Improvements in the Driving Gear of Cycles and other Road Vehicles.
Year: 1899

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Driving Gear of Cycles and other Road Vehicles.
I, FRANK CHARLES FREDERICK KNAAK, of 130, Fulton Street, New York,
United States of America, but at present residing at 24, Hogarth Road, Earl's
Court, in the County of London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
-:
The present invention relates to improvements in the driving gear of cycles
and other road vehicles by communicating the power applied by the rider or motor
to the driving wheel or wheels by means of friction wheels, situated on each side
of the driving wheel, or adjacent to the driving wheel, thus imparting an equal
driving power to each side of the driving wheel, or to each driving wheel when
applied to a road vehicle, by which means an increase of power is obtained, and
the above mechanism being located within the frame will produce a stronger and
truer running cycle or vehicle than the present methods, where the application
of power is by sprockets and chain on the outside of the frame and on only one
Bide.
The first part of this invention relates to cycles driven on each side of the
driving wheel, by means of cranks being attached to the outside of excentrices,
the excentrices being rigidly fixed on each projecting end of the crank spindle
which has its bearing at the bottom of an ordinary diamond framed cycle, and from
the peripheries of the outer ring of each excentric a telescopic rod extends which
forms part of the longest arm of the bell-crank levers which are pivotally con-
nected at their fulcrums to fixed extensions on the back fork of the cycle frame,
the end of the short arm of the bell-crank levers are pivoted to and support the
larger friction wheels.
The larger friction wheels are held in contact with smaller friction wheels
which are made fast on each projecting end of the driving wheel spindle by a
spring clamp which is on the outside of the small friction wheels on the driving
wheel spindle, the spring clamps grip the spindle at one end and carry small
friction rollers at the other end which run in an annular groove in each of the
larger friction wheels and bear against the annular rims formed by the grooves.
The spring clamps can be adjusted by means of a spring adjustment bearing
on the driving wheel spindle, and if necessary more friction can be set up by
means of a set-screw acting on the spring adjustment, thus tightening the spring
clamps with their friction rollers on to the rims of the larger friction wheels, and
obviously holding the larger and smaller friction wheels in closer contact with
cach other.
The small friction rollers on the spring clamps also hold the larger friction
wheels up in their proper position they only being supported by being pivoted
to the shorter arm of the bell-crank levers.
The first modification of the above is to do away with the excentrices and
telescopic rods on the outer ring of their peripheries, by fixing the pedals or
driving rods direct on to the longer arm of the bell-crank levers, they being of

page_text: proper length for this purpose, by this means an up and down motion is obtained
instead of the crank motion.
A further modification is to fix two or more sets of cranks, excentrices, tele-
scopic rods, bell-crank levers, friction wheels and spring clamps with their friction
rollers, or bell-crank levers, friction wheels and spring clamps with their friction
rollers on to the axle or axles of any road vehicle driven by power, each set being
located near to its driving wheel.
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The operation of the above described friction gearing mechanism is as follows:
Taking the right hand side set to come into operation first, the power being
communicated by the rider or any suitable motor to the crank revolves the
excentric which has the telescopic rod extending from its périphery which form3
part of the bell-crank lever which receives a rocking motion from the excentric,
or an up and down motion if no excentric is employed, on the downward move-
ment of the longest arm of the bell-crank lever the short arm is sent backwards
through a given arc, and it being pivoted to the larger friction wheel above its
centre, causes that wheel to make part of a most rapid revolution which drives
the small friction wheel fixed on the driving wheel spindle, and rotates the
driving wheel at a great speed, then the left hand set coming into operation in
the same manner drives the spindle and the driving wheel with its small friction
wheels, and thus rotates the larger friction wheel of the right hand side set the
rest of its revolution which sends its bell-crank lever back to its normal position,
and thus the rotation of the driving wheel is continued, the spring clamps having
been set to give the required amount of friction, and supports the larger friction
wheels in that position.
Improvements in the Driving Gear of Cycles and other Road Vehicles
م
I, FRANK CHARLES FREDERICK KNAAK, of 130, Fulton Street, New York,
United States, and at present residing at 24, Hogarth Road, in the County of
London, 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:―
The present invention relates to improvements in the driving gear of cycles
and other road vehicles, its object being to provide a reliable gear by which the
power furnished by the rider or motor is applied to the driving wheel by means
of a pivotted lever without the use of a chain belt or like medium.
The invention is best described in connection with the accompanying drawings,
of which
Figure 1 is a side view of the improved driving gear applied to a safety
bicycle, rotary movement being given to the pedals.
Figure 2 is a side view of one half of such a gear arranged for up and down
movement of the pedals.
Figure 3 is a side view of an alternative arrangement of the gear adapted
for a motor vehicle, and
Figure 4 is an end view of Figure 3.
Like letters indicate like parts in all figures.
Referring first to Figure 1,
A is the back or driving wheel of a bicycle and A¹ the axle on which it is

