US954124A - Wheel. - Google Patents

Description

' WITNES S E E. G. SMURTAUGH.

I JWHEBL. APPLI'G'ATIGN FILED JAN. 10, 1908.

954,124, I Patented Apr. 5, 1910.

EDWARD G. MUB'IAUGF. 0F GREENWOOD, SOUTH DAKOTA.

WHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 5, 1910.

Application filed January 10. 1908. Serial No. 410,121.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Eowano G. MUR- moon, citizen of the United States, residing at Greenwood, in the county of Charles Mix and State of South Dakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wheels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to vehicles and refers particularly to wagons designed for use on sand roads or where the soil is light or finely pulverized.

Great diflieulty is experienced in traveling through sand with an ordinary wagon owing to the tendency of the comparativel narrow tired wheels to sink to such a depth in the yielding sand as to greatly retard the progress and as such conditions of the road are frequently associated with tropic heat of the climate, the progress, if any at all, is exceedingly slow. Even when wheels are provided with follies and tires of increased width, there is an increase in the weight without an entire removal of the diliiculty.

The chief objects of the improvements which form the subject matter of this application are to provide a greater supportlng area for the wheels of a wagon than w ll be afforded by the tire alone; to furnish such support without materially increasing the weight, and to supply an effect- We device for the purpose stated that can lie applied to vehicles of ordinary construcion.

Other objects, stated more in detail, are to provide movable shoes or tracks upon which the wheels travel, to furnish means for shiftmg said shoes in the line of travel so as to be constantly available as supports, and to supply means for automatically lifting the tracks or shoes free from the ground while being shifted.

I accomplish the above and other im orlant ob ects lay means of the appliance illustrated in the aemmpam'iug drawing which consists generally described, of an ordinary vehicle fiirnishcd with wheels arranged in pairs the peripheral curved face of one of the pairs icing incomplete in certain por- Hons of the v1rcmn-fi-rom-o the incomplete portions alternating with the ci'mipleto portions of its. companion. trio-lo: or shoes slidahly mounted so as to he engaged bv the vmnplctc portions of the tread ahd released when the incomplete portion is advanced, provision living made for automatically rcturning the shoes when so released.

The drawing described briefly shows one form of construction in the following views Figure 1 is a side elevation of the running gear of a wagon, with my im roved wheels and portable track attached t ereto; -I ig. 2 is a top plan view of the forward part of the running gear shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a front elevation; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the track sections, and Fig. 5 is a side elevation of one section of a wheel.

Referring to the details of the drawing to their initial posit-ions the numeral 10 indicates the axles, 11 the reach, 12 the front hounds and 13 the tongue of a wagon, the bed not being shown since it forms no part of in Y invention.

The ordinary wheels are replaced by others of special form each wheel constructed in the following manner. A hub ll, of extra. length, is mounted upon the axle and in this hub are inserted in the usual method two sets of spokes 15. Those sets lie in different planes and the individual spokes in each set are staggered relatively to the companion set, to conserve the strength of the hub. The tread of each wheel section 16, is formed concentric with the hub in two portions only of the circumference, situated diametrically opposite to each other, and subtending an angle of 90 degrees each, the remaining portions of the are of the circle bein omitted, the follies at these points coinoidin with the chords of said arcs. 'lhe perip iery of each wheel section is therefore made up of two arcs of a circle 1'? connected by right lines, or, in other words, each wheel section is flattened upon opposite faces to the extent of a quarter circle as shown in Fig. 5. In assembling, however, each flattened or-. tion 18 is opposite the curved portion 1 of its companion so that the two sections considered together present a complete concentric tread, as shown in Fig. l.

Beneath each wheel section is located a movable track Ill composed of a plate or plank 20, upon the under side of which is secured a shoe 2]. in the form of a channel iron. the side flanges 22, projm-ling downward as shown in Fig. 4. Zach track is slidalily suppm'ted by coiled springs 23 attached to the upper face of the track and extending vertically to grooved pulleys 24- which travel upon horizontally disposed rods 35 fixed in horizontal cross pieces or bars 26. These bars are bolted to depepding brackets 27 attached to some sup ortmg ortion of the wagon gearing. In t e case of the rear wheels said brackets are attached to the reach, the after part 11 of the latter being extended beyond the line of the axle for that purpose. The front supports are connected with the hounds in order that the rods 25 may retain their parallelism with the line of travel of the forward wheels I when the front axle is inclined relatively to 1 the rear axle by rotation upon the king bolt. The suspension springs 23 are adjusted as to length so that they will normally hold the track section 20 just above the ground g surface, but have sufiicientresiliency to per- 1 mit the section to be depressed to the road level when engaged by the curved portion of i the tread in a manner to be described.

