280 



Popular Science Monthly 



Shock Absorbers 



AFTER a season without shock ab- 

 sorbers on an automobile and a sea- 

 son with them, a driver will be thorough- 

 ly convinced of their worth. Here are 

 given sketches and descriptions of a type 

 which can be built by anyone handy with 

 tools. The advantages of shock absorb- 

 ers may be summed up in three words : 

 comfort, speed and saving. With shock 

 absorbers a light car equals in riding 

 quality cars of much greater weight and 

 longer wheel base. A speed of five to ten 

 miles more per hour is practicable. The 



These shock absorbers may be made with 

 the aid of a few good tools 



saving is in the general wear and tear 

 on the machine and especially in the tires. 



The absorbers shown here are fairly 

 simple in construction, requiring no 

 welding or other difficult forging opera- 

 tions and but the simplest of machine 

 shop operations, that of drilling. 



The rear absorber is somewhat simpler 

 than the front one. Eight of the brackets 

 shown are worked up. The hole in the 

 top is formed by bending the piece of 

 Ya" X }'^" mild steel around the proper 

 size pin. The size of this hole is not 

 given, as it will vary, in some cases be- 



ing yi" and in others 9/16", depending 

 on the make of car. This is a matter 

 which the maker must determine before 

 ordering the stock. Cold rolled steel is 

 used for all bolts. The width of the 

 spring leaf will determine the length of 

 the bolts. 



After the brackets have all been bent 

 up a clip is placed around the neck of 

 each. Some of the /4" x }i" stock is 

 used for these. The clip is first made 

 U-shaped and then placed over the neck 

 while hot and the ends clinched or bent 

 over. These ends should be just long 

 enough to come together when bent over. 

 The cross bar at the bottom of the rear 

 absorber is made long enough to support 

 the side of the springs. This bar is made 

 from 54" X 1" stock. The bottoms of 

 the brackets having been bent to shape, 

 the cross bar is held in position and the 

 holes drilled. Rivets of Y^" are used to 

 hold these parts together, but before 

 fastening finally the springs must first be 

 provided and fit on the brackets. It is 

 best to round the corners of the brackets 

 to form a better support for the spring 

 as well as to prevent the coils becoming 

 nicked, thus causing them to weaken and 

 finally break. 



Owing to the method of attaching 

 front springs in use on almost all types 

 of cars, the design of the front shock 

 absorber must be radically different from 

 that of the back. Here the pull is up 

 instead of down, so the coil springs must 

 be held rigid at the upper end and links 

 used to transmit the shock down and un- 

 der the bottom ends of the coil springs, 

 which in this case are the free ends. A 

 study of the sketch will show the con- 

 struction clearly. In order to prevent the 

 springs coming up over the bracket too 

 far a set screw is placed in each side 

 of each bracket as suggested in the 

 sketches. A Ya" set screw is heavy 

 enough for this. The link is detailed in 

 the sketch, except the size of the holes 

 which will be determined by the size of 

 the holes in the spring. The bottom cross 

 bar is cut off even with the edge of the 

 bracket instead of allowing it to extend 

 as in the case of that on the rear absorb- 

 er. The corners are again ground round 

 before assembling the springs in place 

 permanently. 



