Four wheel drive power train

Claim 2

A four-wheel drive power train for use on a vehicle having an engine, a transmission driven by said engine, a front pair of wheels, and a rear pair of wheels, one of said pairs of wheels being articulated for steering, said power train comprising: a shaft rotatably mounted transversely of said vehicle, means drivingly interconnecting said shaft to said transmission; at least four sets of split pulley sheave halves mounted on said shaft for rotation therewith and longitudinal slideability therealong, each of said sets containing a right hand sheave half and a left hand sheave half; at least four V-belt drive pulleys, each one of said pulleys being drivingly connected to only one of said wheels; at least four drive V-belts, each of said belts interengaging only one of said pulleys with only one of said sets of sheave halves; and means for limiting the longitudinal extent of said slideability of said sheave halves along said shaft such that separation of the halves of one of said sets causes convergence of the halves of the others of said sets whereby each of said wheels is driven differentially of every other one of said wheels.

Claim 3

The power train of claim 1 including a belt tightener to maintain uniform tightness in each of the drive V-belts comprising: a. a plurality of rollers one engaging the drive V-belts associated with each of said wheels; b. frames rotatably supporting each said roller; c. a forward shaft joined to said frames which are supporting the rollers which engage the drive V-belts driving the front wheels; d. a rearward shaft joined to said frames which are supporting the rollers which engage the drive V-belts driving the rear wheels; e. said forward shaft and rearward shaft being pivotally mounted on support posts to allow said frames to pivot between a raised and lowered position; f. a forward linkage bar pivotally interengaging the frames which are mounted on said forward shaft, such that when one of said frames is pivoted to its raised position the other of said frames is pivoted to its lowered position; g. a forward lingage post pivotally joined to the medial portion of said forward linkage bar configured to move said forward linkage bar and thus the frames associated therewith between their raised and powered positions; h. a rearward linkage bar pivotally interengaging the frames which are mounted on the rearward shaft such that when one of said frames is pivoted to a raised position, the other of said frames is pivoted to a lowered position; i. a rearward linkage post pivotally joined to the medial portion of said rearward linkage bar configured to move said rearward linkage bar and thus the frames associated therewith between their raised and lowered positions; j. a crank rotatably mounted intermediate its ends to interengage said forward linkage post and said rearward linkage post to simultaneously move said forward and rearward linkage post between their raised and lowered positions; and k. locking means to lock said crank in variable rotational positions.