CA1293695C - Automotive vehicle - Google Patents

Automotive vehicle

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Publication number
CA1293695C
CA1293695C CA000547149A CA547149A CA1293695C CA 1293695 C CA1293695 C CA 1293695C CA 000547149 A CA000547149 A CA 000547149A CA 547149 A CA547149 A CA 547149A CA 1293695 C CA1293695 C CA 1293695C
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CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
frame
steering
wheels
vehicle
wheel
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
CA000547149A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Silvio Marino
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Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Priority to CA000547149A priority Critical patent/CA1293695C/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1293695C publication Critical patent/CA1293695C/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Abstract

ABSTRACT
An automotive vehicle with a rhomboidal configuration comprises a chassis, a central driving system, trapezoidal suspensions for the central wheels, and L-shaped floating arm type suspensions for the front and rear wheels. All four wheels are driving wheels, the front and rear wheels both being steered by a single gearbox.

Description

;~

The ir)~Rntiorl rela-t.es to ~`our-wheel~d automotive vehicles in whicl~ the f~r whe.3ls have ~ quadrilateral configura-tiorl~
hour-wlleele~ automotive ~el~icles are known in which the wheels f~rm a s~are .lngled ~uadrilateral at the ends of the two front a~ld rear ~heel a~les~ They are usually provided with fronl; steel~in~ wheels.
This solution, in which th~ four whee:l~; have a square quadrilateral con~`iguratioll, has probably reached its optimisation as far as perorlnance i5 concerned and no further significant i~nprovemen~s or better roadabilitr can prvba~ly be achieved.
1'~le inventiorl has the aim to c~btain improvement by positior~ g the ~our wtteels in a rhvmboidal corlfi~ulation.
This onf~uratiorl enormously increases t,he roadability of the.se vehic:l.es especialLy in curves. ~hereas in a quadrilateral configuratiorl, the vehicle is only acting ~n the two external wheel~, in a rhomboidaL wheel configuration, road resistance is supported at least by three wheel 5 .
An automotive ~ehicle ha~ing a r~lvmboidal wheel configuration was already pr~posed as far bsck as 191~, but resu:L-t~ wer~ unsatisfactory because o-f numerous ~rawhacks.
First of all, the centre ~ gravity of the vetlicle was not centralized 50 th~t di~erential forces were act:ing on the wheels. A secorld disadvarltage was that only t~le front wheel was. SteeriTlg, wh.i.ch easi]y ]ed to skidding in cur~es and also involved heavy wear vn the tixes.
1n addition, there was the fact that ~nly the central wheeLs were dri~irtg, .si~lce ~t th~t -time intsgral four whee~

3 2!:t3~15 dri~re for private ~n~ raee cars was still ullknowll. A
similar car was introduced in 1960~ but with i~,S wheels in Y-con~`iguration.
'l'his car als~ was no ~`urtller improvement; since i-t had almost the same cl.isad~arlta~e as its ancestor Substantially the au-tomotive vehicle according to this invention seek.s to eliminat~ t~e above mentioned dr~w~ cks wh.ile o~':t`eri.ng several struct~lral and functiorlal advanta~es, tLlU~ maki.ng l,he adoption of the rhomboidal wheel confi~uration highly attractive.
With a ~iew to achievin~ the foregoirl~ objectives the inventiorl comprises an au-tomot,ive vehicle having one single chassis or bearing frame with the centre o-f ~ravity of the car substantially locat~d in the centre o~ the frame, self-aligning trapezoi~lal suspensiorl of the central wheels, L-shape~l floating arm suspensions on the front and rear wheels, all four wheel.s bein~ d~iving wheels, front and xear wheels steering vn articulated joints mounted on L-shaped ~`loating suspensiorls, and a steerin~ gear-box consisting of a rack and Uinion gear, with external conrlection to the ~`ront ancl back wheels i.e. in opposite position with respect to connection to the dr.ive sha~t.
The various 1`eatures of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with more particularity in the claims anrlexed to and formirlg a part of this disclosure. For a ~etter understandin~ of the invsntion, its operating advanta~es and specii'ic ob,jects attained by i-ts use~ reference shou:ld ~e had to the accompanyin~
drawings arld descrlpti~e matter in which there are illustrated and described pre~erred embodiments of the ~2~3695 .in~ent iC'I'~ .
r N T~h_~R~WIN~`:S
~ ure 1 5hows a perspective ~iew o~ the vehicle :trame or ~hassis wil;h t~le ~Jhe~.ls mounted i~l rhomboidal configuration;
Figures 2 and 3 respecti.~ely show front an~l rear views of the assembly illustrated in Fi~.1;
E'.igures 4 and 5 illustr~te the steering gear actirlg contemporan~ousl.y on the front and rear wheels;
E'igure 6 is a perspective ~iew of the steerin~ gear housing;
Fig. 7 is a perspecti~e ~iew o~ the h-shaped floating arm of the castor wheels, and, E'ig. 8 is a side view of the ~astening and steerin~
mechànisms for the front wheel.
WitE~ re~erence to these illustrations, the vehicle fra~e or chassis 1 ~las a rhomboid configuration, on which central wheels 2 and 3 and front and rear steerin~ wheels 4 and 5 are mounted. The central whe~ls 2 and 3 are supported alon~ a centre axis 6 ~y self-ali~ning trapezoidal suspensions '7. The front and re~r wheels 4 and 5 are sllpported alon~ a hori~ontal axis by L-shaped ~loatin~ arm type suspensions 8 fitted with a vertical pin ~ providing for steering of the wheels 4 and 5. The engine 10 is located itl the central part o~ the chassis so that t;he center of gravity is located as centrally as possible with respec-t to the rhombus ~ormed by the chassis and by the wheels 2~ 3, 4 and 5.
E'i.gures 4 and ~ show ~hat t,he ~ront and rear wheels 4 and 5 are castori.tlg in opposite directiotls. A steering .,~ .

