ACCESSIBILITY IN AXLES.
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A Résumé of Recently Published Patents.
The axle construction which is described in specification No. 132,657, by W. J. Thomas and E. G. Wrigley and Co., Ltd., provides for the removal of either of the differential shafts without the necessity to disturb the road wheels. Each end of the axle case is enlarged and bored to receive a ball bearing, the inner race of whicli is. secured upon an inwardly-6ireeted extension of the wheel
hub. This extension is still further prolonged, and enters a bush which is also supported by the axle case. The bore of the wheel tapers from the outside, which is the largest part of the hole, and the driving shaft is turned to fit within the tapered hole: Additionally, the shaft is fitted with a. key, which engages a key way in the hub. The outer end of the hub is ceunterbored and tapper; to receive a screwed: collar which is secured upon the driving shaft, on which, however, it is free to turn. The eounterbore is normally closed by the hub' cap. When, for Some reason, it is desired to remove the shaft; the hub cap is first taken off. -The screwed collar is then revolved, when it leaves the wheel, forcibly withdrawing the shaft with. it. The wheel, meanwhile, remains in position undisturbed, being supported by the ball bearing end the bush in the axle case.
Other Patents of Interest.
Mr. W. L. Bodman serves two purposes by fitting a four-wheeled tractor with a trailing axle. He provides additional tractive effort, and at the same time eliminates the risk of the tractor overturning backwards in the event of the plough meeting such an obetreiction or such resistance as to stall the wheels. Several modifications are described in the specification No. 132,592, but the principle is naturally the same throughout. A light two-wheeled axle is fitted behind the tractor. It is mamtained at the proper distance from the main axle by radius rode or similar means. The trailing wheels are independently driven each from its respective main wheel by roller chains. The connection between trailing axle and the main frame of the tractor is a resilient one. In the drawing, which we reproduce from the specification, it bears against the outer ends of a pa-.r of quarter-elliptic springs The patentee points out that as each wheel is driven independently by,chain from the main wheel of the tractor on the same side, the differential operates in connec tion with both pairs of wheels. Consideration is paid to the probeble need E54
for occasional removal of the extra axle, and it is designed to be readily removed and replaced.
The Dunlop company have been devoting considerable attention of late to the matter of providing tractors with alternative spuds for the wheels, so that the machinecan be used with equal facility both on the road and in the fields. In specification No. 132,648 they show a wheel which is simultaneously fitted with rubber blocks and with metal strakes. The latter are mounted on hinges, so that they can be lowered below the level of the blocks, or may be erected in the working position. In one design the strakeshave to be manipulated individually.
C. H. Claudel, realizing the necessity for meeting demands for carburetters of both the horizontal and vertical type, and also that the e,ondition.s in which the jet is placed in the two .types are quite' different; set out to design a. carburetter which could readily be adapted to serve either as a horizontal model or as a vertical. Ile sets the mixing chamber at an angle of 45 degrees to the vertical, the final connection between carburetter and engine is by means of a bend or elbow, which may either be set to engage a vertical flange or a horizontal. The specification is numbered 132,544. H. S. Cooke, in No. 132,689, describes an improved method of constructing spring-lid oil cups. The silencer, which is described in specification No. 132,663 by G. Nicholls,0 consists of an inner and an outer case of sheet material. Both are conical in shape near the inner end, the outer one to meet the inlet pipe, the inner is closed and serves to split up the incoming stream of gas. The space between the two eases is divided by baffles into a large number of channels along which the gas flows. Both cases are open at the outlet end, and the shape is such that the passages along which the gas is flowing are all different as regards their length.
A reversing gear for an internal-combustion engine is the subject of No. 132,699 by H. Debauge.
In the vehicle suspension gear, which is the subject of specification No. 132,685 by P. D. Cosgrove, each wheel is sprung but not independently, as it is directly affected by the movement of that which is diagonally opposite. The claim n is that the chassis is maintained horizental whatever may be the nature of the shock to which a wheel is subjected, Lifting one corner of the frame automatically effects the opposite coiner to the same degree.