US1166036A - Steering-gear for road-machines. - Google Patents

Description

F. E. ARNDT. STEERING GEAR FOR ROAD MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 1, 1915.

1, 166,036. Patented Dec. 28, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

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APPLICATION FILED SEPT-1,19l5- Patented Dec. 28, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CO., WASHINGTON, D. c.

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FRANKrIN E. .AR'NDT, or GALION, 0IIIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE GALION IRON worms AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF GALION, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

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specification Of Letters Past.

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Applicationfiled Septeiiiher 1, 1915. Serial No. 48,483.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknownthat I, FRANKLiN E. ARNDT, a citizen of the United Sta-tes'of America, residing at Galion, in the county of Crawford and State of Ohio, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Steering-Gear for Road-Machines, of which the following is aspecification. a a

This invention comprehends certain new and useful improvements in steering gear for road machines and relates particularly to improvements in that type of steering gear for which Letters Patent of the United States Number 1,130,471 were issued March 2, 1915. As is wellknown' to those familiar with the operation and practical'use of ma chines of this character, it is customary to draw the machine along the road by means of a traction engine which travels in the middle of the road to obtain the'best traction effect whereas the road machine must travel at the sides of the road and means must therefore be provided, to secure the best results, whereby the line of travel of the road machine maybe easily maintained regardless of the relative position of the traction engine. For this purpose, the road machine is provided with a draft pole designed to be connected to the traction engine and a relatively short tongue, and means are provided whereby the operator, standing for example upon the platform at'the rear of the road machine, may manually adjust the position of the tongue relative to the draft pole, so that the desired line of draft of the road machine may be. easily maintainedfirrespective of the angular or oblique position which is assumedby the'draftpole. Difiie culty hasheretofore been encountered, with as required, was incapable 'of 'permittingthedraft pole to'make very sharp turns as for example when going around a corner, rit being sometimes necessary to turn thetongue through an arc of at least 30 0 degrees and consequently someof the parts hadto beam:

shippedwhilejthe turn was being made and again l'easseniblechwhich manifestly was a source of inconveniencejand detracted-from the smoothworking qualitiespf the machine.

The presentinvention aimsto entirely do away with the diff culties above referred to andto provide. a novel and useful construction of flexible shaft which will insure the proper working of the parts at alltimes and which can be easily and cheaply manufactured, which will be durable, and which will not be likely to get out of order.

WVith these and other objects in view as will more fully appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in certain constructions, arrangements and combinations of theparts that I shall hereinafter fully describe and claim.

For a full understanding of the 'invention reference is to behad to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of so much of a road machine as is necessary to indicate the character'of the machine and to impart a thorough" understanding of the improvements of .the present invention. Fig. 2 (Sheet 2) is a perspective view in thenature of a diagram showing the draft pole turned at a sharp angle to the main supporting frame of the machine Fig. 3 is a plan view of portions of the steering gear hereinafter specifically referred to.. Fig. 1 is a detail transverse sectionalview. through the worm gearing employed. Figf5 is a detailperspective view of the swingingbracket and its arch. Fig.6 is a detail View of one of the shaft sections. Fig. 7 is asimilar View of another section of the flexible operating shaft of the apparatus. .Fig. 8 illustrates still another sec Q l Of said shaft; ,and Fig. 9 is a detail view of a swinging arm emp d...

Corresponding and like partsare referred to in the following description anddesignatedin thedifferent views of the accompanying drawing by like reference characters. i

Referringtothe drawings, the numeral 1 designates the frame bars of a road machine, 2 thedraft polewhich is provided at its forwardend witha clevis 3 whereby it may bereadily. secured to the draft bar of a traction engine and 1 designates the relatively shoittongue of the machine by theturning ofwhicli to the right or to the left the front ground or traveling wheels 5 are steered.

Carried by .the tongue 4, as will more fully appear byreference to Patent Number 1,130,-171 above mentioned, is an arcuate bar 6 to the ends of which levers 7 are pivotally connected intermediate of their ends as in dicated at 8, said levers having inwardly turned hooked ends 9 to which the ends of a sprocket chain 10 are connected; and secured to the other and rear ends of the levers 7 are spring tension members 11 designed, in an evident manner, to hold the chain 10 taut and compensate for any shocks. The chain 10 passes over and across a pinion 12 secured to the lower end of a vertically disposed spindle 13 mounted in a gear casing 1% supported upon the pole 2 and the spindle 13 carries at its upper end a worm gear 15 which meshes with a worm 16 formed on or secured to a longitudinally disposed shaft section 17 which forms a member of the flexible operating shaft designated A as a whole. This shaft, as best illustrated in Fig. 1, extends rearwardly over and above the frame work of the road machine and is provided at its rear end with a hand wheel 18 arranged in convenient proximity to the platform (not shown) at the rear of the machine, upon which the operator stands to control not only the steering gear but the other parts of the machine, as will be clearly understood by those familiar with this class of machinery.

