Scientific American Supplement, No. 447, July 26, 1884Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 447, July 26, 1884
Various
Science -- Periodicals
The most obvious way, then, of contriving a three wheeler is to drive
one wheel, steer with another, and leave the third, which must be
opposite the driver, idle. The next in simplicity is to drive with one
wheel, and steer with the other two, having one in front and the other
behind. So far then, the single driving rear-steerer and the Coventry
rotary pattern are easily understood. The evils of single driving,
minimized, it is true, to a large extent, in the Coventry rotary, have
led to the contrivance of means by which a wheel on each side may be
driven without interfering with their differential motion in turning a
corner.
Three methods are commonly used, but as only two are employed on
tricycles, I shall leave the third till I come to the special machine
for which it is necessary. The most easy to understand is the clutch,
a model of which I have on the table. If each main wheel is driven by
means of one of these, though compelled to go forward by the crankshaft,
it is yet free to go faster without restraint. By this means "double
driving" is effected in several forms of tricycle.
Differential gear, which is well understood, and of which there are
several mechanically equivalent forms, divides the applied driving
power, whether forward or backward, between the main wheels, equally if
the gear is perfect, unequally if imperfect. To understand the effect
of the two systems of driving, and of single driving, let us place on
grooves a block which offers resistance to a moving force. If we wish
to move it, and apply our force at the end of one side, it will tend to
turn round as well as move forward, and much friction will be spent on
the guides by their keeping it straight.
This is the single driver. If, instead of applying force at one side, we
push the block bodily forward by a beam moving parallel to itself, then
so long as the guides are straight no strain will be put upon them,
even though one side of the block is resisted more than the other; if,
however, the guides compelled the block to travel round a curve, then
the power, instead of being divided between the two sides in such
proportion as is necessary to relieve the guides of all strain, is
suddenly applied only to the inside, and the effect is that of a single
driver only. This is the clutch. Lastly, if the last-mentioned beam,
instead of being pushed along parallel to itself, were pivoted in the
middle, and that pivot only pushed, the same power would be applied to
each side of the block, and no strain would be thrown on the guides,
whether straight or curved, so long as the resistance opposed to the
block on the two sides were equal; if, however, one side met with more
resistance than the other, then the guides would have to keep the block
straight. This is the differential gear.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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