Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 57.djvu/497

Rh end, the parts are brought into proper position with reference to each other. The shaded portion H is the lever C at the right side of Fig. 10.

The left-hand end of Fig. 12 shows a design for front axle wheels which is one of the many modifications of the general arrangement just described. In this construction the wheel swings round the stud C, which is placed within the huh, and in a line, or nearly so, with the center of the rim. The rod A is the axle and F is the lover extending from the inner part of the wheel hub by means of which the steering is effected. The left-hand side of Fig. 12 is a view as seen from the front and the right-hand side shows the device as seen from above. In this last drawing it will be observed that as the lever F is attached to the inner portion of the wheel hub, if it is moved to one side or the other of axle A, by pulling or pushing on rod G, the wheel will be swung round. The advantage of designs of this type is that there is no strain whatever brought to bear upon the steering handle, and the



objection is that the wheel hub is made much larger and the whole construction is somewhat more complicated.

The arrangement of the front axle, so as to swing the wheels round a center close to the hub or within it, as described in the foregoing paragraphs, is used on all types of automobiles and is not a distinguishing feature of the electric carriage. In some of the lighter vehicles the front wheels are held in forks of a design substantially the same as that of the front wheel of the ordinary bicycle, the tops of the Fork-being connected with each other by means of a rod, as in the lower part of Fig. 10, so as to obtain simultaneous movement of the two wheels by the movement of a single steering handle.

In the majority of electric vehicles the power is applied to the rear axle, but some are made with the motors geared to the front axle. In a few of these designs the wheels and axle are made the same as in an ordinary carriage, so as to swing round a pivot or king bolt located at the center of the axle and reinforced by a fifth wheel. When this construction is used the steering, gear is made so as to hold the axle in position more firmly than in the other designs; but even with this assistance the driver has a harder task than with the independently swinging wheels. The advantage derived from swinging the whole