PERFECT RIDING COMFORT

Evening Star, Issue 20610, 9 October 1930, Page 14

PERFECT RIDING COMFORT

■ HEW MOTOR SPRINGING INVENTED NO BUMPS FELT BY PASSENGERS Armchair riding comfort, not possible now even in the world’s most exclusive motor cars, is provided by a remarkable invention of a young Dunedin motor mechanic. If motorists should see a roadster model looking dilapidated, with its left front wing to the running board removed, deliberately headed for traffic domes, bouncing its way over cobble stones, and steering a direct course up and down tho gaping potholes of some of Dunedin’s graciously titled thoroughfares, they would be advised not to form hasty opinions of the car-wreck-ing methods of the driver. Because the young man at the wheel is Mr F. M. Gillies, who after months of experiment has perfected a method of motor vehicle suspension, which, on its merits, should revolutionise the springing of motor cars. In technical terms the object of the invention is to dispose the resilient members of tho axle and the body of the vehicle in such a maimer that when tho vehicle is travelling on rough ground the rebound is absorbed by the laminated springs. In layman’s terms, the wheels move over the bumps, while the body remains rigid. In Mr Gillies’s invention is months of research and experimenting, and now the perfection stage has been reached. As yet the patentee has adopted the new springing for the front wheels, but the success of his experiments leaves no cause to doubt that the rear springing should not be equally successful. For the tests an old model Austin roadster, equipped with cord tyres, was converted from the semi-elliptic springing to the suspension invented by Mr Gillies. So that the trial made two afternoons ago should be exhaustive a ‘ Star ’. reporter was first taken for a drive in a late model car fitted with balloon tyres. . Three rows of three by four timber were laid down on the garage floor. Travelling in second gear, the stock model car jerked, bumped, and hurtled its way over the obstacles. Wien the converted car was sent over tho timber the line of the radiator remained level, while tho wheels, with easy, sliding motion, made possible by the new springing, lifted over the dangerouslooking blocks. The body of the ear remained rigid, yet there was the suppleness of suspension which all motorists experience when driving along a concrete road. There was no rebound felt. The wheels did not leave the ground or obstacles, the car itself retaining its normal position. And on the road, over traffic domes and fearsome potholes, the car was perfectly steady, although, as the back axle was not equipped with the new springing, the jolting was felt in the rear of the car. Without suggestion of effort or discomfort, the light car travelled at a reasonably high speed over the bad roads on the reclaimed land between the railway station and the wharves—a trip which was not at all enjoyable at the same speed in a more modernly-equipped car. The possibilities of the latest suspension are immense. Unusually supple, the springing reduces rolling on corners and jarring over potholes and bumps, and steering wobble is eliminated. With the springs fitted to the back axle, the sensation would be of gliding riding. Engineers and motor experts and drivers who have tested Mr Gillies’s patent are enthusiastic. The delightful sensation of armchair motion is all the more remarkable at this stage, as for the tests springs from an old Talbot car were reconstructed. The road tests of recent weeks have proved invaluable, and tho inventor has now something definite to work oh in arranging details, such as the number of leaves and tho weight of the springs. Even at this stage, without a trial of the springs on the hack axle, it is evident that Mr Gillies has designed suspension which will, if adopted by manufacturers, make riding comfort almost reach the limit of expectation, Briefly described, the invention consists in mounting the body of the car on two laminated springs for each axle. The springs are placed parallel to and on each side of the longitudinal axis of the axle. The springs are crossed, but tho eye of the free end of the one spring is pivotally mounted on shackles, the lower end of the shackles being disposed between a pair of lugs on a bracket member, which is secured to the axle. The opposite end of the laminated spring is fixed securely to the chassis or other suitable part of tlio body of the vehicle. The eye of tho free end of the adjacent laminated spring is pivotally mounted on similar’ shackles. . Mr Gillies has been assisted in Ins experiments by Mr Les Murray, of English Motors Ltd., and they are sanguine, and they have cause to be, that the new suspension is a great discovery.