Improvements in Motor Road Vehicles.
Year: 1899

page_text: Improvements in Motor Road Vehicles.
I, GEORGES RICHARD, of 13, Rue Theophile Gautier, Paris, in the Republic of
France, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:
This invention relates to improvements in motor vehicles consisting in the
combination of the various parts which constitute the mechanism of the motor
vehicle.
The motor is suspended from the framework by means of the bolts, and trans-
mits its movement to a pulley by means of a belt; the tension of this belt is
obtained by means of a roller which serves not only to stretch the belt when this
atter has become more or less slack, but also to ensure that the belt shall be
wound to a greater extent upon the driving and driven pulleys and thus impart to
it greater adherence.
The pulley is rigidly connected with the shaft by means of a clutch arranged
within this pulley. By pressing upon the pedal by means of suitable connecting
parts, this pulley may be rendered loose and the connection which exists between
the motor and the wheels of the vehicle consequently disestablished.
The shaft before mentioned passes through a box or gear case which is com-
pletely closed and is provided with a system of four toothed wheels which are
displaceable longitudinally and which may be successively placed in engagement
with four other toothed wheels which are rigidly connected with the differential
mechanism and which drive directly the pinions from which the wheels of the
vehicle are driven by means of chains.
Within the gear case is mounted a 'large pinion, which, when the gear wheels
are in the neutral position, may be displaced and brought into engagement with
a small pinion and a toothed wheel; this latter becoming an intermediate pinion
reverses the direction of travel and causes the vehicle to move backwards.
double system of connecting rods and bell crank levers operated from the driver's
seat; enables the combination of the four gear wheels or backward travel to be
effected."
A
The arrangement is such that by acting upon a second pedal which effects the
actuation of a brake wound upon the drum, disengagement is at the same time
produced; the same is the case with the brake acting upon the wheel axles which
is operated by means of a hand lever.
The mechanism which serves to start the motor consists of a handle which
operates a train of bevel gear wheels the axis of which is opposite the shaft of the
motor and is provided with a ratchet. The axis of the motor is furnished with a
drum provided with three pawls. In the condition of repose, the pawls fall
naturally between the teeth of the ratchet but when the handle.is rotated the motor
is caused to rotate also; immediately an explosion is produced, the pawls being
acted upon by centrifugal force adhere to the walls of the drum, leaving the
077

page_text: ratchet, and consequently make no noise. As soon as the motor is stopped they
again engage with the ratchet.
Dated this 16th day of October 1899
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.
I, GEORGES RICHARD, of 13, Rue Theophile Gautier, Paris, in the Republic of
France, Mechanical 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 motor road vehicles, and in order
that my said invention may be readily understood and carried into effect I will
describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1, is a plan of the general arrangement of the mechanism of the vehicle.
Figure 2, is a vertical section.
Figure 3, is a vertical section, drawn to a larger scale, of the coupling
mechanism or clutch and also showing the mode of regulating the belt tightening
roller.
Figure 4, is a plan, partly in section, of the same parts.
Figure 5, is a transverse section of the coupling clutch.
Figures 6 and 7, are a horizontal and a vertical section respectively of the
starting mechanism.
The motor A is suspended from the framework by means of the bolts b, and
transmits its movement to a pulley P by means of a belt C; the tension of this
belt being obtained by means of a roller G which serves not only to stretch the
belt when this latter has become more or less slack, but also to ensure that the
belt shall be wound to a greater extent upon the driving and driven pulleys and
thus impart to it greater adherence.
The tightening pulley G is mounted upon a shaft D Figs. 2 & 3 carried in
arms E F pivoted at H K to the carriage frame.
The arms E are each composed of two screw-threaded rods having right and
left handed threads and which are connected together by means of a long screw
nut N.
By turning this nut in one or other direction the arms E formed by the rods
are either lengthened or shortened and thus compel the spindle of the pulley G to
swing on the pivot K of the arms F so as to loosen or tighten the belt as may be
required.
The pulley P is rigidly connected with the shaft a by means of a clutch
arranged within said pulley, (shewn more clearly in Figure 3). By pressing upon
the pedal p, the rod c, axis, connecting rode and the bell crank lever fare
operated, and thus the pulley may be rendered loose and the connection which
exists between the motor and the wheels of the vehicle consequently disestablished.
The spring clutch is disposed in the interior of the pulley P upon which the
belt C is mounted; this pulley which is loose upon the shaft a, contains the
following mechanism.
A drum N is fitted upon its periphery with a steel spring 0 decreasing in
thickness from its extremity R, engaged in the drum N, towards its free

