Patent Application
20160076887
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates to adventure sports. In particular, but not by way of limitation, the present invention relates to systems and methods for determining location based on the sun.
Determining one's direction of travel using landmarks, stars, the sun, and the earth's magnetic poles has been practiced for much of human history. One method of determining direction of travel involves using a magnetic compass.
At a basic level, a compass is nothing more than a magnetized needle, floating in a liquid, and responding to the Earth's magnetic field to allow the user to determine directions. Many compasses can be classified as one of four types, namely: fixed-dial, floating dial, cruiser, and orienteering. For hiking, mountaineering, and other adventure type sports, the orienteering type is often used. It is accurate to within about 2 degrees, does not require a separate protractor or map orientation, and is highly affordable.
An orienteering compass typically has three main parts: a magnetic needle, a revolving compass housing, and a transparent base plate. The north end of the magnetic needle is generally painted red and the south end is white. The housing is normally marked with the four cardinal points of north, east, south, and west and further divided into 2 degree graduations indicating the full 360 degrees of a circle. The bottom of the rotating housing is marked with an orienting arrow, and meridian lines. The base plate is marked with a ruler, an index line (bearing reading line), and a direction of travel arrow. The adventurer can orient his or her direction of travel based off of magnetic north.
Relatedly, a wristwatch having an hour hand can also be used as a makeshift compass. If the watch is set to the correct time, one can point the hour hand at the sun, and in that position, the point halfway between the current hour and the 12, is approximately south, if one is in the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere, the point would be approximately north.
Conversely, a compass can be used as a watch. For example, in the northern hemisphere, knowing the sun is in the east at 6:00 am, southeast at 9:00 am, south at noon, southwest at 3:00 pm, and west at 6:00 pm, one can take a bearing on the sun, and get a rough idea of the current time.
A sundial is a device that tells the time of day by the position of the sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from a style onto a dial face marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a sharp, straight edge. As the sun moves across the sky, the shadow-edge aligns with different hour-lines. All sundials must be aligned with their styles parallel to the axis of the Earth's rotation to tell the correct time throughout the year. Specifically, the angle of the gnomon from horizontal should be set equal the sundial's geographical latitude.
Adventurers, particularly children, are interested in finding or using unique ways to navigate through their journeys. Using simple tools, such as sundials and compasses, are engaging for those adventurers, bringing them to a closer understanding and awareness of their environment.
Therefore, although there are countless ways of accurately determining one's location and direction, it is desirable to provide a unique system and method of determining one's direction of travel using the sun.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention that are shown in the drawings are summarized below. These and other embodiments are more fully described in the Detailed Description section. It is to be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the invention to the forms described in this Summary of the Invention or in the Detailed Description. One skilled in the art can recognize that there are numerous modifications, equivalents and alternative constructions that fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the claims.
The present invention can provide a system and method for determining direction. In one exemplary embodiment, the present invention can include a sundial compass having a mounting base with a true north line, a dial plate, and a gnomon mount indicator. The true north line and dial plate are configured to indicate one of true north and true south based on a time clock calibration.
In another embodiment, a method of determining direction is also disclosed. The method includes determining calibration information, inserting a gnomon into a gnomon mount indicator, adjusting the gnomon based on the known calibration information and a time clock calibration, placing the sundial compass such that the true north line indicates one of true north and true south, and determining one of true north and true south.
As previously stated, the above-described embodiments and implementations are for illustration purposes only. Numerous other embodiments, implementations, and details of the invention are easily recognized by those of skill in the art from the following descriptions and claims.
Various objects and advantages and a more complete understanding of the present invention are apparent and more readily appreciated by reference to the following Detailed Description and to the appended claims when taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings wherein:
Referring now to the drawings, where like or similar elements are designated with identical reference numerals throughout the several views, and referring in particular to
In some embodiments, the front side 102 may include a general topography map of a specific area. As one example, the front side 102 may include a topography map of Colorado or a relatively local area in which the sundial compass 100 may be used or sold. In some embodiments, the topography map may include other site indicators such as major crossroads or cities.
In some embodiments, the mounting base having front and reverse sides 102, 104 may be approximately the size of a credit card to allow for easy transport by an adventurer in a compartment sized for storing credit cards. The sundial compass 100 may similarly be made of lightweight materials such as paper, cardboard, plastic, or any other material desirable for transport. Plastics may include PET, PETE, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP, Polystyrene, or any other resin-based material.
As seen in
Returning to
At the outset, it should be noted that the adventurer should review the reverse side 104 of the sundial compass 100 for calibration requirements and safety tips before beginning to place the sundial compass 100 in a usable setting.
To use the sundial compass 100, the adventurer should first ensure a small hole is present at the gnomon mount indicator 112. In some embodiments, the gnomon mount indicator 112 may be a small hole present at the intersection of the true north line 107 and 6:00 line 109. In other embodiments, the gnomon mount indicator 112 may be a simple crossing of the true north line 107 and 6:00 line 109. In this embodiment, the adventurer should drill a small hole at the gnomon mount indicator 112 with a safety pin, thumb tack or other sharp object. The gnomon mount indicator 112 may be any other feature indicating an intersection of the true north line 107 and 6:00 line 109. The adventurer should be careful to not make the hole any larger than what is needed for inserting a gnomon. A gnomon is the part of a sundial that will cast the shadow.
