US2265882A - Cindering device - Google Patents

Description

J. G. WILSONl GINDERlNG DEVICE Filed May 22, 1941 2 Sheets--SheeI l wim.

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Qb\ l Dec. 9, 1941. J, wlLsQN 2,265,882

CINDERING DEVICE Filed May 22, 1941 2 SheetsT-Sheet 2 ZZ z/ c/. Miaou Patented Dec. 9, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CINDERING DEVICE James G. Wilson, Weedville, Pa.

Application May 22, 1941, Serial No. 394,706

7 Claims.

This invention relates to a device for cindering the surface in front of the driving wheels of a motor vehicle for providing traction for said wheels when the surface is slippery with ice or snow.

More particularly, it is an aim of the invention to provide a. cindering device adapted to be driven by power take-01T means from the engine of the vehicle for intermittently and, alternately discharging the abrasive material in front of the driving wheels of the vehicle so that the material will be discharged in suflicient quantities to afford ample traction while at the same time a minimum of the abrasive material is being utilized.

Still another aim of the invention is to provide a cindering device including a tank or hopper which is adapted to be built in to a motor vehicle and to be disposed against and above the rear end of the vehicle engine so that the contents of the hopper will be heated and kept dry and in proper condition for use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cindering device having means for heating the outletends of the cinder conveying conduit by means of the hot water from the cooling system of the vehicle to prevent the accumulation of ice or snow thereon.

Still a further aim of the invention is to provide power take-ofi means of simple construction adapted to be manually controlled by means of a clutch for operating the cindering device at the will of the operator of the vehicle.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, and wherein- Figure 1 is a side elevational view showing the cindering device mounted on a motor vehicle, a portion of which is shown in dotted lines,

Figure 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the same taken substantially along the plane of the line 2--2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of a portion of the cindering device taken substantially along a plane indicated by the line 3--3 of Figure 2,

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail vertical sectional view of a. portion of the cindering device taken substantially along a plane indicated by the line 4-4 of Figure 2, and

Figure 5 is a longitudinal horizontal sectional view showing a portion of a slightly modified conduit.

vend of the driving shaft of the engine I4 in a conventional manner, as illustrated in Figure l. The parts of the motor vehicle I0 which are illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 1, and which have heretofore been enumerated, are included merely to illustrate the application of the cindering device, designated generally I9, and comprising the invention.

The cindering device I9 includes a hopper 20 which is preferably built in as a part of the motor vehicle and which is mounted against and partly above the rear end of the engine I4, as seen in Figure l. Referring to Figure 2, the hopper 20 is provided with a filling opening 2| at its top adapted to be closed by a plug 22. A shaft 23 extends through and is journaled in the upper part of the hopper 20. An arm 24 is keyed to the shaft 23 and is disposed in the hopper 20 and is provided with an enlarged head 25 at its free end. The top of the hopper 20 is provided with a second opening 26 containing a removable plug 2l to which is connected one end of a chain or other flexible member 28, the opposite end ol' which is attached to the arm 24, adjacent its free end. The hopper 20 is provided with a restricted lower end having two laterally spaced discharge openings 29 and 3U. As seen in 'riguie l, the shaft 23 projects rearwardly from the hopper and is provided at its free end with a pointer 3| which is disposed in the body of the vehicle I0, preferably in front of the dashboard, not shown, thereof. A conduit, designated generally 32, as best seen in Figure 2, is provided with an intermediate, substantially horizontal portion 33 which is disposed transversely of the vehicle I0 and which is attached intermediate of its ends to the lower end of the hopper 20. The conduit 32 is provided with openings 34 and 35 which register with the outlet openings 29 and 30, respectively, and the horizontal portion 33 is provided with depending portions 36 and 31 at the ends thereof which extend downwardly through the running boards II and which are provided with open discharge ends 38 which open below the running boards II and in front of and-in `longitudinal alinement with the rear wheels I2,

as seen in Figure 2.

