Improvements in and connected with Wheeled Vehicles.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd May, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Feb., 1896-Accepted, 22nd July. 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Wheeled Vehicles.
I, JONATHAN ALDOUS MAYS, of 1 Belsize Terrace, Hampstead, in the County of
London, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In vehicles as usually constructed hitherto, only two, three or four wheels have been
used, practice having shewn that owing to the great irregularity of the surface of
ordinary roads, and the less irregularity of rail or tramways, not more than three or
four out of a larger number of wheels bear upon the ground at the same time in
such a way as to sustain their due share of the load. Even where springs have been
inserted between the wheels and the vehicle but little advantage has arisen, as they
have usually been placed between the body of the vehicle and an axle common to two
wheels.
Now in this invention I increase the number of points of effective support of the
load, by the use of a larger number of wheels, and so connect them to the vehicle
as to ensure that each wheel shall in effect sustain in better proportion than hitherto
an equal share of the weight of the load.
In a vehicle according to my invention I use a larger number than four wheels, and
each wheel or group of wheels is so attached to the vehicle as to have a separate
spring or elastic connection therewith.
In some cases I connect the wheels to the vehicle in such a way as to interpose
a body of compressed air or gas, which serves as a resilient compressible elastic
medium, between the wheels and the vehicle.
Thus the wheels may be attached either separately or in groups, to pistons working
in cylinders containing compressed air, or instead of pistons working in cylinders
the wheels may be connected to frames which bear or press upon india-rubber bags
containing compressed air. The interiors of the cylinders or india-rubber bags, or
of some of thein may be connected with each other or with a common reservoir of
compressed air.
The air within the cylinders or reservoirs may be kept at any desired pressure by
means of air pumps, and such air pumps may be worked by means of motion derived
from the running of the vehicle.
Sometimes I control the pressure of the air by means of devices so operated that
adding to or diminishing the weight of the load has the effect of automatically
controlling the air pressure.
In cases where these improvements are applied to vehicles running on railways
or tramways, I sometimes employ a greater number than two rails as now ordinarily
used.
Think this 1.
1005
WILLIAM J. MUNDEN,
106 Priory Park Road, Kilburn, London, N.W...
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in and connected with Wheeled Vehicles.
I, JONATHAN ALDOUS MAYS of 1 Belsize Terrace, Hampstead, in the County of
London, Gentleman, 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 :—
In vehicles as usually constructed hitherto, only two, three, or four wheels have
been used, practice shewing that, owing to the great irregularity of the surface of
ordinary roads, and the less irregularity of rail or tramways, not more than three
or four out of a larger number of wheels bear upon the ground at the same time in
such a way as to sustain their due share of the load. Even where springs bave
been interposed between the wheels and the vehicle but little advantage has accrued
as they have usually been placed between the body of the vehicle, and an axle
*common to two wheels.
2
Now in this invention I increase the number of points of effective support of the
load by the use of a larger number of wheels and I so connect the wheels to the
vehicle as to ensure that each in effect sustains in better proportion than hitherto an
equal share of the weight of the load.
For this purpose I use a large number of wheels and I either attach the axle or
axles of each wheel or group of wheels to the vehicle by means of separate elastic
or resilient connections; or I insert an elastic or resilient connection between the
tread of each wheel and its axle.
·
In the accompanying drawings:
Fig. 1 is a plan, and
Fig. 2 is an elevation of a vehicle according to my invention.
Fig. 3 is an elevation of a vehicle having air cylinders.
Fig. 4 is an elevation of one of the cylinders and wheels.
Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of the same.
Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of an air chamber and diaphragm.
Fig. 7 is a transverse section of same.
Fig. 8 is an elevation of a modified form of vehicle.
Fig. 9 is a plan of the under side of same.
Fig. 10 is an end elevation of one of the trunks employed.
Fig. 11 is a diagrammatic view of a railway and vehicle.
Fig. 12 is a detail view of one of the wheels employed.
In Figs. 1 and 2 A designates the bed or floor of the vehicle and B the wheels,
twenty-four in number. The wheels in the back row, four in number, are attached
to the bed of the vehicle directly, there being two springs C to each wheel. These
four wheels are arranged in a line transverse to the line of progress of the vehicle.
