USRE23465E - Wheel construction for front - Google Patents

Description

March 4, 1952 R HOLMES I Re. 23,465

WHEEL CONSTRUCTION FOR FRONT WHEEL DRIVES Original Filed May 5, 1943 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 H ARLEtGH R. HOLMES INVENTOR.

v ha/LWM March 4, 1952 H. R. HOLMES 23,465

WHEEL. CONSTRUCTION FOR FRONT WHEEL DRIVES Original Filed May 6, 1943 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 HARLEIGH R. HOL MES INVENTOR.

Reissued Mar. 4, 1952 WHEEL CONSTRUCTION FOR FRONT I WHEEL DRIVES Harleigh R. Holmes, Littleton, Cl0., assignor to Coleman Motors Corporation, Littleton, 0010., a corporation of Colorado Original No. 2,346,842, dated April 18, 1944, Serial No. 485,937, May 6, 1943. Application for reissue November 7, 1951, Serial No. 255,241

Matter enclosed in heavy brackets I: appears in the original patent but forms no part of this reissue specification; matter printed in italics indicates the additions made by reissue.

4 Claims.

1 v This invention relates to improvement in wheel mountings for front wheel drive vehicles and relates" more particularly to an improved construction of the type described and claimed in U. S. Patent 1,619,672 granted on March 1, 1927;

The importance of four wheel drive for heavy duty trucks has long been recognized and such trucks are now extensively employed. Front wheel drive for pleasure cars also has many points of merit.

Front wheel drives are not as simple as other drives for the reason that the front wheels are also used'for steering and means for transmittingpower must therefore be so designed that this can be effected without interfering with the steering. In' the patent above identified, a power transmission device admirably adapted for front wheel drive has been shown, which is employed with slight variations. in the present invention. In heavy duty trucks, where four wheel drives are mostly employed, the parts are subjected to very severe strains, and although they are designed with this in view, it is evident that the parts will wear and means must therefore be provided for effecting adjustments. 1

Inorder that the wheels maybe employed for steering they must be mounted so as to turn about vertical pivots. Since the weights that must be supported are large, the vertical pivots are positioned in the planes of the wheels, as clearly shown in Fig. l of the patent above identitled. The vertical pivot bearings are, of course, of the antifriction type and must be adjusted from time to time to correct or compensate for wear. In the patent above identified, such adjustments are effected by means of thebolts 13. It is the principal object of this invention to improve the construction shown in the above identified patent in such a way that adjustment for wear of the vertical pivot bearings can be effected without removing the wheels and which, therefore, makes it possible to keep the parts in proper adjustment with the expenditure of a comparatively small amount of labor.

Having thus pointed out the principal object of the invention the latter will now be described in detail and for this purpose reference will be had to the accompanying drawings in which the invention has been illustrated and in which Figure 1 is a diametrical section taken on line ll Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a transverse section taken on line 2-2 Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is a part section similar to the one shown in Figure 1 and shows a slightly modified construction.

In the drawings, reference numeral 5 designates the axle housing and reference numeral 6 an extension secured thereto by bolts I. The drive shaft has been designated by reference numeral 8. The hollow [extensions] extension 6 is provided on its upper and lower surfaces, near its outer end, with circular depressions, 9, for the reception of theinner bearing races, Ill. The depressions, 9, are concentric and in parallel planes. The outer bearing races have been designated by numeral II. A spindle, l2, of somewhat cylindrical form is provided in the lower part of its inner surface with a cylindrical seat IS in which is seated the outer bearing race ll of the lower bearing. It will be remarked that in the drawings frusto conical rollers, it,

have been shown but balls may be used if desired and the term bearing race is therefore employed. Spindle I2 is provided in upper part of its wall with a cylindrical opening l5, that is concentric with a diameter concentric with depression I3. The inner bearing race ill of the upper bearing is seated in the upper depression 9 and the outer bearing race II is seated in and extends upwardly into opening IS. A hearing cap it is positioned in opening l5 and rests on 'the upper bearing race II. A heavy steel ring ,I'I surrounds the spindle l2 and holds a, wedge It will be observed that the bearing bottom [8, in which is positioned [a] the wedge,

Spindle l2 has a threaded opening, 20, in which is operatively positioned a screw, 2 I, whose inner end abuts the [wide] thick end of the wedge. A lock nut, 22, serves to hold the screw from turning. By means of a suitable wrench applied to the head of screw 2| it may be turned and the wedge forced outwardly. The wedge being positioned between the [upper ball bearing] cap 16 and the inner surface of ring ll (Fig. 2) serves to adjust the bearings to compensate for wear.