page_text: extremity Q which is fitted with
leather band T.
beak U. The spring is further fitted with a
A lever pivoted at X at the interior of the drum N is designed to engage
with or leave free the extremity of the spring and the tail of this lever is
fitted with a roller Y against which a wedge Z Fig. 4 acts when operated by a
sleeve adapted to be slidden on the shaft a by means of a bell crank lever f
which latter is actuated by a rod e connected with the shaft d which in turn is
connected by means of the rod c with a shaft carrying the pedal p.
It will be clear that when pressing upon the pedal p the sleeve
slides upon
the shaft a towards the pulley P and causes the wedge Z to lift the roller Y
thus depressing the beak of the lever V which acts upon the beak U of the
spring and causes it to retreat into the interior so as to disengage the leather
band T and disengaging the coupling..
9
When freeing the pedal p the entire mechanism returns in the inverse direction
by the action of the spring O which spreads and applies the leather band T
against the internal periphery of the pulley P.
The shaft a passes through a box or gear case B which is completely closed
and is provided with a system of four toothed wheels g h i j which are displace-
able longitudinally and which may be successively placed in engagement with
four other toothed wheels k l m n which are rigidly connected with the
differential mechanism and which drive directly the pinions o from which the
wheels of the vehicle are driven by means of chains.
Within the gear case is mounted a large pinion r, which, when the gear wheels
are in the position represented in the drawing, that is to say the neutral position,
may be displaced and brought into engagement with the small pinion' and the
toothed wheel k; this latter becoming an intermediate pinion reverses the direc-
tion of travel and causes the vehicle to move backwards. A double system of
connecting rods and bell crank levers operated from the driver's seat, enables
the combination of the four gear wheels or backward travel to be effected.
The variation of speed is obtained by the aid of the displacement of the wheel
train hij along the shaft a so as to bring one of these wheels into gear with
corresponding wheels km or n of the differential shaft.
For this purpose a sleeve s is mounted upon the hollow shaft of the wheels
ghij and this sleeve is connected by a stud with a rod u operated by the
lever pivotted at which is connected by a rod to an arm y fast on the
tubular spindle operated by the driver of the vehicle.
The displacenient of the wheel r for reversing the vehicle is effected by an
analogous mechanism comprising a rod a lever pivotted at 2, a rod w³, an
army operated by another axis z¹ concentric with 2.
The mechanism represented in Figures 6 and 7 serving to start the motor
consists of a handle M (Fig. 1) adapted to operate a train of bevel gear wheels
the axis of which is opposite the shaft of the motor and is provided with a
ratchet . The axis of the motor is furnished with a drum provided with three
pawls c. In the condition of repose, the pawls fall naturally between the teeth
of the ratchet but when the handle is rotated the motor is caused to rotate also;
immediately an explosion is produced, the pawls being acted upon by centrifugal
force adhere to the walls of the drum, leaving the ratchet, and consequently make
no noise. As soon as the motor is stopped they again engage with the ratchet.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. In motor road vehicles the combination with a belt connecting the driving
and transmission pulleys, of a tension pulley (G) the displacement of which is
obtained in the manner explained for the purpose of tightening the belt and in-
creasing its adherence upon the pulleys, substantially as herein before described
and illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

page_text: 2. In motor road vehicles, a transmission pulley (P) provided internally with a
spring clutch the operation of which, by means of the foot of the driver, serves
to render the pulley loose with respect to the shaft, substantially as hereinbefore
described and illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
3. In motor road vehicles, speed-changing and rearward travel gear wheels,
adapted to operate in a closed gear case substantially as described and illustrated
by the accompanying drawings.
4. In motor road vehicles a starting device, comprising upon the shaft of the
motor, a box enclosing three pawls between which is arranged a ratchet carried
upon a shaft in connection with the starting handle, the rotation of said shaft
producing the rotation of the shaft of the motor owing to the engagement of one
at least of the pawls with the ratchet, whilst the normal rotation of the motor
causes, under the influence of centrifugal force, an excentric displacement of the
pawls which abandon the ratchet and no longer actuate the shaft provided with
the handle, substantially as described and illustrated by the accompanying
drawings.
in 541 1.
ST.... 1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.