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Citizen Diver's Depth meter patent.

4K views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  jringo8769 
#1 ·
Citizen Diver's Depth meter patent
 

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#2 ·
Awesome find! I truly appreciate you sharing it with us. Got to say, as dry as patent documents may sometimes be, they can also be a true source of enjoyment. Here is one gem from this one (on page 10), showing that they thought of everything:

This arrangement of the openings 10a also contributes to
prevention of the silicon chip 8d from being damaged,
which otherwise would be damaged by insertion of
something with a sharp end, such as a sharp pencil or
ball pen. Those who wear the wristwatch may accidentally
insert such a pencil or ball pen in the pressure sensor 8
through the openings 10a.


Uh huh, accidentally. On a serious note, though, I did see something that piqued my curiosity, concerning adjusting the depth sensor calibration, on pages 12-13:

The pressure sensor 8 includes a
bridge circuit consisting of four piezo resistances 108.
The four terminals of the resistances are connected to
the amplifying IC 19e. Between two (+ and - terminals)
of the terminals of the piezo resistances 108 is
provided an offsetting trimmer resistance 19h for
adjusting the output at a standard atmospheric pressure at a predetermined value. Resistances including a
trimmer resistance 19i for adjusting the sensitivity of
the amplifying IC 19e, and a condenser Cl are also
provided.


Does anyone know how this is accomplished practically, or care to hazard a guess? Have you ever heard of an Aqualand being re-calibrated? Elsewhere the patent talks about how atmospheric pressure variations do not practically affect the depth sensor during a dive, since the sensor is turned on immediately before the dive begins, allowing the baseline reading to be taken in whatever the current atmospheric pressure is. So I'd guess that this adjusting the output has more to do with how the depth is calculated once under water, i.e. what amount of pressure on the sensor translates to how many units of measurement (meters or feet). Yes, no, indifferent?

I must admit I am not a scuba diver, so I've not been trained in the use of a dive computer, nor diving practices. But I have been reading up on the Aqualand in an attempt to understand how my new-to-me one works, and responds (or should respond) to controlled pressure tests in a shop setting from water resistance testing equipment.
 
#6 ·
very cool..great find...
 
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