Applicant: ASSALI STEFEN S.r.l.

Designated inventors: Francesco NICOLINI, Giovanni BERTAGNOLI, Alberto BERTAGNOLI.

The present invention relates to a support assembly for an axle.

In particular, the invention is advantageously used in the field of components for transport vehicles in general, which the following description will make explicit reference without thereby losing in generality, to support both axles or transaxles whose heads are engaged into the wheel hub, to which they transfer the load of the vehicles themselves, by the insertion of elastic suspension devices.

In order to support the axles of a vehicle, it is generally used a support assembly composed of a pair of complex mechanical components. Essentially, these components are composed of arm elements, featuring an axle which is transversely mounted onto the intermediate parts and first ends (also called attachment or front support) pivoted to a portion of the frame or to the chassis of the vehicle and connected to the suspensions.

The second ends of said arms (also called attachment or rear support) are in opposition to the first and are also suitable to support the suspension spring elastic means, connected to the vehicle frame.

Currently, the support assembly for an axle with one of the above-described known structure type is causing important drawbacks.

In fact, the axle is firmly secured to the said intermediate components of the arm elements, for example by keying or equivalent systems and by means of welding spots or welded seams. For this reason, in case of breakdown or maintenance of even only one of the elements of the assembly, it is necessary to disassemble the entire assembly, with long, complex and very expensive operations.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to overcome the problems and drawbacks of the assembly group and prior art mentioned above.

In particular, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a support assembly for an axle that allows the execution of easy and quick maintenance and/or replacement of individual components of the same assembly.

The structural and functional characteristics of the present invention and its advantages over the known art will be clearer and more evident from the claims below, and in particular from an examination of the following description, referring to the attached drawings, which show some preferred but non-limiting embodiments of the present support assembly for axles, wherein:

Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a support assembly according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the assembly shown in Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 is a partially sectional side view of the assembly shown in Figure

1 and Figure 2;

Figure 4 shows a perspective view of a component of the assembly shown in figure 1 ;

Figure 5 is a side view of the component shown in Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a top plan view of the component shown in Figure 4 and

Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a schematic side view, with parts removed for clarity purposes, of some components of the assembly shown in Figure 1 ; and Figures 8 and 9 show two respective side views of different variants of the components shown in Figure 7.

With reference to Figures 1 to 3, G refers to an assembly group for an axle 1 with a circular section.

The assembly G is composed by a pair of identical support devices, D1 and D2, each one adapted to be connected to the frame of a vehicle (known and not illustrated) via a support element 2 or front attachment and a support element 3 or rear attachment, and comprising means 4 with connection arms between elements 2 and 3.

The means 4 with connection arms are composed of a first arm 5, a portion 5' of which end is pivoted to the front attachment 2 via means with deformable bushing means, and of a second arm 6, a portion 6' of which end is adapted to support an air spring suspension 7, or technologically equivalent, which is fixed and acting on said rear attachment element 3.

A suspension H is also expected to be mounted and acting between front attachment element 2 and the first arm 5.

As shown more clearly in Figures 1 to 7, each D1 , D2 device of the assembly support G also comprises a connecting element 8 between the arms 5 and 6, fixed by fixing bolts 9 in correspondence with respective shaped side ends 5" and 6" of arms 5 and 6, in order to support axle 1 transversely.

Element 8 is composed of a flange 10, made as a single component as clearly shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6. The axle 1 body, secured and firmly fixed via exclusively thermomechanical keying, is adapted to be inserted in the hollow portion 10', preferably cylindrical, of said element 8.

The flange 10 has a specific shape (quadrangular in the non-limiting example of Figure 6) and features on the front one or more holes 1 1 (four in the non-limiting example of Figure 6) for the passage of the mentioned bolts 9, and also, in correspondence with the side surfaces 10a and 10b, it features at least one hole or through-cavity 13 adapted to fix axle 1 to flange 10 exclusively using the thermomechanical interference, and therefore not requiring further conventional fastening systems (such as welding, soldering and/or other equivalent methods). Flange 10 is advantageously made by casting of a single piece/component, or alternatively via the assembly of components coupled together via a thermomechanical process, welding or equivalent.

From the foregoing it is clear that flange 10 element 8 defines an effective support for axle 1 , and connection for the two arm elements 5 and 6. Furthermore, it allows quick and simple assembly and disassembly operations of individual components of assembly G during the maintenance or in case of replacement of that components, as well as the optimization of the production process.

According to the variant shown in Figure 8, end 5" of arm 5 features a curve or a cup shape, in order to be fixed below flange 10, while end 6" of arm 6 also features a curve or a cup shape, in order to be fixed upon flange 10 thereof, in opposition to 5" of arm 5.

According to the variant illustrated in Figure 9, arm 5 has a substantially straight shape with its end 5" adapted to be secured upon flange 10.

In this way, the so described assembly G also provides wide flexibility and adaptability to the different frame configurations of the vehicle frame on which it is mounted, preferably but not limited to industrial vehicles or equivalent.