US1750064A

US1750064A - Running gear for high-speed suspension cars

Info

Publication number: US1750064A
Application number: US144071A
Authority: US
Inventors: Stedefeld Curt
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1926-03-10
Filing date: 1926-10-25
Publication date: 1930-03-11
Anticipated expiration: 1947-03-11

Description

March Il, 1930.

RUNNING GEAR FOR HIGH SPEED SUSPENSION GARS Sedia (+C.-

c. sTEDEFELD 1,750,064

Filed Oct. 25, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

//7 a/e/y for Ill u. .mi

March ll, 1930. c. sTEDEr-'ELD RUNNING GEAR FOR HIGH SPEED SUSPENSION GARS Filed Oct. 25, 1926 Patented Mar. `11, 1930 UNITEDSTA CURT STEDEFELD, or HEIDELBERG, GERMANY RUNNING enfin non HIGH-SPEED SUSPENSION clinsl rA.sppiicatiqn sled october e5, 192e, serial No. 144,071', and 'in ce1-many March 1o, 192e.

l Inmy former application No. 4,573, now Patent No. 1,602,464,'.granted October 12, 1926, arunning wheel `mounting for high c speed suspension .railways is described, in `5, which the individual running wheels are borne atthe ends of forked turning arms and oscillate therewith. Ifthe car is to be driven not by an air'propeller, but through the running wheels, then onA the one hand the mfree play of theturning armsmust not be hindered during up anddown oscillation of the car body on the springs, and on the other hand the unsprung weightof the running i gear must not be appreciably increased as this would nullify anessential `purpose of the turning arm construction. i

In consequence, wheel hub `electric motors or iiange Imotors, mounted' on the end of the running wheel axle, cannot be used,since they 2o would considerably increase theweight of the running gear. The bearer4 arm supported motors usedin street railways cannot be used either, since a part of their weight would act as an lincrease of the unsprung weight and in addition would lead to a very complicated construction, since in addition to the forked arm the motor. arms would have to be linked `to the running Wheel axle. A satisfactory solution for high speeds, that is for large "motors, is only aorded by a fixed mounting r of the` motor on the sprung runningframe or car body. Such arrangements `are known i in electric railway locomotives in the form of 4chassis motor constructions, either a connect- `ing and coupling rod gear, or a single' shaft yieldable in alldirections, (e. g. spring couplings of the A. E. G. high speedrailway and vWestinghouse Company, or the double driv-` ing rod coupling ofGanz 85Go. Buchli, MaschinenfabrikOerliken, or the Cardan shaft through hollow wheelraxles of the Tschanz i construction etc), for power transmission to the wheels without hindranceto the spring action. i

In consideration of the passengers the springing must be much more flexible, that is the spring movement must be much greater, in suspended driving vehiclesthan in standing railway locomotives. In theabove driv- 50` ing methods this condition leads to `inconvenient constructional forms and to .incon` veniently large dimensions, from which rewhich while of the most simple character and only increasing very slightly the unsprung weight, ensures a very high degree ofreliability and safety. According to the invention the drive isefected by a toothed Wheel of as light weight as possible, secured on the axle to be driven with whichiwheel meshes a drive transmitting wheel mounted :coaxially with the axis of oscillation of the turning arm.

Several embodiments of such a drive are shown `in the which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation, with parts shown in section, of one track wheel and its driving and supporting members,

Fig. 2 is a verticalsection taken through the pivotal axis of the hanger arm in Fig. 1, Y Fig. 3 is a' fragmentary planview of Fig. 1, with parts shownin horizontal section,

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of two forms of resilient drive,

Fig. 5 is a sectional view, on line B-B of Fig. `6, of another form of resilient drive FigG is a vertical central section through the drive wheel shown in Fig; 5," 3

Fig. 6a is a vertical central `section through a drive wheel wherein alternate fplates are shown as secured to the hub-and the rim,

i Figs. 7a, *Ware central sections illustrating two otherA formsf` of resilient drive, of the small gear of Fig; 4, l

` Figs. 1,8 and 9 are fragmentary` side and horizontal section views, respectively, of another form ofmwheelsupport and resilient drive, and A i Y Figs." 10 and 11 are similar side-'elevation and horizontalsection views of another 1nodi icationof theresilient drive. "i

The drive illustrated in Figures V1 to 3 shows a toothed wheel b secured on thev runaccompanying drawings, in

ning axle a, with which meshes a toothed Y wheel c,the axis of which is collinear with that d of the turning arm e. This method of drive permits the motor to be completely s fixed on the sprung part of the car, either about the axis d will be transmitted back to the wheel c and to the transmission gear and motor parts coupled thereto.

lvntageous oscillations can almost entirely be i zu eiiminated bythe interposition of a flexible These disadspring connection between the wheel Z) and its hub h, or between the wheel cand its hub i.

Such spring connections in the form of lleaf springs k'or coil spring Z are illustrated Ain relation to the teeth on the meshing wheel,

tiplate 1 in Figure 4.

This springing arrangement known in itself, is also usable in essence for the present purpose. The resilience of the spring connection necessary here in view of the large angle of movement on both sides of the turning arm e, is, however, comparatively large (see Figure 1). Theuse of usual spring systems for such a resilience leads to excessive dimensions `and inconvenient forms of construction. These are avoided b the arrangements shown in Figures 5 to y tFor comparativel small wheels according to Figures and 6, t e spiral bending springs 1m1 and ma provide the necessary large resil ience, `while they are mounted pair-wise one within the other to obtain rotational and torque balance.V The are secured at their inner ends for examp e by bolts n to the hub o, at their outer ends b bolts p to the toothed i rim q. The latter can guided on the hub 0 by cover plates r, either cylindrically, or spherically, to obtain automatic adjustment in known manner. This spring system can be damped, without the addition of special moving parts, if the spiral springs are not i originally made flat, but are wound with the individual turns laterally displaced, so that -when mounted between the flat cover platesvl they are to a certain extent preliminarily tor.- sionally loaded and produce a perceptible lateral frictional action. Preferably wear receiving friction plates@ are arranged between the springs m1, m2 and the cover plates r. The damping effect can be multiplied by mounting reverse friction plates a on one another, alternately coupled with the hub n and the rim in the manner of the known mulutches.