To the undersides of the running boards II are attached boxes or chambers 39 and 40 by means of the fastenings 4 I, asbest seen in Figure 2. The outlet end 38 of the conduit portion 36 extends through the box or chamber 39, and the outlet end 38 of the conduit portion 31 extends through the box 40. From each of the boxes 39 and 40 project pipes 42 and 43 which communi'- cate with the interior of the boxes 39 and 40 and which extend upwardly along the conduit portions 36 and 31, as seen in Figures 1 and 2. A joint 44 is attach'ed to the return pipe of the heater I8 and is provided with a bifurcated end to each furcation of which is attached a tube or hose 45. The opposite ends of the tubes 45 connect with the upper ends of the pipes 42 of the boxes 39 and 49. A similar joint or coupling 46 is connected to the radiator I1 and to each of the furcations of the bifurcated end thereof is attached a hose or tube 41. The opposite ends of the tubes 41 are attached to the upper ends of the pipes 43.

In front of each of the boxes 39 and 40 is mounted a shield or flap 48, which flaps are attached to the undersides of the running boards II by fastenings 49. The flaps 48 project downwardly and rearwardly from the running boards II and form shield-s for protecting the outlet ends 38 from snow orslush thrown rearwardly and upwardly from the front wheels I3 of the vehicle I9, one of which is shown at I3 in Figure 1.

Referring to Figures 2 and 3, an elongated block 58 is slidably mounted in the conduit portion 33, intermediate of the ends thereof, and beneath the hopper outlets 29 and 30. The block 50 is only slightly smaller than the interior size of the conduit portion 33 to provide only sufcient clearance to allow the block 50 to slide freely therein. The block 50 is provided with recessed ends forming upwardly opening pockets I and 52 having corresponding bottoms 53, the outer ends of which taper in thickness, as indicated at 54. The pockets 5I and 52 are formed in the ends of the block 59 so that said pockets open outwardly of the ends of the block as well as upwardly thereof and their bottoms 53 extend to adjacent the ends of the block 50. The distance between the adjacent inner ends of the pockets 5I and 52 is greater than the distance between the remote portions of the openings 34 and 35 so that when the block 56 is in an intermediate position, as seen in Figures 2 and 3, it will form a valve for closing both discharge openings of the hopper 20 to prevent the cinders 55, contained therein, from flowing into the conduit portion 33. The sides of the pockets 5I and 52 are preferably provided with cut-out portions or openings 56.

The conduit portion 33 is provided with an elongated longitudinally extending opening 51 in its underside and beneath the hopper 20 through which loosely extends a pin or stud 58 the upper end of which is threaded to engage a recess in the block 59 for deltachably connecting a pin 58 thereto. e

A bracket 59 is connected by fastenings 60 to the conduit portion 33, adjacent its end 31 and is provided with a horizontally disposed portion 6I which is disposed'beneath` and spaced from the conduit portion 33 and in which is journaled an upwardly projecting shaft 62 to which is conis pivotally connected to the lowerend of the pin 58. A worm 66 has a shank end 61 journaled in an opening 68 in the depending portion of the bracket 59 and is disposed to mesh with the worm wheel 63.

Referring to Figure 1, an elongated bar 69 is mounted on the right hand side of the engine I4 by means of brackets 18 and is provided with a pair of upwardly projecting standards 1I having bearing portions for journaling a shaft 12 which is rotatably mounted therein and which is held against sliding movement relatively to the standards 1I by collars 13. A pulley 14 is keyed to the shaft 12, between the standards 1I, and the shaft I6, of the generator I5, is extended through the rear end of the generator and is provided with a pulley 15 which is belted to the pulley 14 by a belt`16. It will thus be seen that the shaft 12 will be driven by the generator shaft I6 which in turn is driven in a conventional manner by means of a belt and pulley, as seen in Figure 1, from the crankshaft 11 of the engine I4. The means as illustrated in Figure 1 for driving the shaft '12 by power derived from the engine I4 is only one means which might be employed, as the pulley 14 could obviously be belted to the water pump, not shown, of the engine I4, or directly to the shaft 11 by moving the bar 69 forwardly.

