Who invented the first odometer

They have always been used to measure distance in things like automobiles, bicycles, and back before these were invented, horse drawn carts. Here is more information about the history of the odometer:. Not much is known about how and when the first odometer was invented. However, the first known evidence that the odometer existed in Ancient Greece can be found in the written works of two writers, Pliny, who was a Roman, and Strabo, an Ancient Greek.

They both mention that Alexander the Great was concerned with measuring distance through his bematists, who were trained to measure distance while counting their steps. Both writers concluded that in order to achieve such accurate measurements, a mechanical device had to have been used. Vitrivius, a Roman who was alive from around BC, is actually the first to have directly mentioned the use of an odometer for measuring distance.

However, this is under debate because some people actually think that Hero of Alexandria invented the first odometer. He mentioned an odometer in his famous work, the Dioptra. The ratio in the proposed Heron's construction is so a full rotation of the last disc corresponds to revolutions of the vehicle's wheels. By the wheel's diametre of 1. In a variation of the device one calibrated disc had radial holes with balls that when one of them was aligned with the corresponfing hole of the box the ball felt into a metal vessel offering easy measurement of the distance.

Architecture Artefact Inventions. Watch the video:. Nov 3, Nov 1, Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal - invented a prototype of an odometer, a calculating machine called a pascaline. The pasacaline was constructed of gears and wheels. Each gear contained 10 teeth that when moved one complete revolution, advanced a second gear one place.

This is the same principal employed in the mechanical odometer. Thomas Savery - Odometer used on Ships Thomas Savery - was an English military engineer and inventor who in , patented the first crude steam engine, among Savery's other inventions was an odometer for ships, a device that measured distance traveled.

While serving as Postmaster General in , Franklin decided to analyze the best routes for delivering the mail. He invented a simple odometer to help measure the mileage of the routes that he attached to his carriage. The roadometer attached to a wagon wheel and counted the revolutions of the wheel as the wagon traveled.

William Clayton was inspired to invent the roadometer by his first method of recording the distance the pioneers travelled each day. Clayton had determined that revolutions of a wagon wheel made a mile, he then tied a red rag to the wheel and counted the revolutions to keep an accurate record of the mileage travelled.