotation'with their respective shaft.

Discs

58 and 59 are also provided beneath the lowest cassette 57 and the spindle 22 has a screwcut lower end upon which a nut 60 is secured and the lower regions of shaft 23 are also screwcut and have a nut 61 thereon for vertically retaining the

cassettes

55, 56 and 57. The spindle 22 has a flange 22d and shaft 23 has a flange 23d which flanges 22d and 23d in combination with nuts 60 and 61 establish the vertical location of

cassettes

55, 56 and 57. The discs 58 enter through the lower parts of the

cassettes

55, 56 and 57 to engage the unwind spools of the cassettes, the discs 59 enter through the lower regions of the cassettes to engage the rewind spools of the cassettes and thus discs 58 exert a friction damping on the unwinding of the unwind spools, discs 59 exert a friction drive on the wind spools and rollers, in identical manner to roller 39, engages perforated edges of the tape of each

cassette

55, 56 and 57 so that all the tapes of

cassettes

55, 56 and 57 are advanced at uniform speed in unison with tape 40.

The tape of the upper cassette 55 constitutes a speed and displacement record and thus cassette 55 is identical with cassette 34 and has a printed paper tape thereon identical with the tape 40 except that the displacement line 400 is below the zero line 40b of the mounted on a flexible arm 63 secured to the lower end of rack 26 so that pen 62 follows an identical path as pens 29 and 30 and the displacement record line 40c of the tape in cassette 55 is marked by a pen 64, mounted on an extension arm 65 of arm 45, so that pen 64 makes impulse lines identical with

pens

42 and 41.

As the chamber 18 is locked against unauthorized entry the record contained by cassette 55 constitutes a record of the performance of the vehicle, each time cassette 55 is operating in unison with a drivers cassette 35 the cassette 55 contains an identical record to that made on the tape of cassette 35 and cassette 55 will thus contain a record of the vehicle performance built up of the record as well as the periods between drivers of all the drivers utilizing the vehicle. Whilst cassette 55 lasts it will thus record the vehicle history and'thus affords management a complete and accurate picture of the vehicle history in respect of speed and displacement which cannot be tampered with by the driver or any other unauthorized person. i

The cassette 56 contains a tape intended to constitute a record of the vehicle load. A pen 66, mounted on a flexible arm 67 attached to a rack 68, contacts the tape of the cassette 56 to scribe thereon a continuous line-Rack 68 is slidably supported in

bearings

69 and 70 attached to the side wall 12 and a gear wheel 71 attached to a load sensitive device (not shown) of the vehicle, engages the teeth of rack 70.

The vertical position of rack 70 above a zero position for said rack 70 is directly related to the loading of the vehicle as detected by the load sensitive device and pen 66, recording over a printed scale on the tape of cassette 56, thus makes a permanent record of the vehicle loading relative to time and directly associatable with the vehicle speed/time and displacement/time entered on cassette 55. I

The cassette 57 contains a tape intended to constitute a record of the fuel consumption of the vehicle. A pen 72, is mountd on a flexible arm 73, secured to a rack 74 which is slidably supported in

bearings

75 and 76 attached to side wall 12 and the rack 74 is displaced by a gear wheel 77 mounted on a fuel measuring device (not shown) of the vehicle. The position of rack 74 above a zero position is directly proportional to the amount of fuel detected by the measuring device and pen 72 thereby draws on a printed scale on the tape of cassette 57 a continuous record of the fuel content of the vehicle related to time.

It will be appreciated that more than three cassettes can be provided in the chamber 18 and each cassette provided with means for recording some characteristic of the vehicle and thus a record of braking efficiency, oil consumption and other such data can be recorded.

As the cassettes in chamber 18 are secured against unauthorized access they constitute a tamper proof means for recording vehicle performance and history far more accurate than log sheets and other recording means which rely on completion by drivers, and at the same time the driver, or any authorized inspector, can inspect an individual drivers performance record on the personal cassette 35 without requiring access to chamber 18.

The clockwise mechanism 33 also drives the fingers of a clock (not shown) displayed at the front of the device.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 3 is one arrangement for assisting the clockwork mechanism to displace the tapes and in this arrangement a further shaft 78 rotatably supported by wall 16, carries a roller 79, aligned with each tape and having peripheral teeth 79a engageable with the perforated edges of the tapes. A coil spring 80 having its inner end secured to shaft 78 is adapted to be wound to urge rotation of shaft 78 so that the actual driving force urging displacement of the tapes is provided by spring 80 and the clock mechanism 33 serves to control the time keeping of the instrument.

