Improved Means for Balancing Vehicles upon their Axles.
Year: 1896

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Balancing Vehicles upon their Axles.
THOMAS THOMAS & HENRY GAMBLE Agricultural Machinists Creaton
Northampton do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Load Adjuster, consisting of cast iron box fitted with cog wheel in centre for
rack to work upon bevelled wheel and worm wheel with coupling, connecting rod
and hand wheel fitted on the outside.
The box is fitted to the axle and the rack to the body of cart, so that the driver
can by turning the hand wheel at side adjust his load by moving either forward
or backward as desired.
1011 .
1000
THOMAS THOMAS.
HENRY GAMBLE.
We, THOMAS THOMAS and HENRY GAMBLE, both of Creaton in the County of
Northampton, Agricultural Machinists, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:
Our invention consists of improved means for balancing vehicles upon their
axles, the object intended being to provide means for readily adjusting the position
of the body of the vehicle forward or rearward of the axle or axles and thus prevent
undue strain upon the animal drawing the same or to evenly distribute the load
for any other purpose.
In carrying out our invention, we mount a box, preferably of cast iron, upon
the axle bed or tree, containing a pinion wheel, and we provide the sill of the
vehicle with a rack engaging with said pinion wheel, which on being rotated by
a worm wheel gear or in any other suitable manner causes the body of the vehicle
to be moved forwards or backwards, the point of centre of gravity being thus
changed in relation to the axle or axles.
The accompanying drawings illustrate a convenient method of carrying out our
invention,
Figure 1 being a side elevation,
Figure 2 a plan,
Figure 3 an end view, and
T

page_text: only those parts of the vehicle being shown which are necessary in order to explain
our present invention.
Upon each end of or at other convenient points upon the axle tree A is mounted
a box B, preferably of cast iron, and having bearings CC in which is mounted a
shaft D carrying a pinion wheel E keyed thereon. Said shaft D is continued from
one side of the vehicle to the pinion wheel of the duplicate apparatus upon the
other side, and carries at one end projecting from the vehicle a worm-gear cog
wheel controlled by a worin G mounted upon bracket H and turned by the
coupling J or any equivalent device..
The underside of the sill K of the vehicle carries a rack L so situated as to come
exactly over the pinion E and engage therein. The weight of the body of the
vehicle may be taken off the pinions E Eat each end of the axle tree, by
furnishing each of the side sills K with a pair of short lengths of angle iron M.M,
and the body may further be held in position on the axle tree by having the upper
edges of the box B overlapped or grooved as at N N, the projecting edges of the
angle iron M M being contained therein.
The coupling J carries a connecting rod 0, upon which may be fitted a hand
wheel or other suitable device, the driver of the vehicle thus being enabled to
adjust the position of his load in relation to the axle either forward or backward
by turning the hand wheel or equivalent at the side. It will be understood from
the foregoing that both sides of the vehicle will be operated by turning the hand
wheel or equivalent situated upon one side only.
We may vary the details of our hereinbefore described invention by substituting
other devices which are mere mechanical equivalents or we may alter the relative
positions of various parts of our apparatus, without departing from the spirit of
our invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:
1. For adjusting the position of the body of a vehicle upon its axle the employ-
ment of a pinion suitably mounted upon the axle tree and gearing into a rack
affixed to each of the sills of the vehicle combined with a hand actuated gear or
other equivalent means for turning said pinion and thus causing the body of the
vehicle to move forwardly or rearwardly of its axle as desired substantially in the
manner herein before described and as shown by the accompanying drawings.
2. The improved means for balancing vehicles upon their axles substantially as
herein before described and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 12th day of May 1897
STANLEY, POPPLEWELL & Co.,
7 & 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London,
Chartered Patent Agents, Agents for the Applicant.