A Battery-electric Fitted With a Detachable Crane
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A BATTERY-ELECTRIC truck to IA which .a crane attachment can be fitted, is shown in patent No. 612,985. by W. Boase, Tower Building, Water Street, Liverpool, 3. The crane is run from the batteries carried on the vehicle, but is provided with its own built-in motor
The truck itself is of substantially normal construction, the crane being a separate unit placed upon the load platform and clamped by bolts (1). An electric motor (2) drives the main winding drum (3), but the pivoted jib is luffed by a handwheel (4) which drives a small drum (5) by means of a worm and wormw heel. The main drum is automatically brak,e.d by an electromagnetic (Vice which holds the brakes on at all times except when the main motor is energized. A trip-switch (6) at the end of the jib cuts off the current if the load be raised too high. End 7 of the jib can be fitted in either of two Positions, the one shown in broken line giving a little extra lift.
SUSPENSION STABILIZER FOR HEAVY VEHICLES
A DEVICE for easing the one-sided t'lload on a suspension system when. the vehicle is rounding corners or traversing rough road, is shown in patent No. 611,319, by G. Baker, Ibrox, Bassett Close, Southampton. The patent states that whilst hydraulic methods have been tried in the past, they have been found to be unsatisfactory, and the present scheme is entirely mechanical.
The drawing shows the system as applied to a trailer. The frame is provided with a pair of brackets (1) upon which are pivoted levers (2). The inner ends of the levers approach closely and are united by a pivoted shackle (3). The outer ends are shackled, as at 4, to the axle in the usual way.
In operation, the assembly tends to act as a parallel-motion linkage, and so prevents body-sway. A lateral movement is permitted by the three sets of shackles, but this is resisted by the sideway rigidity of the main leaf-springs.
A LOW-INERTIA CLUTCH PLATE
PATENT No. 611,823 bears the wellknown name Ferodo, Ltd., Sovereen Mills, Chapel-en-le-Frith, and discloses the latest proposals in the design of clutch-plates. The chief aim is to produce a plate having a low moment of inertia ("flywheel effect") with the additional advantage of being free from rivets,
In the drawing, 1 is a metal disc, lightened where possible, and provided with a number of radial spokes (2). Upon the spokes are wound rings (3) of fibrous tape or yarn, the weave being of the basket type, over and under alternate spokes. To the suface so formed are then attached the normal frictionfabric rings (4). The assembly is bonded into a unit by means of a suitable plastic material, the result being a strong light plate, having a minimum of metal in the rim, where the flywheel effect is greatest. , IMPROVING. THE EFFICIENCY OF BATTERY-ELECTRICS
PATENT No. 613,516, from A. Dewandre and F. Dacos, both of Lidge, Belgium, puts forward some interesting ideas on the subject of battery-electric vehicles. The usual type, fitted with a series-wound motor, is dismissed as being inefficient, and the inventors proceed to describe the advantages of using a shunt-wound motor, possibly with some degree of compounding.
The chief feature of a shunt-wound machine is that it will try to maintain a constant speed with a varying load; it will also provide regenerative braking, that is, it will recharge the batteries when going downhill. Another point is that it can be designed to give a high degree of efficiency over a limited speed range.
The last point is the one stressed by the patent, and it is therefore proposed to provide a clutch and gearbox, and an accelerator, The last-named works a variable-field rheostat and gives a speed control within the narrow limits. If faster or slower speeds be needed, then the gear ratio is altered. In fact, the whole outfit is driven after the manner of an engine-driven vehicle, the
motor being started in "neutral" and brought into action by means of the clutch.
No energy is wasted in resistances, a point contributing towards high efficiency. The patent gives efficiency curves and a wiring diagram, and describes an electrically operated gearbox in which changes of ratio are automatically made. , Some designers in this country are not in favour of regenerative braking as it involves increased weight for only a small return, as in the majority of cases the vehicles are used only for door-todoor delivery work.
THE LATEST IN SEAT DESIGN
PATENT No. 612,847 goDs into some detail of the design of vehicle seats and discusses various schemes that have been tried and found . wanting. . The patentee, the Firestone Tire and Rublyir Co., Akron, Ohio, U.S.A., describes a seat which it claims is free from the
defects of present designs. "
The seat consists partly of rubber and partly of steel springs. Referring to the drawing, an angle-iron frame (1) has clipped to it a number of sinuous
springs (2). To &event squeaking at the clips (3), each one is provided with a rubber bush. The springs, which are flat in one plane, are sandwiched between two layers of textile material (4 and 5) and vulcanized into a unit, which is flat except for a slight convexity in an upward direction. Upon this is placed a layer of sponge or cellulai rubber (6) which need not exceed 1, in. in thickness. The usual ornamental covering completes the assembly. Pro' jection 7 is provided for the attachment of an arm-rest, the seat being intended mainly for use in buses and coaches.