| 摘要 |
A suspension system for a vehicle, comprising a leaf spring (12) arranged to suspend a main body or chassis of a vehicle from a wheel-bearing axle thereof, a rigid member (15) connected rigidly to the leaf spring at or adjacent an end thereof and an axis (20) to which the member (15) is pivotally connected and which is positioned substantially offset from the neutral axis in bending of the leaf spring (12) and which extends generally normally to the regular working plane of the leaf spring (12). The rigid member may be a radial arm (15) and the positioning of the offset pivotal axis (20) with respect to the leaf spring (12) can be selected to provide a desired variation in the rate of the least spring (12), such that, in operation, deflections of the leaf spring (12) over defined spring loading and deflection ranges produce no, or substantially no, actual or notional displacement of the offset pivotal axis (20) from its rest position. |
