Vehicle suspension
OwnerLeonel Priveinventor
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OwnerLeonel Priveinventor
Estimating the term…
A vehicle suspension more particularly for three pairs of ground-engaging wheels at the back of a semi-trailer. The axle of each wheel is carried by the free end of a crank arm pivoted intermediate its ends to a support member secured to and projecting underneath the semi-trailer chassis. The other end of each crank arm is pivotally connected to the piston rod of a single-acting hydraulic cylinder and piston unit, the cylinder of which is pivotally connected to a support secured to the vehicle chassis. All the cylinders of the units on one side of the trailer chassis are interconnected by flexible hydraulic tubing. The set of units on one side of the semi-traler are not connected to the set of units on the other side of the trailer and the wheel axles on one side of the trailer are independent of the wheel axles on the other side of the trailer. A predetermined amount of hydraulic fluid fills the cylinders. When a wheel is raised or lowered with respect to the vehicle while riding over a hump or dropping into a recess of the road surface, there is a transfer of hydraulic fluid to the cylinders of the remaining wheels moving the same in the opposite direction. The hydraulic fluid can also compress an air bag located in a chamber in communication with the fluid circuit of the units so as to act as an air spring.
A vehicle suspension for supporting an elongated vehicle chassis having a longitudinal axis on at least two pairs of ground-engaging wheels, each having a wheel axle, the wheels of each pair located on both sides of the vehicle, the wheel axles of said pairs disposed side by side transversely of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, comprising a suspension system for each wheel axle, each of said suspension systems comprising a first support member secured to, and extending, underneath said vehicle chassis, an L-shaped crank arm having two legs making an acute angle therebetween pivoted to said first support member at the junction of said two legs about a first horizontal pivot axis, said wheel axle carried by the other end of one leg of said crank arm, the other leg of said crank arm upstanding from said first pivot axis, a second support member secured to, and extending, underneath said vehicle chassis, a hydraulic cylinder and piston unit having its cylinder pivotally carried by said second support member about a second pivot axis and having a piston rod pivotally connected to the outer end of said other leg of said crank arm about a third pivot axis, said first, second and third pivot axes being parallel to the wheel axle, the straight line connecting the second and third pivot axes making a small angle with the plane of the vehicle chassis, flexible conduit means interconnecting the head ends of the cylinders of all the cylinder and piston units on one side of the vehicle chassis, separate flexible conduit means connecting the head ends of the cylinders of all the cylinder and piston units on the other side of the vehicle chassis and independent of the flexible conduit means on the first-named side of the vehicle chassis, all the wheel axles on one side of the vehicle chassis being independent of the wheel axles on the other side of the vehicle chassis, upward movement of a wheel axle on one side of the vehicle chassis causing retracting movement of the cylinder rod of the associated cylinder and piston unit and transfer of the hydraulic fluid from said last-named unit to the head end of the cylinders of all the other units on the same side of the vehicle chassis and consequent movement of the piston rods of said other units and consequent lowering of the wheel axles associated with said other units, any upward impact exerted by the wheels being transmitted to the vehicle chassis longitudinally of the latter by the force transmitted through the cylinder piston unit along its longitudinal axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.