| 摘要 |
An inertial sensor for measuring the rate of deceleration experienced by a vehicle includes a pendulum fixed to a horizontally disposed shaft, each end of which is connected to the selector knob of a rotary electrical switch. The rotary switches are mounted to the vehicle such that the axis of the shaft is perpendicular to the direction in which deceleration is to be measured. Each of the rotary switches is connected to a separate electric circuit comprising a plurality of cascaded circuit loops, each circuit loop supplying power to a single indicator lamp in a lamp array mounted on the rear of the vehicle. Deceleration of the vehicle causes the pendulum to swing forward with respect to the vehicle's direction of motion, rotating the selector knobs so that each rotary switch sequentially closes the cascaded circuit loops, such that greater rotation of the selector knob results in a greater number of lamps being illuminated. The number of lamps illuminated indicates to the driver of a trailing vehicle how rapidly the vehicle using the invention system is decelerating. The lamp array has two groups of lamps, each group energized by a separate circuit connected to one of the two rotary switches. A backstop mounted to the vehicle immediately behind the pendulum prevents the pendulum from swinging rearwardly due to acceleration of the vehicle.
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