Parking meter

A parking meter is a pillar with a mechanical or digital clock, which displays the remaining allowed parking time. It is situated on the edge of a parking lot. By inserting coins ( pennies Park ) or, more recently, by sending an SMS you paid the fee for a particular parking time, which is then counted down by the clock.

Parking meters were introduced in tight parking spaces paid parking - usually a maximum of two hours - automated to permit or restrict long-term parking. In particular, in most city centers and main shopping streets were found until about the turn of the millennium masse parking meters. Today, they are largely replaced by ticket machines.

In Austria, where there is little to no parking meters in the form münzannehmender Take time machine or has given, the parking disc is colloquially called very wide parking meter.

History

Inventor of parking meter is probably the Americans Carlton Cole Magee in North Dakota, who filed on May 13, 1935 patent for a münzgesteuertes parking meter ( coin controlled parking meter ). Patent No. 2,118,318 was issued, however, until May 24, 1938. The first parking meter was installed on July 16, 1935 in Oklahoma City (USA) and was named "Black Maria ". In Europe 1952, the first parking meters were installed in Basel.

On January 4, 1954 Duisburg installed as the first city in Germany 20 so-called Parkographen in the street "Am boxwood ". Were manufactured the devices from the company " Roberto Ehrismann " from Lugano. In Germany started yet in 1952 the company " Telefonbau and standard time " in Frankfurt am Main, the " Kienzle Apparate GmbH " in Villingen and the " German Parkometer GmbH" in Hannover with the production of parking meters.

1954 there was to force in the Federal Republic of Germany still no statutory system drivers to pay for parking fees. It was disputed whether parking meters with the German traffic law were compatible. On 1 May 1956, the Road Traffic Act was amended and parking meters thus legitimized by law.

Around since 2000, more and more parking meters are replaced by parking management zones including parking ticket machines in Germany. In many cities they have completely disappeared from the cityscape.