Patent GB-895876-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to motor driven vehicles
IPC: B62D61/12
Filed: 1960-06-07
Abstract: 895,876. Amphibious vehicles. MEILI, E. June 7, 1960 [June 18, 1959; Nov. 24, 1959], No. 19999/60. Addition to 875,691. Classes 113 and 114. [Also in Groups XXIX. XXXI and XXXII] The front and rear sections of the motor vehicle described in the parent Specification are constructed as watertight compartments so that the vehicle is amphibious. For road use the vehicle may be a six wheeler, all six wheels being driven, Fig. 1, or may be an eight wheeler, Fig. 17, or may have a central track, Fig. 14. The road wheels may be replaced by rail wheels. The front and rear sections, Fig. 1, are pivoted about a central axis and for use in water, the vehicle is put into the position shown in Fig. 3, the propulsive power being derived from paddles 22 attached to the wheels, Fig. 2. The front and rear sections, Fig. 1, comprise pairs of arms 7 and 8 relatively pivoted about the axle 2, which carries the centre wheels 3 and is driven from the engine 11 via gear box 1. The front and rear wheel pairs 5 and 6 are mounted on stub shafts 16 carried by the arms 7 and 8 and are driven by chains 52, 60, Fig. 10, accommodated in the arms. The front arms 7 are connected to a frame member 15 by hydraulic rams 12 and the rear arms are connected to the section by rams 19. A pair of hydraulic rams 17 is connected to the arm 8 and to a crank arm 18 which is rigid with the casing of axle 2 or with the arms 7 whereby the angular relative positions of arms 7 and 8 may be controlled. The engine 11, Fig. 8, drives a pair of pumps 27 which supply fluid from a reservoir 26 through manual controls 28 and three way valves 29, 29<SP>1</SP> and 29<SP>11</SP> to the hydraulic cylinders 12, 17 and 19. The cylinders 19 are supplied in parallel from valve 29 are supplied in parallel from.valve 29<SP>11</SP> in the supply to the other cylinder 17. The opposite ends of the cylinders 12 are connected in parallel through line 64<SP>1</SP> to the valve 29<SP>1</SP> included in the line 63 between one end of one cylinder 17 and control member 28 as shown. When working as a road vehicle, the cylinder 12 (connected together) 19 (also connected together) and 17 are isolated by the valves 29, 29<SP>1</SP> and 2911 and in conjunction with spring loaded pistons 25, act as vibration dampers. In a modified hydraulic circuit, Fig. 15, the engine drives a single pump 27 having a manual control 28 and the various eylinders can be isolated by three way cocks 29. The axle 2 comprises a casing 42 rigid with the forward section, Fig. 10, about which the bearing members 41 and 56 of the arms 7 and 8 are journalled and to which the crank arm 18 is connected. Shafts 43 and 44 are driven from the engine shaft 47 through bevels 46, 45 and differential 48. Pinions 49 and 51 which drive chains 60 and 52 are fast with shaft 43 which also drives the wheels 3 mounted on shafts 55 through gears 53 and 54. The front and rear wheels are also driven through reduction gears similar to the gears 53, 54. The front wheels are steerably mounted on pivots 35 carried by stub shafts 16 secured to the arms 7, the drive to each wheel being transmitted from the sprocket 40, Fig. 9, through shaft 33, universal 34 and gears 36, 38. The wheels may be mounted in pairs. In the modifications wherein the vehicle has eight wheels or an endless track, Figs. 14, 16 and 17, the forward and rear sections carried by arm pairs 7 and 8 are pivoted to axle structures 2 and 2<SP>1</SP> which form integral structures with the gear case 1, and two pairs of hydraulic rams 17 and 17<SP>1</SP> are provided. When the endless track vehicle of Fig. 14 is driven over normal roads, the track portion may be raised. In another modification, Figs. 18 and 19, the vehicle may be propelled through water by propellers 9 driven by an endless chain 23. The propellers are mounted on universally jointed shafts which may be pivoted from an operational position to a stowed position in the vehicle sides, or the propelling shafts may be detachable. The propellers may be driven from a separate engine and may be located between the wheels 3 and 6.