Tools – For adjusting variable positioned parts
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-29
2001-07-17
Eley, Timothy V. (Department: 3723)
Tools
For adjusting variable positioned parts
C072S409100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06260454
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the field of vehicle wheel camber adjustment and to tools and methods for accomplishing the same.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A strut type suspension of a motor vehicle which permits selection of vehicle wheel camber alignment typically can have adjustable connections between the lower end of the strut member and the wheel support knuckle, thereby permitting selection of wheel camber alignment. Other strut type suspensions can have various types of adjustable connections which permit selection of wheel camber alignment. In addition, other types of motor vehicle suspensions can have a variety of adjustable connections permitting adjustment of camber alignment.
Adjustment of vehicle wheel camber using conventional prior art methods is time-consuming, inconvenient, and inefficient. For example, one of the more commonly used methods described in the prior art requires hoisting of a motor vehicle by means of a hydraulic hoist, suspension of a wheel and loosening of the bolts required to be loosened for the camber adjustment, and adjustment of the wheel's camber alignment while the wheel is suspended, using an appropriately calibrated optical guide which determines extent of camber. The optical guide needs to be calibrated when it is used in connection with a motor vehicle which has been raised on a hoist and the wheels are suspended in order to take into account the tendency of the wheels to splay outwards when they are so suspended.
In another example, in a vehicle suspension in which camber adjustment is effected by adjustment of a cam, the spring mass of the motor vehicle must be raised off a wheel before its camber can be adjusted. This is so because the cam cannot, as practical matter, be turned until the vehicle's spring mass has been taken off the wheel. In accordance with the prior art, the motor vehicle must be raised by means of a hydraulic hoist such that the wheel to be aligned does not bear any part of the motor vehicle's spring mass, thereby permitting the cam to be turned for amber alignment.
Many of the more commonly-used methods in the prior art require that the motor vehicle be raised by means of a hydraulic hoist so that no part of the motor vehicle's spring mass rests on the wheel for which camber is to be adjusted. Many such methods involve the use of eccentrics, hydraulic hoists or jacks, in conjunction with an appropriately calibrated optical guide, while the motor vehicle is raised and its wheels are suspended, so that adjustments to camber alignment are sometimes difficult to make and time-consuming.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wheel alignment tool which obviates or mitigates at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art.
In a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wheel alignment tool for engaging a vehicle wheel having opposite inner and outer sidewalls comprising a clamp having opposed inner and outer arms for engaging the respective inner and outer sidewalls of the wheel, at least one of the inner and outer clamp arms being extensible for engaging a wheel sidewall in a pair of spaced-apart locations, means for adjusting the tool for snug engagement of the inner and outer arms with the wheel sidewalls, and lever means detachably connected to the tool for pivoting the tool and the wheel engaged by the tool. The means for adjusting the tool for snug adjustment of the inner and outer arms with the wheel sidewalls preferably comprises an intermediary angle member connecting the inner and outer arms, and bolt means adapted to slide in a slot formed in one of the inner arm or the intermediary angle member for securing the inner arm to the intermediary angle member. One of said outer clamp arm and said intermediary angle member has a slot formed therein for slidably receiving bolt means for extension and retraction of the said outer clamp arm relative to the intermediary angle member. The method of the invention for adjusting the camber of a vehicle wheel having an axis of rotation and having camber adjustment means perpendicular to the axis of rotation comprises the steps of: loosening the wheel camber adjustment means while the wheel bears part of the motor vehicle's sprung mass, applying a clamp tool substantially vertically to the wheel whereby the tool straddles the wheel perpendicular to said axis of rotation, pivoting the tool and the wheel attached thereto perpendicular to said axis of rotation to a desired camber, and tightening said camber adjustment means.
More particularly, the wheel alignment tool for adjustment of the camber setting of a motor vehicle wheel where said motor vehicle wheel is held in place by a strut suspension including a shock absorber, a clamp attached thereto, a knuckle held by said clamp the knuckle having a spindle, the motor vehicle wheel being mounted on the spindle and a means for loosening said clamp such that said knuckle can be rotated about said means, comprises a top clamp member having therein a top longitudinal slot and a downwardly depending inner arm having a spacer rod at the distal end thereof; an outside clamp member defining an outer arm having a spacer rod at the distal end thereof and a longitudinal slot; an inside intermediary angle member having a pair of threaded holes formed therein for receiving threaded bolts in the said longitudinal slots in the top clamp member and the outside clamp member for adjusting the alignment tool on the wheel and a wrench receiving means attached to the intermediary angle member such that a mating end of a wrench can be received within said wrench receiving means in a friction fit.
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Berry Jr. Willie
Eley Timothy V.
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