12~3695 whe~l ll, operates throu~h steering column 1~ and double joint 1~ on drive case 14~ ~rive case 14 controls wheels 4 and 5 -through rods 1~ and 16 connected br ball and socket joints 17.
Ball and socket joints 1'7 are linke~ up to the out~r end of a r~tating rod 18, fastened on the outside of the wheel on the opposite side with respect to the steering pin 9.
Figures ~ ancl 5 respectively show le-~ and ri.~ht st~ering.
~ rive case 14 houses a pinion 19 and two oppos~d rack.s 20. and 21, respecti.vely connected to steering ontrol rods 15 and 16 as ~hown in E'ig. 6. '~'he pinion 19 is driven ~y the steering wheel 11, through steerirlg colu~n 12 arrd dc>uble joint 13.
l'h.is soluti.on permits at the same time steerin~ of both wheels in opposite directions around pins ~. l'he floating arm 8 of wheels 4 and 5 is sho~n in greater detai~
in Fig. 7. Floating arm 8 is L-shaped and has at on~ end articulation bearin~s ~2 on a hori20ntal axis hin~ed on chassi.s 1. On its otllel elld holes 23 Ot) a v~rtical axis accommo(late the steering pin 9.
Arly and all movements of floating arm 8 due to unevensss of the road are compensated by a large-sized spring 24 and dampex 25, located between the arm 8 and a fixed point 26 o-f the bearin~ ~rame or chassis.
The rnechanical transmissioll systems 27, 28, 29 are mounted on bearings 30 and transmit the drive ~rom ~he engine to the wheels 4 and 5. Centr~ wheels ~ and 3 are al50 dri.ven by drive transmissiorl means ~not shown) of any 12~3695 ~suita~Le desi~n~
~ 'ig ~1 sh~ws t}le arrang~men-t oP t~e steering wheels 4. and ~ on their supporting floating arms 8~ A support ~1 is .Linked l~p to float.ing arm 8 Ly means of two knuckl~
joints 9a, usually secured by two pins. Support 31 supports the driving shaft 34~ complete with bearings 32 and register 33 t and is actuated through universal joint 35, by -the driving shaft 29. A br~ke disk 36 and a ~lan~e 3'~
fastened with holts 3~ on to the whee~ rlm 4 are mounted on the drive shaft 3~ A second flange 39 is secured with the sam~ bolts .38 on the outer surface of the rim of wheeL 4.
This second flan~e .3~ carries a steering rod 18, one end of which i5 fitted usually with a double-ball and socket jolnt 17, complete with bearing ~, k~pt in pl&ce by a bolt 41.
Bearirlg 40 permit.s connectiorl of the re~olving rod 18 to the non-rotating steering rods t5 and 16.
The syste,m described above can also be suitably applied to toys and in particular to car models, now used to reproduce on a small scale the cons-truction particulars and functions of series built automotive vehicles and race cars.
Having des~ri~ed what is believed to ~e the ~est mode b~ which the invention may be performed, it will be seen that the invention may be particularly defined as follows:
An automotive vehicle comprising a frame having a longitudinal. axis extending along the direction o~ ~'orward advancement of the vehiGle, and a trarlsverse axis extending tran.sve:rsely of the longi.tudina.1 axis, said frame bei.ng gerlerally symmetrical about said axes, means for mounting a ~ront wheel and a rear wheel orl the frame in alignment 36~S

