US354633A

US354633A - Vania

Info

Publication number: US354633A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1886-12-21
Anticipated expiration: 1903-12-21

Description

(No Model.) Sheet 1..

. I 2Sheets W. GRIER 33 E. F. BENGLER.

.VEHIGLE SPRING.

n. PETERS. PholvlJlhugmphon Wn'lhi nnnnnnn c.

(No Model.) 2 Shets-Sheetfi.

4 W. W. GRI-ER & E.. F. BENGLER.

VEHICLE SPRING. V No. 354,633. Patented Dec. 21, 1886;

Fl G 6 G? MQT E 5 5 E 5- I I hveqlnrg- W I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

W'ILLIAM W. GRIER AND EDWIN F. BENGLER, OF HULTON, PENNSYL- VANIA, SAID BEN GLER ASSIGNOR TQSAID GRIER.

VEHICLE-SPRING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 354,633, dated December 21, 1886.

Application filed July 26, 1884.

To all whom it may concern..-

Be it known that we, WILLIAM W. GRIER and EDWIN F. BENGLER, of Hulton, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Vehicle Springs; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view of our improved spring as applied to a buggy having side bars. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same viewed from the under side. Fig. 3 is a side view of a modification of an improved spring as applied to a buggy having a perch and no side bars. Fig. 4 is aplan view of the spring shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a side view of the outer end of the spring-bar, showing how it is bent round to form a loop for the shackle-bar. Fig. 6 shows the outer end of the spring-bar, illustrating the way in which it is doubled. Fig. 7 shows the outer end of the spring-bar after being doubled and soldered or welded and rolled into shape.

In the several figures like letters of reference refer to similar parts.

Our invention consists in an improvement in that class of vehicle-springs in which a bar of steel is bent into U shape, so as to form a coil or coils at the bend, and is placed with the legs of the U horizontally one above the other, the upper leg being attached to the vehicle-body and the' lower leg to the runninggear. An example of such spring is found in Letters Patent to John J. Oobb, No. 212,791, of March 4, 1879. Such springs have been used in pairs, two such U shaped coiled springs being placed side by side, with the upper leg of each spring connected to the buggy-body, and the lower legs of the two springs placed side by side, and either connected directly to the running-gear of the vehicle or to a single arm or bar which is so connected. The use of these U-shaped coiled springs in pairs-four such pairs being placed at or near the four corners of the buggy-body-hasits advantages in giving increased strength of spring without unduly increasing the thickness of the steel bar from which it is formed, and thus producing a clumsy device; but it is attended with the disadvantage that the two springs of Serial No. 138,853. (No model.)

each pair may not be tempered alike, and that it is difficult to connect them together so as to secure uniformity of action. These springs are also liable to the objection, especially when applied to sidebar buggies, of raising the body of the vehicle too high above the runninggear. These disadvantages are obviated 'by our improvement, and other advantages are secured.

In the drawings, Figs. 1 and 2, our improvement is shown as applied to a side-bar buggy; but it is equally applicable to buggies with or without side bars, in which the springs are attached at the forward end of the front sill of the bodyand to the head-block of the runninggear, and at the rear end to the hind sill of the body and to the hind end of the axle, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. These figures represent equally well the mode of attachment to the 'side' bars or to the axle or head-block of the running-gear of the part marked B in Figs. 1 and 2; and the part marked 0 in Fig. 3 is supposed to represent either the side bar or the axle or head-block of a buggy, as the case may be. I

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use our improvement,we will proceed to describe it in detail.

In the drawings, A represents one of the sills of the vehicle-body, B in Figs. 1 and 2 the side bar of the running-gear, and O in Fig. 3 the hind axle, or the head-block over the front axle when the springs are attached to a buggy not having side bars.

Our improved spring (of which it is designed to apply four to each vehicle) is made of a single bar of steel of suitable length,width, and thickness. It may be made of any desired shape in cross-sectionas rectangular, cylindrical, or ovalor it may be partly rectangular and partly cylindrical, as may be preferred. This bar of steel is first bent in the middle, the twolegs thus formed being brought closely in contact with each other for a short distance from the point of bending, (see Fig. 6,) which point we shall, for convenience of description, call the outer end of the spring. The parts thus brought together by the bending (for about half the distance, more or less, from the outer end of the spring to the coiled portion) are then united by soldering or welding in any well-known and convenient manner, so as practically to form a single piece from the outer end of the spring to the point of bifurcation, as shown in Fig. 7. The bentbar may be rolled, so as to decrease the thickness and increase the width of the doubled bar at the front end, as shown in Fig. 7. The outer end of the spring is then bent round, as shown in Fig. 5, so as to form a loop, I), through which the shackle-bar passes, by which it is rigidly'attached by a clip to the side bar, B, of the running-gear, as in Figs. 1 and 2, or to the hind axle, O, or head-block, as in Fig. 3.