With toothed wheels with a large breadth in relation to diameter, as is shown by the wheel c in Figures l to 4 a high utilization oi the spring weightY and space is achieved both in springing and in damping, when ring springs t according to Figure 7 are used in the embodiment of Figure 4, in the same way as such have been lately used for example in railway buffers and couplings. In view of the practically pure tension or compression stresses, theseA have a greater resilience per unit volume than anyother springing sys tem; in addition they'can be constructed with a high degree of self damping, which can be regulated over a large range 'according to need, particularly when they are combined with cylindrical coil springs (Figure 7).

In the half section Figure 7a for example an external coil spring uis combined with an internal circular spring of closed rings t of high self damping against one another. Naturally the ring spring t could be external and the coill spring u internal. Y

The half section Figure 7b shows another example in which two external springsare arranged in series; a divided coil spring v and a ring spring w1. In the latter only the outer rings w1, are closed, the inner rings wg being cut through so that they bear on the guide sleeve a: and produce damping friction. The mounting of the ring spring w1 in the centre of the whole system gives it a particularly large friction space on the guide sleeve .When space or similar conditions require, naturally the toothed wheels b and o on the running and turning arm axles can be unsprung and the spring connection is then interposedvin the following transmission members.

The embodiments of Figures 8 to 11 are notably efficient. In Figures 8 and 9 the toothed wheels b and c on the running axle a and the turning arm axis d-d are on one side of the running gear, the remaining transmission members, e. g. the bevel wheel y on the other side. They are connected by a shaft a passing through the hollow turning arm spindle z'. The shaft a can, in known manner, be made of high quality material and so dimensioned that its torsional elasticity is suflicient to take up the angular motion of the turning arm e.

In the form shown in Figures 10 and ll, the wheels'b and c as well as the next transmission wheels b all lie on the sa-me side of the running gear. The spring connection c here is of'a usual or above described kind and is interposed between the wheels b and c.

If, as is shown in my former application, two running wheels with turning arms are mounted to form a single running gear, both running wheels can be driven individually or in common, in one of the above described ways. In this case the two driving gears can l. In a wheeled vehicle, a driving mecha` nism of the type including a frame, a hanger arm, a driving wheel Journaled on said hanga er arm, a drive for said wheel including a gear rigidly secured to said wheel,fmeans pivotally mounting said hanger arm' on said frame, a driven gear 1n mesh with said first gear and having an axis coinciding with the `pivotal axis of said hanger arm, the pivotal mounting of said hanger arm restraining all movement thereof except in a vertical plane, whereby the teeth of said gears remain fully in mesh upon vertical movement Aof said hanger arm, characterized by the fact that means is provided for resiliently driving said gears, whereby vertical movement of said Wheel with reference to said frame is not transmitted through said gears to the prime mover.

`2. The invention as set forth in claim l, wherein the said means comprises spring means connecting the rim of one gear to the hub thereof.

3. In a wheeled vehicle, a driving mechanism of the type including a frame, a hanger` arm pivotally mounted on said frame, a running wheel journalled on said hanger arm, and resilient means for transmitting a part t ofthe vehicle l-oad to said running wheel, and

a drive for said wheel comprising a gear rigidly secured to said wheel andin mesh with a driven gear having an axis coinciding with the pivotal axis of said hanger arm charac terized by the fact that means is provided for resiliently driving said gears, whereby vertical movement of said wheel with reference to saidframe is not transmitted through said gears to the prime mover wherein the said means comprises a spring connecting the rim `of each of said gears to its respective hub.

4f. In a wheeled vehicle, a driving mechanism of the type including a frame, a hanger arm pivotally mounted on said frame, a running wheel journalled on said hanger arm,

and resilient means for transmitting a part of the vehicle load to said running wheel, and a drive for said wheel comprising a gear rigidly secured to said wheel and in mesh with a driven gear having an axis coinciding with the pivotal axis of said hanger arm characterized by the fact that means is provided for resiliently driving said gears, whereby verf' tical movement of said wheel with reference spring connecting the rim of one wheel to its hub.

6. In a wheeled vehicle, a driving mechanism of the type including a frame, a hanger arm pivotally mounted on said frame, a run` ning wheel journalled onY said hanger arm, andresilient means for transmittinga part of the vehicle load to said running wheel, and a drive for said wheel comprising a gear rigidly secured to said wheel and in mesh with a driven gear having an axis coinciding with the pivotal axis of said hanger arm characterized by the fact that means is provided for resiliently driving said gears, whereby vertical movement of said'wheel with reference to said frame is not transmitted through said gears to the prime mover, wherein said means comprises two spiral springs connecting the rim of one gear to its hub, and plates pressing against the lateral edges of said springs to damp the movement thereof.

7. The invention as set forth in claim 1, wherein saidV means comprises two spiral springs connecting the rim of one of said gears to its hub, the said springs being normally of conical form,v a plurality of plates at each side of said springs and pressed againstthe same to retain the same in the form of cylin' drical spirals, alternate plates being secured to? the rim and the hub of said gear, respec-