Improvements in the Suspension of Motors and the Transmission Gearing for Motor Road Vehicles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 5th July, 1897-Accepted, 7th Aug., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Suspension of Motors and the Transmission
Gearing for Motor Road Vehicles.
I, ALBERT AUGUSTUS POPE, of Cohasset, in the County of Norfolk, in the State
of Massachusetts, United States of America, Manufacturer, 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 relates in general to the construction of motor-vehicles of that
class which are intended for use as road-vehicles or horseless carriages and it
has for its object to improve and perfect the construction of such vehicles so
that they shall be better adapted for their intended use. The invention relates
more especially to the mode of support or suspension of the motor, with the object
of preventing the transmission of the vibrations set up by the operation of the motor
to that portion of the vehicle upon which the passengers are seated, and also to
prevent the motor from being affected in any way by the movements of that
portion of the vehicle upon which the passengers are seated or by variations in
the load; and to the construction and arrangement of the gearing for transmit-
ting power from the motor to the rear wheels of the vehicle, the object being to
take up the effect of the oscillations of the body of the vehicle, or of such portion
thereof as supports the motor, with respect to the wheels.
In the accompanying drawings, wherein the improvements are illustrated,
Figure 1 is a view, partly in elevation and partly in longitudinal section, of a
motor-vehicle, in which the motor is suspended in accordance with this invention.
Figure 2 is a plan view of the same with the carriage box or body removed.
Figure 3 is a partial side view, illustrating the form of transmission gearing
which it is preferred to interpose between the motor and the rear axle.
Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, it will be seen that the frame of the running
gear comprises, as usual, side bars a a and front and rear cross bars, a a², these bars
being preferably tubular in construction. The rear cross bar has depending
arms or hangers a³ which support the rear axle c2 and the front cross bar a
furnishes support for the front axle b. Between the two side bars a a extend usual
carriage springs at, which support the carriage box or body, and carriage
springs a, which support the motor platform y. The latter is free from the former
at all points and the two are thus supported independently of each other, whereby
the vibrations of the motor are prevented from being transmitted to the carriage
box or body and the motor is prevented from being affected in any manner by
the movements of the carriage box or body. It will be obvious that the springs a
are made stiff enough to ensure the proper action of the transmitting gearing
between the motor and the driving wheels.
With the form of transmitting gearing between the motor and the rear axle which
is shown in Figures 1 and 2, freedom for oscillation of the motor platform with
respect to the running gear can be secured only by making the chain ell some-
what slack, but this is undesirable, particularly on account of the very consider-
able amount of back-lash thereby occasioned. Moreover, as is well understood,

page_text: the chain is not a desirable form of transmitting gearing. For these reasons
1 prefer the transmitting gearing which is shown in detail in Figure 3. It will
be understood that in this Figure no attempt has been made to represent parts
in the exact relations which they assume in practice. A gear m on the motor
shaft meshes with a gear m' mounted on a shaft m², which is mounted to rotate
in suitable bearings on the motor platform. A gear m³ is driven with the gear m
and meshes with a gear m³ which is fast upon a shaft m¹. The latter is free to
rotate in suitable bearings carried by swinging arms m12 which are hung upon the
shaft m². From the shaft m11 motion is transmitted from the rear axle 12 by gears
represented by the gear wheels n, o, and such gears are maintained in proper rela-
tion by links m, which connect the shaft m¹ with the rear axle. It will be
readily understood that as the motor platform oscillates with respect to the running
gear, the gears carried by the shaft m, which is supported wholly by the arms and
links m2 m3, will always maintain their engagement with the respective gears
on the shaft m² and the rear axle, notwithstanding the changes of position of the
former with respect to the latter.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. In a motor-vehicle having a running gear frame comprising side bars and
front and rear cross bars, springs secured to said side bars a carriage body
supported upon said springs, a motor, and transmitting gearing, a motor
platform independent of said carriage body, and springs, independent of said first-
named springs, secured to said side bars and supporting said motor platform,
whereby the motor and the body of the vehicle are supported independently of
each other and the movements of one do not affect the other, substantially as shown
and described.
toi
2. In a motor-vehicle having a running gear frame comprising side bars and
front and rear cross bars, springs
secured
side bars, a carriage
body supported upon said springs and a motor, a motor platform
independent of said carriage body, and springs, independent of said
first-named springs, secured to said side bars and supporting said motor plat-
form, a gear carried with the motor on the motor platform, a driven gear carried
with the running gear, intermediate gears for transmitting motion from said first
named gear to said driven gear, and swinging arms to maintain said intermediate
gcars in engagement with the first-named gears, whereby said first-named gear
is permitted to move with the motor platform toward or away from said driven
gear, substantially as shown and described.
Dated the 5th day of July 1897
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
Chartered Patent Agent, London, For the Applicant.