The next four rows of wheels (each row consisting of four wheels) are not attached
"directly to the bed, but by similar springs to a plate c which is pivoted to the bed
at a point c¹ so as to form a castor. This arrangement allows each of the wheels
in these four rows to adjust itself to, and follow the path of the vehicle. In the
front row are four wheels, attached to an under carriage D which is pivoted at d
in the manner common to road carriages. This under-carriage D has shafts d'
attached to it in the usual manner, and the vehicle follows the horse by reason of
the front carriage turning on the pivot d the four intermediate rows of wheels
adjusting themselves by their castor arrangements, and the back wheels following
in the ordinary manner.
There are thus twenty-four wheels each of which is attached
independently to the bed or body by means of two light springs, and when either
of these wheels meets with an obstacle or irregularity in the surface of the road, it
is free to surmount it without raising or disturbing the bed of the vehicle to any

page_text: perceptible extent. In this way a steady and equable motion of the bed of the
vehicle is secured even when the wheels are running on uneven ground.
In the form of my invention shewn in Figs. 3, 4, and 5 the metallic springs are
dispensed with and air cushions substituted. A number of cylinders E are employed
and each of these is open at its lower end and has fitting in it in such manner as to
slide and turn freely a piston F, an airtight joint between the two being secured by
a spring ring f fitting in a groove in the outer surface of the piston. The front
and back of the lower end of the piston is cut away so as to leave portions fl which
are bored at their lower ends to receive a pin or axle f upon or with which the
wheel B rotates. The wheels may be arranged so as to form castors as shewn in
Figs. 1 and 2 or being free to turn in their cylinders may be moved in such manner
as to steer the vehicle by means of rods attached to arms 3 which form part of the
ends of the piston. The upper end of the cylinder E is filled with air under
sufficient pressure to support its due share of the total load of the vehicle and may
be connected by a tube e to another cylinder, or to a reservoir common to the whole
of the cylinders, or to any chosen number of the same. The air contained in the
cylinder E above the piston F is forced in under a suitable pressure and acts as a
spring which receives the thrust of the piston F when the wheel B rises over an
obstruction.
In place of cylinders and pistons the bed or body A of the vehicle may be made
hollow as shewn in Figs. 6 and 7 having a top plate a, a bottom plate a¹, and sides
which form an airtight chamber or chambers X. The bottom plate a' has a number
of openings a³ each of which is closed by an india-rubber or other flexible diaphragm G
this being secured in position by a flange or ring g which is screwed to the edge of
the opening a³. Through the wheel centre passes the pin/2 which has the two
ends of the fork h secured to it near its ends, and the fork is continued upwards
to form a mushroom shaped plate H which is in contact with the rubber diaphragın G
in such manner that when the chamber X is filled with air under pressure, the
diaphragm is forced downwards together with the fork and the wheel B; thus
supporting the weight of the bed or body A. Just in front of the opening a³ is
attached a bracket or pin i to which are pivotted the front ends of the links I, the
lower ends being attached in such manner as to turn freely on the pin or axle f" of
the wheel. These links therefore take all the strain of the wheel, while leaving it
free to rise and fall and accomodate itself to any motion of the diaphragm between
the extreme highest and lowest positions shewn in chain dotted lines in Figs. 6 and 7.
In Figs. 8, 9, and 10 is shewn a modification of the steering arrangements in which
any convenient number of wheels may be used as before, twenty-four being shewn.
The springs, cylinders, or diaphragms which support the weight are not attached to
the bed A, but to a number of under carriages or trunks K, each of which is pivoted
by a vertical pin k to the bed or body A. Each trunk has four wheels attached
to it, and the elastic connection may be made either by springs as shewn in Figs. 1 and 2,
by cylinders and pistons as shewn in Figs. 4, and 5, by forming the trunks K
hollow with diaphragms as shewn in Figs: 6 and 7 or by any other convenient
means, such for instance as shewn in Fig. 10 to be hereinafter described. Fixed
to the upper side of each of the trunks K is a sprocket or chain wheel L, the teeth
of which engage with the links of a chain or chains ; and the wheels L are of
such diameters that when the front trunk or under carriage is moved by the shafts d'
into the position shewn in chain dotted lines, each of the other trunks assumes the
position shewn in chain dotted lines, thus enabling the vehicle to turn round in a
small circle. Where air cushions are used the interiors of either the cylinders or the '
trunks may be connected by flexible tubes.
