Land vehicles: wheels and axles – Wheel – With drive or brake attachment
Patent
1990-08-30
1992-01-14
Stormer, Russell D.
Land vehicles: wheels and axles
Wheel
With drive or brake attachment
301 41R, 188 4B, B60B 1500
Patent
active
050804430
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an anti-skid device, preferably an anti-skid device of a kind comprising a pulley provided with chain pieces which is brought to rotate when bearing on the side of a vehicle wheel, whereby the chain pieces, due to rotating of the pulley, are successively thrown between the wheel and the ground.
Anti-skid devices of the above-mentioned kind are known, particularly for heavy trucks and for trucks of ordinary size. To achieve a proper function of the anti-skid device, it is necessary that the point where the pulley is in contact with the vehicle wheel be capable of being adjusted vertically and horizontally and that the proper pressure between the pulley and the wheel be achieved.
In SE 8501021-3 an anti-skid device for smaller trucks is disclosed, which device has a certain adjustability but comprises many parts. In addition, for moving the pulley from a resting position to a working position, a relatively large space is required, because the pulley must be moved to a resting position where the chains are well above the ground.
European Patent Publication No. 162823 describes a special shelf provided for buses and similar vehicles having limited space. The shelf collects the chains and keeps them free of the ground. The construction comprises additional parts to be located and adjusted into the system in order to obtain the desired function. The shelf is prone also to collect dirt.
Characteristic of the mentioned devices is that their design is relatively complicated; they are expensive to make; and their use can be adapted only to larger vehicles.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide an anti-skid device of the above-metioned kind which can be easily adapted for mounting and use on heavier trucks, as well as on smaller vans and cars, and which device, without need for large space, permits moving the pulley to a resting position where the chains are captured and kept well above the ground.
Another object of the invention is to achieve a construction that is resistant to moisture and dirt.
A further object of the invention is to achieve a device of the described kind having a simple construction.
These objects are achieved in a preferred embodiment of the present invention in which a fixing device, attached to the vehicle, carries an arm, flexible essentially in one plane, to the end of which a pulley carrying chains is rotatably attached, the arm comprising a number of positioning elements each consisting of a body of a hard material with at least a first and a second contact surface arranged to diverge at their front end from each other, permitting the first contact surface of a positioning element to be brought into contact in a fixed position with second contact surface of an adjacent element, said positioning elements being held together at their back ends by a contracting means and enclosing at least one resilient means which, in a first position, when the contracting means is in a curved resting position, causes the elements to diverge from each other and in a second position, when a first pulling means acts against the force of the resilient means and the contracting means, the contact surfaces of the elements interact and form a rigid stack.
In another embodiment of the invention there is a second pulling means extending through the wedge-shaped part of the positioning elements, which pulling means, when activated, keeps the wedge-shaped parts of the positioning elements together so that a curved stack is obtained.
The mentioned embodiments have the positioning elements, the contracting means and the resilient means encapsulated in a tight elastic cover. Furthermore, there are means that capture and fix the chains in the resting position of the device. Common to all of the embodiments is the fact that the fixing device, which fixes the arm to the vehicle, is adjustable so that a proper contact point between the pulley and the wheel can easily be obtained.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The inve
REFERENCES:
patent: 374252 (1921-04-01), Thorne
patent: 2241923 (1941-05-01), Ridgway
patent: 2442322 (1948-05-01), Daley
patent: 2747691 (1956-05-01), Lakey et al.
patent: 2815826 (1957-12-01), Schaefer
patent: 2865471 (1958-12-01), Chaussee
patent: 4299310 (1981-11-01), Torneback et al.
patent: 4567118 (1987-04-01), Andersson
patent: 4621712 (1986-11-01), Hardmark
patent: 4732239 (1988-03-01), Hardmark et al.
patent: 4840399 (1989-06-01), Rieger et al.
Brochure: "Instachain-The First Pushbutton Snowchain" published prior to Nov. 10, 1981.
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