| 摘要 |
489,445. Motor-vehicle steering-gear. AUTO UNION AKT.-GES. Feb. 15, 1937, No. 4573. Convention date, Feb. 14, 1936. [Class 79 (v)] In a vehicle in which the front wheels are always steered and the rear wheels can either be steered or locked in the straight position by means of a clutch which is movable only when all the wheels are in the straight-ahead position, the clutch is operated through a resilient rod or link which can lengthen or shorten if the driver's control is moved when the wheels are not in the straight-ahead position. In the construction shown applied to a vehicle having all four wheels driven through Cardan shafts m<1>, the steering arms t<a> of the wheels are operated by divided track rods tl ... t4 connected to levers s<1>, s<3> pivoted on the frame at r. The steering gear o is connected by a link q<1> to the front lever s<1> and by a link q<2> to an arm u<1> on a shaft v adapted to control the rear lever s<3>. A clutch sleeve w<1>, loose on the shaft v, is connected by an arm u<2> and link q<3> to the rear lever and can be slid to engage either a clutch collar x on the shaft v if the rear wheels are to be steered, or a clutch collar y fixed to the chassis frame if the rear wheel stub axles are to be locked. The clutch sleeve w<1> is operated by the driver by means of a hand lever j through a link e and a resilient telescopic rod g<1>, g<2> connected to a double pawl l pivoted on an arm h fixed to a shaft i carrying the clutch fork k. Thus, although the clutch teeth cannot engage except when the wheels are straight-ahead the hand lever j can be moved at any time and the rod g<1>, g<2> will be stressed to operate the clutch sleeve as soon as the wheels have been brought to the straight position. The hand lever j is locked in either of its positions by means of a catch b<1>. The double pawl l co-operates with a fixed sector l<1> to lock the clutch against accidental movement. The rod g<1>, g<2> is shown provided with springs f<1>, f<2>; rubber cushions may be used instead. The invention may be applied to vehicles having more than four wheels, the wheels being arranged in two sets of forward and rear steering wheels, |
