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BUMPERS AND LIFEGUARDS.
Page 132
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A Resume of Recently Published Patent Specifications.
WE are glad to see that the provision of some means for decreasing the number of accidents due to persons being run over by motor vehicles is not being entirely. neglected. Although highly successful on tramcars, guards to front wheels have not been a proved sueeess on other
classes of vehicle. The present invention is certainly one of the best efforts we have seen in this very desirable direction, and is the patent (No. 269,403) of Alrik Johnson, a British subject, of Saskatchewan.
An ordinary bumper bar is arranged across the front of the vehicle, but behind this is a boxlike channel, having an open bottom. In this channel is folded a curtain of stout canvas or any suitable material. The bottom of the channel is formed by a cross-rail which is attached to two stout levers pivoted at any convenient point on the frame. A strong spring is arranged to depress this rail, but, owing to. the fact that it is held up by means of a catch, it normally remains in its channel. The bumper bar is arranged so that when it meets any obstruction, such as a pedestrian, it can slide backwards, and in so doing it releases the catch and allows the curtain and its rail to fall to the level of the ground, so picking up the person who may have been knocked down. There may possibly be eases where this scheme would not act, such as when a person has already fallen, and is therefore already below the level of the bumper bar, but in the majority of cases it should function well.
Relating to Fuels for Internal-combustion Engines.
GERMAN resident in London, E. G. E. Meyer, in his specification, No. 269,222, describes certain methods of producing fuels for internal-combustion engines. The specification relates to a previous patent, No. 15,312, of 1025. According to the present invention the hydrocarbon material is treated with a basic material, and to the treated hydrocarbon material ether is added. Conveniently, ammonia is employed as the basic material.
The main claim is as follows :--The process of producing fuels for use in internal-combustion engines consisting essentially of hydrocarbon material, together with a small proportion of ether and ammonia or Other volatile basic material, in the absenceof camphor, naphthalene flake and wood spirit, which comprises bringing together the hydrocarbon material and the volatile basic material and therefore adding the ether.
An Engine with Eight Pistons.
AN engine of the class in which four cylinders and eight pistons are employed is described in specification No.
245,472, of G. K. Davol, of San Francisco. A crank which has two oblique pins is employed, each pin carrying what is described as a " vvabbling" member, which carries the spherical ends of the four connecting rods. This member, although free to wobble, is prevented from rotating by means of a pin which carries a block working between the surfaces of segmental guides..
In engines of this type the whole of the pressure exerted by the pistons has to be taken by some kind of thrust bearing on the crankpin. Details of the'construction of the bearing on the crankpin, in which provision is made for thrust, are given in the specification, but are not shown in the view we give. The specification does not deal with any particular method of firing the charge, but it will be seen that the firing takes place between the two pistons, which, being driven outward with equal force, exert no end thrust on the crank, which is in equilibrium. Engines of this type have been made in*Europe from time to time, but one does not seem to hear much about them in practical use.
A Steerable Bogie for Electric-driven Vehicles.
THE Versare Corporation, of New York, in specification No. 258,845, describes a four-wheeled bogie which turns on a king-pin, and is provided with four wheels, two of
which steer. The elevation depiets the main feature of the invention, which appears to relate to the means for driving by an electric motor mounted on trunnions in the centre, so that it can oscillate about its own centre of gravity, as shown in the elevation. Rocker levers are provided near the trunnions to allow the springs to take position indicated when passing over uneven ground.
The close-up view shows the arrangement of the universal .
joint between the electric motor and the right-angle drive. One pair of wheels is described as being steerable, but as the method of steering is said to form no part of this invention no further details are given than those in the plan
le up the le