Attention is directed to the fact that the head of screw 2| is so positioned that it is readily accessible and the bearings can therefore be quickly adjusted at any time. With the construction shown in the above patent it requires a large Figure 3 is a top plan view of the bearing cap; amount of time and labor to adjust the bearings 3 by tightening bolts l3 as can be readily seen from an inspection of Figure 1, but with present construction this adjustment can be readily made.

In Figures 3 and 4 the bearing cap [6 has been shown respectively in top plan view and diametrical section and in Figure the parts have been shown assembled. The difference between theembodiment illustrated in Figure 5 and that shown in Figures 1 and 2 resides mainly in the bearings, the [lower ball] inner races [Illa] 11a being annular and positioned in [an] annular [groove] grooves in the axle housing extension 6, the cones [I6] 14 being somewhat differently inclined.

Having described the invention what is claimed as new is:

1. In a front wheel drive construction having an axle housing and a surrounding tubular spindle mounted for movement relative to the axle housing about'a substantially vertical pivot, antifriction bearings positioned between the spindle and the axle housing, one above and one below the axle housing, the latter having means for positioning the bearings in axial alignment, the. inner'surface of the tubular spindle having diametrically opposed bearing seats each for one of the races of a bearing, means positioned between the inner surface of the spindle and the corresponding bearing race for urging the bearing inwardly, said means comprising a wedge movable in the direction of the axis of the spindle, and

means for moving the wedge comprising a screw operatively connected with the spindle and the Wedge.

2. A front wheel drive construction having an axle housing, a tubular spindle surrounding an end thereof, two spindle bearings interposed between the axle housing and the spindle, one above and one below the axle housing, the lower surface of the spindle having a bearing seat, the wall of the spindle directly above the seat having an opening for the reception of a portion of the upper bearing, a bearing cap positioned in the openmg and resting on the upper surface of the upper bearing, a steel ring [enclosing] encircling the "spindle and positioned to form a [closure for the opening] retainer for the upper bearing and bearing cap, the bearing cap having a diametrically extending surface inclined with respect to 4 housing, the outer end of the housing having seats for the reception of bearing races, one in the upper and another in the lower, surface, an anti-friction bearing comprising outer and inner races, spaced by rotatable elements, positioned in each seat, a tubular spindle surrounding the axle housing, the inner surface ,of the spindle having a seatfor the reception of the outer race of one bearing, the spindle having an opening positioned diametrically opposite from the spindle seat, the outer race of the other bearing projecting into the opening, a bearing cap positioned in the opening and resting on the outer bearing race of said other bearing, a ring surrounding the spindle and positioned to extend over the opening, the outer surface of the bearing cap having a diametrical groove with a bottom inclinedin the direction of the axis. of the -spindle, whereby a tapering space is formed between the bottom and the inner surface of the ring, a wedge positioned inthe -groove, and means comprisinga screw threadedly engaging a. portion of the spin dle and positioned to engage the large endof the wedge for forcing it towards the narrow end of the space to adjust the bearings. 1 4. In a front wheel driveconstruction which includes an axle housing and a tubular spindle mounted for relative pivotal movement about a --ve rt ical pivot, the housing having its endprovided with a seat for the reception of the [outer] inner race of [the] a, lower bearing, the spindle having its wall provided with an opening diametrically above the lower bearing seat for the reception of the outer race of [the] an upper bearing, an anti-friction bearing below and another above the housing, a bearing cap positioned in the opening and resting on the upper bearing, a ring surrounding the spindle and positioned to at least partly close the opening, the outer surface of the bearing cap having a diametrical groove whose bottom is outwardly inclined whereby an outwardly tapered space is formed between the inner surface of the ring and the bottom of the groove, a wedge positioned in the tapered space, and means comprising a screw 'operatively associated with the spindle and the wedge for forcing the wedge towards the narrow end of the space to efiect a tightening of the bearing.

HARLEIGH R. HOLMES.

Name Date Number Holmes Mar. 1, 1927

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