The arrangement of FIG. 3 also illustrates a different arrangement for the record medium. In this arrangement the tape 40 is drawn off a reel at constant linear speed by the roller 79 under the control of the clockwork mechanism 33 acting through roller 39 and the marked tape is directed out of the chamber 81 including the working medium. Thus in one example when the axis of the reel is horizontal, the worked tape 40 can fall by gravity into a box 82 below the recording chamber 81. The marked drivers log tapes will be accessible to the drivers but the tapes in the locked chamber will be retained within the locked chamber.

With this arrangement no wind-up spool is necessary and the driven shaft 23 can be omitted.

FIG. 4 shows an alternative arrangement for transferring the tape from the unwind to the rewind spools.

In this arrangement a coil spring 83 has its inner end secured to shaft 23 and spring 83 has sufficient power, when fully wound, to transfer all the tape from the unwind spool 37 to the wind spool 38. Once again the tape speed is controlled by the roller 39 of the clock mechanism.

The amount of energy stored in spring 83 should be limited to little more than that required to pass the tapes from the unwind to the rewind spools thus to prevent overloading of the clock mechanism 33.

FIG. shows an arrangement for maintaining the clockwork mechanism 33 fully wound.

A cable driven by the vehicle motion i.e. a speedometer cable 84 is connected to, and drives, a shaft 85, and

shaft 85 drives a shaft 86 through

gear wheels

87 and 88. A disc 89 is attached to shaft 86 and carries a crank pin 90 which is engaged with a push rod 91 to impart reciprocating motion thereto. The motion of push rod 91 is transmitted via a spring 92 to push rod 93 connected to a lever 94 which is pivoted about a shaft 95. As lever 94 reciprocates aboutshaft 95 a pawl 96 pulses a ratchet wheel 97 which is normally constrained by a one way pawl 98. Ratchet wheel 97 is connected to the winding drum of the clock motor and thus enables the clock to be wound from the speedometer cable 84.

As the clock spring winds up, the torque required at the ratchet wheel 97 increases and thus the load on spring 92 increases until,'when the clock is nearly fully wound the spring 92 cannot transmit sufficient displacement to allow pawl 92 to engage in the next tooth. In this condition the ratchet wheel 97 oscillates but does not revolve. When the clock has used some of the energy stored in its main spring, so that the loads decrease, the system will again initiate a windup of the main spring of the clockwork mechanism 33.

In the arrangement shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and .4 the recording medium comprises a paper tape and the marking device comprises a pen. This form of recordal is convenient and advantageous for the drivers log but the management record tape may advantageously comprise magnetic tapes, the marking medium being a magnetic writing head, and the tapes can therefore be more easily processed by automatic computer means.

In the arrangement shown in FIG. 6 a gear wheel (not shown) rotated in direct relationship to the vehicle displacement, engages a gear wheel 99 rotatably supported on shaft 100 which shaft 100 is supported for rotation in bearings presented by casing 11. Shaft 100 has a disc 101 secured on one end, disc 101 has a pin 102 extending from its plane face and pin 102 is attached by a coil spring 103 to an anchor point 104 on the casing 11. The gear wheel 99 also has a pin 105 extending parallel to shaft 100 and engageable with a peg 106 extending radially from shaft 100. The shaft 100 also has a cam 107 secured thereon and engageable with a follower 108 attached by a shaft 109 to a magnetic writing head 110. Follower 108 is urged towards cam 107 by a coil spring 111.

With the above arrangement the gear wheel 99 isrotated at a speed related to the vehicle displacement and wheel 99 rotates until peg 105 engages peg 106 when further rotation of wheel 99 causes shaft 100 to be retated against the force exerted by spring 103.

This rotation of gear wheel 99 with shaft 100 and disc 10] continues until the pin 102 passes its bottom dead centre position when the energy stored in spring 103 causes shaft 100 to rotate back to its start position rapidly and in advance of gear wheel 99.

As the shaft 100 rotates rapidly under the action of spring 103 the cam 107 strikes the striker 108 to advance writing head 110 towards and into writing proximity with a tape 112 so as to write a signal on the tape. The continued rotation of shaft 100 under the action of spring 103 allows follower 108 to return under the action of spring 109.

The writing head 110 thus writes a signal on tape 112 each time shaft 100 completes a full revolution.

FIG. 7 shows an alternative arrangement for causing a'magnetic head to mark a magnetic tape 112.

A shaft 100, rotated in identical manner to shaft 100 of FIG. 6, has a disc 113 secured thereon and a magnet 114 is secured on disc 113. As shaft 100 rapidly returns to its rest position under the action of spring 103 the magnet 114 passes rapidly through the permeable core of a coil 115.

This generates a bipolar current pulse in the coil 115 which is transferred through

wires

116 and 117, resulting in a pair of closely spaced magnetic signals to the head 110. By well known means one half of the bipolar pulse can be suppressed to give a single mark on the tape 112.