The standards 1I are disposed adjacent the forward end of the bar 69 and a pair of spaced standards 18 project upwardly from the bar 69, adjacent its rear end, and are provided with alined bearing portions for journaling a hollow 'shaft 19, which is held against sliding movement by means of collars 80. The rear end of the shaft 19 is connected to the worm 66 by means of a universal joint 8|. The shaft 18 is provided with a polygonal shaped bore in which is slidably mounted a similarly shaped shaft 82 which is held keyed to the shaft 19 by means of its polygonal cross sectional shape and the polygonal cross sectional shape of the bore of the shaft 19. The shaft 82 projects from the forward end of the shaft 19 and is provided with a collar 83 on its exposed portion, forwardly of which the shaft 62 is circular in cross section. To the forward-end of the yshaft 82 is keyed a friction clutch member 64 including a disk 85 on the outer side of which is mounted a fiber disk 86 which is attached tothe disk 85 by fastenings 81, which are disposed adjacent the periphery of the clutch element 84. To the rear end of the shaft 12 is keyed a disk shaped clutch element 88 which is smaller in diameter than the clutch element 84. A collar 89 is loosely mounted on the round portion of the shaft 82, between the collar 83 and the -clutch element 84 and is provided with a pin 90 for loosely engaging the slotted end 9I`oi.' a lever 92 which is pivotally mounted at 93, intermediate of its ends, on a short standard 94 which projects upwardly from the bar 69, beneath the collar 89. To the lower end of the lever 92 is connected one end of anexpansion coil spring 95 which projects rearwardly and which is connected at its opposite end to one end of a rearwardly extending cable 96, the opposite end of which is adapted to extend to adjacent the driver's seat of the vehicle,

not shown, so that the operator of the vehicle by pulling on the cable 96 can move the shaft 82 forwardly to cause the clutch element 84 to frictionally engage the clutch element 88. The spring 95 is provided to prevent the clutch element 84 from striking the clutch element 88 with too much force should the cable 96 be jerked too hard. .A second contractile coil spring 91 is attached at one end to the lever 92, adjacent its lower end, and at its opposite end to the underside of the bar 69, adjacent the forward end thereof, the spring 91 functioning -to normally move the slotted end 9| of the lever 92 rearwardly to normally hold the clutch element 84 out of engagement with the clutch element 88.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that the hot water from the water jacket 98, which circulates through the heater I8, will also be circulated through the tubes 45 and the pipes 42 and into and through the boxes or chambers 39 and 40 for heating the outlet ends 38 of the conduit portions 36 and 3l so that ice, snow or slush cannot accumulate in and close the ends 38. The operator of the vehicle I by simply pulling on the cable 96 will move the clutch element 84 forwardly and into frictional `engagement with the clutch element 68 so that the shaft 'I2 which is being driven by the generator shaft I6, as previously explained, will drive the shafts 82 and 'I9 to thereby revolve the worm 66. The Worm wheel 63, being meshed with the worm 66 will be revolved thereby to reciprocate the block 50 through the link connection 65 with the stud 64 and pin 58. The block 60 is shown in its intermediate position, and assuming that the worm wheel 63 is turning in a clockwise direction, as seen in Figure 3, by moving a quarter of a vturn from its position, as seen in Figure 3, the block 50 will be moved toward the conduit portion 36 so that the pocket 52 will be beneath the Vhopper discharge opening 30 so that cinders 55 can flow into the pocket 52. As the wheel 63 continues to turn in a clockwise direction, the block 50 will move in the opposite direction or toward the conduit portion 31 to convey the cinders in the pocket 52 toward the conduit portion 3l while at the same time the pocket is moved to a position beneath the hopper discharge opening 29 so that cinders 55 will flow into the pocket 5|. As this operation is repeated it will be obvious that the cinders 55 will be accumulated in the ends of the conduit portion 33 and forced by the block 50 therefrom into the depending conduit portions 36 and 3l through which the cinders will flow by gravity and fall onto the surface over which the wheels of the vehicle are moving in front of and in longitudinal alinement with the rear wheels I2, as indicated by the arrows 99, as seen in Figure 2. The block 50 thus not only forms a valve for controlling the discharge openings of the hopper but also forms a plunger for intermittently and alternately forcing a quantity of cinders into the conduit portions 36 and 3l. It will thus be obvious that when the cinders are dispensed from the outlets 38 they will be dispensed in suilicient quantities to provide ample traction for the rear wheels I2 and not in such small amounts as to have little or no effect on the tractionof said wheels. The block 50 will be moved with suflicient speed that as it reverses its direction of movement the cinders contained in the pockets 5 I and 52 will slide therefrom so that the pockets will be substantially empty when they move into positions beneath the discharge openings 29 and 30, respectively. The cut-out portions or openings 66 in the sides of the pockets 5I and 52 also enable the cinders to more readily escape therefrom.

