A Ten-wheeler with Eight-wheel Drive.
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ikNUMBER of interesting new types of tractor and vehicle was demonstrated recently at the tenth annual meeting of the U.S.A. Army Ordnance Association.
One of the most striking was a new ten-wheeled lorry with eight driving wheels, the latter being arranged in the form of a bogie strongly reminiscent of that utilized in the Scammen rigid-frame six-wheeler. In the bogie, the four wheels at each side are mounted on a centrally fulcrumed rocker beam, the suspension being by two singlesemielliptic springs arranged in the normal manner instead of being inverted.
The power from the engine is conveyed through a propeller shaft ta an axle unit. The •rocker beams are mounted at the ends of this unit, and each rocker has at its ends a short cross-shaft carrying.two wheels. Within tbe casing forming each rocker beam is a train of spur gears which transmits power from the differential shaft to the. spindles carrying the wheels. It will thus be seen that this gear easing or rocker is mounted between the wheels awl it is free to turn about the axle housing in order to permit movement of the wheels in pairs when riding over rough ground.
It will be noted that the arrangement differs oykl from the Scammell device in that there is a wheel at eacli side of each end a the rocker casing, so that the load is not taken by stub axles. On the other hand, it is obvious that there cannot be any rocking movement of the wheel-mounting shafts; consequently, if one wheel of a pair mounts a projection, the loading on the shaft and on the rocker casing is just as severe as would be the case in the Scammell arrangement.
There is also the disadvantage that either the spring base
must be very narrow or the ends of the axle unit must he lengthened to give room for the inner wheel of each pair ; in any case there must be considerable overhang of the axle ends.