Four-wheel steering, leveling and banking for vehicles
OwnerJohn K. Bauerinventor
Life of this patent
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OwnerJohn K. Bauerinventor
Estimating the term…
A steering and suspension system which steers and tracks all wheels of a vehicle and banks the vehicle body during turns. Front and rear power assisted rack and pinion steering assemblies are mechanically linked so that the rear wheels are turned in the opposite direction of the front wheels relative to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. The power assistance turns the radially inward wheels to a greater degree than the radially outward wheels. A pendulous mass is suspended from the vehicle body to react to centrifugal force and is operationally linked to a camber and attitude adjustment spool valve to regulate fluid flow to front and rear camber pistons and to hydraulic shock absorbers. The spool valve responds to swing of the pendulous mass to channel fluid to the camber pistons which cause the vehicle wheels to lean into a turn. Moreover, the spool valve channels fluid to the shock absorbers that are radially outward of a curve to bank into a turn. The pendulous mass also reacts to gravitational pull to detect straight-line driving on a laterally sloped road, thereby affecting the spool valve to transmit fluid to the hydraulic shock absorbers which are associated with depressed side of the vehicle until the vehicle body is leveled.
A vehicle having a steering wheel, a frame, left and right front wheels, and left and right rear wheels, said frame having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis, comprising,
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.