US1474222A - Pneumatic support for vehicle bodies - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 13 1923.

PNEUMATIC SUPPORT FOR VEHICLE BODIES Filed March 8,1925 2 sheets-sheet 2 UNITE SS JOHN MCKINLEY AKERS AND WALTER CARL AKERS, MATEWAN, WEST VIRGINIA, ASSIGNORS 0F ONE-THIRD TO L. T. COMPTON, OF MATEWAN, WEST VIRGINIA.

PNEUMATIC SUIPORT FOR VEHICLE BODIES.

Application ined march s, 1923. serial No.' 623,791.v

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN M. Axnns and lVAL'rER C. Anims, citizens of the United States, residin at Matewan, in the county of Mingo and gtate of West Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in PneumaticrSupports for Vehicle Bodies; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention has for one object to provide a simple yet an ecient pneumatic sup port for vehicle bodies, novel provision being made whereby both depressions and projections in the roadway will be prevented from seriously jarring the body.

In carrying out the above end, pistons are movably mounted in a cylinder and their movement is controlled by check valved pressure inlets and outlets, a further aim being to provide a novel arrangement ouf parts, permitting the pressure to carry with it a quantity of oil vapor, as it passes to the cylinder, thus effectively lubricating the pistons.

With the foregoing in view, the invention resides in the novel subject matter hereinafter described and claimed, the description being supplemented by the accompanying drawings.

Figures l and 2 are diagrammatic s ectional views, partly in elevation, showing the manner in which the device operates when the vehicle wheels strike a depression or a projection, respectively.

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view of one of the cushioning devices.

In the drawings above briefly described, the numeral 1 designates an elongated cylinder having a head 2 at one end and proi vided with a centrally'apertured closure 3 at its opposite end. A floating piston 4 is slidable in the portion of the cylinder adjacent the head 2 and has limited inward movement away' from said head, from which it is normally spaced as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. To so limit the inward movement of the piston 4, we preferably enlarge one end of the cylinder as indicated at 5, forming an internal shoulder 6 at the junction of its two diameters, said piston having an enlarged head 7 sliding within the cylinder enlargement and adapted to strike the shoulder 6 to limit the inward movement of said piston. At times, the piston 4 moves toward the cylinder head 2, in which instance atmospheric air is admitted into the portion of the cylinder between its normal and enlarged diameters, a check valved air inlet 8 being provided for this purpose. The air which enters through the'passage 8 may escape slowly through a bleed port 9 which, in the construction disclosed, is in the wall of said passage.

A pipe 10 having an outwardly closing check valve 11 leads to the cylinder 1, adjacent its head 2 and in the construction shown, this pipe extends from an oil containing casing 12 at the exterior of said cylinder. A pressure Supply pipe 13, having a suitable control valve 14 leads to the casing 12 and receives air pressure or other Huid pressure from a supply tank 15 suitably carried by the body of the vehicle or by the chassis frame thereof, if the vehicle is in the form of an automobile. In the construction shown, the pipe 13 communicates with another pressuresupply pipe 16 and the latter` extends from the tank 15, but this exact piping is not absolutelyessential. The pipe 13 depends into the oil casing 12 to a point below the oil level, while the inlet end of the pipe line 10 is above the oil level.. It will thus be seen that by filling the casing 12 with lubricating oil to the 'desired extent, that any pressure passing through the pipe 13 and out of the pipe 10 into the cylinder, must necessarily travel through the oil, thus causing it to pick up a quantity of oil vapor and conduct it to said cylinder, for the purpose of lubricating the piston4. i

Slidable within the cylinder 1, between the closure 3 and the piston 4, is a second piston 17 having an operating rod 18 extending through said closure and adapted for connection-with the axle of the vehicle in any desired manner. In the present disclosure of our invention, we have pivoted the lower end of the -rod 18 to a lever 19 which s connected at one end to the axle`20 and is fulcrumed at its other end to a suitable part 21 which may well be carried by the body or chasis frame 22, to which the cylinder 1 is also connected. A pressure supply pipe 23 enters the cylinder between the two pistons 4 and 17 and is provided with an outwardly closing check valve 23, said pipe 23 leading from an oil containing casing 24 into which the pipe 16 extends, said casing having the same function as the casing 12 above described. A pressure outlet pipe 25 having an outwardly opening check valve 26 leads from the cylinder 1 to the pipe 16 and is normally closed by the piston 17, and another pressure outlet pipe 27 having an outwardly opening check valve 28, leads from the enlarged portion 5 of the cylinder l1 to the pipe 13, in the present disclosure. These pipes 25 and 27 however might otherwise be connected with the pressure tank 15, if desired.

