Vehicle with vertically angularly adjustable asymmetrical wheeled frames

Abstract

Abstract 1,218,741. Endless-track vehicles; vehicles for negotiating steps or stairs. UNITED KING- DOM ATOMIC ENERGY AUTHORITY. 6 Feb., 1968 [10 Feb., 1967], No. 6590/67. Headings B7D and B7H. [Also in Division B8] In a manipulator vehicle for negotiating uneven terrain and steps or stairs under remote control, a body 1 is supported by a twin-wheel steerable bogie 30 and by port and starboard endless track assemblies which are rotatable in unison about a common axis of pivotal attachment to the body by power means and are each asymmetrical with respect to that axis. Each endless-track assembly comprises a rubber track 55 entrained around a drive wheel 49 and track wheels 40, 41 and rollers 42 carried by a girder structure 39. Gear-wheels 44 secured to each girder structure 39 are driven by a common transverse shaft 45 which is connected through a gear train 47 and a torque-limiting clutch 48 to a track rotation motor 46 and is lockable by a brake to position the track assemblies in any desired attitude. Each drive wheel 49 is connected by a resilient member 52 to a drive plate 50 on a shaft 37 driven through worm gearing 36 from one of traction motors 35. V-belts 54 extend around grooves 53 in the drive wheels 49 and the track wheels 40 and rollers 42. Raised treads 58 on the tracks 55 are formed with closely-spaced transverse slits. The steerable bogie 30 has twin wheels 31 resiliently mounted thereon and is rotated about a vertical axis by a steering motor and worm gearing 32. A turret head 2 mounted on the body 1 carries television cameras 3 and a power manipulator arm 4. The turret head 2 is supported by an hydraulically-actuated manipulator post 5 rotatably mounted on the body by means of a turntable gear 6. A motor 10 for rotating the gear 6 also drives a cable drum 8 surrounding the post 5. A control and power cable 9 is fed on and off the drum 8 through a layering device 23, a fair lead 12 and a cable guide 14 carried by a spring 15 which is fitted with a sensing device 16 for controlling the speed of the motor 10 and hence the movement of the drum 5 through a variable resistor. The endless-tracks may be dispensed with and tyred wheels substituted for the track wheels shown.

Inventors

• 👤 Hugh Anthony Ballinger

Bibliographic Details