Improvements in and relating to Velocipedes, also applicable as Water Cycles.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Oct., 1896-Accepted, 20th Mar., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Velocipedes, also applicable as
Water Cycles.
1, FRANÇOIS BARATHON Aîné, of Château de Moreuil, (Somme), in the Republic
of France, Employee, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to certain improvements in velocipedes generally, but it
refers more particularly to devices enabling the actual velocipedes to be transformed
into nautical apparatus.
The transformation in question may be effected very rapidly and enable the
owners of bicycles to perform with their machines nautical evolutions by the simple
addition of floats and a propeller connected to the driving wheel and set in action
by the pedal shaft. The velocipede may. moreover be furnished with a stop brake
or a brake system combined with a support. The particular arrangements which
I have devised for this purpose are represented in the accompanying drawings in
which
Figure 1 is an elevation to a small scale of an ordinary bicycle transformed into
a nautical bicycle.
Figures 2 and 3 represent respectively an elevation and a plan to a large scale
of the propelling mechanism connected to the driving wheel.
Figures 4 and 5 show two arrangements of jointed handle bars.
Figure 6 shows a double driving wheel.
Figure 7 is a stop brake.
Figure 8 represents a bicycle provided with a support brake.
Figures 9 and 10 are details of this support and brake.
In the drawings A is the front wheel, B the handle bar for this wheel; C is the
driving wheel set in action by means of a chain by the crank shaft D; E is the
frame, and F the saddle upon which the cyclist takes his seat. These parts are
those of an ordinary bicycle.
:
For transforming this bicycle into a nautical bicycle or water cycle I arrange
upon the frame E, Dearly at the level of the saddle F, a certain number of
floats F F F (for example three), and I fix at the level of the axle of the
driving wheel C a screw propeller mechanism G.
The floats are fixed by the aid of collars a which embrace the tubes of the frame
and which are tightened by means of pressing screws. These floats may be of
indiarubber, cloth coated with rubber, or any other impermeable material; they
are inflated like pneumatic tyres by means of a punip and an inflating valve.
These floats are put in their place and inflated at the moment when the cyclist
desires to traverse a water course or perform any nautical evolution.
The propeller mechanisin comprises a bevel wheel b connected with the hub of
the driving wheel C, another bevel wheel b¹ which may be thrown into gear with
the wheel by means of a coupling bereinafter referred to, a shaft c adapted to be
turned by the bevel wheel b' and a screw G fixed to the extremity of the shaft c."
This sbait e is enclosed in a sheath d connected with a casing e containing the
coupling. The sheath is fixed to the mud guard f and the box e is fixed to the
extremity of the rear fork.
.
The coupling is nothing else but a lock, that is to say it comprises a bolt g
connected with the bevel wheel held engaged by a spring r. With the aid

page_text: of a key fitting upon the spindle I first free the spring and render the bolt g
movable which, according to the direction of the turning movement of the key,
brings the wheel & into engagement with the wheel & or interrupts the engagement.
As the wheel is keyed upon the shaft e the latter moves in the protecting sheath d.
When the wheel once engages with the wheel the movement of the crank
shaft D is transmitted by the chain to the driving wheel C and from the latter by
the bevel wheels b and b and shaft c to the screw G.
A propeller similar to that hereinbefore described may be arranged on either
side of the driving wheel; the only precaution to be taken consists in giving to
the shafts c c different lengths in order that the screws may not rotate in the same
plane.
The propeller mechanism may be either permanently fixed to the velocipede or
mounted thereon at the desired moment.
However that may be, the arms of the screw G may be articulated so that they
can be developed as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, or that they can be turned back
on to the sheath d in the direction of the arrow so as to occupy less space when
the propeller mechanism is not used.
The rear or driving wheel C may be double, as represented in Figure-6, that is
to say it may be formed of two wheels placed side by side at a small distance from
each other. This connection of two wheels does not in any way change the
conditions of the rolling movement of the velocipede, but will ensure a certain
stability in the stoppages, which stability cannot be obtained in the bicycles
heretofore employed.
The branches of the handle bar B are jointed so as to be turned down vertically,
as shown in dotted lines in Figures 4 and 5 and to occupy less space, which may
be necessary for the packing and the transport.
The branches I of the handle bar B are pivoted at 2, so. as to turn down
vertically. These branches are held in their normal position either by means of a
leaf spring R provided with knobs 3 and rods 4 or by the aid of an oscillating
piece R which, when the branches 1 of the handle bar occupy their normal
position, engages beneath hooks 7 arranged on each of the said branches.