alo~lg the lot~it,~lditlal axis, including i~dividual front ~nd r~ar wheel suspensions, mean~ for mounting a pair of side wheels mounted on the frame in alignmerlt alo~lg the transverse axis including individual side wheel suspensions, drive mearls mounted cerltrally of the fram~ for ~enerati.ng moti~e power, transmission means operatively connected betwcen the drive means and the wheels, t`or rotatably driving each of -the wheels~ said transmission means including trarlsmissiorl co-nponerlts supporta~l~ mounted on the front and rear wheel suspensions, and steering means moun~ed on the frame and operativels~ connected to both the front and rear wheels, for simultaneously affirmatively steering both the ~'rorlt and tl~e rear wheels in opposite circumferential directions about respective vertical stecrirlg axes eY.tending ~enerally perperldicular to the longitudinal and t,ransverse axes of the frame.
The foregoin~ i.s a description of a preferred embodiment of the invention which is given here by way of example only. 'rhe invention is not to be taken as limited to a.ny of the specific ~eatures as describecl, but comprehends all such variatiorls thereof as come within the scope of the ap~ended claims.

Claims (7)

1. An automotive vehicle comprising:
a frame having a longitudinal axis extending along the direction of forward advancement of the vehicle, and a transverse axis extending transversely of the longitudinal axis, said frame being generally symmetrical about said axes;
means for mounting a front wheel and a rear wheel on the frame in alignment along the longitudinal axis, including individual front and rear wheel suspensions;
means for mounting a pair of side wheels mounted on the frame in alignment along the transverse axis including individual side wheel suspensions;
drive means mounted centrally of the frame for generating motive power;
transmission means operatively connected between the drive means and the wheels, for rotatably driving each of the wheels, said transmission means including transmission components supportably mounted on the front and rear wheel suspensions; and steering means mounted on the frame and operatively connected to both the front and rear wheels, for simultaneously affirmatively steering both the front and the rear wheels in opposite circumferential directions about respective vertical steering axes extending generally perpendicular to the longitudinal and transverse axes of the frame.
2. A vehicle as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the frame has longitudinally extending side frame elements on which the side wheel suspensions are pivotally mounted and transversely extending end frame elements on which the front and rear wheel suspensions are pivotally mounted.
3. A vehicle as claimed in Claim 2, wherein each suspension has bearing sleeves in which a respective frame element is journaled.
4. A vehicle as claimed in Claim 2, wherein both mounting means position the wheels at the corners of a rhombus
5. A vehicle as claimed in Claim 1, wherein each front and rear wheel suspension has an L-shaped configuration with a longer arm and a shorter arm; and wherein the transmission components include a longer drive rod mounted for turning movement on the longer arm, and a shorter drive rod mounted for turning movement on the shorter arm; and wherein the longer drive rod meshingly engages the shorter drive rod.
6. A vehicle as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the steering means includes a steering wheel, manually turnable in opposite circumferential directions; a pinion;
a steering column having one end operatively connected to the steering wheel, and another end operatively connected to the pinion; a pair of toothed elongated racks in meshing engagement with the pinion and movable in opposite directions lengthwise of the racks upon turning of the steering wheel in either one of said circumferential directions thereof; a vertical pin extending along each vertical steering axis; and means for converting the lengthwise movement of the racks to rotary movement of the pins
7. A vehicle as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the converting means includes a ball joint at the end of each rack, and a steering rod having one end connected to the ball joint and another end connected to a respective pin.
CA000547149A 1987-09-17 1987-09-17 Automotive vehicle Expired - Lifetime CA1293695C (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA000547149A CA1293695C (en) 1987-09-17 1987-09-17 Automotive vehicle

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA000547149A CA1293695C (en) 1987-09-17 1987-09-17 Automotive vehicle

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1293695C true CA1293695C (en) 1991-12-31

Family

ID=4136471

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA000547149A Expired - Lifetime CA1293695C (en) 1987-09-17 1987-09-17 Automotive vehicle

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA1293695C (en)

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