By the construction shown, when a wheel of the vehicle comes over a depression in the. roadway, pressure 'from the tank 15 enters the cylinder between the two pistons 4 and 17, 'forcing the latter downwardly, although the piston 4 does not rthen move upwardly under the influence of this'pressure, due to the enlarged area of its upper end and the pressure supplied between said end and the cylinder head 2. `When the axle again moves upwardly, the pressure is forced from the cylinder through the valved outlet pipe 25 and returns to the tank 15, and it will be seen that this operation will raise the piston 4 to some extent, during which movement, atmospheric air will enter through the check valved passage 8. Attention may be directed to the fact that as soon as the piston 17 closes the outlet pipe 25, a quantity of compressed air is trapped between the two pistons, so that piston 17 cannot strike the piston 4. This trapped air may gradually leak out, for instance through some o' the joints 29 in the piston rings 30, which are used on the piston. At the same time, the air which enters under the piston head 7 when the latter moves upwardly, leaks slowly out of the bleed port 9 and the piston 4 returns to its normal position, permitting it to gradually come into contact with the piston 17.

We will now assume that the wheels encounter a projection in the roadway and that the aXle 20 rises as diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 2. Under this occurrence, both pistons 17 and 4 move bodily upward as a single unit and the air within the upper end of the cylinder is forced out of the pressure outlet pipe 27, effectively absorbing the shock. If this shock is extremely severe and the piston 4 moves upwardly beyond the pipe 27, the head of said piston is-prevented from striking the cylinder head 2, by the air cushion which is formed in the cylinder as soon as the piston cuts olf the outlet ot air through said pipe 27. While the piston 17 may now return quickly to its Y to enter the cylinder. this pressure willv carry with it a quantity of oil vapor to effectively lubricate the internal working parts.

As excellent results are obtainable from the details disclosed, these details may be followedl it desired. However, it is tosy be understood that the present disclosure is for illustrative purposes only and that within the scope of the invention as claimed, numerous changes may be made.

We claim: Y

1. A cushioning device comprising a cylinder, a pair of relatively movable pistons in said cylinder movable one by means of the other, and checkvalved pressure inlets and outlets for said cylinder to control the movement of said pistons.

2. A cushioning device comprising a cyl.- inder, a ioating piston therein, movable toward and from the cylinder head, means for limitingv the inward movement of said oating piston away from the cylinder head, l a check valved pressure inlet passage for the cylinder between its normal' inward position and the cylinder head, a pressure tank from which said: pressure inlet passage leads, and a check valved pressure out'- let passage leading from the cylinder at a point adjacent said inlet passage and discharging into said tank; a second` piston in the cylinder between said floating piston and the other end of the cylinder, said second'piston having an operating member eX- tending to the exterior ofv the cylinder, a check valved pressure inletpassage from said tank into the cylinder between` the two pistons, and a check valved pressurefoutlet passage from, the cylinder normally covered by said second piston and dischargingfinto said tank, saidsecond named piston'being movable inwardly into contact withl said floating piston to operate the latter.

3. A structure as specified in claim 2; said cylinder beingl enlarged adjacent its head and having a check Vvalved atmospheric air inlet and a bleed port at the junction of esv its two diameters, said floating piston having an enlarged head in the cylinder enlargement; said enlarged piston head and the shoulder formed by the cylinder enlargement, forming said means for limiting the inward movement of said Boating piston.

4. A structure as specified in claim 1; each of said pressure inlets including a container for lubricating oil through whichthe pressure passes whereby to carry oil vapor to level, and a pressure passage leading to the cylinder. said member from said casing at a point 5. The combination with a containing above the oil level. 10 member for a pressure operated part; of an In testimony whereof we have hereunto 5 oil containing easing at the exterior of said afxed our signatures.

member, a pressure supply pipe entering JOHN MCKINLEY AKERS. said easing and extending' below the oil WALTER CARL AKERS.

Images