MENTS IN BICYCLES, TRICYCLES, AND OTHER VELOCIPEDES."
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Bonner at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 28th July 1880.
"
JOHN BONNER, of Coventry, in the County of Warwick, Machinist. IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BICYCLES, TRICYCLES, AND OTHER VELOCIPEDES."
My Invention has reference to the foot pedals of bicycles, tricycles, and other
velocipedes, and my said Invention consists of the construction and arrangement
herein after described of the said foot pedals, whereby the action of the foot
on pedals is rendered more efficient than in foot pedals of the ordinary
construction.
The foot plate is ordinarily connected to the crank by the crank pin being
passed through a hole in the pedal, the pedal swivelling loosely on the crank pin.
According to my Invention I fix on the end of the crank pin an iron or steel
ring, by preference about two inches in diameter. The said ring is in a plane at
right angles to the crank pin and is eccentric thereto. The foot pedal consists of an
elliptical ring, the underside of which carries the upper half of an eccentric clip.
To snugs on the opposite sides of this half clip the other or lower half of the eccentric
clip is fixed by snugs on the said lower half being screwed to the snugs of the
upper half. The lower half clip has near its bottom a weight sufficiently heavy
to give the pedal, when at liberty to move, a nearly horizontal position.
The crank pin of the bicycle or velocipede carries at its end a ring fixed
eccentrically on the said pin, the position of the said ring on the said pin being such
that when the crank is at its highest position, that part of the eccentric ring most
distant from the end of the crank pin is situated immediately over the said end of
the crank pin. The said eccentric ring is enclosed in the clip described, but is not
directly in contact with it. In order to reduce the friction to a minimum, I place
upon the eccentric ring, and between it and the clip, a thin hoop of steel. In this
hoop a series of equi-distant circular holes is made, in each of which a ball or sphere
of steel is placed. The rim of the eccentric ring and the inner face of the clip have
grooves made in them of a nearly semi-circular figure in cross section, and of a size
proper to receive the spheres described. As the clip turns upon the eccentric
ring the said spheres roll between them, constituting anti-friction rollers by
which the friction is prevented which would arise if the eccentric ring and
clip worked in contact. The hoop described keeps the spheres equi-distant from
one another.

page_text: The upper edge of the pedal is notched or serrated so as to effect an efficient grip
by the foot of the rider.
The hoop and spheres described may be dispensed with, the clip in this case
working directly on the eccentric ring. I prefer however to use the hoop and
spheres described, as the friction is thereby greatly reduced.
In bicycles, tricycles, or other velocipedes made according to my Invention, the
joint action of the eccentric ring and clip causes the pedal to describe a circle of
longer radius than that of the crank, and the pressure of the rider's foot consequently
acts more advantageously than on a pedal of the ordinary kind.