US851105A - Cushioned wheel. - Google Patents

Description

No. 851,105. PATBNTBD APR. 28, 1907.

R. P. REID. CUSHIONBD WHEEL. APPLICATION FILED 13110.22, 1905.

o O o o \A/ITNEEIEEE ROBERT P. REID, OF WQYIEHYLIE'l, NEW YORK.

CUSHIONED WHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 23, 1907.

Application filed December 22,1905. Serial No. 293.002.

T0 (07/ lr/mm if 1114/ (w/u'm'n.

-Be it known that 1, ROBERT 'P. REID, a citizen of the United States, residing at \Yatervliet, county of Albany, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cushioned heels, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to such improvements and consists of the novel construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and subsequently claimed.

Reference may be had to the accompanying drawings, and the reference characters marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Similar characters refer to similar parts in the several figures therein.

The single figure of the drawings is a View in side elevation, partly broken away, and partly in section, of a vehicle-wheel provided with my invention.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a simple and efficient cushion for interposition between two members, one of which is ca able of movement toward and from the ot er, whereby the force of a shock or concussion received .by one of said members will be largely taken up and dissipated in its transmission through said cushion to the othermember.

The invention is ap licable to various forms of construction w erein a cushioning effect is desirable. I

Referring to the drawing, wherein the invention is shown in its preferred form a lied to a vehicle-wheel, 1 is the rim, 2 is t e ub, and 3, 3 are the spokes of a vehiclewheel adapted for use on automobiles or wagons or similar road-vehicles. The hub is made hollow to form a fluid-chamber, 4, surrounding the spindle-bearing, 5, into which fluid-chamber open the innerends of a plu rality of piston-chambers, 6, one for each spoke of the wheel. Located Within each piston-chamber is a piston, 7', against the outer side of which bears the inner end of the adjacent spoke, said spoke constituting a piston-rod or spindle and being movable longitudinally through a stuffing-box, 8, on the ub. An extension of the fluid-chamber, 4, is formed within a box, 9,,mounted upon, and

forming substantially, a part of, the hub. The box, 9, is in the form of a cylinder and contains a movable dia hragmor piston, 10, the inner side of WhiG. is exposed to the fluid in the inner annular compartment of the fluid-chamber which is admitted thereto through the passage-way, 11, while the outer side of said diaphragm or piston is exposed to the fluid in the outer end of thebox or cylinder, 9, which forms the outer compartment of the fluid-chamber, the fluids in said compartments bein prevented by said piston or diaphragm rom intermingling with. each other.

In the use of my invention, the inner eom' partment is filled with oil, water, or other comparatively incompressible fluid, 12, and the outer compartment with more-or-lesscompressed air or otherhi hly compressible fluid '13 which can be int-rot need through the valved aperture, 14, in a manner similar to that in which pneumatic tires are inflated. The rim, which may be given any desired degree of flexibility, will, upon encountering an obstacle in the road, yield at the point of con tact therewith, causing one or more of the spoke-piston rods to be forced inwardly, causing the piston or pistons engaged there by to be driven inwardly along their respective chambers toward the center of the hub. The oil or water, 12, being substantially incompressible, the pressure-caused by'the inward movement of the pistons is instantly transmitted through the liquid and piston or diaphragm, 10, to the as in the compartment, .9, which is there y compressed. 'As soon as the excess of ressure is removed from the rim, the elasticity of the gas in compartment, 9, restores the various pistons to normal position.

By locating the gas in a compartment separated from the li uid compartment, no opportunityis afforde for escape of the gas past the pistons and through the stuffingoxes, 8, which need to be made only sul'liciently ti ht to resist leakage of the more dense fluid. Shouldv the gas be admitted to the annular liquid compartment, however,

no harm would be done, as in use centrifugal I00 force would maintain the more dense fluid in the outer part. of the hub-compartment in contact With the various pistons, and the less dense fluid near the center of the hub,

in a manner adapted for carrying out my [05 invention and accomplishing the object thereof.

The box or cylinder, 9, is shown as a separate structure mounted uponthe hub-proper,

but it is in effect a part of the hub, and the I I chamber.

' p The several pistons, are preferably ing' to a comparatively thin edge, j which,"

' v and has its walls tapering to a comparatively chamber contained within thebox or o lin- "the fluid-chamber, is expanded sufliciently for the piston.

der, 9, is likewise a part of the hubuid made cup-shaped, and have their walls taperwhen subjected to the internal pressure of to form a tight joint with the cylinder-walls, whereby I'am able to dispense with a packing I am aware that packing material has been employed upon a piston-head in cup-shaped form, and. make no claim broadly to such a construction.

It is characteristic of my invention, so far as the same relates to the construction of a piston-hea(l, adapted for use in. a cylinder where said piston-head is exposed to pressure, that the piston-head itself is cup-shaped mounted upon one of said members; a plurality of cylinders for the respective pistons I mounted upon the other of said members; and a cushion to which each cylinder is open, comprising confined bodies. of gas and liquid respectively, separated from each. other by a movable diaphragm.

2. The combination with a wheel-hub pro-' vided with a fluid-chamber and a plurality of piston-chambers open to said fluidchamber; of a wheel-rim; pistons in the respective piston-chambers; spokes interposed between the. respective pistons and rim; and a cushioningbody comprising two fluids of different degrees of compressibility confined in said hub-chamber. a

i 3. The combination with a wheel-hub provided with a fluid-chamber subdivided by a movable diaphragm, and with a plurality of piston-chambers open to one of the fluidchamber compartments; of a wheel rim;

pistons in the respective piston-chambers;'

spokes interposed between the respective pistons and rim; a bodyv of liquid confined within. the fluid-chamber-compartment open 'to said piston-chambers; and a body of gas confined within the other fluid-chambercompartment.

.In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 19th day of December, 1905.

ROBERT P. REID.

Witnesses:

FRANK C. CURTIS, J. L. FULLER.

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