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US 4,386,809 AGranted
Driving-guidance system for a resilient vehicle propulsion band
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army
InventorAlgis L. Lapsys
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a ground vehicle having resilient endless bands engaged with the terrain or suspension and propulsion purposes, improved novel roller arrangements for maintaining a desired band envelope under adverse operating conditions, such as large vehicle accelerations or decelerations, movement over rough bumpy terrain, or vehicle turning actions.
Claims7
In a military ground vehicle supported at its sides on endless resilient bands, each band including a lower run engageable with the ground, an upper run spaced above the ground, and curved end sections connecting the lower and upper runs;
- the improvement comprising two floating end rollers engageable with inner surfaces of the band end sections;
- a spring mechanism continuously biasing each end roller into pressure engagement with the respective band surface when the band end sections move away from each other incident to movement of the upper and lower runs toward each other;
- two load rollers carried by the vehicle in pressure engagement with the upper surface of the band upper run;
- said load rollers being located above and between the end rollers so that each load roller carries approximately the same load;
- each of the four rollers having axially-spaced radial flanges overlapping the band lateral edges to preclude sidewise slippage of the band off of the rollers.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.