GB2229682A

GB2229682A - Assembly for laterally displacing a vehicle

Info

Publication number: GB2229682A
Application number: GB8907362A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Pin Yen Yeh
Original assignee: Cheng Chen Lin
Current assignee: Cheng Chen Lin
Priority date: 1989-03-31
Filing date: 1989-03-31
Publication date: 1990-10-03
Also published as: GB8907362D0

Abstract

An assembly for moving a vehicle sideways into a parking slot is disclosed. The assembly includes a sub-frame 3 secured under the vehicle having a set of individually hydraulically driven wheels 21. The wheels are retractable from ground engaging positions by a hydraulic ram 4 remotely controllable by the vehicle driver. In their non-use condition the auxiliary wheel assemblies 21, 22, 23, 4 lie substantially within the sub-frame 3. <IMAGE>

Description

TITLE: Assembly for Laterally Displacing a Vehicle The present invention relates to an assembly for displacing a vehicle laterally relative to its normal direction of travel.

In areas of dense population, transportation vehicles are already in a state of saturation. Even the use of subways or overhead bridges fail to relieve the traffic problems.

This situation is chiefly the result of arbitrary parking of cars at the roadside arising from the availability of insufficient parking lots. If the length of an available parking space is just the same as that of the driver 5 car, even a skilled driver cannot park his or her car.

Assemblies for laterally displacing a vehicle are known, one such assembly consists of four lifting wheels on the axle and chassis of the vehicle, a battery serving as a power source for lowering and retracting the lifting wheels. Operation is controlled from a control panel on the instrument panel. However, this prior arrangement tends to impose an adverse effect on the whole vehicle structure because the lateral driving device is suspended from the vehicle axle, and the power source, namely, the battery, tends to fail to actuate the lateral driving device if the battery runs low.

An object of the present invention is to provide an assembly for laterally displacing a vehicle which does not affect the normal driving of the vehicle when the driving wheels are retracted.

The invention will now be described further by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a front view of a lateral displacement assembly according to the invention installed between the bumper and the wheel of a road vehicle, Fig. 2 is a side view of the assembly shown in Fig. 1 installed in the rear part of the car, Fig. 3 shows the hydraulic circuit of the assembly of the invention, and Fig. 4 shows the assembly installed onto the chassis of a vehicle.

Parts list: A.... front and rear bumpers 2....lateral driving wheel assembly 3... sub-frame 21.. small wheel 22.. retractable hydraulic cylinder 23....connecting rod 4....hydraulic cylinder 5....hydraulic motor 6... pivot shaft 7....hydraulic controller As shown in Fig. 1, a sub-frame 3 is installed between the front and rear bumpers A and the road wheels and fixed onto the cross frame member of the vehicle chassis. The two sides of the frame 3 are each pivotally connected to a lateral driving wheel assembly 2 by means of a shaft 6.

Each driving wheel assembly 2 consists of a hydraulic cylinder 22 and a small wheel 21 which is driven by an hydraulic motor 5.

Since it is limited by the available space beneath the car bottom and the hydraulic cylinder 22, the cylinder has to have a sufficiently long working stroke so as to lift the vehicle body from the ground when in an in use position.

For this purpose the applicant uses a hydraulic cylinder with a shorter cylinder body to achieve the purpose of providing the hydraulic cylinder 22 with a longer working stroke. As shown in Fig. 1, the hydraulic cylinder 4 is also pivotally connected to the frame 3 and the end portion of the cylinder 4 is connected to a connecting rod 23 which forms the actuable rod of the hydraulic cylinder 22.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, two hydraulic controllers 7 are installed respectively beneath the front and rear sub-frames for controlling the front and rear lateral driving wheels 2. An hydraulic pump is installed near to the vehicle engine, an electromagnetic clutch being provided on the pump shaft, the end of the shaft being engine-driven through a belt. Therefore, when the remote control signal receiver provided in the car is actuated, the electromagnetic clutch on the hydraulic pump is energised to transfer torque energy from the engine to the hydraulic pump. During this time the vehicle gearbox is set in a neutral position.

Hydraulic oil from the hydraulic pump is under the control of hydraulic controller 7 to activate the hydraulic cylinder 4, so the driving wheel assembly 2 as a whole is lowered to a use position perpendicular to the ground by extension of the rod of the hydraulic cylinder 4. The hydraulic controller 7 is then switched to let the rod of the hydraulic cylinder 22 extend to lift the vehicle body from the ground to a suitable height (as shown in Fig. 1).

The direction of movement of the wheel 21 at the end of the operating rod of the hydraulic cylinder 22 is perpendicular to the direction of movement of the main vehicle wheels, a hydraulic motor 5 individual to each wheel 21 providing the driving power for the wheel. Hence, when the vehicle body has been lifted from the ground by the hydraulic cylinders 22, the driving wheels 2 can then be actuated for rotation to the left or right, as viewed, i.e. transversely to the direction of movement of the vehicle's round wheels.

As shown in Fig. 4, the wheels 2 are retracted to the car chassis by operation of hydraulic cylinder 4 by the hydraulic controller 7. As a result of numerous tests by the applicant , a car provided with a lateral displacement device in accordance with the present invention can perform normal driving without any adverse effect.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. An assembly for displacing a vehicle laterally relative to is normal direction of travel comprising a sub-frame secured under the vehicle having a set of retractable wheels movable from a storage position in which the wheels lie within the sub-frame to an operative position in which the wheels lie in ground engagement, the wheels being individually hydraulically driven and the wheel set being movable between the storage and operative positions by an hydraulic ram, operation of both the wheel and the hydraulic ram being determined by a controller which is remotely operated by the vehicle driver.

2. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 including an hydraulic pump installed near to the engine of the car, an electromagnetic clutch being provided on the pump shaft which is belt-driven from the vehicle engine, the connection through the controller being such that when the car is at neutral the electromagnetic clutch is operated to actuate the hydraulic pump.

3. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 or 2 in which four retractable wheels are provided one adjacent each road wheel at positions between the relevant road wheel and the nearest vehicle bumper.

4. An assembly for displacing a vehicle laterally relative to its normal direction of travel substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.