The bar 69 is attached directly to the engine I4, on which the generator I5 is mounted, so that the vibration of the engine II willl not vary the relative positions of the generator I5 and the shaft 12 so that the tension of the belt 'I6 will not vary. The universal joint 8l is provided to accommodate for the relative vibration of the shaft 19 relatively to the worm 66. As previously mentioned the hopper 20 engages against the rear end of the engine I4 to keep the cinders 55 dry at all times, so that they will ow freely into and through the conduit 33 and its portions 36 and 31. The .head 25 of the arm 24 rests on the top of the cinders 55 and as the supply of' cinders diminishes the arm 24 swings downwardly to cause the pointer 3I to turn to indicate the amount of cinders 55 remaining in the hopper 20. After the hopper 20 has been refilled, plug 21 is removed so that the chain 28 can be pulled- Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, provided they fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter dened by the appended claims, as only preferred embodiments of the invention have been disclosed.

I claim as my invention:

1. A cindering device for motor vehicles comprising a hopper containing cinders and provided with two discharge openings in the bottom thereof, said hopper being disposed transversely to a motor vehicle on which it is mounted, a conduit attached to the bottom of the hopper and disposed transversely of the vehicle into which said discharge openings o'pen, said conduit having depending portions at the ends thereof opening downwardly in front of the rear wheels of the vehicle, a block slidably mounted in said conduit, beneath the hopper, and forming a valve for closing the discharge openings thereof, power take-off means operated by the engine of the vehicle for reciprocating said valve to alternately expose said discharge openings for releasing the cinders alternately into opposite ends of the conduit, and said valve forming means for pushing the cinders toward the ends of the first mentioned portion of :the conduit, so that the cinders will drop by gravity through the depending end portions thereof.

2. A cindering device as in claim 1, comprising heating chambers surrounding the lower, outlet ends of the depending portions o'f said conduit, and pipes connecting said chambers to the water cooling system of the engine whereby the water therefrom will be circulated through said chambers for heating the outlet ends of the conduit.

3. A cindering device as in claim 1, said hopper being built in as a part of the motor vehicle and being disposed .against and partly over the rear end of the engine thereof whereby the heat from the engine will keep the contents of the hopper dry and hot.

4. A cindering device as in claim 1, said power takeoi! means including a clutch adapted to be manually operated.

5. A device for providing traction for the wheels of a land vehicle comprising a hopper adapted to contain an abrasive material, said hopper being provided with a discharge outlet in the bottom thereof, a conduit connected to said hopper and into which said outlet opens, and valve means for controlling the discharge opening of the hopper and constructed and arranged to alternately and intermittently convey the abrasive material from the hopper through the conduit toward points in front of the driving A wheels ot the vehicle.

' 6. A device for distributing an abrasive for the driving wheels of a motor vehicle comprising a hopper having discharge openings, a conduit having an intermediateportion disposed beneath and communicating with said discharge openings and depending ends opening in front oi' the driving wheels of the vehicle, a valve disposed in the intermediate portion of the conduit i'or controlling the ow of the contents of the hopper through said discharge openings, a stud connected to and projecting downwardly `from said valve, an elongated slot in the bottom of said conduit in which said stud is slidablymounted, eccentric driving means for said valve, a link connecting said eccentric driving means and stud for reciprocating said valve for alternately exposing said discharge openings, and said valve being provided with pockets in its ends for receiving the contents of the hopper from said discharge openings and for preventing said contents from/being discharged through the slot in the bottom of said conduit, said valve forming a plunger for forcing the contents of -the hopper towards the ends of the conduit.

7. An antiskid device for motor vehicles comprising a hopper adapted to contain an abrasive and provided, with a outlet, means for controlling said outlet, power takeoi! means adapted to be driven by the prime mover of a motor vehicle on which the device is mounted, said power takeoii means being connected to and actuating said ilrst mentioned means, a clutch associated with the power takeoff means and which is operable for disengaging the power takeotl' means from the prime mover, a conduit for receiving the abrasive from the hopper, and conveying means disposed in the conduit and actuated by the power takeoi means for conveying the abrasive through the conduit.

JAMES G. WILSON-

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