U.S. patent number 3,707,781 [Application Number 05/201,030] was granted by the patent office on 1973-01-02 for apparatus for simulating roadway driving conditions.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Bally Manufacturing Corp.. Invention is credited to Richard L. Brown.
United States Patent |
3,707,781 |
Brown |
January 2, 1973 |
APPARATUS FOR SIMULATING ROADWAY DRIVING CONDITIONS
Abstract
There is provided apparatus enabling an externally positioned
operator to peer forwardly into an upright hollow housing
containing therewithin and forwardly of a light-transmissive mirror
a simulated roadway including a plurality of miniature intra-lanes
road-vehicles arranged columnarly and seemingly traveling along
transversely distinct respective roadway lanes, a transversely
movably controllable miniature free-vehicle realistically optically
superimposed upon the simulated roadway by the intervening
light-transmissive mirror, the apparatus operator being able to
remotely control the free-vehicle's seeming transverse position and
longitudinal velocity with respect to the simulated roadway, and
automatic transverse motivation means for abruptly translating the
free-vehicle transversely with respect to the simulated roadway
when a seeming collision occurs between it and a road-vehicle.
Preferred optical characteristics for imparting realism to the
apparatus include: a hollow housing that is substantially opaque
(with the exception of the operator's viewing opening); novel
lumination and fluorescent coloring for the roadway and the several
miniature vehicles; and special techniques for imparting seeming
relative longitudinal velocity to the several miniature
vehicles.
Inventors: |
Brown; Richard L. (Bellevue,
NB) |
Assignee: |
Bally Manufacturing Corp.
(Chicago, IL)
|
Family
ID: |
22744188 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/201,030 |
Filed: |
November 22, 1971 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
434/63;
273/442 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G09B
9/048 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G09B
9/04 (20060101); G09B 9/048 (20060101); G09b
009/02 () |
Field of
Search: |
;35/11 ;273/1E
;46/244 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
2265598 |
December 1941 |
Firestone et al. |
3078093 |
February 1963 |
Hotkins et al. |
3119190 |
January 1964 |
Cafulli et al. |
3171215 |
March 1965 |
Glass et al. |
|
Primary Examiner: Grieb; Wm. H.
Claims
I claim:
1. Apparatus for simulating driving conditions of a self-propelled
surface vehicle traversible longitudinally and transversely along a
public roadway including a plurality of parallel traffic lanes and
columnar processions of road-vehicles therealong, said apparatus
comprising:
A. an upright hollow housing as a frame for the apparatus and
including a rearward part with a light transmissive opening
therethrough whereby an operator positioned immediately rearwardly
of the housing at an operator's station might have a view into the
housing interior;
B. a transversely broad mirror of the light transmissive type
attached to the housing and located therewithin linearly forwardly
of the housing rearward light transmissive opening, said mirror
extending obliquely forwardly and upwardly so as to generally
sub-divide the housing internal spatial volume into longitudinally
consecutive portions including a rear-space and a larger
front-space located on opposite sides of said mirror;
C. a simulated roadway carrying at least two substantially parallel
annular processions of miniature road-vehicles, the said respective
annular processions being transversely distinct to simulate traffic
lanes and being movable in endless annular fashion about at least
one transversely extending datum located within the housing
front-space whereby less than all of the annularly moving
road-vehicles are seen as parallel columns by the apparatus
operator when peering longitudinally forwardly through said mirror
to the simulated roadway;
D. means accessible from the said rearwardly positioned operator's
station for varying the speed of the simulated roadway
road-vehicles through a selectable range of velocities;
E. a simulated free-vehicle located within the housing rear-space
and optically superimposable by said mirror into the housing
front-space and upon the road-vehicles;
F. steering means attached to the housing and extending rearwardly
therefrom and accessible to manual control by the operator, said
steering means being adapted to cause controllable transverse
movements of the free-vehicle and its reflected image with respect
to the road-vehicles; and
G. collision indication means located remote of said mirror to
apprise the operator whenever the free-vehicle at its reflected
image has become optically superimposed upon a road-vehicle.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the light transmissive mirror
has a pair of substantially planar opposed surfaces including a
forward surface and also a rearward surface nearer the operator;
and wherein the plurality of parallel processions of road-vehicles
are of longitudinally elongate annular configuration and appear as
substantially linear columns.
