GB411246A - A flexible four wheel drive for motor vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

411,246. Axles; torque rods &c. WHITFORD, R., c/o Reo Motors, Queen Street, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Feb. 28, 1933, No. 6155. Convention date, Aug. 25, 1932. [A Specification was laid open to inspection under Sect. 91 of the Acts, Sept. 4, 1933.] [Class 79 (iv).] The housings 4 of the driving axles of a power-driven vehicle are connected together by rigid beams 5, articulated on the vehicle and secured to the housings by integral pairs of bearings 6, 6<a> arranged at right-angles to one another, the housings being permitted limited movement transversely of the vehicle in the bearings. In one form, the axle housings 4 are free to turn and slide in the bearings 6 which carry the bearings 6<a> in which the ends of beams 5 connecting the housings are free to turn. A plate 7 secured to each beam carries bearings 8 for a hollow cross shaft 9 which passes through a bearing 5<a> in the beam and is secured to a pair of suspension springs 1 shackled at one end and pivoted at the other to the vehicle frame. Torque rods 13 having ball-and-socket joints at each end are supported by springs 15 and extend between brackets 16 on the front-axle housing and extensions of a spring clamping-plate 11. A telescopic torque tube 17 having a ball-and-socket joint 19 and connected to the rear axle casing by pivots 23 houses a telescopic driving shaft between the differential gears for the two axles. To facilitate lubrication a plunger is fitted in the shaft 9 which is filled with lubricant and which communicates by ducts with the bearings 6, 6<a>, 8 and 5<a>. The longitudinal pivot for the beam may be situated below the axle housings.