To the forward end of each track plate is attached a rope or cable 28, which extends 4 forward and then passes about grooved pull leys 29, 30, to change its direction, and is 1 then carried horizontally inward along the face of the cross piece 26 and attached to comparatively long coiled springs 31, secured to the said cross piece at 32. There are two of these tracks under each wheel, one for each section 16 of the wheel. Each track is held in initial position against stops 33 by the tension of the long spring 31. These stops project downward from the cross piece and consist of rods having a certain degree of elasticity thus acting as bnffcrs to ease the shock of the moving track when released from engagement with the wheel section, in the manner hereinafter described. When the track section is in said 2 initial position its rear end reaches to a; point just behind a vertical line dropped from the wheel center, and the result of this arrangement will be that one section or the other of each wheel will rest upon its respective track by the engagement of the curved portion 17 of its trend with said track, and as the vehicle advances that section of the wheel which is so engaged will roll upon the top plate 20 through a quarter of a turn of the wheel, the plate, of course, remaining stationary so long as the weight of the wheel is resting thereon. As soon, however, as the flat portion 18 is reached, the plate will be released, the action of the springs 23 will raise the track clear of the sand, and the spring 31 acting through the cable 28, will propel the track forward until it strikes the stops 33, remaining in this, its initial position, until again an aged by the succeeding curved portion, an this nlter- 1 note engagement and release will continue so long as the wheels are turned by the forward movement of the vehicle, and as each track must at least equal in length that of the curved arc of each wheel section, it will be readily understood that a vehicle conmovable track plate located etructed 9n the lines of the one shown in the drawing will constantly have beneath ts tread a firm sup orting surface,equalin in area one half be combined area of al the track sections.

While I have shown the wheel sections with the tread divided into quarters it is eyidcnt that any other number of such divisions may be arranged, and a greater number would be especially advantageous with any material increase in the wheel diameter. I therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth either in the wheels or other parts of the structure since it is evident that many changes may be made in the devices of my i invention as herein shown without depart in" from the spirit and scope thereof.

What I claim as new is 1. The combination in a vehicle, of sup porting wheels, rims for said wheels, said rims presenting an incomplete tread in all planes cutting the wheel at a right angle to its axis, a pair of movable track plates 10- cated beneath each wheel and adapted to be alternately engaged by the tread of said wheel, means for elevating said track plates when released from said engagement, and resilient means for restoring said plates to their initial positions.

2. The combination in a vehicle, of supporting wheels, rims for said wheels, said rims presenting an incomplete tread in planes cutting the wheel at a right angle to its axis, a pair of longitudinally slidable track plates located beneath each wheel and arranged to be alternately engaged by the tread of said wheel, means for elevating said track plates when released from said engagement, and resilient means for restoring said plates to their initial positions.

3. In a vehicle, the combination of sup porting wheels, rims for each wheel formed In sections, lying in separate planes, the tread of each section having concentric portions alternating with stral ht portions, a beneath each section and adapted to be'engaged by the concentric portions of its respective rim, means for elevating said plate when release from engagement with the said rim, and resilient means for restoring said plate to its initial osition.

4. T is combination in a "chiclc, of supporting wheels, a plurality of incomplete rims for each wheel, said rims lying in separate planes, the curved portions of each rim corresponding with the incomplete. portions of the companion rim, a movable track plate located beneath each rim and arranged to be engaged by the curved portion of its res active rim, resilient means for elevating sai plate when released from said engagement and resilient means for restoring said plate to its initial position.

5. In a vehicle, the combination with a frame, of supportin wheels havin incomplete rims, the comp ete portions 0 one run alternating with the similar portions of the other rims movable track sections suspended by coiied springs beneath each wheel, cables attached to the track sections and traction springs connecting the cables with said frame.

6. In a vehicle, the combination with a frame, of supporting wheels, the tread of each wheel having incomplete portions arranged alternately upon opposite sides of the median plane of the wheel, longitudinal rods arranged parallel with the wheels, track sections arranged beneath the wheels, pulleys slidably mounted upon said longituuinal rods, springs connectin the track sections with said pulleys, cab es attached to the track sections and traction springs connecting the cables with said frame.

7. The combination with a vehicle of supporting wheels, each wheel consisting of a mi), a plurality of incomplete rims, spokes for the rims, the incoin lete portions of one run corresponding wit 1 the complete portion in the other rim, a track section arranged beneath each rim, springs suspending said track sections, a cable attached to each section and springs connecting the cables with fixed su ports.

In testimony w ereof I atfix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD G. MURTAUGI'I.

Witnesses FRANK Tnumno, T. J. I'IAMRY.

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