MacPherson strut

The MacPherson strut is a type of automotive suspension system that uses the top of a telescopic damper as the upper steering pivot. It is widely used in the front suspension of modern vehicles and is named for American automotive engineer Earle S. MacPherson, who originally invented and developed the design.

Earle S. MacPherson was appointed the chief engineer of Chevrolet's Light Car project in 1945, to develop new smaller cars for the immediate post-war market. This gave rise to the Chevrolet Cadet. By 1946 three prototypes of the Cadet design had been produced. These incorporated the first MacPherson struts, giving independent suspension both front and rear. The Cadet project was cancelled in 1947 and the disgruntled MacPherson was enticed away to Ford. Patents were filed in both 1947 for GM and 1949 for Ford, the 1949 patent citing designs by Guido Fornaca of FIAT in the mid-1920s. The strut suspension of the pre-war Stout Scarab would also have been a likely influence and like Stout's own influences, the widespread use of long-travel struts in aircraft landing gear was well known by this time. French Cottin-Desgouttes utilized a similar design, albeit with less sophisticated leaf springs, however the Cottin-Desgouttes front suspension was in turn inspired by American engineer J. Walter Christie's 1904 design.

MacPherson originally created the design for use at all four wheels, but it is more commonly used for the front suspension only, where it provides a steering pivot as well as a suspension mounting for the wheel.

Following MacPherson's arrival at Ford, the first production car to feature MacPherson struts was the British-built 1950 Ford Consul and later Zephyr.

The first production car is widely thought to be the French 1949 Ford Vedette, but this was already developed before MacPherson with an independent front suspension based on wishbones and an upper coil spring. Only in 1954, after the Vedette factory had been purchased by Simca, did the revised Simca Vedette switch to using front struts.

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