Year: 1899

page_text: I, JOSEPH GREFFE, of 34, Rue Phillippe de Girard, Paris, France, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
-
This invention refers to autocars and is designed to supply a fore-carriage for
motor-cars and the like.
This fore-carriage serves as the traction and steering part of the car or
vehicle, to which it is connected only by a single bolt which passes through the
eye of a projecting perch on the vehicle.
It consists of a frame mounted on two wheels to which the mechanism is
fixed, also the seat of the conductor and the accumulator battery if the motive
force is electricity.
The connecting bolt is fixed to a cross bar at the centre of the frame of which
it forms the axis and the fore-carriage revolves around it.
The perch of the vehicle in addition to engaging with the bolt on the fore-
carriage, carries also a socket through which passes a vertical spindle on which
is a pinion having teeth which engage with a rack.
On the same spindle is keyed a chain wheel, operated by a hand wheel which
is placed conveniently for the driver, and by the aid of a vertical rod on which
the hand wheel is fastened, and a chain wheel also fixed on this rod, and two chain
wheels keyed on an axle placed in line with the connecting bolt, all of which
are connected by chains, the driver can steer the whole car.
If desired the steering can be effected from the seat of the back vehicle by a
wheel and chain gear and the necessary hand wheel and fittings, or it may be
effected by a guiding handle with suitable attachments. The fore-carriage when
employed with a hydro-carbon motor may have a reservoir for liquid placed
near the centre of its axle, and to this the guiding handle may be attached
which is operated by the occupant of the seat, of the vehicle behind.
Dated this 27th day of September 1899
S. S. BROMHEAD.
Agent for Applicant,
33, Cannon Street, London, E.C.
A Mechanical Traction Fore-carriage for motor-cars and like venicies.
I JOSEPH GREFFE,
of 34, Rue Philippe de Girard, Paris, France, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
[Price 8d.

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement :-
-
My present invention relates to improvements in motor-cars or similar
vehicles, the object being to provide an improved motor fore-carriage for such
vehicles, constructed, combined and arranged as fully described hereinafter and
specifically pointed out in the appended claims, reference being made to the
accompanying drawings, wherein
Fig.
:
is a plan view of a vehicle, provided with the improyed motor fore-
carriage actuated by electricity;
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the vehicle;
Fig. 3 is a plan view of another vehicle having a modified steering mechanism;
Fig. 4 is a side elevation of same.
Like letters refer to like parts throughout all the figures.
Referring to the drawings, A represents a frame mounted upon two wheels
and which supports the mechanism, a storage battery, the driver's seat etc. The
vehicle frame is pivotally secured to said frame A by means of a joint-bolt C,
passing through an eye in the beam J..
B is an arched rack secured at the rear part of the frame A; the centre of
said arched rack or sector coincides with the centre of the aforesaid joint-bolt
around which the fore-carriage may be moved. D represents the seat for the
driver said seat being secured on the frame A and moving with the latter.
E is a toothed pinion arranged between two flanges fitting over and under the
toothed sector B and preventing the oscillation of the fore-carriage without
hindering the other movements thereof. F is a sprocket-wheel keyed on the
shaft of pinion E; said pinions are made integral and actuated by means of the
hand-wheel G through the agency of chains extending around the sprocket-
wheels H, H, H", as clearly shown in the drawings. J is the beam of the
vehicle having an eye P; on said beam is formed, at L, a suitable socket
through which works the shaft of the pinions F, E.
The fore-carriage may be otherwise moved by means of the pinion M made
ntegral with the pinion E and adapted to be rotated by means of the hand-
wheel N, through the agency of a chain extending around a sprocket wheel h
as shown.
Whatever be the arrangement of the steering mechanism, the storage battery R
´s suspended under the axle-tree of the fore-carriage by means of cords, chains
or equivalents T, T, extending over winding drums V, VI, serving to raise and
lower the storage battery as required.
Another steering mechanism is shown in Figs. 3 & 4, representing the fore-
carriage as actuated by a petroleum motor, said steering mechanism differing
from the foregoing, in that (1) the sector A¹ is not toothed and is adapted to
freely slide between two rollers G; (2) a reservoir B is provided to contain
petroleum or any other suitable liquid, said reservoir serving at the same time to
secure the handle or steering bar C. The reservoir B is mounted upon the
axle-tree of the fore-carriage; (3) the handle or steering bar C
directly actuate the fore-carriage.
adapted to
In either case the fore-carriage is characterized by its sector or segment pro-
vided, or not, with teeth and moving about the joint bolt, said sector or segment
being guided in such a manner that it prevents longitudinal movement of the
fore-carriage without hindering transverse movements thereof. It is further
characterized by the peculiar arrangement requiring but a single bolt passing
through the eye of the vehicle-beam for ensuring the backward and forward
movements of the vehicle.
.
The advantages obtained by the new construction of fore-carriage, consists in
that the latter may be actuated by any desired motor, that the steering may be
effected from the seat of the fore-carriage as well as from the seat of the vehicle
proper, and that the longitudinal oscillations and vibrations are completely
avoided, whilst the fore-carriage and hind-carriage may be independently moved

page_text: in transverse directions, said carriage being jointed together by means of the bolt C
so that the improved arrangement avoids any deformation and provides a most
simple construction.
Furthermore the improved fore-carriage permits the application of any
desired winch for raising and lowering the storage battery (when an electric
motor is employed), and the utilization of the liquid reservoir for securing the
handle or steering bar (when a petroleum motor is employed).
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. The combination with the hind-carriage of a vehicle, a beam on said hind-
carriage, and an eye in said beam, of the fore-carriage, a pivotal bolt passing
through said eye and extending into the axle-tree of the fore-carriage, a seg-
ment at the rear-part of the frame of the latter, the centre of said segment
coinciding with the centre of the said pivotal-bolt, and suitable means for
engaging the periphery of said segment for the purpose of rotating the fore-
carriage, substantially as set forth."
2. The combination with the hind-carriage of a vehicle, a suit-
able forwardly projecting beam on said hind-carriage, and an сте
in said beam, of the fore-carriage, a pivotal bolt passing through
said eye and extending into a suitable part of the frame of the fore-
carriage, a toothed segment secured at the rear part of the fore-carriage the
centre of said segment coinciding with the centre of the said pivotal-bolt, a
toothed wheel journaled in a suitable part of the hind carriage and meshing with
said toothed sector, and means for actuating said toothed wheel from the seat
of the fore-carriage, substantially as set forth.
3. The combination with the hind-carriage of a vehicle, of the fore-carriage,
means for pivotally connecting the hind-carriage to the fore-carriage, a toothed
wheel journaled in a suitable part of the hind-carriage, and means for actuating
said wheel from the seat of the hind-carriage, substantially as and for the pur-
pose set forth.
4. The combination with the hind-carriage of a vehicle of the independent
fire-carriage, means for pivotally connecting the hind-carriage to the fore-
carriage, a storage battery arranged under the axle-tree of the latter, and suit-
able winches for raising and lowering said storage battery as required, sub-
stantially as set forth.
5. The combination with the hind-carriage of a vehicle, of the independent
fore-carriage, means for pivotally connecting the hind-carriage to the fore-
carriage, a suitable reservoir on the axle-tree of the latter, a handle or steering
bar secured in said reservoir and suitable connections between said bar and the
pivoting fore-carriage, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
6. The improved car construction arranged and combined substantially as
described and shown.
ԱՆՆԱ
JOSEPH GREFFE.
By his Agents,
Charles Bauer, Imrie & Co.,
The City Patent Office, 72, Cannon Street, London, E.C.