Importance

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Abstract

An electronic compass for vehicles such as automobiles comprising a float mechanism including a permanent magnet for following the earth's magnetic field and four Hall effect sensors for detecting magnet orientation at points corresponding to the cardinal compass points. The Hall effect sensors are connected to triggering circuits having overlapping thresholds so that two circumferentially adjacent sensors and sensor trigger circuits cooperate to indicate not only the corresponding cardinal compass points but also the secondary compass point intermediate the cardinal points. The sensor trigger circuitry is connected to a two-character multiple-segment display for indicating vehicle orientation at either one of the four cardinal compass points or one of the four secondary compass points intermediate successive cardinal points. Circuitry for compensating for variations in the earth's magnetic field caused by the vehicle comprises a pair of electromagnetic coils having perpendicular axes which perpendicularly intersect the axis of float rotation and variable resistors coupled to the coils for varying the magnetic compensation field generated by each coil independently of the other.

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First Claim