GB1424699A - Apparatus for determining the imbalance of dismounted wheels of motor vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

1424699 Measuring rotary imbalance FORGES STEPHANDISES 17 April 1973 [20 April 1972] 18366/73 Heading G1X Apparatus for determining the rotary imbalance of a wheel 6 comprises a shaft 2 which is adapted to support the wheel 6 at one end and which is provided at its other end with a cylinder 12 having a helical trace 13 thereon, and a moveable pick-up 14 which is arranged to detect oscillations of the shaft 2 in a horizontal plane when the shaft is rotated and to activate a light 16 disposed to illiminate the cylinder at a predetermined phase of each shaft oscillation cycle. As shown, the shaft 2 which is supported in a bearing 3 and allowed to oscillate only in a horizontal plane, is rotated at a constant speed by a motor 10 through a pulleybelt arrangement 7, 8, 9. The wheel 6 to be tested is attached to a plate 5 rigid with the shaft 2. The pick-up is adjusted radially of the cylinder until it just touches the latter at the extremes of its oscillation in,the horizontal plane and the position of the pick-up 14 as indicated by a scale 20 against a fixed marker 22, is indicative of the magnitude of imbalance. A sighting device 25 which may comprise a pair of transparent plates provided with cross marks is slideable in the longitudinal direction of the shaft 2 and is positioned so that an observer looking through the device 25 observes the cross marks coincident with the position of the helical trace in the aforesaid horizontal plane, the helical trace appearing stationary due to the stroboscopic effect produced by the connection of the light 16 to the pick-up 14. Such position of the trace is indicative of the position of imbalance on the wheel 6. Instead of a single scale 20, a plurality of scales may be provided for use with different types of wheel. The apparatus may be provided with a braking device for the shaft 2 and may be used in the static balancing of wheels.