3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein there is a carriage extending
rearwardly from and transversely co-responsive with the steered
free-vehicle; and wherein the collision indication means includes a
sensor means attached to the carriage and located within the
housing front-space, said sensor means being substantially
transversely aligned with the free-vehicle.
4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the collision indication means
includes means for abruptly translating the free-vehicle whenever
its front-space image has attained optical superimposition with a
road-vehicle, said automatic abrupt translation means being
initiatable through said sensor means.
5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the intra-annular road-vehicles
are spaced at irregular intervals therealong; and wherein the
automatic translation means will abruptly move the free-vehicle
image transversely off a columnar roadway lane.
6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the means for varying the speed
of the road-vehicles is through a depressible foot-pedal that
varies the speed smoothly continuously; wherein the free-vehicle is
suspended from a rearward portion of the carriage; wherein the
abrupt translation means is adapted to transversely eject the
free-vehicle off the transverse confines of the simulated roadway;
wherein there is a resiliently disengageable coupling between the
steering means and the carriage to permit temporary automatic
transverse translation of the free-vehicle; and wherein the sensor
means is adapted to make electrically conductive contact with the
individual road-vehicles.
7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the collision indication means
includes means for automatically abruptly translating the
free-vehicle to simulate operator loss of control whenever the
operator erroneously steers the free-vehicle such that its
front-space image has become optically superimposed with a
road-vehicle; and wherein the automatic abrupt translation means is
initiatable through a sensor means located within the housing
front-space at the simulated roadway and that is transversely
co-movable with the free-vehicle.
8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the plurality of parallel
annular processions of road-vehicles are of longitudinally elongate
configuration and each movable about a pair of longitudinally
separated transverse-axles data; wherein the sensor means is
adapted to make electrically conductive contact with individual
road-vehicles; and wherein the speed control means for the
road-vehicles comprises a depressible foot-pedal located rearwardly
remote of the simulated roadway.
9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the upright hollow housing is
substantially visually opaque; wherein the mirror has a visible
light transmissivity within the range of 20 to 80 percent; wherein
there is an ultraviolet light source within the housing rear-space,
the free-vehicle being fluorescent to the ultra-violet spectrum;
and wherein there is an ultraviolet light source within the housing
front-space, the road-vehicles being fluorescent to the ultraviolet
spectrum.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the light transmissive mirror
has a pair of substantially planar parallel opposed surfaces, the
visible light transmissivity therethrough being within the range of
40 to 60 percent; wherein the simulated roadway with the exception
of the road-vehicles is non-fluorescent to the ultraviolet
spectrum; and wherein there is a roadside scenario located within
the housing front-space and comprising a non-opaque tubular
revolvable drum carrying therewithin a light source rich in the
visible light spectrum, and means at the operator's station for
varying the angular velocity of said tubular drum.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the means for varying the
speed of the road-vehicles and the angular velocity of the scenario
drum is through a common resiliently depressible foot-pedal located
at the operator's station, initial depressions thereof causing the
road-vehicles to travel towards the operator's station and further
depressions thereof causing the road-vehicles to travel away from
the operator's station.
Description
Automobile and similar vehicular travel along public roadways
represents an experience common to nearly everyone. Because public
roadways are heavily used and almost invariably comprise a
plurality of parallel lanes without inter-lanes barriers, vehicular
travel at higher speeds is fraught with danger unless the vehicle
operator-driver is skillful enough to steer it along the relatively
transversely narrow lane and also to regulate the velocity
appropriate to avoiding collision with other vehicles. Vehicle
driving skill is necessary both for the "secondary highway"
situation wherein two contiguous roadway lanes are designed for
vehicles traveling in opposite longitudinal directions, and also
for the "primary highway" situation wherein two or more contiguous
roadway lanes are designed to accommodate vehicles traveling in the
same longitudinal direction. Because of the danger attendant with
roadway vehicular traffic by unskilled or irresponsible
individuals, governmental authorities have established testing and
licensing programs for would-be vehicle drivers. Moreover, many
vehicle drivers and passengers find high speed roadway travel to be
a thrilling experience, to the extent that they are tempted to
travel at excessive speeds and to switch lanes unduly often.
Because such temptations are likely to lead to tragic collisions
with other vehicles or with roadside obstacles, most drivers are
prudent and do not succomb to these urges. Nevertheless even
cautious and prudent drivers yearn for the opportunity to
participate in the thrilling experience of driving with reduced or
even abandoned caution.
Prior art workers have attempted to provide apparatus for
simulating roadway driving conditions utilizing remotely controlled
miniature vehicles, thus ostensibly permitting the operator's
driving skill and judgement to be tested. However, such prior art
apparatus have not been successful in presenting sufficiently
realistic simulated conditions to the apparatus operator, and
accordingly, prior art devices have largely failed in their
intended purposes.
It is accordingly the general object of the present invention to
provide apparatus that will simulate in miniature public roadway
driving conditions whereby the apparatus operator can vicariously
and fairly realistically participate in the problems and
experiences associated with the actual driving of vehicles along a
plural-lanes public roadway.
It is another object to provide apparatus that can be employed to
test and evaluate the operator's ability to control a motor vehicle
under typically encountered public roadway conditions.
It is a further object to provide apparatus utilizing a housed
miniature roadway and vehicles, wherein the simulated conditions
closely approximate actual driving conditions and attendant
problems.
It is yet another object to provide an apparatus of the class
comprising miniature roadway and associated vehicles located within
a housing in a novel manner so that they present unusually
realistic simulated driving conditions to the operator, such that
the operator can become intensely interested and involved in the
vicarious participation offered thereby.
It is a further object to provide unusually realistic simulated
conditions in miniature to the apparatus operator whereby he can
readily imagine himself operating a motor vehicle at controllable
high speeds along a public roadway thereby testing his skill at
passing other vehicles safely. It is an important ancillary object
to realistically simulate the affects of actual roadway collisions
upon the operator's simulated controlled vehicle.
With the above and other objects and advantages in view, which will
become more apparent as this description proceeds, the simulated
apparatus of the present invention generally comprises an upright
hollow housing for the operator to peer forwardly longitudinally
thereinto, the housing including therewithin a plural-lanes
simulated roadway and including annular columnar processions of
miniature road-vehicles, a transversely movable free-vehicle
realistically optically superimposed upon and mergeable with the
simulated roadway and road-vehicles, the free-vehicle's seeming
longitudinal speed and transverse location on the roadway being
remotely controllable by the external operator at a steering means,
and means for automatically transversely motivating the
free-vehicle and even transversely off the roadway after an
apparent collision has occurred between it and an obstacle, such as
a road-vehicle.
In the drawing, wherein like characters refer to like parts in the
several views, and in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a representative embodiment of the
simulated roadway conditions apparatus of the present invention,
portions of the shell-like hollow housing being broken away to show
certain internal constructional details.
FIG. 2 is a sectional elevational view taken along line 2--2 of
FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a detail view on an enlarged scale of certain noteworthy
portions of FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is a sectional plan view taken along line 4--4 of FIGS. 2
and 3.
Referring initially and briefly to FIG. 1, which illustrates in
perspective view a representative apparatus embodiment "A" for
simulating roadway driving conditions. Apparatus A generally
comprises: an upright hollow housing 10 including a forward part 12
and a rearward part 11 having a transversely extending light
transmissive opening 11A therethrough whereby a rearwardly
externally positioned operator might peer longitudinally forwardly
through opening 11A while also operating a steering means 19
adapted to transversely controllably move a free-vehicle 20; a
transversely extending light-transmissive mirror 18 located within
housing 10 and extending forwardly and upwardly with respect to
opening 11A whereby said mirror generally sub-divides the housing
internal volume into a rear-space 18R and a larger front-space 18F;
a simulated roadway 40 located within the housing front-space 18F
and having a transverse width, said roadway 40 including a
plurality of simulated road-vehicles arranged and maintained in
parallel and movable columnar annular processions, herein as
intra-columnar road-vehicles 48 and 49, said roadway and
road-vehicles being viewable to the operator when he peers
longitudinally forwardly through opening 11A and oblique mirror 18;
means (such as 70) accessible to the rearward operator's station
for varying the speed of the simulated several road-vehicles 48 and
49; a simulated free-vehicle 20 suspended within the housing
rear-space 18R and reflected by the mirror 18 to appear optically
as image 20A upon the simulated roadway and road-vehicles;
transversely responsive means, such as carriage 30, extending
co-responsively forwardly from the free-vehicle 20 and its
transverse steering means 19 into the housing front-space 18F; and
means (68,69,90,99,etc.) for automatically abruptly translating the
free-vehicle 20 transversely when a sensor means has indicated that
an apparent collision has occurred between free-vehicle 20(20A) and
one of the road-vehicles.
Upright hollow housing 10 comprises a plurality of interconnected
rectangular panels 11-16, such as horizontal roof-panel 15
overlying floor-panel 16, two vertical lateral panels including
left-panel 13 and right-panel 14, a vertical front-panel 12 herein
providing the housing forward part, and a vertical rear-panel 11
herein providing the housing rearward part. A plurality of legs 17,
herein four in number, depend from the respective corners of
floor-panel 16 to elevate the relatively stationary housing 10
above an underlying substrate "G." As had been previously alluded
to, the free-vehicle 20 and the several road-vehicles 48 and 49 are
physically located on opposite sides 18F and 18R of the mirror 18;
however, the free-vehicle as its reflected image 20A by virtue of
mirror 18 is in front-space 18F at roadway 40 and needs to be of an
optical prominence thereat substantially equal to that for
road-vehicles 48 and 49. Because of this and related optical
considerations, the several housing panels 11-16 are preferably
visually opaque. However, the housing rear-panel 11 includes a
transversely extending light transmissive opening 11A therethrough,
herein as a rectangular glass panel 11A having more than about 95
percent transmission to the visible light spectrum.
A transversely extending substantially rectangular planar mirror
18, of the so-called "two-ways" light transmissive type, is located
within housing 10 nearer to rear-panel 11 than to front-panel 12.
Herein, mirror 18 is attached to rear-panel 11 immediately below
opening 11A with brackets 18D and extends obliquely forwardly and
upwardly therefrom as indicated in FIG. 2. Mirrors of the
light-transmissive or two-ways type normally have a transmission of
20- 80 percent to the visible light spectrum, and the mirror 18
herein has a transmission of preferably 40- 60 percent to visible
light. The mirror 18, herein having a planar rearward surface 18A,
generally sub-divides the housing internal volume into a rear-space
18R and a larger front-space 18F located on opposite sides of said
mirror. The miniature free-vehicle 20 (with its frontal end upward)
is suspendably supported at substantially constant high elevation
within front-space 18F and located forwardly and slightly above
light transmissive opening 11A. However, the free-vehicle's
reflected image 20A, by virtue of mirror 18, is seen by the
operator as apparently located within front-space 18F at roadway
40. There are steering means, herein as steering wheel 19,
extending rearwardly of housing 10 and adapted to manually remotely
control the transverse position of free-vehicle 20 and its image
20A. Thus, an operator positioned at the operator's station located
immediately rearwardly of housing rear-panel 11A will have a direct
unobstructed view of and can transversely control the free-vehicle
image 20A.
There is a simulated roadway carrying at least two substantially
parallel annular processions of miniature road-vehicles and being
transversely separate and distinct to simulate public roadway
lanes, the road-vehicles being within housing front-space 18F. The
roadway 40 herein is of longitudinally extending annular
configuration having a regular finite transverse width herein
defined by parallel leftward 43 and rightward 44 edges. The
simulated roadway depicts a typical public roadway wherein there
are two or more parallel columnar processions of vehicles,
intra-columnar vehicles at random irregular spacing traveling in
the same longitudinal direction at generally similar velocities. In
the arbitrarily shown embodiment A, two columnar processions of
road-vehicles are employed, and they have their frontal ends
pointed toward the same direction thereby simulating the "primary
highway" situation. The preferred type simulated roadway for
embodiment A is of the elongate movable annular type including an
elongate upper-segment that visually obscures an underlying
elongate lower-segment, intra-columnar road-vehicles at the
upper-segment having their frontal ends pointed toward the forward
direction 12. Specifically herein, roadway 40 comprises a
longitudinally extending horizontal annular flexible belt 41
supported upon longitudinally separated parallel horizontal rollers
45R (having transverse datum axle 45r) and 45F (having transverse
datum axle 45f and carrying pulley 45P). There is an electric motor
40E mounted on front-panel 12, a transmission-belt 40T extending
from motor 40E to pulley 45P thereby driving roadway belt 41 around
rollers 45R and 45F. Belt 41 might have a longitudinally extending
center-line 41M (simulating the inter-lanes painted dividing line
of a public roadway) whereby belt 41 is thereby provided with two
parallel contiguous lanes 41C (left) and 41D (right).
