US2059972A - Motor vehicle frame adjusting means - Google Patents

Description

1936. R. D. SMITH ET AL 2,059,972

MOTOR VEHICLE FRAME ADJUSTING MEANS Filed Dec. 28, 1933 j P D. j/W/ 7'/-/ INVENTORS f? rP4A 5/5/v 4 BY FIE 5 A TTORNE Y.

Patented Nov. 3, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MOTOR VEHICLE FRAME ADJUSTING MEANS Application December 28, 1933, Serial No. 704,268

1 Claim.

The present invention pertains to the art of rectifying the shape of motor vehicle frames and more particularly the art of rectifying those which have, through inadvertence or accident, become distorted, though it will be understood that it can be used with vehicles which were not given the correct shape at the factory.

Among the objects of this invention are to provide means whereby a frame, which is so surrounded by depending metal parts that the usual points of attachment are inaccessible, may be gripped and force applied thereto; to provide means such that, even though the frame is so enclosed in depending fenders, etc., attachment may nevertheless be made to the frame for the exerting of force thereon; and such further objects, advantages, and capabilities as will hereafter appear and as are inherent in the construction disclosed herein. Our invention further resides in the combination, construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing and, while we have disclosed therein what is now considered the preferred embodiment of this invention, we desire the same to be understood as illustrative only and not to be interpreted in a limiting sense.

In the drawing annexed hereto and forming a part hereof,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a motor vehicle frame having two of our improved clamps attached thereto to illustrate how the apparatus is to be applied;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary transverse section designed to illustrate a detail of construction;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional elevation illustrating the application of the device to a frame member;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevation on a somewhat larger scale than shown in Fig. l and illustrating in greater detail our construction;

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of the inside face of one of the clamping jaws.

Reference will now be made in greater detail to the annexed drawing for a more complete description of this construction. The side members of the motor vehicle frame are denoted by the numeral I and the cross members by the numerals 2, 3 and 4. These parts are merely conventional and do not constitute any part of the invention. It is well understood that with the present tendency toward depending fenders which cover the ends of the frame members it is impossible to make use of the structures which have been developed heretofore for the pulling of motor vehicle frames which are, for one reason or another, not rectangular. Since it is impossible to use these prior constructions in working upon the newer cars, it has been necessary to develop new apparatus which can be used upon these newer models for the desired pur- 5 pose. The present apparatus is designed to meet this need.

In working upon a. motor vehicle, two units which are identical or substantially identical are made use of, one being attached to each side 10 member of the frame. These units comprise a pair of gripping jaws 5 and 6, a pair of units I, such as bolts and nuts, for drawing the jaws together, a hook 8, and a chain 9. The hook 8 has a body If! provided with a pair of apertures 15 for the reception of the bolts I and the pull exerted on the chain 9, in the direction of the. arrow, will therefore be transmitted to both of the bolts and from these to the jaws.

At their lower ends, the jaws 5 and 6 are pro- 20 vided with inwardly projecting lugs II and I2 which mutually engage to hold the lower ends of the jaws separated a. fixed distance when the nuts are tightened up to cause the jaws to grip the frame member I which, as is well understood, 5 is usually made of channel iron. It will be noted that one of the jaws is made with a head extending laterally far enough to permit the body of the jaw to clear the edge of the lower flange of member I and to also permit the face of the 30 jaw to engage the body of the frame member. The jaws 5 and 6 are formed with sockets or depressions I3 and I4 in which are mounted sharply corrugated hardened blocks I5, the teeth of which engage the web of the channel member 35 when the nuts on the bolts I are tightened up to force the blocks I5 into engagement with the frame member. It will be evident from Fig. 2 that the blocks I5 must be put into the sockets in the jaw members so that the teeth will point 4.0 in the direction of the pull to be exerted. If they are put in the wrong way about, the teeth will slide over the frame member without biting into same and the pull exerted on the frame member will therefore be almost negligible. 4.5 However, when the blocks I5 are put in in the right way, a sufficient pull can be exerted to break a chain 9 without the jaws slipping.

As indicated in Fig. 3, a chain I6 may be put through the opening above the projections II 50 and I2 and secured to some kind of means for holding the frame of the motor vehicle down in event it should be desired to bend the frame member in a vertical direction, which might be true if the frame had been bent in an accident. 55

Different companies manufacture frame straightening equipment with which this construction might be used to advantage and, therefore, no such apparatus has been illustrated. It will be understood, however, that some sort of abutments or other holding means must be provided for use in conjunction with this apparatus. It is also understood that some sort of power means, for example, a jack, would be needed for furnishing the requisite power to cause the frame to be twisted as required.

In order to adapt this device for pulling in the opposite direction, a very simple adjustment is required, consisting in removing the nuts from the bolts 1, removing the blocks [5 and turning them end for end, turning the hook 8 end for end, and replacing the nuts.

It will be understood that the specific structure herein described may be departed from without departing from the spirit of our invention as set forth in this specification and the appended claim.

Having now described our invention, we claim: A structure for the purpose described comprising a pair of jaws having means at one end to hold the jaws separated, one of the jaws having .a head extending laterally toward the other jaw, the faces of the jaws toward each other being recessed, hardened, sharply corrugated, gripping members located in the recesses in the jaws, means for drawing the jaws together to grip a frame member between them, and flexible means connected to the jaws for exerting or resisting a lateral pull thereon.

FRANK J. FRANSEN. ROY D. SMITH.

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