US1686895A - Wheel-alignment indicator - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 9, 1928.

H. A. BUCKERT ET AL WHEEL ALIGNMENT INDICATOR Filed May 12. 1926 baa 151v P flown? A. flue/151?? 6 Patented Oct. 9, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HOMER A. BUCKERT, OF ST. LOUIS, AND EARL K. HALL, OF UNIVERSITY CITY, MISSOURI.

WHEEL-ALIGNMENT INDICATOR.

Application filed May 12, 1926. Serial No. 108,506.

Our invention relates to improvements in wheel alignment indicators, and' has for its primary object a device which will indicate the misalignment of wheels which has been caused by the bending of the axle or other means which either toes in or toes out the wheel.

A furtherobject is to construct a device which will indicate the direction in which the wheel is out of alignment. Our device is applicable for aligning wheels either front or rear on motor vehicles and can also be used to advantage in aligning wheels on railway trucks and the like.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of our device showing a pair of wheels, one of. which is bent out of alignment in position thereon;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3 -3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

In the construction of our device we employ a movable or swinging member or arm 5 which is preferably in the shape of a channel although a different construction of arm may be used so as to adapt it to various types of wheels. One end of this channel is turned downward as indicated b the numeral 6 so as to permit a wheel to ri e up thereon readily. On the underside of the swinging member or arm and preferably near the end 6 is a plate 7 which forms part of a turn table. Secured to the floor in any well known manner is a plate 8 which has mounted thereon a plate 9 and between the plates 7 and 9 are located bearing balls or rollers 10. This is for the purpose of permitting the turn table to swing or move readily and without undue friction so that the swinging arm can move to the right or left. The purpose of this movement will be explained in detail later.

A stud 11 is emplo ed to hold the plates 7 and 9 in position. A jacent the forward end 12 of the swinging member or arm we secure anti-friction supports 13which are preferably in the form of rollers although other supports, such as bearing balls or the like, can

be used without departing from the spirit of our invention. The swinging arm 5 is preferably provided on its underside with a st ffening rib 14 so that it will not bend readily when any weight is placed thereon.

Adjacent the end 12 and secured to the floor is a gauge 15 which is provided with a plurality of equidistant graduations commencing with zero for the central mark and being numbered consecutively to the right and left thereof. The movable arm 5 is also provided with an indicating finger 16 which has a projecting point, this point being preferably bent downward as indicated in Fig. 2 so as to bring it in close proximity to the gauge 15 thereby rendering the reading of the indication to the right or left of the zero on the gauge more easy. Where the channel iron is employed, the sides 17 prevent the wheel from running therefrom.

In Fig. 1 18 represents an axle, 19 and 20 the wheels carried by the axle and in order to render the explanation of the device more clear, the wheel 20-is shown out of alignment to such a marked degree as to be'readily discernible. In actual practice it is desirable to mark a line 21 on the floor at a distance equal to the tread of the vehicle from the center of the pivot or stud 11. This line 21 is parallel to a straight line drawn through the center of the stud or pin 11 and the zero point on the gauge. This construction is suitable for aligning wheels either front or back on automobiles and serves as a guide for one of the wheels. The line 21 may also be placed on the other side or to the right of the swinging arm so that either of the wheels may be properly gauged. In lining car wheels and the like, a groove 1s provided instead of the line 21 in which the flange of the wheel rides and, instead of using a wide channel as illustrated in the drawings for the swinging arm, a narrow channel is used so that it will just fit the flange of the wheel.

The operation of our device is as follows: When there is reason to suspect that the wheels of a vehicle are out of alignment, this description being drawn to a motor vehicle having rubber tires, the vehicle is first placed with the suspected wheels in such a position that one of the wheels will rest in the swinging arm adjacent the pivot point, the other wheel being located on the guide line. The vehicle is then moved forward, maintaining the one wheel on the guide line. Then if the wheel is toed inward at the forward edge as illustrated in Fig. 1, it will have a tendency to crowd toward the wheel 19. The friction of the wheel 19, however, on the floor is sufficient to overcome any friction on the swinging arm. This will cause the arm'to move toward the left of the zero mark as illustrated in Fig. 1 indicating that the wheel toes in at its forward point. The amount of this toeing in can be readily arrived at by comparing the length of the arm, the circumference of the wheel, and the amount of deflection past the center or zero point. If the wheel 20 were bent or toed outwardly at its forward part, the tendency would be for it to run away from the wheel 19 and thus cause the arm 5 to swing toward the left, the finger 16 indicating the deflection. In this way it is possible to detect misalignment of the wheels which would not ordinarily be caught by the eye when the vehicle is running and which, in motor vehicles using rubber tires, causes an excessive wear on the tires and also consumes great power. This excess wear can not at times be explained because the misalignment of the wheels is so slight, as before stated, as not to be readily discernible to the eye but it will show itself up very clearly in excessive wear on the tires or treads of the wheels.

Our device can also be used to great advantage in aligning wheels on railway trucks as the misalignment there will cause excessive wear on both the flanges of the wheel and on the rail ball. Our device will take care and show up any misalignment of wheels whether caused through collisions, which will spring only a portion of the axle, or due to sprung axles in general which may be caused by various accidents such as suddenly dropping a heavy load on the axle or by suddenly striking some obstruction during the driving of the vehicle. 1

It will furthermore point out just in what direction the wheel is out of alignment and the amount of the misalignment thereby saving considerable time and labor in re-aligning the wheels.

Having fully described our invention, what we claim is 1. A wheel alignment indicator comprising an elongated horizontally swinging member pivoted at one end and having upturned longitudinal ed es, said member adapted to be moved by t e thrust of a misaligned wheel, an indicating finger carried by said finger at one end, and a graduated gauge located below the projecting end of said finger whereby the amount of movement of said arm can be ascertained.

2. A wheel alignment indicator comprising an elongated horizontally swinging member having its longitudinal edges upturned and adapted to be moved by the thrust of a misaligned wheel, a pivoted anti-friction support for one end of said member, an antifriction support for the opposite end of said member so that said end can move freely, a gauge located below the freely moving end of said member, and means carried by said freely moving end adapted to co-operate with said gauge whereby the amount of movement and its direction can be ascertained.

In testimony whereof we have afiixedour signatures.

HOMER A. BUCKERT. EARL K. HALL.

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