Motor vehicles – Special driving device – Portable track
Patent
1982-12-21
1985-05-14
Peters, Jr., Joseph F.
Motor vehicles
Special driving device
Portable track
180 95, 180 954, 305 10, 305 29, 305 32, B62D 5530
Patent
active
045166498
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to an assembly on a terrain-traveling motor vehicle having twin caterpillar tracks and bogie assemblies pivotally attached to the frame of the vehicle.
A terrain-traveling motor vehicle of this type is known from Swedish Pat. No. 184,059, which shows a vehicle with a pair of bogie assemblies, usually known as half-tracks, wherein the rear wheels are supported on the frame of the vehicle and the bogie arm for the bogie assembly is supported in front of and somewhat below the central axis of the rear wheels. The front wheel of the bogie assembly is supported on a belt-tensioning arm rotatably mounted on the forward end of the bogie arm. Each bogie assembly is provided with a hydraulic pressure cylinder, which is connected to said belt-tensioning arm and to the frame of the vehicle. When this pressure cylinder is pressurized and extended, the belt-tensioning arm is pivoted, whereby the belt is tautened about the front and rear wheels of the bogie assembly, and upon further extension of the pressure cylinder the bogie assembly is pivoted downwardly.
A drawback of the above arrangement is that it is not possible to maintain a certain desired tautness in the belt if at the same time as the bogie assembly, by means of the pressure cylinder acting upon the bogie arm, is pivoted up and down, the forward portion of the vehicle, which is provided with front wheels, is simultaneously raised by the front wheels lifting up from the ground. In such circumstances, the tautness of the belt is completely dependent upon the force that is needed to lift the forward part of the vehicle up from the ground, so that the degree of tautness may be greater than desired. In normal driving, on the other hand, where the bogies operate as half-tracks and the front wheels rest on the ground, it is possible by means of the pressure cylinder to maintain a desired track tautness, but it is not possible to pivot the bogie downwardly and thereby raise the vehicle without increasing the track tautness.
The object of the present invention is to provide a terrain-traveling vehicle in which the body of the vehicle, and optionally the bogie arms independently of each other, may be raised and lowered for maintaining a desired position of the vehicle body as the vehicle traverses irregular ground surfaces, without this affecting the tautness of the belt.
This object is achieved in accordance with the present invention by means of a second pressure cylinder which acts upon the belt-tensioning arm, a certain desired track tautness can be maintained by causing this pressure cylinder to be pressurized at a desired determined pressure. The track tautness can at all times be decreased or increased by regulating said pressure, independently of the ground surface conditions and independently of the up-and-down pivoting movements of the bogie assembly effected by means of the first pressure cylinder.
An embodiment example of a terrain-traveling motor vehicle in accordance with the invention will be described in greater detail in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively, show the motor vehicle as seen from the side and from the top.
The terrain-traveling motor vehicle 1 is provided with twin caterpillar tracks and bogie assemblies 2, wherein the rear wheel 5 of each bogie assembly is supported in the frame of the vehicle 1 and the front wheel 7 of each assembly is supported on a respective pivotable arm 9 provided at the forward end of the bogie arm 8 found on each bogie assembly, the rearward end of said arm 8 being supported by means of shaft journals 4 proximate to and in front of the center of the rear wheels 5. The arm 9 is movable by means of a pressure cylinder 10 which is pressurized at a desired, adjustable pressure for maintaining a desired tautness in the bogie track during the pivoting movement of the bogie arm 8, as well as during the continual changes in the lower perimeter of the track as the vehicle drives over uneven terrain. The bogie assemblies 2 are indepe
REFERENCES:
patent: 2315421 (1943-03-01), Heaslet
patent: 2613116 (1952-10-01), Tutton
patent: 2654639 (1953-10-01), Bombardier
patent: 2719062 (1955-09-01), Arps
patent: 3289779 (1966-12-01), Feucht
patent: 3842926 (1974-10-01), Williams et al.
Hill Mitchell J.
Peters Jr. Joseph F.
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