GB1579930A - Vehicle suspension assemblies - Google Patents

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO VEHICLE SUSPENSION ASSEMBLIES (71) We, ARMSTRONG PATENTS CO.

LIMITED, a British Company, of Gibson Lane, Melton, North Ferriby, North Humberside HU14 3HY, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- This invention concerns vehicle suspension assemblies of the type including a telescopic hydraulic shock absorber carrying a wheel mounting.

It is conventional practice to mount a separately formed wheel mounting or hub carrier on a telescopic hydraulic shock absorber by introducing the shock absorber as a clearance fit into an opening in the wheel mounting and to braze the two components together. Brazing is normally carried out by locating a ring of braze at one end of the annular clearance between the shock absorber and the wheel mounting and heating the two components by means of an electric heating coil to cause the braze to melt and fill the clearance. As a typical wheel mounting is a forging of substantial mass and complex shape it is not satisfactory to apply heat for brazing from the exterior of the wheel mounting and it is therefore necessary to heat the joint between the two components from the interior of the shock absorber component.

Clearly, if a heating coil is to be passed into the tubular shock absorber component, it is not possible to pre-assemble the shock absorber before the wheel mounting is fitted.

Thus, eventual assembly of the shock absorber will require the manipulation of a tube which is rendered heavy and cumbersome by an attached wheel mounting.

It has already been proposed to provide, between a shock absorber and a wheel mounting. a joint which does not necessitate the application of heat from the interior of the shock absorber and such joints have usually included a pressed metal bracket attached to the lower end of the shock absorber and means on the bracket for clamping a wheel mounting thereto. Frequently, however, the pressed metal brackets hitherto proposed have been expensive in manufacture and unreliable in use because despite their relatively simple nature, very high manufacturing tolerances have been demanded of them in a number of critical dimensions and in the flatness of certain surfaces on them, to the extent that even cracking of the protective paint in these sensitive areas can lead to service failure.

With a view to avoiding as many of these disadvantages as possible, the present invention accordingly provides a vehicle suspension assembly comprising a telescopic hydraulic shock absorber, a wheel mounting by which the shock absorber is enabled to be connected to a vehicle wheel, a mounting member secured around the shock absorber, said wheel mounting having a stem portion which is tapered and engaged in a correspondingly shaped socket of said mounting member, and means for transversely displacing the tapered stem portion of the wheel mounting in the socket of the mounting member to tighten the engagement of said tapered stem portion within said socket.

The tapered stem portion is preferably wedge-shaped and in cross-section may conveniently have a generally trapezoidal configuration.

The displacing means may advantageously comprise one or more clamping bolts which may be placed under compression to effect the necessary displacement but which are preferably arranged to be placed under tension.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the drawings accompanying the Provisional Specification in which Figs. 1 and 3 are front elevations of two vehicle wheel mountings embodying the invention and Figs. 2 and 4 are transverse or radial sections respectively corresponding to Figs. 1 and 3.

Like reference numerals are used throughout the drawings to indicate like parts.

