PATENTS SUMMARIZED.
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One-way Plough and Tractor Combined.
The most. interesting patent this week all attempt to make a self-contained 1-13ance or one-way plough do duty, with a minimum of alteration, • as a tractor suitable for use either for hauling other i.splements about the fields, or for haulage on the common roilds. The engine
and transmission gear, which are of the normal type, are contiiined Within a rectangular frame. built Up of steel channels, whic'h frame is supported upon an axle which boars in two driving wheels also quite normal in design and construction. ':e_ the two offside. corners of this recta ngtilur frame are attached, hams, ••iynich, when the machine ii 'erected for use as. an agrinaotor plough; form eictensions of that side of the frame. Near their outer ends are attached ._wheels which do duty alternatively as leading and controlling wheels according to the direction in which the machine is running, and these are both coupled up to the steering wheel. These prolongations of the frame serve to carry the ploughs, the usual mechanism for lifting and lowering the shares into the' ground,' and for adjusting the depth of -the furrows.The distance apart of the shares is easily altered. To convert .the machine into a tractor the ploughs. and their•framework are removed. The. rearward extension of the frame is also detached, and fastened to the opposite front corner of the rectangular frame, so that now, instead of having an extension in each direction, front and rear, on the offside of the vehicle, 'bothtextensions are forward, one on each side. The fastenings to the 'main frame members are equivalent to hinges, and allow of the extensions being swung in a. hcirizontal plane.; for -ifse as a tractor they are both swung inwards so that they meet and are secured together at their outer ends, thins:forming
a triangular fore-end. A tie-red connects the two steering wheels•in.sneh a manner that in the central position of their movement from' lock' to lock they
are parallel. The machine then be comes a four-wheeled tractor, and can be operated as Such. • '
Another Tractor Patent
A somewhat elaborate specification, No. 116,112, by two Americans? Kuefer and Wilson, has also to do with agrimotors.It is chiefly concerned with the final drive. Two worms on the propeller Shaft, one of which is left-hand and the other-right-hand thread, gear with worm wheels On shafts 'which are coupled to ether by spur gearing. One of these Zhafts _transmits the _drive direct to the wheels of the tractor. The object of the arrangement is to eliminate end thrust. The loughs are lifted from the ground by engine power operating through sprockets and chains, and driven from the. propeller shaft, the necessary gears being engaged by dog clutches. They are quickly lowered, under their own weight so soon as these clutches are disengaged.
Detail . Improvements.
Alklays and Onions, in 116,192, refer to a design of steering gear for a tractor or lorry; which is a combination of the Ackermann and the drum-and-chain steering gear as popularly applied to steam wagons. The object appears to be to introduce a certain amount of elasticity nbt norinally found to any great extent in ordinary car and lorry steering' gear as usually. designed.
The Albion. Motor Car CO. illustrate and describe a design .of tappet for an internal-combustion engine: The-, end of the tappet is formed. 'with a• semicircular groove across its base.. Into this groove fits a roller.
'Another tractor patent, 116,180, by Swan., is a four-wheel-drive machine.
, Cl. Taylor, in 116,159, propoces to increase the carrying capacity of a motor vehicle by attaching a pair of cantilever springs to the rear end of its hal-lie and projecting rearwards, these springs carrying an axle which is supported by
a fifth wheel.• .A folding and dembantable trailer for motor vehicles is the subject of 116,152. This trailer is quickly _dismantled, the body folding, tho frame folding, the wheels being detachable, and the springs readily removed. The object is to 'save wear and tear and running costs when neither the trailer nor vehicle is carry ing aluad (Banks).' •