Patent GB-190303659-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to Pneumatic Supporting Arrangements for Carriages, Motor Cars and other Wheeled Vehicles.
Inventor: GOODWIN ARNOLD
Filed: 1903-02-16
Granted: 1904-02-16
Abstract: 3659. Goodwin, A. Feb. 16. Springs, bearing; undercarriages; vibration, preventing.-The underframes of the bodies of carriages, carts, vans, and other vehicles are supported by the piston-rods or plungers of compressed-air or vacuum cylinders, to or from which air is pumped by pumps operated by cams on the hubs of the wheels, or by the axles, or by the shafts of the propelling-motors. Fig. 1 shows part of a road vehicle with a four-cylinder pump 11, in which trunk pistons, operated by eccentrics on a shaft 14 driven by a belt connecting it to a pulley on the rear axle, compress the air and force it through flexible pipes 10 to the cylinders 1. The pistonrods or plungers of thecylinders 1 are connected by pins 6<a> to brackets 6 on the underframing. The upper parts of the cylinders 1 form air cushions or dash-pots for the pistons, and vent holes in the sides of the cylinders 1 prevent the pistons from rising too high. Fig. 8 shows a construction in which the pump 11 is fixed to the cylinder 1, and the spring plunger 21 is operated by a two-throw cam 19 on the hub of the wheel 20. An arrangement by which the stroke of the pump is varied according to the height of the piston in the air cylinder 1 is shown in Fig. 9. The pump 11 is operated by the crank-disc 28 by means of a block 22 in a curved link 23 pivoted at 26 to a bar 27, which is pivoted at 24 and suspended by a link 30. As the underframing 7 descends, the lever 27 pulls down the link 23, and increases the stroke of the block 22. In another form, the cam 33, Fig. 10, is prevented from operating the pump plunger 21 by the link 30, which, as the underframing 7 rises, draws the lever 31 partly out of contact with the cam 33. To allow the underframing to move slightly relatively to the air cylinders, the pistonrods may be connected to the underframing, as shown in Fig. 12, by links 34 and brackets 6<b>. In the arrangement shown in Fig. 13, the air cylinders 1 are hung on the ends of levers 36 pivoted at 37 to the underframing or undercarriage, and resting on the axles 2. Two sets of air cylinders may be used, one set 1, Fig. 14, supporting the underframe 7 of a motor or other vehicle, the other set 1<a> supporting the body 7<b>. The cylinders 1 are hung to the axles 2, as shown, and are connected by a tie-rod 41, and the fore part of the body 7<b> is hung by swing links 42. To enable the pumps to be operated intermittently and only when the nnderframing descends to a predetermined extent, a hit-and-miss device 43<a>, Fig. 15, is connected to the underframing by a link 47, so that, as the body rises, the lever 43<a>, which is reciprocated by the cam 45 on the axle 2, fails to hit the plunger 12 of the pump 11, and the pumping ceases. If vacuum cylinders, shown in Fig. 17, are used, they are connected by flexible pipes 49 to a vessel from which the air is pumped by a motor-driven pump. If the load falls below the normal, the end of the aperture 55 in the piston-rod 5 rises above the gland 56, so that the vacuum is partly destroyed. The rod of the pump shown in Fig. 9 may, according to the Provisional Specification, be connected to the underframing so that the sliding block will normally be at the centre of motion of the link, and the pump will then be out of action.