"all four wheels can be braked at he same time" Mr. Livingwood (1912)

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2014: "all four wheels can be braked at he same time" Mr. Livingwood (1912)
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Constantine on Monday, August 04, 2014 - 01:22 am:

I've known about the Livingwood 4x4 conversion for a while but what I didn't know is that four wheel brakes were part of the deal.

"Another object of the invention is to provide
means for driving both front and rear wheels at
the same time.
A further object of the invention is to provide a
brake band device, whereby all four Wheels can
be retarded and stopped at the same time. This
brake band arrangement is particularly
applicable to a combination where all four
wheels are driven at the same time and
especially where they have a chain and sprocket
drive mechanism as herein provided and
hereinafter to be described.
It is obvious that when a brake is applied to
only one set of wheels, the body of the car is
subjected to considerable strain.
An object of this invention is to annul this
strain, which is brought about by the novel
arrangement of driving, both sets of Wheels at
the same time and braking all four Wheels at the
same time. i Furthermore, it is an object of the
invention to provide an arrangement whereby both
the front and rear wheels may be steered at the
same time, and also be driven at the same time."






from:
http://www.google.com/patents/US1158137?dq=1158137#v=onepage&q=&f=true

Are these kits still available from the Livingwood's grandson? If so, do they feature four wheel brakes?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Constantine on Monday, August 04, 2014 - 01:42 am:

To answer my own question - no - seems the four wheel brakes part of the patent wasn't meant for Ts, see;

http://www.fourwheeler.com/project-vehicles/129-0510-1921-ford-model-t-4x4/photo -05.html


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Constantine on Monday, August 04, 2014 - 01:49 am:

From the above mentioned article:

"The Livingood T shows us its stuff in the mud and snow, with a few deep ruts and undulations to stretch the suspension out. A Model-T at work is like nothing else. It's a combination of the low "angry bee" buzzing of the engine, the whine of straight-cut bevel gears, creaking wooden wheel spokes, groaning springs, and various sheetmetal parts clanking and banging against each other. The smells are of raw hydrocarbons, leather, gear oil, wood, and hot grease. It's all wonderful feedback and proof that Model-Ts can actually talk. When the radiator starts puking, we listen and decide to cut the 'wheeling fun short. The T sighs in relief."


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Carnegie on Monday, August 04, 2014 - 03:17 am:

Constantine, the 4WD automatically makes your T have four wheel brakes, even with Bennett's or whatever. All four wheels are hooked together, so you brake one, you brake 'em all.

Here is my 4WD T

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmHoUKq0sC8


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Constantine on Monday, August 04, 2014 - 05:35 am:

Tom, looks like fun...heh, heh. Be even better if you could mount a WW1 machine-gun on the rear bed to complete the US Army theme; but seriously how much more traction does the 4x4 system provide compared to a standard T? I mean, what I understand the 4x4 is quite basic. Is power is split 50/50 between front and rear wheels regardless of which wheels have traction? Can it be driven 4x4 in high gear?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tom Carnegie on Monday, August 04, 2014 - 09:28 am:

I would love to mount an M1917 Browning (or mock up) in the back. Maybe someday when I have nothing to do I will mock one up. Here is a picture of a WWII era Browning. The WWI M1917 was much the same.



My 4WD T has plenty of traction. Before I installed a Warford, it would run out of power before running out of traction. The video was taken before I had the Warford, so I would have to rev the motor and spin the wheels at times for lack of power. The 4X4 drives exactly like a normal T. It has a transfer case to take it out of 4WD, which is a good idea on hard surfaces.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Terry Horlick in Penn Valley, CA on Tuesday, August 05, 2014 - 11:04 am:

Constantine, thanks for posting the patent photos. I didn't know Mr. Livingood was dabbling in 4wd before the T Ford.

The design in this drawings is interesting not only because of the fwd chain drive and four wheel braking, but also because of the four wheel steering. He has the rear wheels turning opposite to the turn of the front wheels. I'd love to drive one of those to see why it didn't catch on...in fact I think I would like that on my lawn tractor!


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