A GO-ANYWHERE MOTOR VEHICLE.
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A. Résumé of Recently Published Patent Specifications.
IN specification No. 265,670, Sir Arthur Trevor Dawson, R.N., and Sir George Thomas Buckham, both of -Tickers House, London, W., describe a vehicle that is designed to travel fast on ordinary roads and on ordinary wheels, but should it he required to travel over country which cannot be traversed by ordinary wheels the latter can be raised out of contact with the ground and creeper tracks can take their place.
Several patents are granted to the same inventors for various ways of carrying out the same idea, but we have
• chosen the one that deals most with the main idea and less with details. Even in the specification chosen there are several varieties of vehicle shown all embodying the same idea—namely, a vehicle that can run on wheels or tracks at the will of the driver. Broadly, the means described consist of a chassis with ordinary wheels and tracks which can be lowered, thus raising the wheels and frame so that the wheels are clear of the ground. As an alternative, the wheels can be raised so that the track can come into contact with the ground, and so raise the wheels clear while travelling over tin. even surfaces.
The illustration chosen shows one way in which the invention can be carried out, but this example is only one of the many ways in which it may be applied. The raising and lowering of the track or the wheels are effected by the power of the engine through the medium of a friction clutch, which operates a pinion engaging in a segmental rack, but this, again, is only one of many methods by which the purpose of the invention can be carried out.
A Charge Cleaning and Conditioning Device.
AN American company, Trask Indus tries Inc., State of Maine, U.S.A., in specification No. 249,168, describes a device which it claims to clean and condition the mixture before it enters the k...ylintler, with the result that there is a substantial increase of power and engine efficiency, with a saving of fuel consumption, and that the lubrication of the piston is improved by the prevention of dilution of lubricant by unvaporized fuel; also, owing to its cleaning of the air, abrasion of the cylinder walls and piston rings is reduced, and the carbon deposit due to unvaporized fuel is substantially minimized.
The device consists of a rotor, such as we have seen -before, but with the 'B4S
difference that the blades are turned over at their upper ends, forming pockets which arrest anything in the form of drops of unvaporizerl fuel, and, having an upward slant on them, they discharge such unwanted particles to an outer chamber which surrounds the chamber in which the rotor works. From there it can be conveyed to any convenient receptacle, to be dealt with later on. Particles of road dust or grit are said to be separated from the mixture by the action of the pockets in the blades.
Relating to Aluminium Jackets and Ferrous Liners.
AN alloy of ferrous metal which can
be used as a liner, or as a sleeve working in a liner, in conjunction with an outer jacket of aluminium or an alloy of aluminium and magnesium, without undue differences in the coefficient of expansion over the working range of temperature present in an internal combustion engine, is described by Harry Ralph Iticardo and John Forster Alcock, in
specification N o. 265,683.
It is pointed out that such metal as aluminium and its alloy expand to a mUch greater extent than ordinary castiron or steel, and
• that such marked differences in the ex
pension of an outer jacket and the inner sleeve of an engine have in the past led to considerable trouble in the form of leakages of water from the jackets where they join the inner sleeve. • The present invention deals with certain alloys of steel and cast-iron with nickel in such proportions that the difference between its expansion and those of the lighter metals used for.the jackets becomes negligible.
We consider this invention to he one of considerable interest, as it may greatly facilitate the employment of lighter metals for a very heavy part.
A New Suspension for Front Wheels.
JACQUES GERIN, of Paris, in speci fication No. 254,689, shows a new form of suspension for the front wheels of vehicles, although the title of the specification would lead one to believe that the invention related rather to a new form of steering. A stout crossmember connects the front ends of the side frames, and to this cross-member the two steering heads are attached. The pivot of each head carries an arm which supports a large boss forming the fulcrum of the arm carrying the wheel.
A cylinder containing a group of helical springs is above the arm, and the springs act on a crank at the end of the wheel-carrying arm.
Several other novel features are described in the somewhat complicated specification, but the feature we have shown is the leading one.
The arrangement appears to entail many unnecessary and complicated parts, and it is not clear what advantage would be derived by its adoption.