Improvements in Steering and Braking Mechanism for Road Vehicles.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Feb., 1899-Accepted, 11th Mar., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Steering and Braking Mechanism for Road
Vehicles.
1, WILLIAM PECK, F.R A.S, F.R.S E., Astronomer to the City of Edinburgh
of City Observatory, Calton Hill, Edinburgh, North Britain, 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:-
My invention has for its object to provide simple and efficient means whereby
road vehicles can be steered and whereby the brakes can be applied to the
wheels in whatever position they may be brought by the steering device.
According to my invention I mount the wheels on short axles capable of being
turned relatively to a fixed axle by providing the said short axles with vertical
trunnions which are jointed to a fixed axle, or the like, so as to be capable of
turning in bearings at the ends of the said fixed axle, and I secure levers to
the said trunnions which levers are connected by a rod to which is secured one
arm of a bell-crank lever turning on a centre carried by the fixed axle the other
arm being connected to a rod extending to a handle, or the like, in a convenient
position to be actuated by the driver. The wheels are provided with brake
pulleys, the bands of which are acted upon by bell-crank levers carried by the
rod connecting the aforesaid levers of the steering mechanism, one of the arms
of the said bell-crank levels being connected to the bake straps, and the other
arms being connected by a chain which passes over a guide pulley carried by
the aforesaid rod connecting the levers of the steering mechanism, a chain,
connected with the first named chain, being carried to a place for convenient
operation by the driver, so that, by pulling the chain, the brake straps are applied
"I will describe with reference to the accompanying drawing an arrangement
according to my invention.
Figure is an elevation, Figure 2 a plan and Figure 3 an end view of
mechanism arranged according to my invention.
The wheels, (which may either be the front, or rear, wheels of the vehicle),
are carried on short axles B, provided with trunnions b, which are mounted in
bearings a, at the ends of the fixed axle A, so that the said short axles Bare
capable of being turned to various angles to the said fixed axle A Secured to
each of the trunnions b, is a lever C, these levers being connected with each
other by a rod 1) to which is also connected one arm of a bell-crank lever E,
centered, at e, to a bracket a², projecting from the fixed axle A, so that, when
the bell-crank lever E, is operated by the rod E2, the wheels move parallel to
each other at an angle necessary for steering the vehicle Attached to the hubs
of the wheels are the brake pulleys F the bands f round which are connected at
one end to the projections f³, secured to the armis C. the other ends of the said
bands being connected to the bell-crank levers H, centered to the point at which
the levers C are connected to the rod D. The chain h connects the other arms
of the bell-crank levers H, and passes over a guide pulley h³, secured at the
point e, so that by pulling the chain h, secured to the chain h, and thus moving
the chain h and bell-crank levers H as shewn in dotted lines in Figure 2, the

page_text: driver can apply the brake, whatever may be the position to which the steering
wheels have been brought by the driver moving the rod E2 towards, or away
from, him.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. In road vehicles with wheels which are turned relatively to a fixed axle,
or the like, for steering, the combination with the mechanism by which the
wheels are turned and with brake pulleys and straps, of brake-levers and operat-
ing devices which follow the motion of the steering wheels; substantially as
herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2. The arrangement and combination of parts constituting a combined steering
and braking mechanism substantially as herein before described and illustrated
in the accompanying drawings.
Datad 41 04h
Jafaham
1000
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincolns Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.