Improvements in Seats or Saddles for Bicycles and other Foot Power Vehicles.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Aug., 1894-Accepted, 29th Sept., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Seats or Saddles for Bicycles and other Foot
Power Vehicles.
A communication from abroad by GEORGE OTIS DRAPER, of Hopedale, County
of Worcester, in the State of Massachusetts, United States of America,
Manufacturer.
I ALFRED GEORGE BROOKES, of 55 and 56 Chancery Lane in the County of
London, Chartered Patent Agent, 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 :-
In bicycles or other foot power vehicles the seat or saddle is a most important
element, as it must not only sustain the weight of the rider, but it must also permit
free movement of the legs.
The saddle now universally used is a leather suspension seat hung from front and
rear supports on a frame, usually resilient, the rider straddling the suspended seat
portion and working the legs on each side of it.
Such saddles are injurious to the system, and the evils resulting by their use in
numerous instances have attracted the attention of eminent medical practitioners,
while many men and women have been compelled to forego an otherwise valuable
exercise and great convenience.
Attempts have been made to remedy the injurious effects due to such saddles by
using cushioned seats which are not straddled, and in some instances transverse
suspension seats have been tried, but owing to objectionable features such seats
have never been successfully used, so far as I am aware.
This invention has for its object the production of a suspension seat for foot
power vehicles which is not straddled by the rider, while it permits freedom of leg
movement.
Various details of construction are incorporated therein, some of which may be
applied with equal value to other types of seats, and my invention is not, therefore,
restricted in all its details to any one particular type of saddle or seat.
In accordance therewith my invention consists, primarily of a flexible transverse
seat for foot power vehicles, and novel means whereby it is made to adapt itself
to and to permit the fullest freedom of leg movement, substantially as will be
described.
Other features of my invention will be hereinafter described and particularly
point out in the claim.
Fig. 1 is a rear end elevation of a seat embodying my invention, a portion of the
frame of the bicycle being shewn in dotted lines.
Fig. 2 is a top or plan view, and Fig. 3, is a side view thereof, a part of the
frame in each case being shewn in dotted lines.
Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged detail views partly in section, of the clamp mechanism,
to be described.
Figs. 6 and 7 are enlarged details of the seat retaining devices, and
Fig. 8 is a detached view on a larger scale of one of the seat supports.
To the usual seat post P, 1 clamp a bent wooden frame a extending across or
transverse to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle.
By making the frame a of some light, tough wood, I greatly decrease the weight,
and by bending the frame I obtain a very valuable elasticity which serves to keep
the seat at proper tension.

page_text: At each end of the frame a I have secured seat supports, herein shewn as pieces
of stout wire bent to form legs a¹, a², see Fig. 8, connected by a bent portion a³,
and one leg of each is extended through a suitable hole in each end of the frame a,
the other leg resting upon the outer face of the frame, the bend a³ extending in
front and downwardly, as shewn in Figs. 1 and 3, to incline the front edge of the
seat, as shewn best in Figs. 1 and 3.
The seat portion 13, of leather or other suitable flexible material is secured at its
ends to the said supports and tightly stretched and suspended between them,
transverse to the direction of movement of the vehicle, the rider being supported
thereby us in a chair, without any strain upon the person other than at the
underside of the legs.
In order that the rider may move each leg independently and easily and
without any chafing I form the front edge of the seat B with two independent flaps
or projecting portions 1, 2, separated by a cut away or notched portion br ou or
back of a line joining the front corners of the seat, whereby the conformation of
the seat to the body of the rider is increased.
Owing to the flexible nature of the material forming the seat these flaps will
yield to the pressure of the legs and prevent chafing, which would inevitably occur
if such movement of the legs were made over a straight edge.
The downwardly inclined bent portions a³ of the supports, at the front of the
seat, assist still furthur in obviating chafing, and also tend to shape the seat more
in accordance with the easy movement of the body.
In order to prevent the seat B from sagging at the centre and thereby causing
pressure or binding on the sides of the riders legs, it must be tightly stretched, and
so maintained continuously.
