Het wereldwijde magazine en verkoopplatform voor liefhebbers van klassieke auto’s, door liefhebbers.
Het wereldwijde magazine en verkoopplatform voor liefhebbers van klassieke auto’s, door liefhebbers.
Many years ago a good friend gave this set of clocks to Halbe Tjepkema from The Hague. Ever since Halbe has been wondering what kind of instrument this is and so asked for our help. What we do know is that this is obviously a set of speedometer and trip odometer made by Samuel Smith & Son, established at 9 Strand, London (smith-clocks.co.uk). They were at first jewellers and clock makers and made their first speedometer for the motor car in 1904. Judging from this name we think this set is probably quite old because in July 1914 their name was changed to S. Smith & SonS (Motor Accessories) Ltd. Now look again at this set. Both dials have two hands! As the trip odometer has two dials this seems reasonable, but why does the speedometer also has two hands? Can anyone explain how this instrument works? From what year is it? And do you have any ideas in what kind of car this set of speedometer and tripmeter was used? Tell us all you know (RB)
Update V by Dick Trenk: “In UK cities, miles are divided into 8 "long blocks" or 16 short blocks. This is copied in most US cities and a good example is Chicago where a square mile is 8 blocks long and 16 blocks wide (longs and shorts). The odo reads city blocks on the outside scale and reads 1/4,1/2 and 3/4 blocks on the small inner scale. A cab driver would charge according to the amount of blocks driven. The reset buttons are on the top and the driving shaft would be connected at the bottom shaft seen in the photo. The speedo dial is a "tell tale" speedo where the "powered" needle pushes the dead needle to its highest speed obtained on a trip and the dead needle sticks there. That dead (recording needle) is manually returned to zero or some smaller number when another trip measurement is wanted. When a lead seal was applied under the reset knob, the cab driver could not reset the speed record (without breaking the seal) and his employer would find out if the cab was being driven at unlawful speeds.”
Update IV by Paul Garratt: “I believe this may be a version of the Bonniksen speedometer. This type is mentioned in "Mind over Motor", by W.H. Charnock, in the chapter "cars I have owned". Apparently one hand showed the speed for a few seconds, then travelled on round the dial, while the other hand then showed the speed, again for a few seconds. Sounds odd, but I have seen other references to the Bonniksen type.”
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