AU595459B2 - Vehicle gauging apparatus - Google Patents

Description

QOIYTMNWBALTH OF AST:RAT4J EMU& -1 PaTENTS ACT-I, i9a C 0, M. P T E S P E~ C I F I C A T 1 0 N flnt. Class Application Number: Lodged: Complete specification Lodged: Accepted: o Published: Priority: R..]elated Art: 7Thtis docum~ent contaiuh C amrendmnents made unde, Section 49 and is correct I'oi intin~ Name of Applicant: ,,1,Address of Applicant: ***Actual inventor: J ICES HER~BERT rRASON 2 Wellington Street, Narrabeen, New South WllaleS, Australia James Herbert Mason ,Addres$ for service: SHELSTON WAMTEPRS, 55 Clarence Street, Syrdney A Complete Sipecification for the Invention entitled: "'VEHI CLE GAUGING APPARATUS"~ The following statement is a full description of this invention, inclu~ding the beat method oE 10ErfOrM-ing it knowm. to Me.i iivisional of 36525/84 of 11th DOCO ber, 1984 44ZST3 The present invention relates to apparatus for measuring and assisting in the alignment and repair of damaged structural members. It has particular relevance to the automotive industry.

In the manufacture of automobiles such as cars or trucks it is common practice to build into the structure datum points to assist in the "jigging" of the automobile m** during manufacture, and in checking the dimensional accuracy of the finished product. These datum points can S.o* .0 be of various forms such as plain holes in the chassis, male or female threads or plain pins. They may be oriented in vertical or horizontal planes or even at angles. They also vary from model to model according to practical convenience. They all however are accurately 1* positioned in known locations in any given model and are recorded in service manuals for use in subsequent checking and repair work as may be necessary. The design specification of the automobile includes a table of 4 lengths and directions which relate the datum points to each other.

The present invention concerns apparatus which enables the relationship between the datum points to be checked, for instance after repair, so as to ensure that the vehicle is in accordance with the maker's specifications.

According to the invention there is provided a vehicle gauging apparatus including a first bar, a pair of carriages slideably mounted to said bar, each carriage S2sr I I 2 comprising a spacer portion and an attachment portion.

adapted to be releasably connected to a datum point on a vehicle, a pair of joining elements disposed on said first bar outwardly of said carriages to define external reference points respectively corresponding to said datum points, means to retain the carriages and the joining elements in fixed orientation with respect to said bar, 00 0 said joining elements being configured such that, in use, said datum points and said external reference points are colinear, each of said joining elements being adapted for connection to a second bar substantially transverse with respect to said first bar to determine relative alignment of structural members.

Preferably, the attachment portion of each carriage comprises an outwardly opening tapered socket.

The second bar preferably comprises first and second telescopically interengageable elements, means for releasably locking the telescopically interengageable elements in fixed longitudinal relationship, a measuring scale mounted on one of the telescopically interengageable elements, and a connecting portion mounted at one end of the second bar and adapted to be releasably connected to one of the joining elements.

Preferably the connecting portion of the second bar is pivotally mounted thereto.

Peferred embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference -o the following drawings in which: '9 '9 p 9 '9 '9 pi ~3~O '9- 4 '9 '9 '9 '9 '9 '9 '9'9 '9 '9 '9 '9 '9tq '9 '9 '9 '999 '9 '9 '9 '9 figure 1 is a plan view of a typical vehicle- showing a, variety of typical datum points, and showing an embodiment of -the apparatus according to the invention in USPa; fig-are 2 is a side elevation of figure I-; figure 3 is a plan view of a first bar:. accorr6ig tLo an embodiment of the invention; figure 4: is a front elevation of figuz.e 3; figure 5 is a detailed view of the attaching aembers shown in figure 4; figure 6 is an elevational viera of a saco-nd bar according to an alternative enibodi ant of the invention, when attached a vehicle; figure 7 is a detailed vie of the atItaching members shown in figure 6; figure 8 is a plan view of third bar for use with an -4embodiment of the invention; figure 9 is a detail of the tape carriage shown. in figure 6; figure 10 is a plan view of a fourth bar for use with an embodiment of the invention; figure 11 is a side view of the bar shown in figure figure 12 is a plan view of the square trunion at the end of the fourth bar shown in figures 10 and 11; O figure 13 is a detailed view of the ends of a first and fourth bar connected together; S' figure 14 is a detailed view of the working relationship between a fourth bar as shown in figures and 11 and third bar as shown in figure 8; Sfigure 15 is a detailed view of the tape carriage shown in figure S. figure 16 is a plan view of figure figure 17 is a plan view of a detail of one end of ethe fourth bar shown in figures 10 and 11; Q0 figure 18 is a side view of figure 17; and figure 19 is an end view of figure 18 taken from the remote end of the fourth bar.

