This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Sliding pillar suspension" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(July 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
A sliding pillar suspension is a form of independent front suspension for light cars. The stub axle and wheel assembly are attached to a vertical pillar or kingpin which slides up and down through a bush or bushes which are attached to the vehicle chassis, usually as part of transverse outrigger assemblies, sometimes resembling a traditional beam axle, although fixed rigidly to the chassis.[1] Steering movement is provided by allowing this same sliding pillar to also rotate.
Sliding pillar independent suspension was first used by Decauville in 1898, the first recorded instance of independent front suspension on a motor vehicle. In this system, the stub axle carrying the wheel was fixed to the bottom of a pillar which slid up and down through a bush in a transverse axle fixed to the front of the chassis. The top of the pillar was fixed and pivoted on a transverse semi-elliptic leaf spring. This system was copied by Sizaire-Naudin a few years later.
In around 1904, the New Jersey inventor J. Walter Christie introduced a sliding pillar suspension system with vertical coil springs, which may be the inspiration for that later used by Lancia on its Lambda from around 1922. Lancia continued with sliding pillar suspension until the 1950s Appia.[2] In turn, this was copied for a single year by Nash on its unibody 600 model.
Sliding pillar suspension systems have also been used by several cyclecar manufacturers, the French maker Tracta, and in several prototype vehicles.
In 1909, H.F.S. Morgan introduced a fundamentally similar system using a sliding stub axle on a fixed pillar, used first on Morgan Motor Company cyclecars, then on their cars up to the current time.[3] The Morgan design is an inverted sliding pillar, as are most of the later designs; the pillar is attached to the chassis and the stub axle is carried by the sliding sleeve over this.
A drawback of the sliding pillar system is that the track changes with differential suspension movement, such as when one wheel rises over an obstacle (as can be seen in the diagram above). This is particularly an issue where the track is narrow (as for cyclecars) in relation to suspension travel. The effective track is the hypotenuse AC or AD of the triangle ABC, where AB is the fixed pillar spacing. However, many types of suspension, such as the swing axle have similar issues. Track variation is usually considered less important than changes in wheel camber, which is almost nonexistent in a sliding pillar system (see suspension geometry).[1]
This suspension system is rare, but was used most notably in the groundbreaking Lancia Aurelia coupe (1950–58).
A slidingpillarsuspension is a form of independent front suspension for light cars. The stub axle and wheel assembly are attached to a vertical pillar...
'inverted' slidingpillar, as the pillar is fixed and the hub carrier slides over it. Earlier systems had the wheel carried on the pillar, sliding through...
towers/pillars, two suspension cables, four suspension cable anchors, multiple suspender cables, the bridge deck. The main cables of a suspension bridge...
of compression, somewhat similar to a slidingpillarsuspension, thus eliminating the need for an upper suspension arm. This means that a strut must have...
85bhp at 5,500rpm, 4-speed Riley preselector transmission, slidingpillar front suspension with live rear axle, 4-wheel drum brakes, and coachwork by...
utilised the same slidingpillarsuspension on the rear as the Mark B, but by September 1952, this had been changed for Flexitor suspension units produced...
innovative vehicles - featuring no B-pillar between the front and rear doors (instead the interlocking front and sliding rear doors locked onto both the floor...
"time-waster"), also known as the Chinese rings, Cardan's suspension, Cardano's rings, Devil's needle or five pillars puzzle, is a disentanglement puzzle featuring...
"running gear" like engine, transmission, drive shaft, differential, and suspension. The "rolling chassis" description originated from assembly production...
stressed roof) and it also pioneered the use of an independent suspension (the front slidingpillar with coil springs). Vincenzo Lancia even invented a shock...
blacked-out A-pillars and upswept B-pillars (giving the front row the look of a wraparound windshield). In place of a traditional curbside sliding door, the...
from the A-pillar forward. In contrast, the 960 was an evolution of the 760. The 760 / 960 front sheet metal, independent rear suspension, dashboard,...
Tubular live axle with hypoid gears and limited slip. Front: Independent slidingpillar with coil springs and gas filled telescopic shock absorbers Rear: Semi-elliptic...
dating back to the Lancia Lambda (introduced in 1922) to use slidingpillar front suspension. All three series produced had a 1089cc Lancia V4 engine. In...
exterior and interior trim over a Fairlane, and Torino crests on the 'C' pillar. The Torino GT's standard features included special name plaques and exterior...
an ordinary side-hinged rear door on the right and a sliding door without an intermediate pillar on the left. Rear view 2008 Tanto Custom (L375S) 2010...
the back of the car and a steel cover was supplied for it on the dearer sliding head model which also carried toughened glass in its side and rear windows...
aluminum band that extended from one B-pillar across the roof to the opposite B-pillar. In 1977, a conventional sliding sunroof became optional and also could...
introduction of a sliding side door added on both sides (although a version without the driver's side door remained available), with a full "B" pillar to enhance...
with its competitors. Compared to previous generation, the Combo C gained sliding rear side doors (versions with either single passenger side door or double...
three-box design into a two-box design—to include an A, B, and C-pillar, as well as a D-pillar. Station wagons can flexibly reconfigure their interior volume...