Improvements in the Turning Mechanism of the Fore Part of Vehicles.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd July, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 1st Apr., 1890-Accepted, 3rd May, 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Turning Mechanism of the Fore Part of
Vehicles.
I, JOSEPH RETZBACH of Offenburg, in the Empire of Germany, Manufacturer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in the turning device of the fore part of
vehicles, more particularly of carriages, and has for its purpose to provide an easier,
cleaner and more economical means than similar contrivances hitherto known.
The improved device essentially consists of a bottom ring attached to the spring
frame and turned out or hollowed on its top surface so as to have space for
receiving corresponding balls either in its whole circumference or only at certain
places thereof. On said balls rests another ring hollowed correspondingly at the
bottom and so embracing the bottom ring as to leave some play. The upper ring.
is secured to the box of the vehicle and has a suitable number of orifices for supplying
oil to the balls, while the bottom ring may be provided on either side of the balls
with grooves for receiving any excess of oil from the top of the balls and conducting
it through orifices to the bottom thereof, thus effecting a clean and uniform lubrica-
tion of the whole device.
To obviate accumulation of oil at the upper ring the latter has on either side of
the mouths of its orifices sharp projections turned into it, which conduct the oil if
not direct to the balls, to the grooves referred to.
HUELSER & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Turning Mechanism of the Fore Part:of
Vehicles.
I JOSEPH RETZBACH of Offenburg in the Empire of Germany 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 :-
The turning device for vehicles forming the object of the present invention is
based on a ball-mechanism constituting its distinction from the slide- or plate-con-
trivances hitherto used for the same purpose.
In the annexed drawing
Fig. 1 is a top view,
Fig. 2 a vertical section along line v-w Fig. 1, of the improved device, and
Fig. 3 a cross section of the ball-mechanism proper, on an enlarged scale.
The turning device consists of the rings a and b of iron or steel. The lower
ring a is so hollowed or turned out at the top as to have space for receiving balls c,
which project upwards for about of their diameter. They are placed side by side
around the circumference and are introduced into or removed from a through an
aperture d, about 3 centimetres long and adapted to be closed with a corresponding
piece of metal by means of screws e or in any other convenient manner. (Figs. 1
and 3.)
Instead of hollowing the whole circumference of the lower ring a and filling the
same with balls side by side, a may be hollowed only at certain places, for instance
at 4, 6 or 8 places, and provided therein with one ball or a suitable number of
balls.

page_text: On the balls c is supported the upper ring b, which is so hollowed at the bottom as
to embrace about of the lower ring a leaving sufficient play.
The lubrication is effected through a small bore g in the upper ring b. In order
to prevent the oil from accumulating at the latter, two sharp edges are provided
respectively on the right and left of g, said edges repelling the oil, which, if it does
not reach direct the balls c, is received by the canal i turned into the lower ring,
whence it flows through a few apertures k to the balls.
The upper and lower halves a and b of the turning device are separately attached, the
lower one to the spring frame and the upper one to the box by means of a screw
device. The screws are parts of the ball ring, while the cross stays m m and n n n
appertain to the vehicle. They are made of wood by the respective carriage builder
and are shown in the drawing merely for the sake of clearness.
The following are the advantages of the ball turning device over the plate-devices
hitherto known.
While the plate devices with straight friction surface, when used the whole day,
often become dry by friction and require renewed lubrication, the improved ball
device is exempt from this drawback, as not a drop of lubricating material is lost,
but all the oil is led to the hollowed lower ring a and to the balls c owing to the
receiving contrivances provided. The oil in the event of congelation in winter
resumes its liquid state by the least use of the vehicle through the friction of the
balls, whereas, with the slide- or plate-turning mechanism, the oil when frozen, is
immediately pressed out to the right and left when using the vehicle.
The oil, in the new device, being protected from escaping is also prevented from
soiling the varnish of the vehicle, which results in considerable economy in sponge
and leathercloth for cleaning the latter.
The ball device requires cleaning and lubrication only a few times a year and
not a fow times a day like the slide- or plate-device. Owing to the extraordinary
mobility of the balls, the vehicle can be turned by a child, and horses therefore
need not use any force for turning and are consequently greatly spared.
The improved turning device is also easily applicable to old carriages or coaches.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The turning device for vehicles, consisting of the combination, with the balls c,
of the hollowed rings a and b, of iron or steel, the lower ring a embracing the
balls c about three-fourths of their diameter and being provided with an aperture d,
that may be locked, for introducing or removing balls c; further, with the canal i
and a few apertures k, the upper ring 6 in the other side embracing ring a about
three-fourths of its height and being provided with the lubrication-bore
repelling edges h on the right and left of g, substantially as and for the purpose
described.
Dated this 27th day of March 1800
9, and
JOSEPH RETZBACH.
By Huelser & Co.,
142, Fleet Street, London, Attorneys.