The plurality (herein 10) of substantially identical miniature
road-vehicles are divided into two columnar groupings along the
respective annular lanes 41C and 41D, and each road-vehicle is
attached to a fixed location of belt 41 as indicated in FIG. 3.
Herein, five road-vehicles (each called 49) are linearly columnarly
arranged and randomly spaced along lane 41D, and five road-vehicles
(each called 48) are linearly columnarly arranged and randomly
spaced along lane 41C. Thus, as annular belt 41 is made to move
(through motor 40E) longitudinally around rollers 45R and 45F, only
those moving road-vehicles 48 and 49 which are momentarily located
on the oval belt upper-segment (located above axles 45f and 45r)
can be seen by the operator. Those moving road-vehicles 48 and 49
which are momentarily located on the belt lower-segment are
visually shielded by the upper-segment. An operator peering
forwardly through housing opening 11A will see the upper-segment
road-vehicles 48 and 49 and will also see the free-vehicle image
20A. Thus, at increasing longitudinal speeds of belt 41 and
road-vehicles 48-49, the apparatus operator will be given the
illusion that his own vehicle 20A is proceeding at ever faster
highway speeds along roadway 40. However, through steering means 19
the operator can move free-vehicle 20 (and its image 20A) in both
transverse directions thereby attempting to avoid seeming
collisions with the annularly moving road-vehicles 48 and 49.
It can be readily appreciated that if the road-vehicles 48 and 49
would move increasingly faster, it would become increasingly
difficult for an operator utilizing a steering means 19 to avoid
seeming collisions between said road-vehicles and the free-vhicle's
image 20A. In this vein, there are means, such as through
foot-pedal 70, for varying the speed of the simulated road-vehicles
48-49 through a selectable and continuous range of longitudinal
velocities. Herein, foot-pedal 70 through a pivot pin 72 is
pivotably attached to and extends forwardly and upwardly from a
horizontal base-plate 71 which is adapted to rest upon an
underlying substrate G immediately below floor-panel 16 at the
rearward operator's station. A resistance spring 73 urges the
foot-pedal 70 upwardly, whereby elements 70-73 together resemble
the accelerator pedal in a conventional automobile vehicle.
Electrical energy from a remote source (not shown) is supplied to
motor 40E from electrical plug 79, a first conductor wire 79C
leading from plug 79 to motor 40E and a second conductor wire 79D
leading from plug 79 to an electrically conductive wiper 74 carried
laterally by foot-pedal 70. There are two serially disposed
electrical resistors 76 and 77 supported by an upwardly extending
arm 75 of base-plate 71; as foot-pedal 70 is increasingly
depressed, wiper 74 first slides along upper resistor 76 and then
along lower resistor 77. Electrical motor 40E herein has two sets
of armature windings whereby transmission-belt 40T and pulley 45P
can be made to travel in alternate angular directions. A conductor
wire 79E connects the upper end of upper resistor 76 to the set of
motor windings which cause pulley 45P to travel in the FIG. 2
counterclockwise direction. Another conductor wire 79H connects the
lower end of lower resistor 77 to the other set of motor windings
which cause pulley 45P to travel in the FIG. 2 clockwise direction.
Accordingly, as indicated by the tri-arrowed curved line of FIG. 2,
as the foot-pedal 70 is increasingly depressed, the belt 41 and
attached road-vehicles 48-49 travel first longitudinally forwardly
at regularly decreasing rates of speed and thereafter
longitudinally rearwardly at regularly increasing rates of speed.
Thus, as the operator manipulates steering means 19 and
increasingly depresses foot-pedal 70, the moving road-vehicles 48
and 49 create the illusion of ever faster simulated traffic
conditions thereby progressively increasing the difficulty of
avoiding seeming collisions with free-vehicle image 20A.
