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US 5,078,420 AGranted
Tandem wheel and axle suspension
AssigneeThe Boler Company
InventorsRoger D. Jable, Tjong T. Lie, Gilbert Olvera
Life of this patent
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AssigneeThe Boler Company
InventorsRoger D. Jable, Tjong T. Lie, Gilbert Olvera
Estimating the term…
In a tandem wheel and axle suspension for suspending a vehicle chassis, a flexible joint assembly for connecting the underside of each distal end of a fore-and-aft leaf spring equalizer beam to the subadjacent end of a transverse axle comprising a downwardly projecting spring anchor mounted on the underside of the distal end of the bottom leaf of the leaf spring, a load cushion formed of elastomeric material having an upwardly open socket in which the projecting portion of the spring anchor is embedded, and an axle bracket mounted on the subadjacent end of the axle having an upwardly open socket formation into which the load cushion is seated. An elastomeric rebound cushion is mounted over each distal end to prevent the spring anchor from disengaging the load cushion axle and is without upper torque rods.
In a tandem wheel and axle suspension for suspending a vehicle chassis comprising a pair of fore-and-aft leaf spring equalizer beams pivotally mounted midway between their opposite ends on trunnion brackets mounted on opposite sides of the chassis and front and rear transverse axles supported at their opposite ends on the respective front and rear ends of the leaf spring equalizer beams, improved means for interconnecting each distal end of said axles to the adjacent distal end of one of said leaf spring equalizer beams comprising, a spring anchor rigidly mounted on and downwardly projecting from the underside of the distal end of the leaf spring equalizer beam, an axle bracket mounted on the adjacent distal end of the axle and having an upper portion extending above the axle, and an elastomeric load cushion mounted on said bracket upper portion having an upwardly open socket in which said downwardly projecting spring anchor is seated.
The improvement called for in claim wherein the bottom surface of each said spring anchor and the mating bottom surface of its associated load cushion socket have a spherical shape laterally so as to permit cross articulation and a spherical shape fore-and-aft so as to permit fore-and-aft articulation.
In a tandem wheel and axle suspension for suspending a vehicle chassis comprising a pair of fore-and-aft leaf spring equalizer beams pivotally mounted midway between their opposite ends on trunnion brackets mounted on opposite sides of the chassis and front and rear transverse axles supported at their opposite ends on the respective front and rear ends of the leaf spring equalizer beams, improved means for interconnecting each distal end of said axles to the adjacent distal end of one of said leaf spring equalizer beams comprising, a spring anchor mounted on the underside of the distal end of the leaf spring equalizer beam, an axle bracket mounted on the adjacent distal end of the axle and having an upper portion extending above the axle, an elastomeric load cushion mounted on said bracket upper portion having a socket in which said spring anchor is seated, and a rebound cushion mounted over the distal end of each said leaf spring equalizer beam so as to prevent its adjacent spring anchor from disengaging its said load cushion, and wherein said rebound cushion is an elastomeric roller mounted on the upper end of a rebound bracket said rebound bracket being mounted on and extending upwardly from the adjacent of said axle brackets and said upper end extending laterally over the distal end of the leaf spring equalizer beam.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.