Patents Completed.
Page 20
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Live-axle Drive. sinks Paraffin Vaporizer. Camplate Changespeed Control. An Improved Universal Joint.
W. A. McCuun, No. 25,203, dated 4th November, 1913.β According to this invention the drive is transmitted from the differential to each of the road-wheels by a hollow shaft, a dog-clutch on the outer end of the shaft engaging a similar clutch on the wheel-hub. The wheel itself is mounted on a bush on a solid shaft which extends across the full width of the vehicle through the differential gear. This shaft is itself carried in roller bearings in the axle-boxes on the springs which are fitted outside the road-wheels. With this construction the inner solid shaft is free to rotate, but the wheel is further free to rotate on the shaft. Normally there is less friction on the roller bearing, and the shaft rotates with the wheel except when the differential gear is operative. Should the roller bearing become seized, however, the wheel can still be turned freely by its bushing on the solid shaft, so that the vehicle is not disabled.
C. BINics, No. 702, dated 10th January, 1914.βThe illustrations we include show a section of the vaporizer and a plan with the lid removed. This device is used in conjunction with a carburetter and receives the paraffin or other fuel after it leaves the jet. The mixture, in which the fuel is not fully vaporized, enters at the bottom and traverses the heater in a spiral path from the outside to the centre. A passage for it is formed by a volute or spiral rib cast in the box itself and covered by a lid which makes a gas-tight joint against all the upper surfaces of the rib. Each turn of the spiral may be connected to the succeeding one by a sharply-inclined step so as to break up the uniform flow.
The casing of the vaporizer is provided with a gas-tight lid on either side to form chambers through which the exhaust from the engine is circulated ; the heat from the exhaust is easily and rapidly transmitted to the fuel in the interior of the vaporizer. This was described in our issue dated 30th July. THE SPARKBROOK MANUFACTURING CO., LTD., C. Tr-INSTALL AND H. T. STRINGER, NO. 5205, dated 28th February, 1914.β In this gearbox a single lever operates through a pivoted camplate on two striking forks so as to move the gearwheels in the required manner. The construction is such that the cam plate is mounted inside the gearbox without increasing its size to any great extent. The construction illustrated is one in which the drive is taken from a sprocket wheel on the left-hand side. This drives a sleeve which is geared to the layshaft at the bottom, which in turn drives the driven shaft through the gears on the right-hand side. Provision is also made for a direct drive on to the driven shaft which is situated centrally in the gearbox and extends out on both sides.
The cam plate is provided with two grooves through which the striking forks project, and each groove is provided with a, straight and a curved portion. The plate is pivoted at a point eccentric with respect to the two grooves as shown in the plan, the right-hand slot being further from the pivot than the left-hand slot. The unsymmetrical arrangement is used when the plate is to control three speeds, but if four speeds are required, then the plate is made symmetrical.
tr. C. READING, No. 24,436, dated 28th October, 1013.β According to this invention the two shafts to be connected together are each provided with a multiple-arm spider at their ends, and these spiders are connected together by a series of rings or washers of leather or other flexible material.
In order to maintain the two spiders concentric, a ball-andsocket joint is provided between the two shafts, one being provided with a soherical head and the other with a socket to receive the head. A ball-bearing may be provided instead of the ball-and-socket joint, and in either case allowance may be made for slight relative longitudinal movement.