From the pointoc the two arms or branches ca of the bent bar a are bifurcated or spread apart more or less, as may be desired, for a length equal to about half the distance from the center of the coiled part to the center of the loop b. Each of the arms or branches a a of the steel bar is then coiled, as at c, as many times as may be desired, so as to give greater or less motion to the spring,'the number of coils being increased as greater degree of spring motion is requiredthree or four coils being usually found sufficient, though more or less may be employed.

If desired, the thickness of the steel bar may be increased or diminished in those parts which are thus coiled, a variation in thisrespeet allowing of a considerable corresponding variation in the stiffness of the springs.

From the points in the branches a a of the spring-bar a where the coil terminates to the inner end of the spring the branches a a extend in a substantially horizontal plane, but are curved laterally, as shown in Figs. 2' and 4, in either direction that may be preferred, as shown by full lines and dotted line in Fig. 4, but preferably outward. The inner ends of the spring do not extend out as far from the coiled parts a as the outer end of the spring, the difference in length being equal to the distance between the point of attachment of the outer end of the spring to the running-gear and of its inner end to the body of the vehicle, as shown in Fig. 3.

' Itwill be noticed that the inner end of each of the branches to" a of the spring beyond the coils 0 starts from the coil at a point below the top of the coil, and near to and preferably at or below its center. This is an important feature of our improvement, as it enables us to set the body of the vehicle much lower relatively to the runninggear, especially in sidebar vehicles, than could be done if the inner arms were at a tangent to the upper part of their respective coils c. This feature is illustrated inFigs. 1, 2, and 3, which show the sill A of the vehicle-body cut away sufficiently to give room for the upwardly-projecting coils c of the spring. Near the inner extremity 0 each of the short arms of the spring (as at f) is a-hole or eye for the passage of a bolt, e, by which the inner extremities of the spring are attached to the body of the vehicle. A clip, g, is also used for more rigid attachment of th spring to the vehicle. g

thence branch outwardly. A clip, h, embracing both branches a a" near their point of bifurcation, secures them more firmly to the body of the vehicle.

In Fig. 4. the branches a a, of the steel bar are not separated so widely from the point x of bifurcation, and extend to the inner end of the coils c 0, so that the branches a a beyond the coils c 0, though parallel, do not come together, but are separated by the length of the coils. The construction shown in Fig. 2 gives somewhat greater firmness and stability to the spring.

We have described ourspring as being made from a single bar of steel doubled and then soldered or welded together part way; but as it is important that the two branches of the spring should be firmly united at their outer end, the spring may be made from a piece of steel without doubling by splitting it from the point of bifurcation x.

The special advantages of our invention result from the following peculiarities of construction: The making the double-coiled spring of a single piece of steel, as described, secures a uniformity of temper in the steel and of spring action, which it is very difiicult to attain where two springs made of different pieces of steel and probably at different times are brought together under a vehicle. The rigid union of the two springs at their outer end, effected by making the device of a single piece of steel, secures a consonance of action of the two branches of the spring which cannot be equally well secured by the use of two separate springs fastened together by a clip or band. The bifurcation of the two branches of the spring from a point about midway between its outer end and the coiled portions gives a wider bearing to the springs and a more uniform spring action. The projection of the inner ends of the spring from a point near to the center of. the coils enables the body of the vehicle to be set very low on the running-gear and,finally, the horizontal curving of the inner ends or terminals of the springs permits of a greater or less bearing of the spring on the bodyof the vehicle, according to the degree of flare of spread given to the points of attachment of the spring to the vehicle. In addition to the advantages of con- 1. A vehiclespring composed of two reverse coils, each having a horizontal free bear ing-leg, said coils united to an intermediate bearing-leg common to both coils by converg- 5 ing arms which unite at a point about equidistant from the center of the coil and the end of the intermediate bearing-leg, the coil, converging arms, and legs being integral, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

1o 2. The combination, with the body or bed having a coil-recess, of a coiled spring the bodyleg or branch of which extends from the coil at apoint below the top of the coil,whereby the coil of the spring is partially concealed within the recess of the bed or body, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

3. Thevehicle-springhereinbefore described, consisting of two similar parts, each having a coiled portion, with two arms or branches of unequal length extending in the same direction from opposite ends of the coil, the shorter branch from each coil extending from the inner ends of the coil at a point below the top of the coil, and thence branching outward in an opposite direction from the other branch, to form two termini for attachment to the Vehicle-body, and the longer branch from each coil extending from thebottom and outer end of the coil, and then converging until both of the longer branches meet, where they unite to form a single terminus of thespring for attachmentto the running-gear, the whole spring being formed of a single piece of steel, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set 5 our hands this 23d day of July, A. D. 1884.

"WILLIAM W. GRIER. EDVIN F. BENGLER.

Witnesses:

J AMES H. PORIE, R. L. TREIBER.