The vehicle wheel suspension assembly illustrated in Fig. 1 takes the form of a vehicle suspension strut comprising a tele scopic hydraulic shock absorber generally denoted 10 and having an outer tube 12 secured adjacent to one of its ends to a wheel mounting which is illustrated as being a hub carrier 14. In accordance with normal practice in the art, the shock absorber 12 may be a so called twin-tube shock absorber or it may be a mono-tube shock absorber which has a pressure tube secured to the wheel mounting. Extending upwardly from its hub carrier region, the wheel mounting 14 has a stem or lug 16 which, from Fig. 2, will be seen to be of generally wedge-shaped transverse section.The stem 16 is received within a complementarily shaped socket 18 defined between arms 22 and a flat base 24 of a bracket 20 which from Fig. 2 will be seen, again in transverse section, to be of a somewhat modified C-shape. Towards their open end regions, the initially divergent and straight arms 22 are curved towards one another to embrace the outer tube 10 of the shock absorber 12 as a close fit. When located in its required position at the bottom end of the shock absorber 12, the bracket 20 is welded or brazed or otherwise permanently secured at the free ends of the arms 22 to the outer tube 10 as indicated at 26. The fixing of the bracket 20 to the outer tube 10 in this manner is augmented by providing the bracket, intermediate the ends of the arms 22, with a plurality of longitudinally spaced, local deformations 28 which are in turn spot welded to the tube 10.In order to clamp the stem 16 within the socket 18 of the bracket 20, the stem 16 is formed with a pair of longitudinally spaced, internally threaded holes 30, within which are received correspondingly threaded bolts 32, the heads of which bear against the base 24 of bracket 20. Thus, by tightening the bolts 32, the wedge-shaped stem 16 is drawn into tight, clamping engagement within the socket 18 and it will be seen that the only stresses to which the bolt is subjected are of a tensile nature.By virtue of this feature, high manufacturing tolerances are avoided because the wedge-shaped engagement between the stem 16 and socket 18 will readily accept small tolerance differences between the two whilst the tensile nature of the connection between the stem 16 and bracket 20 is capable of maintaining that connection tight and secure even in the absence of absolute flatness of the bracket base 24. If desired, additional security may be obtained by the' use of tab washers 34.

The construction illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 is similar in all respect to that illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, save that in Figs. 3 and 4 the stem 16 is formed intermediate its end with a recess 36 which, when the stem 16 is located within the socket 18, lies between the bolts 32. The walls of the recess 36 will be seen to be slightly outwardly inclined from its base and a corresponding local deformation constituting a key 38 is formed in the base 24 of the bracket 20 so as to engage in the recess 36 when the stem is positioned within the bracket. By virtue of the key 38 the vertical suspension loads are carried directly from the wheel mounting 14 and not via the clamping bolts 32, so that the latter are totally free from all shear load effect.The key 38 ensures also that a vehicle fitted with a wheel mounting as described will remain supported even if one of the securing bolts 32 should be lost and the other one become somewhat loose.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A vehicle suspension assembly comprising a telescopic hydraulic shock absorber, a wheel mounting by which the shock absorber is enabled to be connected to a vehicle wheel, a mounting member secured around the shock absorber, said wheel mounting having a stem portion which is tapered in transverse section and engaged in a correspondingly shaped socket of said mounting member, and means for transversely displacing the tapered stem portion of the wheel mounting in the socket of the mounting member to tighten the engagement of said tapered stem portion within said socket.

2. A vehicle suspension assembly as claimed in claim 1, in which the tapered stem portion is wedge-shaped.

3. A vehicle suspension assembly as claimed in claim 2, in which the stem portion is trapezoidal in cross-section.

4. A suspension assembly as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, in which the displacing means comprises one or more clamping bolts which are placed under compression to effect the required displacement.

5. A suspension assembly as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, in which the displacing means comprises one or more clamping bolts which are placed under tension to effect the required displacement.

6. A suspension assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the stem portion of the wheel mounting is generally wedge-shaped and is received within a complementarily shaped socket defined between a base and adjoining arms of a modified C-shape bracket, the shock absorber being embraced as a close fit between said arms and said arms being permanently secured at their free ends to said shock absorber.

7. A suspension assembly as claimed in claim 6, in which the base of the bracket is formed with a key and the stem is formed with a recess engaging with said key, the engagement between said key and said recess

