Endless track

Claim 2

In combination, a small track-laying vehicle capable of travelling at a relatively high speed, said vehicle having a front and a rear, and a track unidirectionally mounted on the vehicle, said track comprising an endless belt of elastomeric material and incorporating reinforcing means adapted to resist longitudinal stretching of said endless belt and provide sufficient transverse rigidity in order to prevent undue buckling of said endless belt transversely of its length, said track being constructed to travel in a first direction when the vehicle is travelling forwardly, and driving member engaging means for enabling said endless belt to be driven into rotation in said first direction, said endless belt having on its treading surface a plurality of identical transversely extending traction formations equally spaced from one another along the length of said endless belt, the active face of each said traction formation, which is that face which faces rearwardly, relative to the direction of travel of the vehicle, when that traction formation contacts the ground, essentially comprising an elongated transversely extending rear planar surface disposed at an angle of the order 45 degrees with respect to the normal to the section of said endless belt adjacent to that traction formation, the other face of each said traction formations essentially comprising a forward planar surface normal to the said adjacent section of said endless belt, said active and opposite faces being terminated along their adjoining transversely extending sides by a transversely extending continuous rounded surface bridging the said forward and rear planar surfaces and forming the edge of said traction formation and wherein said forward and rear planar surfaces are tangent to said continuous rounded surfaces.

Claim 3

The invention of claim 1, said reinforcing means including a layer of inextensible material embedded into said endless belt to resist longitudinal stretching thereof.

Claim 4

The invention of claim 2, said reinforcing means further including rods extending transversely of the belt to prevent undue buckling of the belt.

Claim 5

The invention of claim 2, said driving member engaging means comprising a series of tooth receiving holes along the length of said endless belt for engaging with a drive sprocket wheel.

Claim 6

The invention of claim 2, said traction formations being spaced about said endless belt on a two inch pitch, and the height of each rib above the endless belt being of the order of 5/8 of an inch.

Claim 7

In combination, a small track-laying vehicle capable of travelling at a relatively high speed, said vehicle having a front and a rear, and a track unidirectionally mounted on the vehicle, said track comprising an endless belt of elastomeric material and incorporating reinforcing means adapted to resist longitudinal stretching of said endless belt and provide sufficient transverse rigidity in order to prevent undue buckling of said endless belt transversely of its length, the means for providing transverse rigidity comprising rods extending transversely across the belt, said track being constructed to travel in a first direction when the vehicle is travelling forwardly, and driving member engaging means for enabling said endless belt to be driven into rotation in said first direction, said endless belt having on its treading surface a plurality of identical transversely extending traction formations equally spaced from one another along the length of said endless belt, the active face of each said traction formation, which is that face which faces rearwardly, relative to the direction of travel of the vehicle, when that traction formation contacts the ground, essentially comprising an elongated transversely extending rear planar surface disposed at an angle of the order of 45 degrees with respect to the normal to the section of said endless belt adjacent to that traction formation, the other face of each said traction formations essentially comprising a forward planar surface normal to the said adjacent section of said endless belt, said active and opposite faces being terminated along their adjoining transversely extending sides by a transversely extending continuous rounded surface bridging the said forward and rear planar surfaces and forming the edge of said traction formation and wherein said forward and rear planar surfaces are tangent to said continuous rounded surfaces.

Claim 8

In combination, a small track-laying vehicle capable of travelling at a relatively high speed, said vehicle having a front and a rear, and a track unidirectionally mounted on the vehicle, said track comprising an endless belt of elastomeric material and incorporating reinforcing means adapted to resist longitudinal stretching of said endless belt and provide sufficient transverse rigidity in order to prevent undue buckling of said endless belt transversely of its length, the means for providing transverse rigidity comprising rods extending transversely across the belt, said track being constructed to travel in a first direction when the vehicle is travelling forwardly, and driving member engaging means for enabling said endless belt to be driven into rotation in said first direction, said endless belt having on its treading surface a plurality of identical transversely extending traction formations equally spaced from one another along the length of said endless belt, the active face of each said traction formation, which is that face which faces rearwardly, relative to the direction of travel of the vehicle, when that traction formation contacts the ground, essentially comprising an elongated transversely extending rear planar surface disposed at an angle of the order of 45 degrees with respect to the normal to the section of said endless belt adjacent to that traction formation, the other face of each said traction formations essentially comprising a forward planar surface normal to the said adjacent section of said endless belt, said active and opposite faces being terminated along their adjoining transversely extending sides by a transversely extending continuous rounded surface bridging the said forward and rear planar surfaces and forming the edge of said traction formation and wherein said forward and rear planar surfaces are tangent to said continuous rounded surfaces.

Claim 9

The invention of claim 6, each traction formation being disposed above one of said rods with at least a part of the cross section of the rod within the traction formation.