As has been previously mentioned, the steering means is adapted to
move the suspended free-vehicle 20 in both transverse directions
thereby enabling the operator to avoid seeming collisions between
its transversely aligned front-space image 20A and the moving
road-vehicles 48 and 49. Herein, the steering means takes the form
of a steering wheel 19, the horizontal shaft portion 19C thereof
being revolvably secured to housing rear-panel 11 above opening
11A. There are carriage means, generally identified as 30,
operatively extending from the steering means and co-movable
transversely with the suspended free-vehicle 20, and carriage 30
extends into the housing front-space 18F. The steering wheel shaft
19C forwardly of rear-panel 11 is connected to a pinion gear 19P
that is in meshing engagement with a transversely extending
elongate rack 31 portion of the carriage means 30. For reasons to
be explained later, there is a clutch 19D of the briefly
longitudinally disengageable type (herein with peripheral spring
clips) interposed between shaft 19C and pinion gear 19P. An
elongate horizontal bar 32 of carriage 30 is attached to and
extends longitudinally rearwardly from rack 31, and free-vehicle 20
is suspended from the lower end of stably deformable bar 21; thus,
the position of free-vehicle 20 can be calibrated. The underside of
roof-panel 15 carries a pair of depending lugs 15C, and bar 32
extends through transversely slotted portions of lugs 15C.
Preferably, steering wheel shaft 19C and the roadway median 41M
occupy a common vertical-plane, the transversely extending length
of rack 31 exceeds the roadway transverse width 43-44, and vertical
bar 21 and free-vehicle 20 are adapted to occupy said
vertical-plane when a medial portion of rack 31 is in meshing
engagement with pinion gear 19P. Such preferred structural
relationships will allow the operator to realistically move
free-vehicle 20 in both transverse directions from 43-44 thereby
avoiding apparent collisions with road-vehicles 48 and 49.
The use of a mirror 18 that transmits 40- 60 percent of the visible
light spectrum will tend to spatially realistically merge the
free-vehicle image 20A into the simulated roadway 40. In a related
vein, judicious lumination of the free-vehicle 20 and the several
road-vehicles 48-49 is important. Herein, for the purposes of
presenting realistic roadway conditions to the operator, the
free-vehicle 20 and the several road-vehicles 48-49 have
fluorescent surface paint or coloring that flow in the dark when
luminated by ultra-violet light, so called "black light." The
housing rear-space 18R has therewithin a light source 25 attached
by a bracket 24 to rear-panel 11 above 11A, at least 95 percent of
the emitted light being of the ultraviolet spectrum. For the
housing front-space 18F there is an ultraviolet light source 57
suspended from roof-panel 15 by bracket 58. Belt 41 is preferably
of white or other light color so as to allow the fluorescing
road-vehicles to visually predominate.
A roadside scenario can be additionally superimposed upon the
mirror viewing screen 18 to add further realism to the simulated
roadway. In this vein, there is a generally cylindrical horizontal
tubular drum 50 and rotatable about horizontal central axle 51
which is revolvably associated with housing 10. Drum 50 has
therewithin a light source 52B that is predominately of the visible
light spectrum, and the drum tubular portion 52 is homogeneously
transmissive of visible light and to at least about 50 percent of
the light from 52B. The external surface of tube 52 carries a
heterogeneously coated pattern 53 that depicts roadside scenary
such as trees, hills, rocks, etc., the heterogeneously coated
patterns 53 being translucent and reducing somewhat the drum's
ability to transmit visible light therethrough. As the scenario
patterned drum 50 is rotated about its axis 51, indicated by the
double-headed counterclockwise arrow in FIG. 2, a moving roadside
scenario 53 is projected therefrom to roadway 40. The intensity of
ultra-violet light 57 must be sufficient to wash-out the
heterogeneous projected visible light (52B) from scenario drum 50.
An electric motor 50E is employed to rotate scenary drum 50, as
through an annular drum-belt 50T passing around a pulley 51P on
axle 51. For purposes of enhancing realism, the angular velocity of
revolvable scenary drum 50 should increase along with the apparent
velocity of free-vehicle 20. In this regard, electrical energy from
a remote source (not shown) is supplied to motor 50E and a second
conductor wire 59D leading from plug 59 to an electrically
conductive wiper 54 carried laterally by foot-pedal 70. There is a
resistor 56 supported by an upwardly extending arm 55 of base plate
71. A conductor wire 59H is connected from the lower end of
resistor 56 to motor 50E. Thus, as foot-pedal 70 is increasingly
depressed, motor 50E causes drum 50 to rotate at increasingly
faster rotational speeds, thereby simulating realistic driving
conditions.
