Patent GB-560078-A (GB)
Title: Jacking and manoeuvring means for motor cars
IPC: B60S9/18
Filed: 1941-09-11
Abstract: 560,078. Jacking and manoeuvring motor vehicles. JEZLER, H. Sept. 11, 1941, No. 11658. [Class 79 (iii)] Relates to jacking means whereby in order to be able to manoeuvre a car into and out of a confined parking space the front end of the car is provided with a transverse roller or rollers which can be lowered on to the ground by an enginedriven screw jack so as to lift the front of the car off the ground, after which the roller is driven so as to traverse the front end. in-one direction or the other as desired ; according to the present invention the screw of the jack has such a steep pitch that when the nut on the screw is released from its holding or driving means the raised front of the car falls due to its weight. The direction of traverse is reversed by turning the roller spindle and part of the screw jack through 180 degrees about the vertical axis of the jack. In the construction shown, the roller 3 is fixed to an axle 64 rotatable in a casing 63 forming part of a hollow screwed spindle 2 which is rotatable and slidable in a fixed casing 1. The screw 2 engages a nut 7 mounted on ball-bearings 25 in the casing and slidably keyed to a sleeve 24 having clutch teeth 23 adapted to engage similar teeth on a worm-wheel 10 which can be driven from the engine through a clutch 5 and a disconnectible worm 11 carried by a slide 30. When the front end of the car is to be raised and traversed, the driver operates a hand lever to rotate a camshaft 33 from a neutral position either to the right or left, thereby moving the worm into mesh with the worm-wheel so that the latter is driven. At the same time the cam-shaft, by means'of arms 41, 40 rotates a disc 37 through a definite angle from a central position. As the worm-wheel 10 and sleeve 24 rotate the screw 2, the casing 63 also rotates, due to friction, until a spring-loaded bolt 51 carried by the casing 63 is in alignment with a bore 45 or 46 in a stationary plate 42 and locks the casing 63 to the plate by entering this bore. This is only possible when the disc 37 has been set by the cam 32 so that a slot 53 or 54 in the disc is opposite one of the bores 45, 46. The screw 2 is now held against rotation and is lowered by the rotation of the sleeve 24 and, nut 7 until the roller 3 reaches the ground and raises the front road wheels off the ground. A collar 26 on the screw 2 now engages the top of the sleeve 24 and depresses the latter against the action of spring 21 until the clutch teeth 23 are disengaged and the sleeve is no longer driven from the worm-wheel. At the same time clutch teeth 17 on the worm-wheel are engaged by teeth 16 on a spring-loaded cap 60,slidably keyed on a shaft 15 geared to the roller 3 so that the latter is driven and traverses the front of the car in the desired direction. When the desired position has been reached the driver returns the cam-shaft 33 to its central position, the worm 11 is disengaged from the wormwheel 10, and the screw 2 and the worm-wheel are rotated in the reverse direction due to. the weight of the car acting on the roller 3. The roller and screw are then raised from the ground .by a spring 4 which also serves as the means to prevent the plate 42 from rotating. Spring catches 55 normally keep the plate 42 in its raised position. A holding pawl 36 engaging a ratchet-wheel 29 on the nut 7 prevents the latter from running back when the car weight is on the roller 3 ; this pawl is disengaged by the movement of the cam slide 30 when the roller is being raised again.