Patent GB-191413714-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to the Suspension of Vehicles.
Inventor: MERCIER HENRI
IPC: F16F9/02
Filed: 1914-06-05
Granted: 1915-07-05
Abstract: 13,714. Mercier, H. June 6, 1913, [Convention date]. Springs, arrangement of and mounting bodies and undercarriages on. - Relates to pneumatic piston - and - cylinder springs for vehicles of the kind in which the cylinder is in connexion with an additional airchamber, and in which the supply of air to the cylinder is controlled by a valve and by a leak so that the vehicle frame occupies a mean position for all loads. The invention consists mainly in arranging the valve so that it is closed when the cylinder is in connexion with the additional chamber. Fig. 1 shows the cylinder A<1> and the additional chamber A<2> formed in one casting connected, say, to the vehicle frame, the piston B' being mounted by means of a roller B<9> on a block C<1> carried by a lever C attached at one end by a link C<2>, say, to the end of the axle spring and at the other end pivotally connected with the boss A<6> on the casting. Air is admitted to the cylinder through a valve D<1> opened by the contact of the grooved rod D<2> with the projection B<10> on the piston, but normally closed by a spring D<3>. The cylinder connects with the chamber A<2> by a passage A<3> situated at such a distance below the top of piston stroke that, when the piston has moved downwards sufficiently to uncover the passage, it has also ceased to operate on the stem of the valve D'. The leaks A<4>, A<5>, when the piston passes below them, allow air to escape, and the passage of air through the leak A<4> is delayed, as shown in Fig. 2, by a piston 2 controlled by a spring 4 so as to cover a leak 3 until pushed back by the air passing through the leak A<4>. The main piston B is cushioned at the top of the stroke by the compression of air in the cylinder after the piston has passed the passage A<3>, the only escape for such air being through a small passage at B" leading to the chamber A<2>. The piston is cushioned at the bottom of its stroke by the trapping of atmospheric air entering the annular space B<12> by the passage B<8>. Lubricant is fed into the piston B from a supply 5 through an annular groove B<4> and small passages at B<5>, and is splashed by the piston. The leather packing B<2> is secured to the piston B by a screwed piece B', and is pressed against the wall of the cylinder A' by a split ring B' surrounded by a coiled ring B<6>. The Specification as open to inspection under Section 91 (3) (a) describes also (1) a shockabsorber in which the piston is long and a tube depends into it for the lubricant; (2) an accumulator tank arranged to feed the compressed air when the engines of the vehicle is stopped; (3) an arrangement comprising two shock-absorbers coupled by a transverse rod to facilitate the passage of a low car on oblique ground; (4) an inverted arrangement of the shock-absorber for vehicles having a high centre of gravity; (5) an arrangement of the shockabsorber wherein the lever C is pivoted to the axle of the wheel instead of to the frame; (6) a large - amplitude shock-absorber fitted to the front of a vehicle; (7) and the arrangement of the shock-absorber on touring cars, small and large lorries, and railway vehicles, in which last-mentioned case, a bell-crank lever is used to connect the shock - absorber to the leaf springs. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.