Improvements in Variable-speed or Speed-and-power Driving Mechanism for Velocipedes.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Aug., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 27th May, 1890-Accepted, 19th July, 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Variable-speed or Speed-and-power Driving
Mechanism for Velocipedes.
I, JOHN CLOUGH, of 4, Rose Bank, Manningham in the County of York, Manager,
and GEORGE CARTER, of Howard Street, Bradford, aforesaid, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in that class of variable-speed or speed and
power driving mechanism for bicycles, tricycles or other velocipedes in which a
portion of the mechanism is at one speed locked to the chain wheel or driving wheel
so as to revolve therewith and at the other speed held stationary by being locked to a
fixed part of the velocipede, such as the mechanism for which we have made
application for Letters Patent No. 6,320 dated the 13th April 1889. And the object
of the invention is to facilitate and simplify the means or method of locking and
unlocking the above mentioned portion of mechanism so as to hold it stationary or
cause it to revolve as required, and also to reduce the width of this class of
mechanism.
The said improvements consist in the hereinafter described means or method of
operating the locking device and also in the arrangement of such device.
For this purpose we make that portion of the mechanism requiring to be locked and
unlocked in the form of a disc or with a circular periphery and fit the locking catch or
bolt in a radial slide therein. The said disc has an annular groove formed in its
periphery round which a wire or metallic band is loosely passed fixed at one end to
the machine and the other end is connected to the lever or handle by which the
mechanism is regulated. The outer end of said locking catch is arranged to
project into said annular groove when such catch is engaging the driving or chain
wheel and is held in that position by a spring.
When the mechanism revolves in this manner the said wire lies loosely round it
but by tightening said band in any convenient manner the locking catch is pushed
towards the centre of the said disc thus disengaging it from the driving wheel and the
inner end of such catch passes into a notch or its equivalent formed in a fixed portion
of the velocipede and rigidly fixes it. By releasing the said wire band the pressure
is removed from the locking catch which under the influence of the above mentioned
spring is disengaged from the fixed notch on the velocipede thus disconnecting the
said disc and again engaging the driving wheel locks such disc thereto.
A number of notches may be employed any one of which is adapted to engage the
inner end of said catch and such notches may be formed in a flange on the bearing
box or any other convenient part of the machine. Several notches may also be
provided in the driving wheel to engage the other end of said catch.
It is obvious that the method of tightening said wire band round said disc to operate
the catch may be varied to meet the requirements of different velocipedes but we
find a convenient arrangement for safety bicycles and other velocipedes having similar
steering handles is to fix a lever to the handle bar similar to the ordinary brake lever
and connect the end of such wire either directly or indirectly to the end of said lever
so that operating such lever in a similar manner to a brake lever draws said wire band
tight. A spring catch or rack is also provided to engage said lever and hold it in this
position until released by a thumb piece.
Dated this 23rd day of August 1889.
DRACUP & NOWELL,
Bradford, Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Variable-speed or Speed-and-power Driving
Mechanism for Velocipedes.
We, JOHN CLOUGH, of 4, Rose Bank, Manningham, in the County of York,
Manager, and GEORGE CARTER, of Howard Street, Bradford, aforesaid, Engineer,
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:-
This invention relates to improvements in that class of variable-speed or speed-and-
power driving mechanism for bicycles, tricycles and other velocipedes in which a
pórtion of the mechanism is at one speed locked to the chain wheel or driving wheel
so as to revolve therewith and at the other speed held stationary by being locked to a
fixed part of the velocipede, such as the mechanism for which we have obtained
Letters Patent No. 6,320, dated 13th April, 1889. And the object of the invention is
to facilitate and simplify the means or method of locking and unlocking the above'
mentioned portion of mechanism so as to hold it stationary or cause it to revolve as
required.
The said improvements consist in the hereinafter described means or method of
operating the locking device.