Referring now to figures 1 and 2 a typical automobile 1 may be manufactured with a variety of datum points, some for instance 2, 3, 4 and 5 underneath the chassis, and others for instance 6 and 7 in the engine compartment. It should be appreciated that the datum points are not in any geometric relationship with one r, p.- 9 9 b 99 .9 9 9.9 (9 9 9 9* 9 *999 '99 9 9 .9 '9.9 .9 9* I '9 9 .99 *9 9(9 another, other than that each pair, such as 2 and 3, are equally spaced about the plane of symmetry of the automobile and are of equal height from the ground line, i.e. they are horizontal. Each pair need not be in line 'with or horizontal to any other pair.

Apparatus according to on embodiment of the invention may be fitted to the automobile I. as generally indicated by 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12.

Referring now additionally to figures 3 and 4, a first bar 8 of the apparatus will be described in greater detail. Bar 8 consists of a straight central member 13 carrying two sliding attachment carriages 14. Dlember 13 is preferably made of lightweight tubing and of square cross-section. Member 13 is of a known length and terminates in two end blocks 15. Member 13 is preferably approximately 200 mm longer than the average car width.

A right hand 16 and left hand 17 scale extend one from either side of the centre of the upper side of member 13. The end blocks 15 each consist of a main block 18 on -top of which is a column 19 surmounted by a square pillar Bar 8 can be connected -to a pair of datum points on an automobile by means of attaching members 21 fitted to ,the attachment carriages 14. The attaching members may be suitable for attachment to male or female datum points, they are preferably versatile and may be easily remo~ved and exchanged for others suited for attachment to other types of datum points. Figure 5 shows one example 07-0 6

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of an attaching member in detail. This member comprises a column 22 one end of which is screwed onto attachment carriage 14 and the other end of which is screwed onto an adaptor 23 which in turn screws onto a male datum point 24. The column 22 is of a height which brings pillar to the same height as datum point 24, countering the length of pillar 19. This has the advantage that the datum point is effectively transferred from an Sinaccessible position within the vehicle to an accessible and useful external position. The adaptor 23 may be S supplied in various forms which are interchangeable so that from a complete set an adaptor suitable for any automobile may be selected.

An alternative bar 8 is shown attached to an automobile in figure 6. This bar is similar to the bar shown in figures 3 and 4 except that the sliding attachment carriages are designed to attach to a horizontally extending datum point. In order to do this I, attaching member 19 comprises a banjo hanger having an upright portion 25 of fixed height (see figure 7) at the top of which is mounted an horizontal outwardly opening tapered socket 26 by means of a bolt 27. Attachment carriage 14 may be slid along member 13 until socket 26 engages an extending bolt head 28 of the rear suspension mounting, or any other horizontal male datum point on the chassis. The attachment carriages can then be secured in position on member 13 by grub screws 29 thereby rigidly connecting the bar to the chassis. End blocks 15 still -7comprise a main block 18 on top of which is a column 19, but in this case an horizontally extending member 30 is mounted at the top of the column 19. In this way the datum point is again transferred from an inaccessible position inside the vehicle to an accessible position.

This arrangement has an additional advantage over the arrangement described with reference to figures 3 and in that rotation of socket 26 is possible about the axis defined by bolt 27, and bar 8 may swing beneath the ;"t0 vehicle about the axis defined by the line joining datum points 28. In this way the surrogate datum points 30 are always maintained in the correct positions whatever the position of member 13.

Of course end blocks 15 do not have to be mounted at the extremities of bar 8, and may be slideably mounted on member 13 and secured by grub screws similar to 27, in order to create a more versatile piece of apparatus which is capable of measuring vehicles having widely varying widths.

Once bar 8 has been attached transversely to an automobile an adjustable spirit level placed on the bar or held up under the bar will check the level. When an absolute reference is available, this may indicate that the datum points are out of alignment. Once bar 8 has been fitted to an automobile the distance apart of the two datum points to which it is secured can be determined by the use of scales 16 and 17; suitable windows may be provided in carriages 14 through which the scales may be read.

