GB1440577A - Articulated vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

1440577 Tractor/trailer couplings SMALLFRY Ltd 16 July 1973 [21 July 1972 16 Jan 1973] 34162/72 and 2170/73 Heading B7T An articulated vehicle comprises a semitrailer 10, Figs. 1 and 2, coupled to a tractor 1 having a front axle 3 and a rear axle 4 carried by a chassis member 2, the coupling including an upright pivot pin 44 and guide means defining a horizontal axis through point C of vertical articulation of the trailer 10 relative to the tractor 1, and this axis being between the front and rear axles 3 and 4 and below the chassis member 2, preferably also below the axles 3 and 4 and more preferably at or below the ground plane 20 through the bottom of road wheels 5 and 6 on the axles 3 and 4 (see points D and E in Figs. 3 and 5). The form shown in Figs. 1 and 2 comprises a domed apertured plate 22 attached to the chassis member and having a convex upper surface 23 and a concave lower surface. A complementary convex plate 25 engages the concave surface and carries a straight-sided central projection 26 which protrudes into the circular aperture 24 of plate 22, where its sides are retained by two segmental plates 29. The length of projection 26 is less than the diameter of aperture 24 so that the projection can move in an arcuate path in a direction parallel to the longitudinal direction of the trailer 10. Bolts 32 connect the projection 26 to a concave plate 30 which is engaged by a fifth wheel coupling plate 39, which itself receives the pin 44 carried by the trailer 10. In another form, Fig. 3, the tractor chassis member 2 carries a fifth wheel coupling plate receiving a king pin 51 which is located in a mounting member 53. Member 53 supports rollers 49 which run in elongate apertures 48 in parallel plates 47 carried by the trailer 10, movement of the rollers 49 along the apertures 48 following an arcuate path about a horizontal axis through point D at ground level. A further form, Fig. 5, employs a pair of Watt-type linkages 62, 63 arranged one behind another, each linkage comprising two arms 64, 65 which are pivotally connected at their one ends to a channel section support 59 mounted on the trailer 10, and pivotally connected at their other ends to link members 66 which are pivotally supported at 69 on a turntable 70 and a fifth wheel coupling plate 57 on the chassis member 2.