“VICTORY” IS GETTING ON SKIS

In 1959, the USSR Ministry of communications has ordered the design Bureau of the famous Builder of helicopters N. I. Kamov unusual for this size car — a snowmobile. Developers were tasked to create a vehicle that could provide postal services in remote in the winter areas of the North, Siberia, Kazakhstan and Far East.

A year later the first shipment of snowmobiles, called “North-2”, entered the post pine. They replaced worn out to the limit the previous releases snowmobile NKL-16 or NKL-26, which after the great Patriotic war “retrained” in connected cars.

 

Snowmobile “North-2” immediately won recognition. Comfortable, fast, roomy, they had a good cross in the harsh conditions of winter terrain. With their appearance on the mail routes became possible to provide regular mail delivery to the most remote settlements. Suffice it to say that in collaboration with civil aircraft, these snowmobiles were regularly deliver to Central and regional Newspapers on the day they are released in all the settlements along the Amur river in the area from Khabarovsk to Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, in the towns by the river Ob, where the planes were based in Khanty-Mansiysk and Salekhard, up and down the river Lena from the city of Ust-Kut and dozens of other points scattered across the North, Siberia and the Far East.

 

Average seasonal mileage of snowmobile on zip lines ranged from 12 to 15 thousand km per car at an average speed on the toughest winter roads 30-35 km/h. But the trails snowmobiles passed through deep virgin snow, hummocky ice, they had to work when the frost reaches —50—55°. No transport would not have coped with similar difficulties. How looked this good and such a reliable machine?

 

“Sever-2” — chetyrehlistnyj snowmobile with steerable front skis. The body of the snowmobile by road, is additionally insulated. Independent heating unit supported in the cockpit of zero temperature, provided heated windshields and warm up the engine before starting after long stops at low temperatures. Good glass body give the driver sufficient review, and powerful lighting equipment — headlamps with main and dipped light and spotlight-seeker — allowed trouble-free to operate the snowmobile in difficult weather conditions.

 

Fig. 1. General view and overall dimensions of the snowmobile “North-2”.

 

The body was divided into four compartments. The trunk was located under the front hood; it is attached to the battery, and the free space was occupied by the covers, which hid the engine at stops, and a necessary tool. The cabin in the front part differed little from the car, and the space behind the seat occupied cargo hold, which was loaded with mail parcels, Newspapers, letters. When required this compartment for folding seat could accommodate two or three passengers. And finally, was still the engine compartment, located behind where the car was the trunk. Above the engine compartment, at the top of the body, fastened closed easily removable hood internal combustion engine. It was established on under engine frame — tubular welded spatial farm, which was privertyvali stands bolted to the lugs of the rear frame of the body.

 

Place under the engine designers used under components and units of motor equipment. It housed: oil cooler with hoses for supplying thereto air from the intakes and nozzle, which was mounted leaf shutters; cylinders for compressed air and exhaust air system to allow starting of the engine; Autonomous heating system with separate fuel tank and the pipe feeding the heated air to the carburetor of the engine; the exhaust manifolds of the engine.

 

Fig. 2. The layout of the snowmobile “North-2”:

1 — pylon-ski, 2 — a cap of fastening of skis on the half-axis, 3 — headlight, 4 hood cap fuel tank 5 — front hood, 6 — trunk, 7 — battery, 8 — windscreen 9 — wiper, 10 — steering wheel 11 — spotlight 12 — internal partition 13 — Parking light, 14 — fairing, 15 — oil tank, 16 — hatch on the fairing, 17 — stationary ring of the hood, 18 — propeller, 19 — flap hood 20 — engine, 21 — bushing of the propeller 22 is a motor frame, 23 — fencing of the propeller 24, the air intake 25 — rear strut, 26 — heater 27 — bracket-ski, 28— rear ski, a 29 — axle shaft, 30 — strut axle, 31 — sealing of the opening for the rear wheels, 32 — the door of the cargo compartment, 33 — housing 34 — door of the driver’s cab 35 to the rotary axis of the front skis, a 36 — cone, 37 — fuel tank (left), 38 — bumper, 39 — front ski 40 — sole of the ski 41 is undercut skiing.

 

On the roof of the vehicle body, the front of the engine, on the lodgment housed the oil tank, closed fairing. Posledov served for the flow of air flowing under the engine hood, and to cool the cylinders. At the air outlet from the engine compartment were installed leaf shutters, by which the driver regulates the degree of cooling of the engine.

 

“Sever-2” with an aircraft engine of AI-14РС (gear, sled) designed by A. G. Ivchenko for the First time on the machines of industrial production, he spun a three-blade metal propeller with automatic adjustment of step and the introduction of the blades in the position reverse to obtain reverse thrust and braking the car. For security, the area of rotation of the propeller had tubular fence, painted bright red paint. On the outer ends of pipe fencing set the red and green marker lights.

 

The body of the snowmobile was connected with the ski elements front and rear suspensions. They consisted of axes, on which are mounted the skis and shock absorbers, smartasic shocks when driving on rough roads.