GB693320A - Improvements in or relating to castor mountings for vehicles or machines - Google Patents

Abstract

693,320. Vehicle body mountings; adjusting body height; arrangement of wheels and axles. SMITH, T. S. April 19, 1951, No. 9165/51. Class 108 (ii). A castor mounting for vehicles or machines comprises a pair of castors having axially slidable and rotatable spindles which are interconnected in such a manner that the axial displacement of one spindle causes axial displacement of the other spindle in the opposite direction. In the arrangement according to Fig. 1 each of a pair of identical castors comprises a hollow spindle 5 slidably and rotatably mounted in lower and upper bearings 8 and 9 respectively and constitutes a housing for a cylinder 10 and a hollow ram 11. The lower end of the cylinder 10 and the upper end of the ram 11 are closed by ball-shaped members 12 and 14 respectively. The cylinder 10 is filled with oil and the two rams are connected together by a pipe 17 which is preferably flexible. The pipe 17 may be connected to a hydraulic pump (not shown) to permit raising of the adjacent end of the machine. In another arrangement, Fig. 2, each end of a beam 27, pivotally mounted on a chassis cross member 20, engages a collar 30 on an adjacent castor spindle 22 which is slidably and rotatably mounted in bearings 25 and 26. In an arrangement according to Fig. 3 (not shown), the rake of the castor wheel fork is adjustable to obviate the necessity for rotation of the castor spindle when the vehicle is reversed. The fork is pivoted to the base of the castor spindle and its rake adjusted by means of a pair of bolts which are carried in a pair of brackets on the spindle and which engage surfaces on the fork. The invention is applicable to self-propelled, pushed or drawn vehicles such as harvesting machines, of known type such as that disclosed in Specification 633,574, [Group I].