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (8)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. scopic hydraulic shock absorber generally denoted 10 and having an outer tube 12 secured adjacent to one of its ends to a wheel mounting which is illustrated as being a hub carrier 14. In accordance with normal practice in the art, the shock absorber 12 may be a so called twin-tube shock absorber or it may be a mono-tube shock absorber which has a pressure tube secured to the wheel mounting. Extending upwardly from its hub carrier region, the wheel mounting 14 has a stem or lug 16 which, from Fig. 2, will be seen to be of generally wedge-shaped transverse section. The stem 16 is received within a complementarily shaped socket 18 defined between arms 22 and a flat base 24 of a bracket 20 which from Fig. 2 will be seen, again in transverse section, to be of a somewhat modified C-shape.Towards their open end regions, the initially divergent and straight arms 22 are curved towards one another to embrace the outer tube 10 of the shock absorber 12 as a close fit. When located in its required position at the bottom end of the shock absorber 12, the bracket 20 is welded or brazed or otherwise permanently secured at the free ends of the arms 22 to the outer tube 10 as indicated at 26. The fixing of the bracket 20 to the outer tube 10 in this manner is augmented by providing the bracket, intermediate the ends of the arms 22, with a plurality of longitudinally spaced, local deformations 28 which are in turn spot welded to the tube 10.In order to clamp the stem 16 within the socket 18 of the bracket 20, the stem 16 is formed with a pair of longitudinally spaced, internally threaded holes 30, within which are received correspondingly threaded bolts 32, the heads of which bear against the base 24 of bracket 20. Thus, by tightening the bolts 32, the wedge-shaped stem 16 is drawn into tight, clamping engagement within the socket 18 and it will be seen that the only stresses to which the bolt is subjected are of a tensile nature.By virtue of this feature, high manufacturing tolerances are avoided because the wedge-shaped engagement between the stem 16 and socket 18 will readily accept small tolerance differences between the two whilst the tensile nature of the connection between the stem 16 and bracket 20 is capable of maintaining that connection tight and secure even in the absence of absolute flatness of the bracket base 24. If desired, additional security may be obtained by the' use of tab washers 34. The construction illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 is similar in all respect to that illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, save that in Figs. 3 and 4 the stem 16 is formed intermediate its end with a recess 36 which, when the stem 16 is located within the socket 18, lies between the bolts 32. The walls of the recess 36 will be seen to be slightly outwardly inclined from its base and a corresponding local deformation constituting a key 38 is formed in the base 24 of the bracket 20 so as to engage in the recess 36 when the stem is positioned within the bracket. By virtue of the key 38 the vertical suspension loads are carried directly from the wheel mounting 14 and not via the clamping bolts 32, so that the latter are totally free from all shear load effect.The key 38 ensures also that a vehicle fitted with a wheel mounting as described will remain supported even if one of the securing bolts 32 should be lost and the other one become somewhat loose. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A vehicle suspension assembly comprising a telescopic hydraulic shock absorber, a wheel mounting by which the shock absorber is enabled to be connected to a vehicle wheel, a mounting member secured around the shock absorber, said wheel mounting having a stem portion which is tapered in transverse section and engaged in a correspondingly shaped socket of said mounting member, and means for transversely displacing the tapered stem portion of the wheel mounting in the socket of the mounting member to tighten the engagement of said tapered stem portion within said socket.

2. A vehicle suspension assembly as claimed in claim 1, in which the tapered stem portion is wedge-shaped.

3. A vehicle suspension assembly as claimed in claim 2, in which the stem portion is trapezoidal in cross-section.

4. A suspension assembly as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, in which the displacing means comprises one or more clamping bolts which are placed under compression to effect the required displacement.

5. A suspension assembly as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, in which the displacing means comprises one or more clamping bolts which are placed under tension to effect the required displacement.

6. A suspension assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the stem portion of the wheel mounting is generally wedge-shaped and is received within a complementarily shaped socket defined between a base and adjoining arms of a modified C-shape bracket, the shock absorber being embraced as a close fit between said arms and said arms being permanently secured at their free ends to said shock absorber.

7. A suspension assembly as claimed in claim 6, in which the base of the bracket is formed with a key and the stem is formed with a recess engaging with said key, the engagement between said key and said recess

acting directly to carry the vertical suspension loads from the wheel mounting.

8. Vehicle wheel suspension assemblies constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to and as illustrated in the drawings accompanying the Provisional Specification.