Improvements in and connected with Steering Gear for Motor-cars.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Nov., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Aug., 1897-Accepted, 9th Oct., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Steering Gear for Motor-cars.
We, EUGENIO PELLAS, of Broad Street Avenue, in tho City of London,
Gentleman, and SALVATORE FOSSATI, of 6, Blue Cross Street, Leicester Square,
in the County of London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in and connected with steering gear
for motor-cars or self-propelled vehicles for common roads and has for its object
to provide simple and efficient differential gear whereby the wheels on the driving
axle of a car can be caused to rotate at different speeds for the purposes of
steering.
According to our invention we mount loosely upon the main or driving shaft
of the motor car, chain wheels or pulleys by which the motion of the said shaft
is to be transmitted to the driving wheels of the car and in connection with the
said chain wheels or pulleys we provide clutches which normally key the said
chain wheels or pulleys upon the main or driving shaft. In connection with
the lever or handle, whereby the driver of the car steers the front wheels of the
car wo provide means by which one or other (according to whether the car is
steered to the right or to the left) of the chain wheels or pulleys on the driving shaft
is more or less disengaged from the said shaft.
In carrying out our invention wo advantageously employ clutches each consisting
of a disc rigidly secured to the chain wheel or pulley and having an annular hole
or recess tapering inwards and designed to receive an annular plug tapered to
correspond with the annular hole or recess in the disc, in which hole it is normally
held by a suitable spring mounted on the driving shaft. This plug is provided
with a sleeve which is keyed to the main or driving shaft but can be moved along
the shaft axially by means of a lever. By turning the steering handle a link
or lever in connection with the same comes in contact with one or other of the
levers operating the clutches according to the direction in which the car is to be
steered so as to pull the conical plug in connection with the said lever out of its conical
recess to an extent corresponding with the extent to which the steering handle
turns the front or steering wheels of the car.
By this construction of gear it will be obvious that the smaller the radius of
curvature of the curve which the car is required to execute the freer is the driving
wheel of the car on the inside of the curve to rotate at a slower speed than the
outside wheel, that is to say, the smaller the radius of curvature the less is the
friction between the plug and disc of the friction clutch.
It will also be obvious that with the above described arrangement of friction
clutch there is no thrust of the shaft against its bearings when the cone is
caused to engage with the disc.
In some cases instead of providing the chain wheel with a separate recessed
disc we form the chain wheel with a hole or recess in which a sleeve on the
driving shaft engages and we so pivot or arrange the teeth of the sprocket or

page_text: chain wheel that when the sleeve on the driving shaft is pulled out of the hole
by the steering mechanism the said teeth drop out of engagement with the driving
chain.
Dated this 21st day of November 1896.
G. 1. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements in and connected with Steering Gear for Motor-cars.
We, EUGENIO PELLAS, of Broad Street Avenue, in the City of London,
Gentleman, and SALVATORE FOSSATI, of 6, Blue Cross Street, Leicester Square,
in the County of London, Engineer, 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 to improvements in and connected with steering gear
for motor-cars or self-propelled vehicles for common roads and has for its object
to provide simple and efficient differential gear whereby the wheels on the driving
axle of a car can be caused to rotate at different speeds for the purposes of
steering.
According to our invention we mount loosely upon the main or driving shaft
of the motor-car, chain wheels or pulleys by which the motion of the said shaft
is to be transmitted to the driving wheels of the car and in connection with tho
said chain wheels or pulleys we provide clutches which normally key the said
chain wheels or pulleys upon the main or driving shaft. In connection with
the lever or handle, whereby the driver of the car steers the front wheels of the
car we provide means by which one or other (according to whether the car is
steered to the right or to the left) of the chain wheels or pulleys on the driving shaft
is more or less disengaged from the said shaft.
In carrying out our invention we advantageously employ clutches each consisting
of a disc rigidly secured to the chain wheel or pulley and having an annular hole
or recess tapering inwards and designed to receive an annular plug tapered to
correspond with the annular hole or recess in the disc, in which hole it is normally
held by a suitable spring mounted on the driving shaft. This plug is provided
with a sleeve which is keyed to the main or driving shaft but can he moved along
the shaft axially by means of a lever. By turning the steering handle a rod
in connection therewith comes in contact with one or other of the
levers operating the clutches according to the direction in which the car is to be
steered so as to pull the conical plug in connection with the said lever out of its conical
recess to an extent corresponding with the extent to which the steering handle
turns the front or steering wheels of the car.
In conjunction with the clutch gear hereinbefore described we also provide a
lover having contact bars whoreby the clutches can be simultaneously disengaged
from the chain wheels.
To enable our invention to be fully understood we will describe it by reference
to the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a motor-car having our steering gear
applied therato:
Figure 2 is a plan of the same showing it applied to the vehicle the steering
wheels being shewn in a different position.
a, a are the front wheels of the car, the said wheels being mounted upon tho
axle b and c, c are the rear wheels of the car, the said wheels being mounted

