A STUDY OF ROAD IMPACT AND SPRING AND TIRE DEFLECTION

The purpose of the tests described was to subject various models of truck to shocks far in excess of anything likely to be encountered in actual service, to study the effect of different spring and tire equipment on impact and the effect of unsprung weight upon road impact, as well as the effect of varying speed on these impacts. A series of “jumping tests” for motor trucks was conducted and a new system of motion pictures, capable of being afterward slowed down for analysis, was used to record the results. Trucks were run at speeds of from 15 to 18 m.p.h. along a straightaway course and over a sharp incline. The trucks sprang into the air and struck the ground as from a vertical drop of several feet.

The apparatus and the five trucks used are described fully, the data obtained and the method of computing results are presented, and the analysis and conclusions which follow are sufficiently detailed to afford much constructive information on this subject.