Primary air spring and secondary leaf suspension for vehicle
AssigneeSanluis Rassini International, Inc.
InventorsJames Andrew Juriga, Slawomir M. Zieleniec, Graham R. Brookes
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A suspension for a vehicle having a chassis rail and a longitudinal axle arranged substantially orthogonal thereto. The vehicle suspension has a primary air-responsive spring that couples between the chassis and the axle of the vehicle. The primary spring can be a coil spring that surrounds an air helper spring. A secondary leaf spring has a first end for pivotally coupling to the chassis of the vehicle at a secondary pivot coupling, and a second end for coupling to the axle. The longitudinal configuration of the secondary leaf spring can be arranged to be angularly displaced with respect to a chassis rail of the vehicle.
Claims19
A vehicle suspension arrangement for a vehicle having a chassis rail and a transverse axle arranged substantially orthogonal to the chassis rail, the vehicle suspension arrangement comprising:
- an air-assisted primary spring having a resilience characteristic responsive to air pressure, a first portion for coupling to a chassis of the vehicle at a primary coupling, and a second portion for coupling to the transverse axle;
- and a secondary leaf spring having a plan view longitudinal configuration, a first end for pivotally coupling to the chassis of the vehicle at a secondary pivot coupling, and a second end for coupling to the transverse axle;
- wherein the entire length of the plan view longitudinal configuration of said secondary leaf spring extends in a single substantially linear direction that is arranged at a predetermined angular displacement with respect to the chassis rail, the angular displacement of the secondary leaf spring relative to the chassis rail being from about 5 degrees to about 10 degrees.
A vehicle suspension arrangement for a vehicle having a chassis rail and a transverse axle arranged substantially orthogonal to the chassis rail, the vehicle suspension arrangement comprising:
- an air-assisted primary spring having a resilience characteristic responsive to air pressure, a first portion for coupling to a chassis of the vehicle at a primary coupling, and a second portion for coupling to the transverse axle;
- a coil spring extending between and coupling the chassis of the vehicle to the transverse axle, the coil spring surrounding the air-assisted primary spring;
- a secondary leaf spring having a plan view longitudinal configuration that extends in a single substantially linear direction, a first end for pivotally coupling to the chassis of the vehicle at a secondary pivot coupling, and a second end for coupling to the transverse axle;
- and
- a primary leaf spring having a plan view longitudinal configuration and a first end for pivotally coupling to the chassis rail of the vehicle at a first primary pivot coupling, and a distal second end for pivotally coupling to the chassis rail of the vehicle at a second primary pivot coupling, wherein the secondary leaf spring is arranged to be angularly displaced from the primary leaf spring and the chassis rail at an angle of about 5 degrees to about 10 degrees.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.