GB856497A - Means for influencing the inclination of vehicles on curves - Google Patents

Abstract

856,497. Preventing lateral cant of road vehicles. DAIMLER-BENZ A.G. Jan. 9, 1959 [Jan. 11, 1958], No. 897/59. Class 108(2). Lateral cant of a road vehicle is controlled by virtue of suspension springs 23, 23, having roller abutments 25, 25, the points of engagement of which with suspension links 21, 21, are adjustable. As shown, each spring 23 is pivotally mounted at 24 on the vehicle body 13 and the spring is angularly displaceable by the action of a hydraulic jack 26 which may be put under pressure by means of a hydraulic piston and cylinder 27a, 27, adjacent another axle of the vehicle (Fig. 3). The cylinder 27 is connected to a rod 29 pivotally mounted on the vehicle body 13 and passing through a resilient guide 30 carried by the axle 28. The piston 27a is connected to the vehicle body at 31. Movement of the body 13 in one direction or the other laterally with respect to the axle 28 results in pressure being applied to the jacks 26, 26, to swing the abutment rollers 25, 25, of the respective springs 23, 23, to the left or to the right as the case may be. The arrangement is such that the rate of the suspension on the outside of the curve is increased while that on the inside of the curve is decreased. The movements of the springs and linkages is also such as to tend to incline the body 13 towards the inside of the curve. The movement of the rollers 25, 25, may alternatively be controlled by the action of a penculum operated switch responding to the acion of centrifugal force. The movement may also be effected in conjunction with the vehicle steering. In the arrangement shown in Fig. 4 each suspension spring 35 acts between a common through axle 10 and a respective link 34 pivotally mounted on a member 33 rigid with the axle 10. The body 13 acts on the links 34 through the intermediary of respective rollers 37 mounted on a link 38. The rollers 37 engage a groove -36 running transversely across the underside of the body 13 and act in conjunction with further rollers 40 (Fig. 5), bearing on the underside of the body 13. The latter is connected to the axle 10 by a link 32. In operation on rounding a curve, the movement of the body 13 towards the outside of the curve results in a movement in the opposite direction of the link 38 and associated rollers. The consequent effect on the suspensions due to the change in leverage of the links 34, 34, is to produce a stiffening of the suspension on the outside of the curve. In a modification of the latter construction (Fig. 1, not shown), the link 32 is replaced by a spring which operates in either tension or compression.