This accomplish by the elastic frame a, which is bent up when applying the
seat, so that the extremities are brought together closer than they would be
normally, as when a bow is bent to string it, the seat holding the frame from
returning to its normal tension.
Such tension of the frame takes up any slack in the seat, maintaining it taut
and effectually prevents sagging, the ends of the frame a always tending to
separate and resume their normal position of greatest separation.
I provide for additional adjustment of the seat B, when the material thereof
has stretched, by the use of adjustable clips e, shown separately in Figs. 6 and 7.
The clips e are shown as metallic plates provided at one side with teeth e' long
enough to penetrate two thicknesses of the leather or other material, the said
clamps being very similar to belt fasteners, but with longer teeth, which are not
upset or clinched when forced through the material.
The seat B is slitted at each end to leave two tongues b, see dotted lines Fig. 2,
which are turned under upon the material of the seat, to form loops through
which the legs a' of the supports are extended, the ends of the frame a coming
between the loops at each end of and holding the seat in place.
The teeth of the clips e are forced through the seat from its upper side and
into the turned under tongues b, firmly holding them in place, and when it is
desired to tighten the seat the clips are lifted sufficiently to withdraw the teeth
from the tongues, which are still further turned under until the desired tension is
attained, whereupon the teeth of the clips are re-inserted, but in a new place, the
front end of the clips being slightly bent, as shewn, to conform to the seat.
I have herein shown the frame a as connected to the saddle post P by a simple
and novel two-part clamp, consisting as best shewn in Figs. 4 and 5, of an open
headed shank d to receive the post P, the shank having a threaded intersecting
hole d, into which a clamping nut is screwed, its head bearing on the frame a
when the clamp is in position thereon.
The head of the shank is squared on two sides, as at d³, and concaved, as at d³,
on the other two.
A hole a is made in the centre of the frame a and the headed shank is placed
therein from the upper side, rotation of the nut d in the proper direction in its

page_text: threaded hole d' drawing the shank towards it, the pressure drawing the headed
portion of the shank and the seat post P into the wood of the frame, and acting in
conjunction with the squared portions ³ to effectually lock the frame from side
motion.
The frame is thus practically suspended from the saddle post P of the vehicle,
and I prefer such construction as it permits greater curvature of the frame a
without bringing the seat portion B too high above the vehicle frame and
suspending the seat frame as shewn and described enables the seat to more readily
adapt itself to the person, and the liability of injurious strain in use is greatly
reduced.
In as much as the wooden frame, seat clips and post clamp may be readily
adapted to ordinary fore and aft seats I do not restrict that portion of my
invention solely to transverse seats.
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 :-
1. A flexible transverse seat for foot power vehicles, said seat having an irregular
front edge shaped to provide projecting portions or flaps to bear against the under-
sides of the legs of the rider, substantially as described.
2. The use, in a saddle or seat for foot power vehicles, of a curved transverse
frame, side supports secured transversely to the frame at each end and bent forward
and downward, to thereby incline the front edge of the seat relatively to the back
portion thereof, and a flexible seat stretched solely from the side supports,
substantially as described.
3. A flexible transverse seat for foot power vehicles shaped at its front edge to
present a central notched or recessed portion, with a flap or projection at each side
thereof, substantially as described.
4. A flexible transverse seat for foot power vehicles, and side supports for the
seat, the front edge of the seat being recessed or cut away rearwardly at its
central portion to or beyond a line connecting the front corners of the seat,
substantially as described.
5. The use, in a saddle or seat for foot power vehicles, of a curved transverse
frame, side supports secured transversely thereto at its ends, and a flexible seat
shaped to present portions of greater width than the length of the said side
supports and stretched solely between the same, substantially as described.
6. A suspension seat or saddle of flexible material for foot power vehicles, end
supports therefor around which the material is bent to form loops, and a clip
having teeth to enter the main and bent over loop portions of the seat to hold them
securely together, substantially as described.
Dated the 3rd day of August 1894.
WM. BROOKES & SON,
55 and 56, Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicant.