Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – Plural filling means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-01
2003-11-25
Maust, Timothy L. (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
Plural filling means
C141S242000, C141S243000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06651706
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to gasoline pumps, and more particularly to a gasoline pump with means for concurrently serving more than one car.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Old mechanical gasoline pumps are now being replaced by new, electronic pumps. The new pumps have various benefits, for example a digital precise readout and a capability to update prices. The pump may be automatically controlled to deliver fuel up to a certain amount as desired. It was found by the present inventor, these benefits notwithstanding, that the new electronic pumps have a certain disadvantage with respect to the older pumps.
The old pumps had several outlets, corresponding to several types of vehicle fuel. Each outlet had a delivery pipe that was connected to the fuel tank in the car, and a flowmeter to measure the quantity of fuel being delivered. When one car was filled with one type of fuel, a second car could be connected to another outlet to be filled as well.
The present invention aims to concurrently service more than one customer from each side of a gasoline pump system, whereas prior art systems can only service one customer from each side of it.
Prior art patents apparently did not indicate a possibility for concurrently serving more than one car from each side of a gasoline pump system, nor do they include the necessary means for doing so. Therefore, prior art systems apparently cannot be used to reduce the waiting time and increase throughput in a crowded gas filling station.
The present situation at gas filling stations apparently attests to the difficulty/impossibility of using prior art systems to provide more effective service to customers.
Searching for ways to alleviate the problem of the crowded gas filling stations, a novel approach has identified two basic problems associated with concurrent filling of more than one car at the same side of a gas pump system, as follows:
a. In a crowded gas station, it is difficult or impossible for a driver to know where there is an available filling outlet. More so if a gasoline unit can concurrently fill two or three cars, and one or two cars are already filling there. Furthermore, the driver has to locate that filling outlet from inside his/her car, with other cars moving around.
Considering the crowded situation in a gas station, this is not a simple task (see, for example, the actual situation at a filling station in Jerusalem, in FIGS.
4
and
5
). The driver preferably has to see the situation from a distance, and from outside the filling area.
Moreover, the driver has to maneuver his/her car to the available location, not a simple task under the circumstances. Thus, means for guiding car drivers to available filling outlets are required.
Accordingly, novel guiding means in the present invention allow a driver to find that available outlet before he/she enters the filling area.
b. It is necessary to enable each driver to identify the outlet used for filling his/her car, and to distinguish it from outlets used for filling other cars.
It is essential that each driver should only pay for fuel delivered to his/her car, and not for fuel supplied to others.
This essential task is further complicated in the new environment, where two or more cars are concurrently filled from the same side of the gas unit, in a crowded gas station.
Accordingly, novel means in the present invention allow a driver to ensure that he/she only pays for fuel delivered to their vehicle, by allowing him/her to reliably relate a total cost display to the fueling outlet used for filling his/her car.
Notes:
1. Throughout the present disclosure, a reference to “filling more than one car” refers to concurrently servicing more than one customer, from each side of the gasoline pump system. Prior art systems usually have two separate units, housed together, back to back, and can concurrently service two cars, but only one car from each side of the system.
2. Throughout the present disclosure, a reference to “gasoline pump system” refers to two separate units placed back to back in the same housing.
The new electronic pump also has several outlets for the various types of fuel, however it only has one flowmeter. As the desired fuel type is chosen and the corresponding outlet is coupled to the car, the flowmeter will measure the quantity of flow for that outlet. The display will indicate the cost to customer. A problem in the new pump is that, when one outlet is being used, all the other outlets are inactive. It is, therefore, impossible to fill a second car while the first car is being filled.
Prior art systems apparently do not address this problem.
Thus, Bickford, U.S. Pat. No. 3,639,735 discloses a multiple product gasoline dispensing pump with two multiple product gasoline subsystems independently operable from opposite side of the pump for selectively dispensing a plurality of different grades of gasoline. Once the product is chosen, the pump is activated for that product alone.
Krone et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,847,302 discloses a gasoline dispensing system for delivery of regular, premium and intermediate grades of gasoline from respective regular and premium supply reservoirs comprising dispensing means including gasoline delivery hose, regular and premium metering means, first and second circuit means generating electrical pulse output, pulse combinator, variator circuit and first and second display circuitspremium metering means, and, in particular, refers to blending gasoline at different octane ratings to give an intermediate octane rating and a control relay means actuable to enable delivery flow of multiple grades of gasoline.
Atchley et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,745, discloses a fuel disposal electronics design. The fuel dispenser includes a dispenser control having a plurality of microcontroller nodes and a communications bus connecting the nodes.
Atchley strives to reduce the number and complexity of wiring required in a fuel dispenser. This apparently reduces the cost of materials in the device, the manufacturing cost and the complexity of the software. It may be easier to repair the units.
The benefits claimed in Atchley relate to improvements in manufacturing and maintenance of a fuel dispenser.
Fleisher, U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,550, discloses a fuel delivery control system. A fuel delivery control system has both central and remote dispensing control stations.
Zinsmeyer, U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,645, discloses a dispensing and blending system for automotive fluids. A customer can select various fuel additives, which are automatically blended with the selected fuel. Separate switches and displays for these additives are provided in Zinsmeyer.
Miller, U.S. Pat. No. 6,163,738, discloses a point of purchase gasoline analyzing/blending.
Warn et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,216, discloses a flow signal monitor for a fuel dispensing system. The system is coupled to the data wire for collecting and storing information therein.
Kobayashi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,097, discloses a fueling system including a plurality of fueling units, a control unit and an outdoor fueling indicator.
None of the above-detailed prior art patents discloses means or methods for concurrently servicing more than one customer, from each side of the gasoline pump system. Rather, apparently all these prior art systems can only service one customer from each side of the gasoline pump system.
Callahan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,100,400, discloses a gasoline pump price encoder for delivering pulses corresponding to the price of gasoline or other liquid petroleum products dispensed by a pump. The encoder is removably mounted on the existing mechanical price computer in the pump and includes an input gear for engaging a drive gear on the computer. A pulse generator coupled to the input gear provides pulses at a higher rate than required for the output.
Pearson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,107,777 discloses a fuel dispensing system comprising an operator console with means for displaying data a single location status information for dispensers of the system and a data entry keyboard; a dispense
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