The Live-Map
1909 · Odometer-Driven Route Disc · Work 781 of 1,871
A round brass route indicator of 1909 on the dashboard of an open touring car on a road in New England, a polished brass case twenty-three centimetres across, round and flat with a hanging ring and a hinged glass cover, seen from the side at a flat angle, soft in focus, beneath the glass a paper disc showing only faint lines, a flexible shaft running from the case to the floorboards, on the leather seat an open leather wallet holding round paper discs, the topmost blank side up, a driver seen from behind in a linen dust coat and gauntlet gloves, a sandy road between maple trees, afternoon light from the left.
- What it was used for
- A route indicator for motor cars, appearing in 1909: a turntable under glass with a fixed pointer, driven through a gear train and a flexible shaft from one of the vehicle's wheels. The driver laid a paper disc for the intended route on the turntable, with a scale of miles around its rim. The Seal Cove Auto Museum describes the procedure: load the disc, align the journey's starting point with the arrow, and the arrow then tracked the car's progress. According to Robert L. French, the printed directions came into view under the pointer exactly when the driver needed them. One advertisement promised - quoted by French: "You take all the puzzling corners and forks with never a pause."
- What was new
- French calls the 1909 device one of the first US car navigation devices - it was not alone. The Chadwick Road Guide followed as early as 1910, also odometer-driven, with a punched route disc, 10 colour-coded signal arms behind a window and a bell before each turn; its advertising lists 55 dollars for Model B and 75 for Model C. French notes that this device comes close to today's real-time route guidance concepts - apart from one thing. The barb: everything hung on that one thing. It did not maintain synchronised position automatically. The disc only counted miles; it did not know whether the car was still on the route.
What the sources leave open: The sources consulted do not give the price, numbers made or the end of the Jones Live-Map.