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A Self-adjusting Steering joint

11th January 1952
Page 56
Page 56, 11th January 1952 — A Self-adjusting Steering joint
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

A N improved type of ball-joint is shown in patent No. 661,686 (Thompson Products Inc., Cleveland,

Ohio, USA.). The chief point is a means for automatically taking up slack due to wear.

' The drawing shows a standard type of ball_joint with the improve'bents added. The ball member is urged into its seating by a wedge (1) in co-operation with a second wedge (2). The lafter is forced to the left by a compressed spring (3) housed in a hole in the periphery of the wedge.

The ball is'thus held firrnlY in its seating and as wear occurs the wedges take up '..the • slack. A pin (4) acts as a key to prevent rotation, the drive-screw 5 which is used during assembly serving no purpose in the functioning of the device.

A ROTARY-VALVE • . ENGINE

THE latest in rataryvalve design comes from a German concern, Sudwerke

Kuhnbach.The • design, w hich ,is intended specially for multi cylindered engines, is

dealt with in patent No. 660,525.

The drawing Shows a four cylindered engine according to the invention. Each valve barrel (I) is locally housed, and Is driven by a short splined shaft (2) from

its neighbour. The primary drive to the set is provided by a gear 43) .mounted on ball-bearings on the end

. cylinder. •

The action of the valves is indicated at various points in the cycle by studying the individual cylinders. Each valve is hollow and through them the air (or mixture) is drawn. This -s shown occurring in the left-hand cylinder, in which an inlet port (4) is open, in conjunction with a cylinder-port (5). The exhaust passage (6) is ineffective in this position.

The exhaust passage is shown at 7 in the working position, in which -it connects the cylinder, with the outlet (8). Tha valves of the other two cylinders (9 and 10) are, 'of course. in t h eir inoperative -Positions during compression an d firing s t r o'k e s. The chief virtue claimed for the scheme is the good opportunity for teat transfer from exhaust to the incoming air.

AUTOMATIC CONTROL OF • HEAD LAMPS

.DATENT' No. 660,466 (Morris

• U Motors, Ltd., Cowley, Oxford) deals with a novel scheme for controlling the 'brilliance of head lamps. By means of a governor, a variable resistance 'is operated which dims the lights as the vehicle slows, and vice-versa.

• The drawing shows a simple governer (1) which can be incorporated in the drive to the speedometer. The governor works the arm (2) of a rheostat, which is included in` the head lamp circuit. A short-circuiting switch (3) can be used to nullify the device if desired. This would probably be left permanently in the out-of,action position, as it is difficult to see what useful purpose could be served by dimming the lamps in this way,

NOVEL BEARING DESIGN

'TIN-BASED white-metal bearings I have for many years given satisfactory service, but the high bearingpressures now being developed in oil engines call for a somewhat harder material. Copper-lead mixtures' have been tried, hut have Proved to be toO hard, and .what is needed is an inter' mediate grade. Such are the views of the National Lead Company, New

York, U.S.A., a concern which describes, in patent No. 658,907, a 'new bearing claimed to meet the requirement.

A copper-wire screen embedded in white-metal is the proposed solution, but it is important that continuous lengths of copper do not appear at the

surface of the bearing, because they, would tear the shaft. To this end, the copper screen is built up from numerous wires 0.0011 in. diameter, first knitted as shown at 1, and then formed into the bearing shape (2).

Any soft white-metal may be used as a filler, including pure metals such as lead, zinc or aluminium. The copper forms from 25 to 35 per cent, of the total.

A GEAR LEVER CONVERSION •

PATENT No. 661,911, which comes from J. Na)dor and Atkinson Lorries (1933), Ltd., Marsh Lane, Preston, Lancs., shows a simple unit for adapting the gear-lever of a right-hand-drive vehicle to a left-hand one. It is particularly suitable for the Atkinson eight-wheeler, which has a gear selector positioned on the off side.

The normal gear lever is replaced by a ball-ended lever (1) which is engaged by a socket on the end of lever 2. The other end is similarly socketed and is worked by the lower end (3) of the gear lever. A ball shaped enlargement (4) in the middle of :the lever acts as a universal fulcrum; it also permits the necessary sliding movement to take place im the enclosing tube. '

STEEL-BACKED BEARINGS

DETAILS of a process for increasing the adherence of white metal to'.a steel backing-strip, are given in patear No 661,793 (Glacier Metal Co., La, Wembley). The steel strip is subjected to an electrolytic treatment in a bath of phosphoric 'acid and aleohol-; a 'process claimed to give a greatly superior bond.

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