Improvements in the Suspension of Motors for Electric Cars.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Mar., 1896-Accepted, 16th May, 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Suspension of Motors for Electric Cars.
I, JAMES DEVONSHIRE, Secretary of The British Thomson-Houston, Limited,
of 38, Parliament Street, Westminster, London (a communication from abroad of
Norman C. Bassett, of Lynn, in the State of Massachusetts, United States of
America), 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 :-
My invention relates to motor suspensions for electric cars; and has for its
object to provide a suspension which shall be simple, cheap and easy of construction,
strong enough to sustain the motor readily, and which shall sustain substantially
the entire weight of the motor independent of its connection with the axle of the
truck. It is of course designed, as in all modern equipments of the class described,
to flexibly support the motor.
In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is an end elevation, with the truck-
frame side bars in section, and Fig. 2 is a plan of the motor suspended according to
my invention.
In Fig. 1, A, A are the side bars of the truck-frame, B, B the wheels, C the
axle, D the gear case, and E the motor; all of these parts are old and well
understood in the art. E¹ is the lid over the commutator, which is also a common
construction. Upon the front of the motor (by which I mean that part of it
farthest removed from the axle), are lugs J, I, preferably cast upon the motor
casing although they may be made in any other way. These lugs engage with a
bar or yoke passing along the front of the motor and having its ends spring
supported upon the side-bars of the truck-frame, which also, as is customary, are
spring-supported by the pedestals, which are of common construction.
The springs supporting the bar F are shown at G' and a plate or washer G
surmounts them, the whole being held together by studs G2. The ends of the
bar F are brought back into the approximate line of the armature shaft of the
motor. It is designed to thus bring the supporting ends of the bar back to
the plane of the center of gravity of the motor taken as a whole. Bolts H
provided with cotter-pins or any other locking mechanism secure the bar F to the
face of the motor, and in co-operation with the lugs I, sustain its weight.
It is of course within my invention to use other forms of spring than the one
indicated. In many cases a rubber block would be sufficient, or an elliptical
spring, or any other form giving a flexible mounting to the bar or yoke F of the
construction.
By the construction described the axle C is practically free to move independently
of the motor E, which tips about its armature shaft as a center, inasmuch as the
supports of the yoke F are practically in that line, substantially the entire weight"
of the motor being supported by the bar. The track also is relieved from hammer
blow either from the weight or the inertia of the motor.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me from
abroad, I declare that what I claim is :
1. A suspension for electric car motors comprising a truck-frame, a wheeled axle
mounted in the frame, a motor geared to the axle, and a support for the other end
of the motor consisting of a bar or yoke so bent as to be supported upon the
truck-frame at substantially the plane of the center of gravity of the motor.

page_text: 2. A suspension for electric car motors comprising a truck-frame, a wheeled axle
mounted in the frame, a motor sleeved upon and geared to the axle, and a spring
support for the other end of the motor, consisting of a bar or yoke bent so as to be
supported upon the truck-frame at substantially the plane of the center of gravity
of the motor.
3. A suspension for electric car motors, comprising a flexibly supported truck
frame, a wheeled axle mounted in the frame, a motor sleeved upon and geared to
the axle, and a spring support for the other end of the motor, consisting of a bar
or yoke bent so as to be supported by springs upon the truck frame at substantially
the plane of the center of gravity of the motor.
Dated this 17th day of March 1896
J. C. CHAPMAN,
70 Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.