In Fig. 10 the air spring is formed by a bellows or
" concertina" P of rubber
or other suitable strong and flexible material which is interposed between the under
side of the trunk or under carriage K and a plate f which forms part of and is free
to rise and fall with the forks, upon or with the spindle f* of which the wheel B
rotates. Guides. are fixed rigidly to the trunks K and pass through holes in the
plate in such manuer that the latter can slide freely up and down, while it is
:

page_text: prevented from moving laterally. The bellows may be constructed in any convenient
manner.
Fig. 11 is a diagrammatic view of my invention as applied to a railway. Here
four parallel rails M are employed, and the vehicle has twenty-four wheels; the
difficulty of passing round curves is illustrated, and the necessity of attaching the
wheels to the vehicle in such manner as to allow them to slide laterally as well as
swivel. Fig. 12 shews a method of providing for this by allowing the wheel B to
slide laterally on the axle 2 so as to accomodate itself to the curve, though normally
it is retained in its central position by two helical springs b. A guard rail m may
be laid down at all curved portions of the line.
When an air chamber ✗ is used this may extend over the whole surface of the
vehicle, or may be divided into compartments, and each of these compartments may
enclose either a single cell or any preferred number of cells. In all cases a sufficient
air or gas pressure is produced in the interior of the chamber X, by means of an air
pump or equivalent device, to ensure that the total pressure upon the top of each
diaphragm is equal to the weight to be supported by its wheel. There is thus a
perfect spring or elastic connection between each wheel and the body of the vehicle
which leaves the wheel free to rise over obstructions without raising the body of
the vehicle; and when one air chamber includes several diaphragms the pressure.
is constant over them all at whatever height or depth any individual wheel may
reach. When one or more wheels are surmounting obstacles other wheels may be
descending from similar obstacles, consequently the tendency of a rising wheel to
increase the pressure in the air chamber will in general be counter-balanced by the
tendency of the descending wheels to diminish such pressure.
Where my invention is applied to vehicles propelled either by electric or other
motors these motors may be connected to all or any number of the wheels, or their
spindles, in any convenient manner.
The supply of air or gas to the air chamber X may be automatically_controlled
either by the load upon the vehicle, or by the pressure in the air chamber X.
Where the elastic or resilient connections are inserted between the treads of the
wheels and their axles, the axles may be attached rigidly either to the body or bed,
or to trunks, or castor plates; and the elastic connections may be either pneumatic
or other resilient tyres; wheels so constructed as to have resilient connections
between their rims and hubs; or pneumatic or other spring hubs.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A wheeled vehicle having a large number of wheels each of which is separately
and elastically connected with the body in such manner that each wheel is free to
rise over an obstruction without raising or disturbing the body of the vehicle, and
in which each wheel bears its due proportion of the load whether it is raised above
the level of the other wheels, or depressed below such level, substantially as described
and shewn.
2. A wheeled vehicle having a large number of wheels arranged and operating
substantially in the manner and for the purpose described and shewn.
3. In a wheeled vehicle having a large number of wheels, the use of air cylinders
and pistons, substantially as shewn and described with reference to Figs. 4 and 5.
4. In a wheeled vehicle having a large number of wheels the use of an air chamber
or chambers, and elastic diaphragms, substantially as described and shewn with
reference to Figs. 6 and 7.
5. In a wheeled vehicle having a large number of wheels, attaching the springs
which support the load to trunks, or undercarriages which swivel or oscillate on
pivots, such trunks being connected to each other by chains, rods, or the like, for.
the purpose of steering, substantially as shewn and described with reference to
Figs. 8 and 9.
6. In a wheeled vehicle having a large number of wheels intended to run upon

page_text: rails, arranging each wheel so as to enable it to be moved laterally upon or with its
axle, substantially as shewn and described with reference to Figs. 11 and 12.
7. In a vehicle as herein before described and claimed, and in which a chamber
or chambers containing compressed air are used, arranging the whole or any group
of the air chambers in such manner that they communicate freely with each other
or with a common reservoir, substantially as described.
8. A wheeled vehicle having a large number of wheels, the axles of which are
rigidly attached to the bed or body, and in which each wheel has an elastic or resilient
connection between the axle and the tread or that portion which comes into contact
with the ground, substantially as described.
Dated this 22nd day of February 1896.
WILLIAM J. MUNDEN,
106 Priory Park Road, Kilburn, London, N.W.,
Agent for the Applicant.