Cadillac Gage Company

Ex-cell-o Gmbh

Cadillac Cage Company

Irving Appelblatt

Peter Krawiecki

Theodore A Jackson

James D Crabtree

A six-wheel armored vehicle has each wheel driven by an engine mounted between the front wheels and to the side of a driver's station disposed in the beveled shaped nose of the vehicle. Terrain in front and to the sides of the vehicle may be viewed by a driver from within the vehicle by a plurality of periscopes. Alternatively, a hatch opening in a forward sloping surface of the nose immediately behind the periscopes permits the driver to raise his head out of the vehicle in order to view the terrain. A fuel storage tank is formed integral with rear portions of the vehicle's hull and comprises a plurality of interconnected fuel cells defined by double wall construction of the hull body. A fresh air inlet and deflector arrangement in the upper horizontal surface of the hull delivers fresh air forwardly to an engine compartment for cooling the engine, and warm air generated by the engine is reversed in flow direction and exhausted via a conduit through an outlet opening immediately adjacent the fresh air inlet.

Six-wheel armored vehicle

A suspension system for wheeled vehicles, particularly adapted to extended travel suspension systems for armored wheeled vehicles in which each of the front and rear vehicle wheel assemblies is mounted on a trailing arm suspension. The front suspension system includes an axle housing supported at either outboard end by a bell crank assembly, each including a trailing arm pivotally mounted to the axle housing at one end and at the other to a pivotal support on the vehicle hull or frame with a second shorter crank arm acting on a coil spring to resist arm motion by compression of the spring. Within each coil spring is disposed a stack of rubber bumper elements compressed with the spring while a pair of rubber bushings is provided at each pivot point of each of the trailing arms, the damping action of the stack bumpers and bushings performing a shock absorbing function. The rubber bushings also act as torsional springs and to accommodate limited tilting motion of the axle housing. The trailing arms each are inclined inwardly to closely position the coil springs, which extend generally horizontally within the nose of the vehicle hull to minimize the overhead clearance required and provide ready access to the coil springs. An independent trailing arm suspension supports the rear wheels, with a bell crank assembly compressing respective coil springs with driving power delivered by means of universal joints from a fixed differential gear unit.

Suspension system for wheeled vehicles

An armored wheeled vehicle is disclosed in which the front wheels are disposed within recessed wheel wells formed in the vehicle hull. The wheel wells are covered by means of spring biased fairing panels, disclosed by plates which are pivotally mounted on the sloping armored front deck of the vehicle hull and biased to a down position extending across the wheel well at the same angle of inclination as the deck surface to afford minimum vulnerability to weapons fire directed at the front area of the vehicle. The pivotal mounting accommodates the excursions of the front wheels created by suspension displacement on a bumpy road surface or cross country terrain contours by the tire contacting the fairing panels and forcing them open against the bias of the springs and being prepositioned upon movement of the wheel back within the wheel well to again present a minimum frontal area, disposed at the same inclination as the hull deck.

Armored wheeled vehicle with displaceable wheel well fairing panels

Combined armored vehicle and turret

An armored wheeled vehicle configured for maximum resistance to penetration by frontally directed weapons fire while affording excellent visibility at the driver station and an extended field of fire for the weapon observation station, having an armored hull with an extended upper oblique frontal surface, sloping to a point rearward of the midpoint of the vehicle. The driver station is located approximately at the midpoint of the vehicle with the sloping frontal surface affording good visibility for the driver and includes a driver's hatch positioned over a driver station hull opening, the hatch adapted to be moved down and forwardly to provide an unobstructed driver view. The armament observation station is located to the rear and above the driver station, while the vehicle power plant is located along side the driver station. The front suspension includes a trailing arm type suspension minimizing the hull depth at the front wheels to allow the oblique frontal surface to be extended. The front wheel assemblies are disposed within wheel wells recessed within each side of the hull and covered by displaceable fairing panels which are normally disposed and overlie the wheel wells to provide an upper surface in conformity with the frontal surface of the hull.

Growing community of inventors

West Bloomfield, MI, United States of America

Irving Appelblatt