GB361212A - Improvements in or relating to the steering of vehicles, ships and aircraft - Google Patents

Abstract

361,212. Steering ships and aircraft. BOSCH AKT.-GES., R., 4, Militarstrasse, Stuttgart, Germany. Feb. 19, 1931, No. 5218. Convention date, March 7, 1930. [Classes 4 and 114.] Power-assisted steering gear for vehicles, ships, and aircraft comprises one or more fluid-pressure servomotors having cylinders controlled by the displacement of a member coupled with the steering wheel or tiller, in which the actuating pressure on the servomotor piston is relieved. as soon as the desired position of the steering wheels &c. is reached. In the construction shown applied to motor vehicle the servomotor cylinder 9 is connected by vacuum pipes 14, 15 with the induction pipe 18 of the vehicle engine, and the valves 12, 13 controlling the pressure in the cylinder are operated by electromagnets controlled by contacts 39, 40 carried by the steering. hand-wheel 26. The steering wheel is connected to the steering shaft 1 by a lost motion coupling 27, 28. The shaft carries a frame 23 having contacts 32, 33 connected to a battery 36. One of the valve boxes 12 is shown in Fig. 3 and comprises a casing 41 with a cover 42, a diaphragm 48 being clamped between the cover and the casing. The diaphragm carries a plate 47 which forms the armature of an electromagnet 44 and has valve faces 54, 55 respectively adapted to seal a bore 56 in the cover connected by, perforations in the diaphragm to the vacuum pipe 14, and a bore 45 open to the atmosphere through holes 53. The valve stem 46 is guided in the casing at 50. The 'valve is shown in its normal position, in. which it. is pressed against the' bore 56 by atmospheric pressure and the adjacent cylinder end is open to the atmosphere through a bore 51, space 52 and bore 45. The steering wheel is normally maintained in the central position shown in Fig. 1 relative to the steering shaft 1 and the frame 23, by springs 30, 31. When the steering wheel is turned counterclockwise (say), the contact 39 contacts with 32 and closes the circuit for the magnet 44 through wire 21. The magnet is energized and the.valve moves to the right shutting off the cylinder end 10 from the atmosphere and opening it'to the vacuum pipe 14. The piston 8 is thereby moved to the right, the steering wheels (not shown) are actuated by a link 5, and the steering shaft 1 is turned through the steering gear 2 with a "follow-up" motion, so that as soon as the motion of the steering hand-wheel is stopped the contact 32 moves away from contact 39, the magnet is de-energized and the cylinder end 10 is open to the atmosphere again. In order to avoid sparking at the contacts lamps 57, 58 are placed in parallel with the valve magnets.