page_text: apon the axle d. e is the motor mounted upon the driving shaft f rotatably
supported in the frame of the car and g, g are the chain wheels mounted loosely
upon the said shaft f, the said chain wheels being adapted to drive through the
medium of the chains h, h the chain wheels i, i connected to the rear wheels c, o
of the car. j, j are the discs attached to the chain wheels g g; k, k are the
annular tapered holes formed in the said discs, and I, are the annular tapered
plugs or cones normally pressed into the annular recesses k in the discs by
means of the springs on the shaft f. m, m are the sleeves upon which the
plugs, are fixed, the said sleeves being keyed upon the shaft f in such a
mauner that they rotate with the said shaft but can slide longitudinally thereon.
n, n are the levers which are pivoted at o, o to the frame of the vehicle and which
engage with their short forked ends n' with grooves in the sleeves m, m. p is
the steering handle the said handle being secured to an upright hollow rod q having
at its lower end an arm provided with a vertical rod or bar a so that by rotating
the steoring handle p to the right or the left hand as shown in Figure 2 the said
handle, besides turning the front wheels a, a in the usual manner, also turns
the arm whereby the rod s comes in contact with one or the other of the
levers so as to turn it on its pivot o and cause it to pull the plug in connection
therewith out of its conical recess k to an extent corresponding with the extent
to which the steering handle turus the front or steering wheels a of the car.
By these means it will be obvious that the rear wheels can adjust their relative
speeds to the curve along which they are running.
9
t, t are the bars which are adapted to make contact simultaneously with the
levers n, n so as to simultaneously disengage the cones I from the chain wheels g,
the said bars being mounted upon the outer ends of an arm fixed to the lower
end of a rode which passes up through the hollow upright rod 9 and is provided
at its upper end with a handle 10.
By this construction of gear it will be obvious that the smaller the radius of
curvature of the curve whichi the car is required to execute the freer is the driving
wheel of the car on the inside of the curve to rotate at a slower speed than the
outside wheel, that is to say, the smaller the radius of curvature the less is the
friction between the plug and disc of the friction clutch.
It will also be obvious that with the above described arrangement of friction
clutch there is no thrust of the shaft f against its bearings when the cones I, I
are caused to engage with the discs j, j.
In some cases instead of providing the chain wheals g, y with separate recessed
discs we form them with holes or recesses in which sleeves on the driving shaft
engage and we so pivot or arrange the teeth of the sprocket or chain wheels
that when the sleeves on the driving shaft are pulled out of the holes by tho
steering mechanism the mid teeth drop out of engagement with the driving
chains.
Although in the drawings we have shewn our steering gear in combination
with the gear for simultaneously disengaging the chain wheels from the shaft (,
it will be obvious that the latter can be dispensed with if desired. The said gear,
however, is of great utility in practice as it enables the chain wheels to be
gradually clutched thus avoiding the jerking which would otherwise take placa
on the starting of the car.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:
1. In motor-cars or self-propelled vehicles actuating each of the driving wheels
from a separate chain wheel loosely mounted upon the driving shaft but normally
keyed thereto by a clutch operated by the steering lever of tho car through the
medium of suitable mechanism substantially as, and for the purpose hereinbefore
described.
2. In motor-ears or self-propelled vehicles of the kind described in Claim 1

page_text: the employment for operating the clutches, of levers connected at one end to the
cones of the clutches, which cones are normally held in engagement with the
chain wheels by springs, and of a rod on an arm controlled by the steering
handle which when turned comes in contact with the free end of one or other of
the clutch levers so as to operate the corresponding clutch substantially as hercin-
before described and illustrated.
3. The combination with steering gear for motor-cars and self-propelled vehicles
of the kind described in Claim 1 of bars operated from a handle for simultaneously
disengaging the chain wheels from the driving shaft, substantially as herein before
described and illustrated.
4. The improved steering and disengaging gear herein before described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 23rd day of August 1897.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.