A SAFETY DEVICE FOR CABLE BRAKES.
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A Résumé of Recently Published Patent Specifications.
MBE brake-actuating device described in specification No. 283,206 by Ettore Bugatti, has for its object a means whereby the well-known equalizing device used in many cable-brake actuating mechanisms is rendered safe, even if one end of the cable should break.
On the portion of the cable which lies between the two pulleys shown there is a securely fixed clamp, set midway between two abutments fixed to the operating mechanism. The lefthand view shows the arrangement in action while the cable is unbroken, whilst the view on the right shows how the clamp comes in contact with one of the abutments in the event of the cable breaking.
The specification appears to suggest that the breaking of such a cable is a thing one may expect to happen at any time. As exactly the same principle can be, and in fact is, carried out with the use of rods, we can see no real advantage in using a cable.
Life-guards for Front Wheels.
TWO patents, Nos. 294,968 and
29.5,069, both of British origin, appear this week for life-saving appliances in the form of guards for the front wheels of motor vehicles. Neither of these patents, however, in our opinion, contains sufficient novelty or usefulness to warrant our describing them.
Perpetual Motion for Motor Vehicles.
WE cannot help being sorry to see
that the British Patent Office is still granting patents for devices which claim to be self-driving, which, in plain English, means that they are supposed to embody perpetual motion. Such devices usually come from foreigners, but in this case (patent No. 295,096, by Albert Petrie) the idea emanates from Quebec.
A water motor drives the vehicle by means of a propeller shaft in the usual manner. The water is forced through the motor by means of compressed air, which escapes after driving the water through the motor, whilst the water returns to a vessel to do its work over again. Geared to the propeller shaft partial vacuum caused in the indnctio pipe of an engine, so that it can be used to actuate the brakes of motor vehicles.
Above the throttle valve is a duct of small sectional area leading to a rotary valve which-has two outlets, one leading to the atmosphere and one leading to a cylinder which operates the brake by means of a piston. By a-gradual movement of the valve any desired degree of partial vacuum can be obtained.
A New Steering.
WE have seen separate steering worm
boxes mounted on the heads of the jaws of the front axle, but the present invention provides for the necessary variation in the amplitude of movement of each head as a departure from a straight course is made. The usual steering arrangement, or what iscorn monly called Ackerman steering, is so well known that we need hardly point out that the inner wheel, when turning, should assume a greater angle than the outer one.
The present invention of Henri Farman and Maurice Farman, No. 273,698, relates to a special design of worm for the purpose mentioned above. It will be seen from a careful inspection of the worm shown that the pitch of its screw increases from a comparatively fine one on the right to a courser one on the left, the difference taking place not in the groove, which is constant, but in the part which separates the grooves. A roller is employed to engage in the groove, and is mounted on the upper part of the steering head. Rotary movement is imparted-to a shaft lying across the front of the steering heads, which engages in the universal joint shown.
An Anti-dazzle Screen.
IN specification No. 295,103, H. R.
Spencer describes an anti-dazzle screen in which no coloured glass is employed. The specification points out that coloured glasses seriously impace visibility, and the inventor claims to provide a means whereby dazzle can be minimized without seriously obscuring objects on the road.
The screen consists of a series of lines which need not be straight or connected, and may be of any colonr, but are sufficiently close together so that they will break up the light and prevent dazzle, without seriously impeding visibility. The screen may be of glass, celluloid or any other suitable material and may be of any size.
Yet Another Mechanical Valve,
SPECIFICATION No. 293,396, by
Lie Lavand Holdings Corporation, describes a free-wheel or uni-directional drive for converting reciprocating into rotary motion. Rollers are housed in pockets formed in the inner oscillatory driving member and are adapted to engage a plain cylindrical surface on the driven member. .The pockets in which the rollers lie comprise abutments and wedging surfaces, the wedging being ensured by the static frictional engagement and inertia of the rollers.
Unless there is some point of novelty which is not revealed in the particulars available, we cannot see that this arrangement differs from clutches with which we have been familiar for many years. The patent is not yet accepted and is open to inspection under Section 19 of the Act.