Avant train
An Avant-Train (from French; originally a rotating front frame of a carriage, consisting of a wheel set, drawbar, etc.) is a drive unit in connection with the automobile. It consists of a front axle , engine , gearbox , drive and a steering wheel . The Avant-Train replaced the original front axle on multi-lane vehicles without their own drive. Occasionally, wagons or carriages were converted into Avant-Trains by replacing the front axle and drawbar with a corresponding device. The terms iron horse or motor wheel are occasionally used in English .
introduction
Joseph Vollmer invented this drive unit in 1897. At first he used an electric motor , from 1898 a gasoline engine with 4 hp . The unit, which is firmly connected to the front wheels and designed as a turntable in the front center of the vehicle , could be mounted under a horse-drawn carriage at the drawbar pivot point in exchange for the front axle, making it a motor vehicle with front-wheel drive . In 1900, the Automobile Fore Carriage Company in New York City tried to evaluate the Vollmer patent in the USA and invested the huge sum of US $ 5 million at the time, but failed that same year. Avant-Trains were popular with fire departments for a short time because the very expensive, horse-drawn steam sprayers could be used for longer in this way, making the switch to motor vehicles less costly. In the US, was Front Drive Motor Car Company of J. Walter Christie tone. Another producer was A & B and American LaFrance stayed with the Type 31 such a vehicle from 1915 to 1929 in the program. There were by Coulthard also commercial vehicles and steam engines as a drive.
Shortly after 1900, this drive unit for passenger cars went out of fashion. Ponts Moteurs was one of the last manufacturers to offer such vehicles in 1914. They stayed longer in commercial vehicle niches such as the fire service area mentioned and with heavy-duty construction site vehicles.
use
The following motor vehicle manufacturers produced Avant-Trains:
The Selden Road Engine of George Baldwin Selden , which was patented in the USA in 1877, has a similar design; the motor sits in the turntable that forms the front axle and is moved along with the steering. Voiturettes Société Parisienne E. Couturier et Cie , built from 1899 to 1901, also use this principle.
literature
- Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 .
- Beverly Rae Kimes (ed.), Henry Austin Clark Jr.: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI 1996, ISBN 0-87341-428-4 . (English)
- George Nick Georgano (Red.): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 1: A – F. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 . (English)
- George Nick Georgano: Cars. Encyclopédie complète. 1885 à nos jours. Courtille, Paris 1975. (French)
- GN Georgano (Ed.), G. Marshall Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. Motor Books International, Osceola WI 1979, ISBN 0-87341-024-6 . (English)
- Walter MP McCall: Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Fire Engine Manufacturers. Iconografix, Hudson WI 2009, ISBN 978-1-58388-252-8 . (English)
- Fred Crismon: Fire Engines. (= Crestline series). Motor Books International, Osceola WI 1997, ISBN 0-7603-0381-9 . (English)
- Beverly Rae Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America. Published by SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Permissions, Warrendale PA 2005, ISBN 0-7680-1431-X . (English)
- Albert Mroz: Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks and Commercial Vehicles ; Krause Publications, Iola WI (1996); ISBN 0-87341-368-7 ; ISBN 978-0-87341-368-8 (English)
- Albert Mroz: American Cars, Trucks and Motorcycles of World War I: Illustrated Histories of 224 Manufacturers (2009), Mcfarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson NC; ISBN 0-78643-967-X ISBN 978-0-78643-967-6 (English)
Web links
- Les vehicules Latil . Avant Train Latil. (French, accessed June 13, 2014)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : Die Internationale Automobil-Enzyklopädie . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g Georgano: The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile.
- ↑ a b Georgano: Cars. Encyclopédie complète. 1885 à nos jours.
- ↑ a b Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 89.
- ↑ a b Mroz: Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks and Commercial Vehicles . 1996, pp. 63-64
- ↑ a b Mroz: Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks and Commercial Vehicles . 1996, p. 6
- ↑ a b Mroz: Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks and Commercial Vehicles . 1996, p. 14
- ↑ Georgano, Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. 1979.
- ^ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 246.
- ↑ a b Crismon: Fire Engines. 1997, p. 20.
- ↑ a b c d e Crismon: Fire Engines. 1997, p. 24.
- ^ Mroz: Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks and Commercial Vehicles . 1996, p. 79
- ↑ Grace's Guide: Morrison Electricar
- ↑ Crismon: Fire Engines. 1997, p. 18.
- ^ Jacques Rousseau: Guide de l'Automobile française. Éditions Solar, Paris, 1988; ISBN 2-263-01105-6 .