Under actual public roadway driving conditions, when the operator's
vehicle is in major collision, it is abruptly translated and
removed from operator control; in severe collisions it is
transversely translated off the roadway. Accordingly, it is an
important object of the present invention to simulate this abrupt
uncontrolled translation of the operator's vehicle during
collision. In this regard, there are sensor means to sense the
apparent collision between the free-vehicle's front-space image 20A
and any one of the several road-vehicles; whereupon, the
free-vehicle and its image 20A are abruptly automatically
translated, such as being transversely ejected from lanes 41C and
41D and even beyond confines 43 and 44. In this vein, as seen in
FIG. 3, there is herein for each of the road-vehicles 48 and 49 and
attached thereto a longitudinally extending electrically conductive
contact-plate 47. Preferably, the contact-plate 47 and its proximal
road-vehicle (a 48 or a 49) are located on opposite sides of
annular belt 41. One type sensor means comprises a pair of
electrically isolated electrodes 68 and 69 located at common
elevation between the two elongate segments of belt 41. Thus,
electrical current can pass through and between the electrodes 68
and 69 only when they are both in contact with some one
contact-plate 47. Herein, each of the electrically isolated
electrodes 68 and 69 is carried by a probe 39 located immediately
below the upper-segment of belt 41. Probe 39 might be the lower
terminus of carriage means 30 and preferably transversely aligned
(and co-responsive) with free-vehicle 20; accordingly, electrodes
68 and 69 are vertically aligned with image 20A. For example,
carriage 30 might have a horizontal bar 33 extending transversely
rightwardly of horizontal bar 32, and yet another horizontal bar 34
extending longitudinally forwardly of bar 33 whereby bars 32-34
occupy a common horizontal-lane. Carriage 30 further includes a
vertical bar 35 depending from the forward end of bar 34 and having
its lower terminus in elevation between the two elongate segments
of belt 41, and a horizontal bar 36 extending transversely
leftwardly from the lower end of vertical bar 35 and thence
connected to probe 39. Thus, if free-vehicle image 20A is in
optically superimposed collision with some individual road-vehicle
48 or 49, then probe 39 would be directly beneath the "collision
victim." When this happens, electrical energy is permitted to flow
between the sensor means electrodes 68 and 69 via contact-plate
47.
The automatic abrupt translation means for the free-vehicle and its
image 20A, when a sensor means senses some one road-vehicles 48 or
49 might take a variety of forms. Herein, such means is arbitrarily
exemplified by a pneumatically actuatable piston 90 located upon
roof-panel 15. The transversely movable plunger 91 of piston 90 is
attached to a vertical bar 32D extending integrally upwardly from
bar 32 and through a transversely slotted portion 15D of roof-panel
15. An air compressor 98 is positioned atop roof-panel 15 and an
electrically actuatable "on-off" valve 99 is interposed along
conduit 97 extending from compressor 98 to piston 90. Separate
electrical conductors 88 and 89 proceed from the respective
electrodes 68 and 69, via carriage members 35 and 36 (held by clips
87) and through roof-panel opening 15H and thence to valve 99. If
it be assumed that valve 99 moves from the "off" to the "on"
condition when both electrodes 68 and 69 are contacting
contact-plate 47, air proceeds along conduit 97 to piston 90
thereby pushing plunger 91 and bar 32D transversely rightwardly as
indicated in phantom line in FIG. 1. Accordingly, the transversely
aligned free-vehicle and its image 20A are made to move abruptly
transversely rightwardly, and herein dramatically off the simulated
roadway edge 44. However, piston 90 has a rightward vent 92, and
thus, the automatically rightward ejected condition for
free-vehicle 20 is only temporary. Thereafter, the steering means
19 can again cause leftward control of free-vehicle 20 returning
its image 20A to roadway 40, and its transverse steering continues
until another apparent collision occurs, etc. Simultaneously,
during each abrupt translation clutch 19D becomes temporarily
disengaged during which brief time the operator's steering means 19
is ineffective.
From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the apparatus
for simulating roadway driving conditions will be readily
understood and further explanation is believed to be unnecessary.
However, since numerous modifications and changes will readily
occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the
invention to the exact construction shown and described, and
accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be
resorted to, falling within the scope of the appended claims.
* * * * *