GB715426A - Improvements in and relating to vehicle spring suspension - Google Patents

Abstract

715,426. Spring-suspensions; preventing lateral canting; adjusting body height; equalizing load on springs. MOTOR RESEARCH CORPORATION. July 15, 1952 [Aug. 8, 1951], No. 17913/52. Class 108(2) A spring-suspension for a vehicle having a frame and front and rear wheels, comprises swinging lever means for each wheel pivotally connected to the frame at longitudinally spaced localities, longitudinal spring means common to the front and rear wheels and connected to the lever means and effective in conjunction therewith to transmit vertical forces in corresponding directions to the front and rear of the frame in response to vertical motion of either wheel, compensating spring means connected to the rear wheel independently of the front wheel and disposed rearwardly of the longitudinal spring means, and means for deflecting the compensating spring means to vary the spring resistance at the rear of the frame. In the arrangement shown, in which each front wheel 54 is supported by upper and lower suspension links 26 and 28, Fig. 6, and in which each rear wheel 25 is carried on a lever arm 47 pivoted to a frame member 22 and also pivotally connected to a lever arm 43 through a link 45, Fig. 1, the lower link 28 is braced by a bar 34 and includes a sleeve 36 formed with a socket 36a therein for one end of a torsion bar spring 37. The other end of the bar 37 is similarly engaged on a sleeve 40 Which is pivoted to brackets rigid with a side frame member 18 and which carries the lever arm 43. A compensating torsion bar spring 54 engages at one end in the rear end of the sleeve 40 and at the other end engages in a socket member 55 rotatably mounted on a bracket 56. The members 55 at opposite sides of the vehicle are rotatable in opposite directions by means of a sector gear and a reduction gear unit 58, 59 driven by a reversible electric motor 63 mounted on a frame member 20. The motor may be controlled manually or automatically in dependence upon changes in static load on the rear of the vehicle. The rear wheels 25 are driven from a forwardly mounted engine 65 through a rearwardly mounted transmission and differential gearing 67 and half axles 68. The upper links 26, Fig. 6, are interconnected by a supplementary tension spring 70 and by a double acting hydraulic shock absorber 72. In operation, the torsion bars 54 are arranged to act in opposition to the main bars 37 when there is no load on the vehicle additional to the normal spring weight thereof and are unstressed when the unsprung weight of the vehicle plus a predetermined additional load thereon equal the resistance of the main torsion bars. In another arrangement, Figs. 8 and 9 (not shown), in which the rear wheels are carried by a through axle, the compensating torsion bar at each side of the vehicle is in the form of a number of flat torsion bar springs arranged face to face. Each compensating spring is adjustable torsionally by a separate electric motor. Longitudinally extending torque arms are connected between the rigid axle and vehicle side frame members and a bar is pivotally and resiliently connected between one end of the axle and the side frame member at the opposite end thereof, In a further arrangement, Figs. 11 and 12 (not shown), also for a rigid rear axle construction, a laminated compensating torsion bar is arranged transversely of the vehicle forwardly of the axle and is adjustable torsionally at a mid point thereof by a single reversible electric motor.