Improvements in and relating to the Cars of Motor-driven Road Vehicles.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd July, 1895-Accepted, 12th Oct., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to the Cars of Motor-driven Road
Vehicles.
I, WILHELM LORENZ, Kriegstrasse 57, of Karlsruhe, in the Grand Duchy of
Baden, German Empire, Engineer and Counsellor of Commerce, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention refers to cars carrying portable motors; my improvements in
cars of said sort relate to constructing the frame, axles and kindred parts in such
a manner, that the centre of gravity of the whole car with the motor is displaced
when the car moves in a curve, the displacement occurring, as a matter of course,
in the direction to the inside of the curve, and the degree of displacement being in
correspondence to the radius of that curve.
Referring to Figs. 1-3 of the accompanying drawing, a designates the front-
wheels of the car and the axles of the same; each axle is made integrally with
a vertical spindle having at its lower end a screw-threaded portion 62. Said.
portion takes into a box c² having a corresponding inner thread. The two boxes
thus existing are firmly connected by a cross-beam c¹; the latter is connected with
the rear cross-beam (not shown) by longitudinal beams c.
e,
The upper portions of the spindles bare formed into bearings 63 for the
springs d, which in their turn carry bearing-plates d³ for the short spindles each
of said plates has an arm d², which is connected with a forked lever f¹ by a
rod f. This lever is fixed to the lower end of a spindle f carrying on its top the
hand-lever 9.
The car proper h is supported by the angular pieces i, which rest upon the
plates d³, and form the bearings for the short spindles e afore mentioned.
It is from the above to be seen, that the horizontal position of the front
cross-beam c' with regard to the car proper h cannot be altered. If, therefore, the
car is to move in a curve, the wheels themselves must be turned around a vertical
axis i.e. around and together with the spindles b¹²; this is performed from the
hand-lever g by the mediation of the spindle f, the forked lever f', the connecting-
rods f, the lever arins d, the bearing-plates d³, the springs d, and the bearings b³..
There are thus turned not the wheels only, but the springs too, so that the angles
made between the wheels and the car may be comparatively great, for instance up
to 70-80°.
The screw-threads of the portions 2 of the two spindles 6' are not both right-
handed, or both left-handed, but one is right-handed, and the other is left-handed;
one of the boxes c³ will, therefore, be lowered, and the other raised when the car
moves in a curve, or when the spindles are turned in said boxes respectively.
The cross-beam c¹ will therefore assume an inclined position, as will also the more
or less heavy parts (for instance the motor) carried by it, and the position of the
centre of gravity will in consequence thereof be altered i.e. displaced sidewards in
a horizontal or nearly horizontal line.
The angular position of the spindles with regard to the cross-beam c¹ cannot,
as a matter of course, be altered, because the boxes c² do not allow of any lateral
motion of said spindles. It results therefrom, that, if the cross-beam c has been
brought to an inclined position by the co-operation of the threaded portions b³ of
the spindles and the boxes c², that inclination will be imparted to the wheels a,
too, and the position of the centre of gravity will thus still more be altered,.
i.e. displaced to the inside of the curve.

page_text: The springs d need not indispensably be arranged so as to turn together with
the wheels (although this arrangement is preferred on account of its permitting the
description of curves of a very short, radius), but may remain stationary, or be
immovably fixed to the frame of the car. I have represented two of such
constructions in Figs. 4 & 5 of the drawing, in which the spindle 2 is combined
not with the axle for the wheel, but with the cross-beam cl, whereas said axle
is combined with the box. c. The lever-arms (such, as d² in Figs. 1 & 3.) for
turning the wheels are, as a matter of course, in these two forms of construction
(Figs. 4 & 5) fixed to the boxes c².
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that
what I claim is:
1. In a car for a portable motor, the combination with the frame of the car, of
boxes having inner screw-threads, and being secured to said, frame, and of corre-
spondingly screw-threaded vertical spindles carrying the axles for the wheels of
said car, and being encompassed by said boxes; means for turning said spindles,
for the purpose as described.
2. In a car for a portable motor, the combination with the frame of the car, of
screw-threaded vertical spindles secured to said frame, and of boxes carrying the
axles for the wheels of said car, and encompassing said spindles; means for turning
said boxes, for the purpose as described.
OTA IN ZA
WILHELM LORENZ,
By Cassell & Co.,
'
22 Glasshouse Street, Regent Street, London,
Agents for the Applicant.