Patent GB-414287-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus facilitating the reversing of trailer vehicles having two wheels
IPC: B62D13/00
Filed: 1933-12-19
Abstract: 414,287. Steering trailer vehicles. HEKKING, A., 2, Rue de ChÚzy, Neuilly-sur- Seine, France. Dec. 19, 1933, No. 35764. Convention date, Dec. 19, 1932. [Class 79 (v).] Apparatus for facilitating the reversing of two-wheel trailers comprises a dial 27 mounted on the tractor and coupled to the steering wheel thereof so as to rotate therewith, and a pointer 26 movable over the dial under the control of a differential gear D having two operating members, one having movements corresponding to the actual deviations of the trailer relatively to the tractor and the other being actuated by a person on the trailer so as to indicate the desired deviations of the trailer. The pointer 26 is fixed to a shaft 37 having fixed thereto a sun pinion 36 of the differential gear. The other sun pinion 38 is fixed to a belt pulley 39 controlled by the person on the trailer, and the planet pinion 35 is carried by a crown wheel 34 driven through gearing 30, 31, 33 from a spring drum 28 having a cable 29 fixed to a part of the trailer so arranged that the deviations of the trailer cause corresponding movements of the cable. The movements of the trailer are indicated directly to the driver by means of a dial 44 fixed to a sleeve 43 loose on the shaft 37 and driven from the drum 28 through gears 41, 42. The dial 44 is preferably provided with a knob or cam which, when the trailer reaches a limiting position, either (1) completes the circuit of a warning lamp or signal, or (2) rocks an anchor which locks an escapement wheel fixed to the pulley 39 and thus prevents the person on the trailer from operating the pointer 26 except in the " straightening-up " direction. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 comprises also the following constructions. The movements of the trailer relatively to the tractor are indicated on the tractor by means of (1) a cable 21, Fig. 2 (Cancelled), fixed at 22 to the trailer and passing through a guide sheath 23 to a spring drum 20 on the tractor ; (2) a pinion on the tractor meshing with a gear wheel fixed to the trailer and having its centre on the pivotal connection between the trailer and tractor ; or (3) electrical devices which may comprise either lamps arranged in a circle on the tractor and lit up in turn as the trailer angle varies, or be electrically driven to show either the actual trailer angle or merely the direction in which the trailer has moved two lamps, either of which is lit to show merely the direction taken by the trailer, or an electrically-driven pointer which indicates the actual trailer angle. Any of the means indicating the trailer angle may be used to actuate the tractor steering gear, either by using an electric motor or a compressed air motor or by suitable transmission gearing. Reference is also made to indicating means comprising (a) streams of air bubbles in a coloured liquid circulated by a pump controlled by the trailer angle ; (b) a pointer operated either by changes in an electric current, or in a fluid pressure circuit ; and (c) an acoustic signal, the varying pitch of which indicates to the driver what operation is to be performed. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.