Snow cat

A snow cat comprising:

• fore and aft substantially rigid body frame members;
• an articulating joint joining the fore and aft body frame members and permitting relative rolling motion and relative yawing motion between said frame members;
• four endless track assemblies, two of said track assemblies located on each side of the fore body frame member and the other two of said track assemblies located on each side of the aft body frame member, each said track assembly including at least two parallel rows of rollers and a drive sprocket intermediate the fore and aft rollers of each said row, said drive sprocket having an upper surface projecting above the upper surface of each of the rolles, and a relatively wide track adapted to circumscribe the rollers and the drive spricket to maintain said track in a generally triangular configuration having a flat lower portion adapted to ride on the snow and a raised central portion;
• a first axle interconnecting the two track assemblies located on each side of the fore body frame member and a second axle interconnecting the two track assemblies on each side of the aft body frame member;
• spring means mounting the first axle to the fore body frame member and the second axle to the aft body frame member;
• and
• forward and aft stabilizer means, said forward stabilizer means comprising a first torsion bar interconnecting the track assemblies on each side of the fore body framae member to restrict relative vertical motion therebetween, said aft stabilizer means comprising a second torsion bar interconnecting the track assemblies on each side of the aft body frame member to restrict relative vertical motion therebetween.

A snow cat comprising:

• fore and aft substantially rigid body frame members;
• an articulating joint joining the fore and aft body frame members, said articulating joint permitting relative rolling motion and relative yawing motion between said fore and aft body frame members;
• means for manually controlling the relative yawing motion between the fore and aft body frame members at the articulating joint to steer the vehicle by changing the relative direction of the fore and aft body frame members;
• four endless track assemblies, two of said track assemblies located on each side of the fore body frame member and the other two of said track assemblies located on each side of the aft body frame member, each said track assembly including at least two parallel rows of rollers, a drive sprocket between two of the rows of rollers and intermediate the fore and aft rollers of each said row, said drive sprocket having an upper surface projecting above the upper surface of each of the rollers, and a relatively wide track adapted to circumscribe the rollers and the drive sprocket to maintain said track in a generally triangular configuration having a flat lower portion adapted to ride on the snow and a raised central portion, each said relatively wide track comprising a plurality of laterally spaced endless bands defining an outer circumference and a plurality of grousers transversely mounted to the outer circumference of the bands, said drive sprocket adapted to engage the grousers in the space between adjacent laterally spaced bands, each row of rollers adapted to abut the grousers in other spaces between adjacent laterally spaced bands;
• a first axle interconnecting the two track assemblies located on each side of the fore body frame member and a second axle interconnecting the two track assemblies on each side of the aft body frame member;
• spring means mounting the first axle to the fore body frame member and the second axle to the aft body frame member;
• and
• forward and aft stabilizer means, said forward stabilizer means comprising a first torsion bar interconnecting the track assemblies on each side of the fore body frame member to restrict relative vertical motion therebetween, said aft stabilizer means comprising a second torsion bar interconnecting the track assemblies on each side of the aft body frame member to restrict relative vertical motion therebetween.