Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-09-30
neutrality-suspicious. on
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
iroblem OF stesring One Of Hardest
That Faced Earlier Designers
of Machines. "a
HOW SOLUTIONS ISL REACHED
Arms of Steering Knueklc Placed at
Angle to One Another, Amount Of
Angle Depending Upon Wheel
Base OF Car.
Copyright. 1917 by Frederick
Gucrrlisch.)

~ ~
Guerrlisch.)
The Front Axle.
one OF the hardest problems which
the earlier designers OF automobiles
nad to solve was that Of steering, and
,hus OF the design of the 1rott axle.
PREVIOUS to the automobile, all ve-
hiclcs were turned BY turning the en-
The front axle.:.tSGHJth Ain. .s.Rs .soiid
and cou'd turn. Sf;sfaVot dt5its -middic.
or what was termed n nftn wheel In
Zig. l | show this trpuetructton.r.y,
Imagine for Ihohshl tHaf ydd Mad
such an axle on Your auto, and that
while travelling tt3a fifteen 1o.Ttwenty-
mile rate. one Wheel -fGll into. - small
hoie or struck u. small obstruction In
strong enough Ito prevent the front
axle. the wheels OF which are nearly
two and u half feet from the pivot.
from turning? Or. IL tho design was
such that you could, what would hap
pen when the various parts Of the
steering apparatus became worn SO
that there was play" In them? l think
mat because of the innumcrable ir-
regularities OF the road. the car would
take a zig-zag course. Here. then. 10
one reason why the solid and turning
type of front axle Will not do.
What about steering such an axle?
What would you hay. to accomplish ?
Why. You would have to push ono
wheel forward 4 foot or VIC. depend
ms upon the radius Of the turn, and
pull the other back this amount. This
takes power. and the steering ap-
paratus would have to ne so designed
that 1t would be necessary, to, give
the hand wheel TWO or three complete
turns when going around the ordin,
airy curve. or It would require Il strong
man at the Hare. then is an
other reason why the sofia Axle (which
turns at It's middS, will not do.
solid axle is that the wheels aro.so
far away from their pivot. -o6vfous-
" then. the remedy would be to have
the wheels bf6dght h TO tho pivot.
which would be a thrco-wheel car. or
to bring the ptrot.out to the wheels.
which would give US a construction As
shown in Figure 9.
The three-wheel vehicle liz unstable
and will topple over too easil, to be
practical for an auto.
While constructing the front axle. as
shown in Figure 9, seems to solve the
problem, another serious problem is
brought into consideration By so con-
structing IT,. When a wheel Is travelling
in e. circle. 1t must always be tangent
to the circle. but. In the above case.
because the axle does not turn. as does
the solid axle, the wheels will have to
take the position shown In Figure 3.
Here. you will notice. that the inner
wheel (A) has had to be thrown more
than the outer wheel OBJ. the wheels
not being parallel. When turning in
the opposite direction B will have to be
thrown more han A. Hero la Il real
problem. and. 1t Is the writer's opinion
that failure to solve THIS was much OF
the reason for the auto not being de-
yelopcd sooner than II was.
Let VI see how this problem WIS
solved. "
Study for a moment the circle. Fig
ure =. Here l have laid of on the diam
eter equal distances 2. q. u. and have
drawn parallel lines up TO the circle.
Notice this. that at the top of the circle,
the ares r and S are nearly the same
become longer and longer AS they APP
proach the sides. Thus the arc ~ Is
much longer than L..
II, now. we have the. wheels A and
b, Figure 5, pivotcd at c and D and
moved by the arms r. and F, which
are connected by the rod G. Their when
the rod G Is moved TO the left a slight
amount, say equal to u. the end OF the
arm i; moving on the top Of the circle.
where the arc is nearly equal to Z. the
wheel a Will be thrown b.. slightly.
while 9TH end Of arm r moving toward
the side OF the circle where the arc.
are greater than " the wheel B will
be thrown much lower thar A. .fhe
wheels taking the position shown by
the dotted lines. This, you will OH
serve. will throw tho wheels as re-
auired when turning in one direefionSR
being thrown more than A. fftne rod
g ts moved toward the right, B will bs
thrown less than A. which will be
the, condition required whensaurutnx,
In the other direction. ~~a"e> HSf
,v Thus hav, this st, steering pTssRsfm y solved,
knuckles at an angle to"one another.
When they are placed in t., rear Of
the axle they point toward the center.
but when placed In front OF the xxle
(no~ seldom done) they point away
from the center.
The amount of the angle depends
upon the wheel base Of the car. and
Is such that lines drawn through them
would intersect in the middle of the
H$kAw1a 4aanaA O.