From the foregoing it will be noted that by turning the shaft 9 in the required direction, the spindle 13 will be turned and the chain 10, through the instrumentality of the spur pinion 12, will be rotated to move the chain 10 laterally and thereby cause the'tongue st to be swung to the right or to the left as desired. By the use of the worm gearing within the casing 14 it is obvious that no separate or independent locking devices are necessary to maintain the parts in their adjusted positions which is an incident of advantage as more fully set forth in my prior patent above referred to.

The present invention relates more particularly, as indicated at the outset of the specification, to the construction and arrangement of parts or members of the flexible shaft A, whereby the machine may be turned around relatively sharp corners with facility and without the necessity of unshipping any of the parts and I shall now proceed to describe these features in detail.

The rearmost member or section of the flexible shaft A and to which the hand wheel 18 is fastened is designated 19 and is in the form of a rod mounted for rotation upon its longitudinal axis in a rear arch 20 and an intermediate arch 21 straddling and supported upon the arched frame bars 1 as best illustrated in Fig. 2. The intermediate section or member of the shaft 9 is designated 22 and is formed of telescopic sections 23 and 24, the tubular section 23 having the section 2-l extensibly mounted therein and both members are so shaped as best illustrated in Fig. 7 as to compel them to rotate together which is of course necessary for the successful operation of the shaft. The adjoining ends of the shaft members 19 and 22 are connected together by a universal joint 25 and the lower forward end of the intermediate member 22 is similarlyconnected as at 26 to a laterally swinging arm 27 mounted to rotate in a bracket 28 which is formed with relatively short and long arms as clearly illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 5, and pivotally mounted eccentrically (that is, nearer one arm than the other) upon a transversely disposed bracket arch 29 secured in any desired way to the forward portions of the frame bars 1. The foremost member 30 of the shaft A is liksewise telescopic in nature and comprises a tubular section 31 and a solid section 32 extensibly mounted therein, a spring 33 being coiled around the section 32 and received within the section 31 and exerting such a tension on the sections as to contract them or draw one within-the other. This member 30 is connected to the lower end of the forwardly and downwardly inclined swinging arm 27 by means of a universal joint 3% at one end and at its other end is connected by a universal joint to the short shaft section or member 17 carrying the worm 16, before referred to. Preferably the arm 27 is-journaled in the laterally swinging bracket 28 nearer one end of the arm than the other, as clearly shown in the drawings, whereby the forwardly and downwardly projecting portion of said arm, where it is connected to the foremost member 30 of the flexible shaft A may project laterally out over the frame work of the machine, to provide a clearance so as to permit the telescopic member 30 to pass under the frame, if required in the turning movement and the extensible or telescopic member 22 also cooperates in this movement of the parts, as is manifest, whereby the machine may be turned about without the necessity of unshipping any of the parts and without any members binding or becoming dislocated. By providing a spring 33 within.

the telescopic member 30, the same tending to contract or close by this means, it is held properly rigid in its work and is prevented from swinging around which would render the slip joints liable to come apart.

From the foregoing description in. connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that I have provided arvery efficient as well as durable steering gear which will overcome the disadvantages set forth near the outset of the specification and by the use ofwhich the parts will be always maintained in proper operative operation to each other and without danger of binding in any way or of coming apart.

WVhile the accompanying drawings illustrate what I believe to be the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto, but that various changes may be made in the construction, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a road machine, steering mechanism including a draft pole, a tongue, a connection between said draft pole and tongue whereby the latter may be turned relatively to the former, an operating shaft for said connection, said shaft embodying extensible members, a rotatable arm having universal joint connection with said members and located between the same, a bracket arch, and a laterally swinging bracket mounted upon said arch and in which Said arm is journaled.

2. In a road machine, steering mechanism including a. draft pole, a tongue, a connection between the two whereby the tongue may be moved to different angular adjust ments relative to the pole, a flexible operating shaft for said connection, said shaft embodying members each of which is construct ed of telescopic sections and one of said members being provided with a spring tending to close its sections together, an arm mounted between said extensible members and having universal joint connection therewith, and a laterally swinging bracket in which said arm is mounted for rotary move ment.

3. In a road machine, steering mechanism including a draft pole, a tongue, a connection between the two whereby the tongue may be moved to different oblique positions relative to the pole, a flexible operating shaft for said connection, said shaft embodying a rear rotatable member adapted to be manually turned, supporting means for said member, an intermediate member having universal joint connection with the rear member, said intermediate member consisting of sections telescopically connected together, a forwardly and downwardly inclined arm having universal oint connection with the forward end of the intermediate member, supporting means for said arm permitting the same to be turned laterally and allowing for the rotary movement of said arm, and a forward member having universal joint connection at its rear end with the forwardly and downwardly extending end of said arm, said last named member being also constructed in telescopically arranged sections.

4. In a road machine embodying frame bars, a tongue, a draft pole and a connection between the tongue and draft pole whereby the former may be turned to different oblique positions relative to the latter, an operating shaft for said connection, said shaft embodying a plurality of members having universal joint connections between their ends, said members including a tele scoping intermediate member, atelescoping forward member and an arm between said members, a bracket arch carried by the frame bars, and a bracket pivotally mounted near one side upon said arch, the arm being journaled near one end in said bracket, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

FRANKLIN E. ARNDT. Witnesses A. L. STEvnNs, DEAN C. TALBOTT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

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