After establishing a small hole is at the gnomon mount indicator 112, the adventurer should insert a gnomon through the hole. The gnomon may be a paper clip, blade of grass, a twig, or any other small straight member. In some embodiments, the gnomon may be supplied integrally with the sundial compass, such as a piece of the mounting base that can be detached from the mounting base.
After inserting the gnomon, the adventurer should place the sundial compass 100 on a flat surface of the ground or horizontal relative to the ground.
At this point, the adventurer should calibrate the gnomon for the current latitude to the best of his or her ability. To do this, the adventurer should bend the gnomon forward until the angle from the sundial compass 100 to the gnomon approximately matches the adventurer's current latitude. Purposely, such calibration requires that the adventurer be approximately aware of his or her latitude, as well as have an understanding of basic geometry. As an example for such calibration, Denver, Colo. is approximately 40 degrees north; therefore, the adventurer should bend the gnomon forward until he or she has approximately a 40 degree angle between mounting base of the sundial compass 100 and the gnomon.
The sundial compass will function, albeit with less accuracy, if the adventurer does not know his or her longitude, and merely bends or causes the gnomon to angle towards the mounting base at less than a 90 degree angle.
As previously mentioned, the adventurer should have first reviewed the calibration requirements on the reverse side 104 of the sundial compass 100. As seen in
Returning to
Continuing with
Finally, the adventurer may need to correct for daylight savings. Since the current example discussed specifies the location as Denver, Colo. and the date as October 16, daylight savings time applies, at least as of the time of the submission of this disclosure. The adventurer therefore must subtract one hour by rotating the sundial compass 100 clockwise.
At this point, the sundial compass 100 is fairly precisely oriented to one of true north and true south, and the rotating bezel 106 on the sundial compass 100 can be used for precise azimuths required for navigation.
It should be understood that the preceding description has been primarily written with reference to true north and/or the northern hemisphere; however, it should be understood that the sundial compass 100 is equally suitable for use in the southern hemisphere, with the true north line indicating, in fact, true south.
It should also be understood by the adventurer that the sundial compass 100 is a novelty and/or survival tool. If the adventurer does not know his or her longitude is in relation to the time zone meridian, the sundial compass 100 is not rendered completely useless. Instead, it will merely be, at most, a few degrees off if the adventurer knows only 3 of the 4 required pieces of information to perfectly calibrate the sundial compass 100.
Turning now to
The method 400 includes determining calibration information 402, with the calibration information including at least three of the following: a user's latitude, a user's longitude, the present time of year, and the present daylight savings time status. Determining calibration information 402 may include reference to a topical or other map to determine a current latitude and longitude, reference to a calendar, and/or reference to a time clock to determine a daylight savings time status.
The method 400 further includes inserting a gnomon 404, which may include inserting a small straight element established at a gnomon mount indicator, such as that described with reference to
The method 400 further includes adjusting a gnomon 406. Adjusting a gnomon 406 may include adjusting a gnomon to be approximately perpendicular relative to a mounting base of a sundial compass, or adjusting a gnomon 406 may include adjusting a gnomon such that an angle between the gnomon and a mounting base is approximately equal to the latitude of the user's location. It should be understood that adjusting a gnomon 406 should include adjusting a gnomon to an angle matching the user's latitude if the user is approximately aware of the his or her latitudinal position.
The method 400 further includes placing a sundial compass 408. Placing a sundial compass 408 includes placing a sundial compass to determine one of true north and true south, such as that described with
The method 400 may further include adjusting a bezel 410. Adjusting a bezel 410 includes rotating a bezel to guide an adventurer in a desired travel direction. As one example, after determining true north in previous steps of the method 400, one may rotate a bezel to dial-in one's desired direction of travel. If, for example, the user wishes to travel in in a southeasterly direction, ˜120 degrees of azimuth, the user should rotate the bezel 110 until the true north line 107 points to 120° on the bezel 110. Then, to travel southeast, the user would then rotate his or her body to align with the 120° mark on the bezel 110 to begin travel.
Embodiments of the invention can be embodied in a variety of ways. In addition, each of the various elements of the invention and claims may also be achieved in a variety of manners. This disclosure should be understood to encompass each such variation, be it a variation of an embodiment of any apparatus embodiment, a method or process embodiment, or even merely a variation of any element of these. Particularly, it should be understood that as the disclosure relates to elements of the invention, the words for each element may be expressed by equivalent apparatus terms or method terms—even if only the function or result is the same. Such equivalent, broader, or even more generic terms should be considered to be encompassed in the description of each element or action. Such terms can be substituted where desired to make explicit the implicitly broad coverage to which this invention is entitled. As but one example, it should be understood that all action may be expressed as a means for taking that action or as an element which causes that action. Similarly, each physical element disclosed should be understood to encompass a disclosure of the action which that physical element facilitates. Regarding this last aspect, the disclosure of a “gnomon” should be understood to encompass disclosure of the act of “casting a shadow”—whether explicitly discussed or not—and, conversely, were there only disclosure of the act of “adjusting a shadow”, such a disclosure should be understood to encompass disclosure of a “gnomon.” Such changes and alternative terms are to be understood to be explicitly included in the description.
In conclusion, the present invention provides, among other things, a system and method for determining a direction based on the time. Those skilled in the art can readily recognize that numerous variations and substitutions may be made in the invention, its use and its configuration to achieve substantially the same results as achieved by the embodiments described herein. Accordingly, there is no intention to limit the invention to the disclosed exemplary forms. Many variations, modifications and alternative constructions fall within the scope and spirit of the disclosed invention as expressed in the claims.