IC 1 4 1 8^ At least one further bar must usually be attached to the automobile before meaningful results are obtained.

The relationship between the two bars may then be determined and any relative error in alignment be ascertained.

Any transverse bar subsequently attached to the automobile may be of a simpler design, such as that indicated in figure 8. This bar, for example 9 of figure 1, comprises a rod 31 of fixed length on which two tape carriages 32 are slideably mounted (as an option to the left and right handed scales). At the ends of the bar e V there are datum marks 33, 34, 35 and 36. The tapes 37 and 38 may both be extended from their carriages and connected at their ends to a suitable hook 39 before the bar is fitted to the automobile. The bar is fitted to the automobile by means of attachment members, fitted to the tape carriages 32. These attachment members may be similar to those previously described in relation to bar 8, or alternative attachment means for instance as shown i in figure 9 may be employed. Here the columns of the previously described attachment means are replaced by a knuckle joint 40 connected to an adaptor 41 similar to, but not necessarily the same as the adaptor previously described. This bar may be attached to another pair of datum marks for instance 6 and 7 shown in figure 1. Once two transverse bars have been attached to the automobile any lack of parallelism will indicate some misalignment of the chassis.

Spirit levels may be used to check the levels of both transversely attached bars, this may then be used as a reference. Further parts of apparatus embodying the invention may now be employed to determine the precise relationship between any two pairs of transversely attached bars.

Referring to figures 10 and 11 longitudinal bars, for instance 11 and 12 shown in figure 1, will now be described. Longitudinal bar 12 comprises an outer tube ""CO 42 with an inner tube 43 telescopically slideable in it.

A lock nut 44 may be used to releasably secure tube 43 at any selected extension. A measuring tape carriage is slideably mounted on tube 43 and a suitable hook 46 is located on the tube 42. This may be used to attach the end of the measuring tape unwound from carriage 45. At one of the ends of bar 11 there is a connection maeans s 47.

In use the longitudinal bars 11 and 12 are attached S* by the connection means 47 to one of the transversely i attached bars, for instance bar 8. The other end of the longitudinal bars are then laid across the ends of a second transversely attached bar, for instance bar 9 as is shown in figures 1 and 2. The attachment which connection means 47 makes with the end of bar 8 must be a rotatable one, in order to allow for the longitudinal bar to lie at any necessary angle to the horizontal. One means of doing this is to use a hinged trunion 48 having a square aperture which fits snugly over the square 10 p i pillar 24 at the top of the end blocks 16 and 17 of the transversely connected bar 8, as shown in figure 12. A lock nut 49 incorporated in trunion 48 can be used to releasably secure the arrangement.

Figure 13 shows a connection between a horizontal longitudinal bar and a horizontal transverse bar.

Trunion 48 is rotatable with respect to bar 11 and thereby allows rotation of the longitudinal bar in the plane normal to the axis of the transverse bar when they 0 are connected together. Once the longitudinal bar is mounted on one of the transverse bars, the remote end of the longitudinal bar can be laid across the end of a sfecond transversely attached bar, for instance a bar such as that shown in figure 8. The resulting arrangement should see the remote end of the longitudinal bar resting between the datum marks 33 and 34 (or 35 and 36) as shown in figure 14.

Tape carriage 45 is then slid up along tube 43 until the face 50 encounters transversely attached bar 9. At O this point the length of tape unwound from reel 45 can be read on scale 51.

Bracket 47 shown in figures 1, 2, 10 and 11 will now be described in more detail with reference to figures 17, 18 and 19. This bracket 47 is attached to the longitudinal bar by means of a pivot bolt 52 which allows rotational movement of the bracket with respect to the bar. This rotational movement is limited by two ears 53 and 54 which are attached to bracket 47. The extent of 1.II Ii:1 V 4 h any rotational movement within the limits imposed by the ears 53 and 54 is indicated by a pointer 55 hinged to a scale 56 which is attached to bar 11. The pointer 55 is operated by pin 57 mounted on bracket 47.

When the longitudinal bar is attached to one transversely attached bar and the other end then laid onto the end of a second transversely attached bar between the appropriate two datum marks, any angular deviation will be indicated by pointer 57. This deviation corresponds to a lack of perpendicularity in the angle between transversely attached bar 8 and longitudinal bar 11, or the angle between transversely A attached bar 8 and longitudinal bar 12. The pointer scale 56 is preferably not graduated. The degree of misalignment is determined by moving the longitudinal bar until the pointer indicates perpendicularity, and then 1 measuring the distance from the longitudinal bar to the datum marks.