FIG. 8 shows a modification for the arrangement of FIG. 7 and wherein the magnet 114 completes a magnetic circuit formed by the magnetically permeable core 1 18 through a coil 1 19 to signal a pulse to the writing head 110.

The device can also be used to store additional information pertinent to the vehicle and thus for example, delivery of goods in accordance with a predetermined unloading schedule can be recorded. FIG. 9 shows a keyboard arrangement for recording such unloading details in the security section of the device.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9 a keyboard 120 mounted on the facia of the vehicle supports an array of five on-off

switches

121, 122, 123, 124 and 125 which control magnetic writing heads 126, 127, 128, 129 and 130 respectively. A press button switch 131 mounted on the keyboard 120 constitutes a write" button which, when pressed caused each magnetic head 126 to 130 activated by its respective switch to write a signal on a tape medium 132. The tape 132 is located in the lower chamber 18 of the device and is displaced at uniform speed. A switch 133, actuated by a key, is provided for activating the keyboard to prevent unauthorized use thereof.

The keyboard may be used for applying a wide variety of information to the device but is particularly suited to the purpose described above, namely delivery of goods in accordance with a predetermined unloading schedule, consider for example a road tanker provided with a keyboard facility and a vehicle load recording arrangement.

At each-delivery location the tanker driver will deliver a quantity of liquid in accordance with a requisition order presented by a customer. The requisition order is previously coded by management, and the driver will set the

switches

121, 122, 123, 124 and/or 125 in accordance with the individual requistion note code and, by pressing the switch 133, cause the activated writing heads 126, 127, 128, 129 and/or 130 to apply the code to the tape 132. A complete record of the requisition notes honoured, the times of the deliveries and the actual volumes of liquid delivered to each location is thus permanently recorded in the device may be used.

By using on-off switchs in the keyboard a simple binary code system can be used. Alternatively the keyboard may comprise other code selection systems and instead of magnetically applying the code to the tape 132' a printing system such as solinoid activated printing devices.

It will be appreciated that the specific examples of a vehicle recording device can be modified to include both visual and electrical recordal means for the same vehicle data and many other modifications and variatons such as different tape drive means, different forms of tape, different forms of marking medium and different physical constructions will be apparent to persons skilled in the art and such modifications and variations when applied to a recordal instrument including readily accessible records and secured records must fall within the scope of this invention.

We claim:

1. A device for recording data relating to a motor vehicle comprising a casing, an internal wall section in the casing separating it into first and second chambers, means rendering said first chamber accessible to a first class of persons, means rendering said second chamber accessible only to a second class of persons, a pair of individual but identical cassetts each containing respectively first and second record mediums in said first chamber, linked marking means in said first chamber extending into the cassetts for marking on the record medium data relating to the vehicle in identical manner on both of the record mediums of the respective cassetts, at least one cassett in the second chamber, a third record medium in said last named cassett and marking means extending into said cassett for marking on the record medium therein data relating to the vehicle, a common drive shaft extending through said internal wall, a roller in each cassett in constant driving engagement with the record medium therein and in releaseable driving engagement with said common drive shaft, and driving means for rotating said drive shaft to displace the respective record mediums of all of said cassetts at a constant linear speed past the marking means.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 and wherein said linked marking means include means for applying an indication of vehicle speed, means for recording distance travelled by the vehicle and means for recording the duty periods of the vehicle personnel on both the first and second record mediums.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 and wherein the first and second record mediums each comprise a paper tape and said marking means include pens which engage with both the tapes when operable.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1 and wherein each recording medium comprises an elongate tape, each roller has two spaced peripheral regions provided with teeth which permanently engage in co-operating perforations in the edge regions of its associated tape, and wherein the tape is unwound from a spool supported within the cassette, driven by the roller past the marking means, and then rewound onto a second spool within the cassette.

5. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the marking means in said first chamber records data on said first and second record mediums in the form of a visual display, at least one additional cassett, record medium and marking means therefor in said second chamber, and roller means in said last named cassett in releaseable driving engagement with said common shaft, all of the marking means in the second chamber being constructed and arranged to record data on the respective record mediums in the second chamber in visually indecipherable coded form.

6. A device according to claim 5 and wherein at least one record medium in said second chamber comprises a tape and the marking means associated therewith comprising a writing head for applying electrical signals to the tape.

7. The device of claim 1 wherein the means for rendering the second chamber accessible to only one class persons comprises a lock.

8. The device of claim 1 including a manually settable keyboard, and means for applying to one record medium in said second chamber coded information in response to manual operation of said keyboard.

9. A device according to claim 1 wherein the record medium in at least one cassett in the second chamber is of the type capable of recording electrical signals thereon, and means for applying electrical signals on said medium representing data relating to the vehicle.