In the first arrangement, the rods 4 serve to engage with a cylindrical cavity 5,
arranged in the branches 1, when these branches occupy their normal position; to
avoid the necessity for pulling the knobs 3 when passing the branches 1 into their
normal position, these latter are provided with a notch 6 which is widened out and
the edges of which are bevelled. The effect of this arrangement is that when the
branches 1 are required to be passed from their turned position into their normal
position, the notch 6 is caused to so act upon the rod 4 as to push it out while
neutralizing the action of the spring R up to that moment when this rod 4 com-
municating with the hollow 5 will engage there with under the action of the said
spring R and jointly connect the whole device. To turn the branches 1, the knobs 3
are pulled so as to disengage the rods 4, whereupon the branches are caused to
turn on their pivot 2.
The front wheel A may be readered immovable with the aid of a stop brake H
Figure 7 which under the action of a spring H³ presses upon the tyre and prevents
the said wheel from turning to the right or to the left during the stoppages.
The system of combined support and brake which I have devised is, as hereinbefore
stated, shown in Figures 8, 9 and 10.
The support and brake is fixed to the frame of the bicycle between the front and
rear wheels and in such a manner that the operating handle may be near the handle
bar, that is to say within reach of the cyclist's hand.
It comprises in principle two brake shoes a and b acting, one upon the front wheel A,
and the other upon the rear wheel C, and two feet c and el susceptible of being
moved away from each other and forming a support at the precise moment when
the brake is applied.
The brake shoes are formed each of two rolls mounted in a fork attached to the
rod d or d¹. The rod d or d' of the shoes extends into a tube e serving it as a

page_text: guide and forming one piece with a kind of lantern for f¹ in which a spring is
provided. The lanterns ff are respectively traversed by oblique branches g g
adapted to be displaced vertically as will hereinafter be seen. Upon the branches gg₁
bear the springs r r located in the lanterns and designed to give a certain elasticity
to the brake shoes a and b.
The oblique branches g g' are mounted between transverse pieces h and h¹, oue
of which, the upper, belongs to a tubular rod i, whilst the other can slide upon a
rod; attached to the tubes e e' supported by means of an U shaped piece
fixed to the lower part of a sheath or casing l.
The tubular rod iis connected to another rod m provided with an operating
handle n and with a rack o, with the teeth of which engages a small spring bolt p.
A helical spring 7 is interposed between a discs appertaining to the rod m and the
bottom of the sheath 1.
The feet c and c¹ are rods of variable length articulated upon the upper cross-
piece h and passing into lugs and t unchangeably connected at a right angle
relatively to the tubes e e' of the brake shoes a and b.
By pressing with the hand upon the operating handle n the cyclist lowers the
transverse piece h and consequently the oblique brauches 9 and g' which by reason
of their obliquity push back the brake shoes a and b for causing them to act
respectively upon the wheels A and B.
The transverse piece h being lowered also causes the feet c and to move apart
owing to the non-concordance wbich exists between the points of articulation upon
the said transverse piece and the lugs t t.
It will be observed that the application of the brake always precedes the
separation of the feet, and that the latter is developed into a support only as long as
the brake is applied, that the application of the brake is elastic in virtue of the
springs and ; that lastly the cyclist by acting upon the operating handle
compresses the spring q, and that the tension of the latter is utilized by putting
the parts back in their place when the bolt b is released.
I wish it to be understood in conclusion that I do not limit myself either to the
forms, or to the dimensions represented in the accompanying drawings, and that all
the parts of the invention may be made of any appropriate material.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The herein before described improvements in velocipedes in general and more
especially:
First. The addition, to bicycles of any systems, of one or more floats and of a
propeller mechanism connected to the driving wheel with a view to the transformation
of these bicycles into nautical bicycles;
Second. The particular arrangement of the propeller mechanism and its mode
of coupling to the driving wheel.
Third. The articulated arrangement of the branches of the handle bar;
Fourth. The doubling of the rear wheel with the aid of two connected wheels
for the purpose of ensuring the stability during stoppages;
Fifth. The arrangement of the stop brake for rendering the front wheel immovable
during stoppages.
Sixth. The arrangement of the combined support and brake with brake sleeves
and feet set in motion at the same time.
Seventh. The whole as hereinbefore described and represented in the accom-
panying drawings.
Dated this 23rd dox of October 1896
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.