A TRACTOR CAR AND A . ROTARY ENGINE.
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A Résumé of Recently Published Patents.
One would imagine, on reading the opening paragraphs of specification No. 136,218, that the millennium had at lazt arrived, at least so far as agricultural tractors are concerned, amd is correspondingly disappointed, on going further into
the matter, to di:Toyer that nothing more epoch-Making than another tractor attachrnent for a motorcar is meant. However, 11:R. Tuttle, for such is the inventor's name, is original in the method of dealing with this old problem, so much is forgiven him. The 'usual methods of diverting, the power of a car to use for tractor purposes are either to remove the wheels of the car altogther, and substitute others more suitable for land werk,-, incorporating in the construction additional gearing to that already on the car, .in order to provide the 'needful drawbar effort and reduce the spieed of the vehicle in accordance with its new -vocation, 'or to leave the front wheels in situ, elevate the'rear wheels on to a platform which is supported by the tractor wheels, and provide means of same kind whereby tho:e wheels are driven from the rear wheels or rear axle of the car. Mr. Tuttle goes. one better than either of these. He -provides "what he aptly terms a -" tractor-car," which is really a framework fitted with orthodox tractor wheels. front and back, the rear wheels being provided with self-contained reduction gear. . .The car is run up on the frame, and its rear wheels are clutched
to the live axle shafts of the rear wheels of the "tractor-oar," and there you are. The frame is of channel iron or steel, and the longitudinal members are disposed with the channels up;' they serve as run-ways for the wheels of the car. The frame is hinged transversely, near the front end, and a screw 'jack is integral with the outfit. When the "tractor-car" is required for use, the jack is operated to lower the rear end of the channels to the ground, so that the car can be run into place. The frame is then lifted until the rear axle of the car is in alignment with the axles of the rear wheels of the tractor. The ear wheels are then gripped by screw-operated clutches to drums, which are secured to the axles of the tractor, when the frame of the tractor car is lowered a little so as to leave the wheels of the car in the air. . . The tractor axles drive the wheels, on low gear, through eccentric gears, and for top gear through an epicyclie gear.
A New Rotary Engine.
The engine described by A. G. Grice in specification No. 136,191 may have any even number of cylinders—they are arranged in pairs—and it will have as many pistons as cylinders, but, it will have no connecting rods', no crankshaft, mid no valves or valve gear.
The cylinders are parallel with the shaft, round which they are arranged in . pairs, end to end, with a distance .piece between. Their inner ends are closed by covers, so that they can serve as the initial compres ion chambers for the combustible gases. The pistons of each pair of cylinders are coupled to a common
piston rod, in the middle of which is placed a crosshead. The cros.sheads are 4 fitted with rollers which bear in grooves 't in an enlarged portion of the shaft. Th.e.'i grooves are ,so formed ., that,as the pistons and crossheads reciprecate, the shaft is cau-ed to revolve. The engine works on the two-stroke .principle.. . Light weight per, horse-power and evenness of turning effort are the principal advantages claimed.
Other Patents of. Interest.
F. H. Rogers in No 136,325 records, on behalf of al. H. Sizaire, a methotLer constructing joints in pipes in which Imovision is made for swivelling of one portion of the pipe with regard to the other.
When is a -friction gear not a friction' gear? gear? The answer, according to E. C. Villiers is : when 'it is magnetically Soperi ated. Both of the discs, in the constrtic-lion which is described in specification No. 136,210, are of magnetic material, and one of them is fitted with an energizing coil which magnetizes it.
The spherical oscillating valve which is the, subject of specification No. 136,219,z is mounted within the fflincler heakOn trunnions. It is operated bya pair If camshafts, one of which pushes one side down, and the other, in proper sequence, performs a like operation tor the opposite side. The patentee is D. E. Turner.
Two of the Lanchester brothers appear in the patent records this week. One, Mr. G. H., has devised a novel method of car bonnet construction.
Mr. F. H. has improved on the wellknown vibration damper. In the new form, a hollow drum, mounted on a shaft, has inwardly projecting'ribs formed within it." Heavy oil, or other viscous liquid,' is poured trite the drum, which is then sealed. The oil by reason of its inertia and viscosity, provides the required damping effect The specieations are, numbered 136,341 and 136,335.
K. L. Guinness protects the surface of the inner insulation of a plug from theeffects of oil, and makes it difficult for the oil either to obtain acce a to, or to lodge on the insulation, by forming the latter With a smooth surface, and by in. corporating bafffes in the design of the plug.