Since the bracket 47 is a sensitive piece of equipment it may be fitted with a safety device which involves bracket 47 being comprised of two parts one 47A above the other 47B. These two parts usually move together by virtue of locking tongue 58 which usually sits in a groove which penetrates both parts of the bracket. However, when bar 11 is moved too far sideways and it presses against one or other of the ears 53 and 54 locking tongue 58 is overridden. This causes the upper part of 47A of bracket 47 to pivot away from the lower 12 part 47B, When the bar 11 is returned to its central position tongue 58 drops back into its home position.

It is sometimes desired to check other datum points such as 4 and 5 indicated in figures i and 2. This is done in a similar way to that used for checking points 6 and 7.

Other points on the chassis can be checked quite simply from the reference grid established by two 4 A transversely attached bars and a longitudinal bar. For example, point 59 shown in figures 1 and 2 at the top edge of the front door may be checked as follows: longitudinal bar 12 is rotated from its rest position on bar 9 until it is in line with the point 59. The measuring tape carriage 45 is then slid back along the *bar 43 until the probe 60 is in line with point 59. The probe may be extended until it touches point 59 and the pointer 55 shows that the longitudinal bar is square with transverse bar S. The probe length can be noted ,from a scale engraved along the length of the probe and ,0 this distance together with the distance read from scale 51, i.e. the extension of the measuring tape, can be compared with similar measurements obtained from the other side of the automobile.

It should be appreciated that although the invention has been described with reference to automobiles, and with reference to a particular arrangement of datum points and a particular connection of bars, many other arrangements are possible within the scope of the present invention, 13

Claims (10)

1. A vehicle gauging apparatus including a first bar, a pair of carriages slideably mounted to said bar, each carriage comprising a spacer portion and an attachment portion adapted to be releasably connected to a datum point on a vehicle, a pair of joining elements disposed on said first bar outwardly of said carriages to define external reference points respectively corresponding to said datum points, means to retain the carriages and the joining elements in fixed orientation with respect to said bar, said joining elements being configured such that, in use, said datum points and said external reference points are colinear, each of said joining elements being adapted for connection to a second bar substantially transverse with respect to said first bar to determine relative alignment of structural members.

2. A vehicle gauging apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the attachment portions of each carriage are adapted to permit rotation of the first bar about the line joining the datum points and said external reference points.

3. A vehicle gauging apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the attachment portion of each carriage comprises an outwardly opening tapered socket.

4. A vehicle gauging apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein said second bar comprises first and second telescopically interengageable elements, means for releasably locking said telescopically interengageable elements in fixed longitudinal relationship, a measuring 14 I 0**S 0 0 *000 9 0*00 #0 *0 9* 9s 9* *1 0 0 a *0 *9 scale mounted on one of the telescopically interengageable elements, and a connecting portion mounted at one end of the second bar and adapted to be releasably connected to one of said joining elements.

A vehicle gauging apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the connecting portion of the second bar is pivotally mounted thereto.

6. A vehicle gauging apparatus as claimed in Claim wherein the second bar is pivotally connected to the first bar for rotation about said line joining the datum points and said external reference points.

7. A vehicle gauging apparatus as claimed in Claim 5 or Claim 6 wherein the second bar includes hinge means intermediate the ends thereof to permit rotation about an axis transverse to both the second bar and said line, and indicator means to indicate when said second bar is straight.

8. Vehicle gauging apparatus-as claimed in Claim 7 wherein said hinge means is decoupleable to prevent damage to the indicator means in the event of excessive rotational displacement.

9. A vehicle gauging apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 8 and including a pair of said second bars respectively connected at opposite ends of said first bar by means of said joining elements. 1 15 I -1

-10! F- -IRZEN- E A vehicle gauging apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanYyinmg drawings. DATED this 30th day of OCTOBER, 1989 JAMES HERBERT M~ASON Attorney: WILLIAM S. LLOYD Fellow Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia of SHELSTON WATERS SW.. 99*9 9. ~*99 9 4 9&4 9 *944 9944 9 V q9 4 I 9*49*9 9 9 9*4 9 9. 49 9 4* 99 4* 9 $9 *94 9 9994W* 4 *V 9 4 K P -16