For this purpose we make that portion of the mechanism requiring to be locked
and unlocked in the form of a disc or with a circular periphery and fit the locking
catch or bolt in a radial slide therein. The said disc has an annular groove formed
in its periphery round which a wire or metallic band is loosely passed fixed at one end
to the machine and the other end is connected to the lever or handle by which the
mechanism is regulated. The outer end of said locking catch is arranged to
project into said annular groove when such catch is engaging the driving or chain
wheel and is held in that position by a spring.
When the mechanism revolves in this manner the said wire lies loosely round it
but by tightening said band in any convenient manner the locking catch is pushed
towards the centre of the said disc thus disengaging it from the driving wheel and
the inner end of such catch passes into a notch or its equivalent formed in a fixed
portion of the velocipede and rigidly fixes it. By releasing said wire band the
pressure is removed from the locking catch which under the influence of the above
mentioned spring is disengaged from the fixed notch on the velocipede thus
disconnecting said disc and again engaging the driving wheel locks such disc.
thereto.
A number of notches may be employed any of which is adapted to engage the inner
end of said catch and such notches may be formed in a flange on the bearing box on
any other convenient part of the machine. Several notches may also be provided in
the driving wheel to engage the other end of said catch.
It is obvious that the method of tightening said wire band round said disc to
operate the catch may be varied to meet the requirements of different velocipedes but
we find a convenient arrangement for safety bicycles and other velocipedes having
similar steering handles is to fix a lever to the handle bar similar to an ordinary brake
lever and connect the end of such wire either directly or indirectly to the end of said
lever so that, operating such lever in a similar manner to a brake lever draws said
wire band tight. A spring catch or rack is also provided to engage said lever and
hold it in this position until released by a thumb piece.
We will now describe with reference to the accompanying drawings the application
of our improvements to the variable-speed or speed-and-power driving mechanism for
which we have obtained the above cited Letters Patent.
Figure 1, is a side view of the improved wheel with the bearing box and driving
shaft in section. Figure 2, is a diametrical section of the locking mechanism with
the wheel to which it is attached drawn in full and the locking bolt in the position it
occupies when the whole of the parts are locked to revolve with the wheel. Figure 3,

page_text: is also a diametrical section of the locking mechanism but the bolt is in this case
shown in the position it occupies to lock certain parts of the mechanism stationary so
as to decrease the speed of the chain wheel in relation to the crank shaft. Figure 4,
is a side view of the bearing box with the notched flange attached thereto, and
Figure 5, illustrates a method of operating the locking wire.
The internal mechanism of the chain wheel G is the same as that described in the
specification of the above cited Letters Patent and the bolt P carried by the slide o in
the plate L is also arranged in a similar manner to engage projections U on the
cover N and lock the parts so that they revolve with the wheel G when such wheel
is required to revolve at the same speed as the crank shaft A. But to disengage the
bolt P and bold the plate L and its attachments stationary whilst the wheel G is free
to revolve we slide the bolt P inwards until it is clear of U and the projection Qon such
bolt engages one of the notches e in the annular flange rigidly fixed to the bearing
box W.
The wire is coiled once round the annular groove S. This wire when slack allows
the bolt P', under the influence of a spring tending to press it outwards, to remain
engaged with the projections U on the cover N, but when such wire is drawn tightly
round the annular groove S as shown in figure 3 it engages the projection Q on the
bolt and presses it inwards so that such bolt is released from the projections U, and
Qengages one of the notches e. Immediately however the wire i is slackened the bolt
under the influence of its spring is restored to its original position.
The wire i may be placed under the control of the rider in a variety of ways and
be regulated either by the hand or foot. We illustrate a method, however, which we find
convenient in figure 5. The wire i is carried up from the wheel G to the bell-crank
lever h pivoted at j, and such lever is operated by a rod k from the hand-lever m,
arranged in a similar manner to an ordinary brake-lever. The hand-lever is provided
with a rack n, engaging a catch t on the handle-bar r, so as to hold such lever up when
the wire i is drawn tight and prevent it becoming slack until the rack n is pushed off
the catch t.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is
The means or method of operating the locking bolt by means of a coiled wire or
band, substantially as herein shown and described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
DRACUP & NOWELL,
Bradford, Agents.