GB408209A - Improvements in or relating to road vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

408,209. Vehicle collision-guards. STEVENSON, A. C., Bervie, Wood Lane, Fleet, Hampshire. Sept. 30, 1932, No. 27169. [Class 103 (ii).] A road-vehicle bumper comprises a plurality of motor-car pneumatic-tyre outer covers or portions thereof, with or without inner tubes containing an elastic fluid, which are fixed to the vehicle side by side with their centres on a horizontal plane so as to form a bumper protecting both sides of the end of the vehicle. In the construction shown in Figs. 2, 3 a V-shaped portion is cut away from a single piece of reinforced outer cover, the piece being then pressed to form the bumper portions 4, which at their juncture are encircled by a metal band 6, Fig. 3, screwed at 7 to the outer peripheries of the portions 4 and secured by a bolt 8 to a bracket 5, the rounded inner end of which is secured to a part 11 clamped to the vehicle frame 1. Outer portions 13, 14 of the bumper, also consisting of pieces of tyre outer-covers, are connected by metal bands 15 and screws 16, 17 to the portions 4 and are also supported by double-armed brackets 18 clamped to the vehicle frame 1. To prevent sagging, short lengths of metal tube or rings may be inserted in the bumper portions, which may contain an inflatable tube or tubes 20. In a modification, Fig. 4, the bumper portions 23, 24 are fixed in pieces 21, 22 of a metal wheel-rim supported by hinged members 25 pivoted to brackets 27, similar to the bracket 5, Fig. 3, and similarly secured on the vehicle frame. The middle portions 24 are connected by hinged members 28. Two or more rim-pieces may be formed from a single rim-portion by cutting away V-shaped parts from the rim flanges. To stiffen the bumper, bracing-rods 29, 30, which may be wheel-spokes, screw at their opposite ends into pins 31 rotatable in brackets 32 screwed to the rim portions, the rods being clamped together at their adjacent ends by plates 34 connected by a bolt 35. Channel-shaped members 37 stiffen the rear ends and other portions of the bumper. In another form, shown in plan view in Fig. 7, the bumper comprises two rim and tyre portions 48, 49 and a spare-wheel 44 fitted with a tyre, the wheel being supported by a skeleton box-like structure consisting of top and bottom plates connected by parts 42, 43, 43, while the rim portions 49 are pivoted to the structure and are braced by a rod 50, which may be a wheel-spoke, its ends being secured in pins similar to the pins 31, Fig. 4. The sparewheel may be removed by unscrewing the rod 50 and turning outwards the end portions 48, 49. Fig. 9 shows a construction comprising two spare-wheels supported in a skeleton frame having upper and lower plates connected by parts 53, 53, 54 and housing a pin 57 supporting pivoting members 58, 59 and a screw-and-nut device 60, 61 adapted to press the members against the wheels to hold them in place. The members 58, 59 and screw-and-nut 60, 61 may be omitted and two straps extend from the pin 57 around the tyres to the parts 53. In a modification a single strap is pivoted to one part 53, extends around the wheels and is adjustably connected to the other part 53. A further construction of bumper which may serve also as a luggage-carrier includes overlapping pneumatic tyre units 71, Fig. 13, such as described in Specification 380,163, [Group XXXIV], which are supported from the vehicle frame by brackets 77 similar to the brackets 5, Fig. 3, by wires or rods 72 secured to a fixed ring 73 and to existing lugs 75 on the tyre units, and, if necessary by bracing wires extending upwardly from the nuts to the vehicle.