page_text: fixed, the axle running in suitable bearings in the frame. A² is the back stay.
As shown in the figure the gear is duplex, an identical mechanism being arranged
on each side of the frame, the description of one side therefore will apply to both,
capital letters being used in the figure to designate the parts of the gear on the
left side of the machine and corresponding small letters the corresponding parts
on the right side.
On the end of the axle A¹ outside the frame is fixed a friction wheel B, and
pivotted in a lug A3 on the back stay is a bell crank lever: the long arm C is
hollow to form a bearing in which telescopes a rod C¹, the outer end of which is
connected to the strap of an eccentric E fixed on the end of the usual driving
shaft or spindle F. The short arm D of the lever is pivotted at D₁ eccentrically
to a wheel G, which is in frictional contact with the wheel B. In order to hold
the wheels B G in constant contact the wheel G is provided with an annular
ring or groove G' in which works a roller H carried on a spring clamp H secured
on the frame, a set screw He being preferably provided to regulate the tension
of the spring and the degree of frictional contact between the wheels. This
spring controlled roller H¹ also serves to prevent the wheel G from dropping
under the action of gravity so as to get beneath the wheel B where it would.be
inoperative. The pedal J is secured by its spindle J₁ on the eccentric E.
As shown in the figure the eccentrics Ee are fixed on the spindle F so that
when the lever arm C on one side is raised, the arm c on the other side is lowered.
The operation of the gear is as follows:-
When in the position shown in the figure by giving a half revolution to the
eccentrics, a downward movement is given to the long arm C C of the bell crank
lever and the short arm D is driven backwards through a given are, and being
pivotted to G above its centre, the latter is caused to make part of a very rapid
revolution which drives the smaller friction wheel B and rotates the driving
wheel A; at the same time the lever ce¹ has been raised. The relative positions
of the gears as shown in the figure are now reversed, and on completing the revolu-
tion the downward movement of the lever arm c c¹ operating its arm & and friction
wheels g and (the latter not shown in the figure) continues the rotation of the
wheel A and the friction wheel B completes the revolution of the wheel G,
returning it to the position shown in the figure, the spring clamp H holding the
two wheels in contact during the upward course of the lever C.
If desired the wheels B b may be fixed on or form part of the hub of the
driving wheel, the axle A¹ being fixed. In this case the wheels B b and G g
would be placed inside the frame, the bottom stays and the rods C¹¹ being
shaped to prevent interference.
In Figure 2 in which only one side of the gear is shown the eccentric E and
rod C are dispensed with, the arm C being in one piece and the pedal spindle Ji
fixed on its free end. It is evident that up and down movement of the pedals
will operate the gear in the same manner as the revolution of the eccentric in
Figure 1, the movement given to the arm C being identical in each case. In
Figure 2 the square axle A¹ carrying the clamp H is stationary; the wheel B
concentric with it is secured to the hub of the road wheel with which it turns.
Referring now to Figs. 3 and 4, which show a modification adapted to use
on a motor road vehicle, A¹ is the axle of the driving wheels, F the
main shaft of the motor. In this case the two friction wheels G g are both in
contact with a single friction wheel B, one with the upper, the other with the
lower portion of its periphery. The lever arms C c are pivotted at K¹¹ respec-
tively to short arms K & secured in any convenient manner to the frame of the
vehicle, and pivotted eccentrically by pins C² ² to the wheels G g.
The eccen-
trics Ee are fixed on the motor shaft, and the wheels G g are provided with
spring clamps H as described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2; these clamps are
carried on squares on a sleeve A+ which is screwed to the frame in any convenient
manner so as not to rotate with the wheel B.
The gear operates in a similar manner to that shown in Fig. 1, the wheels G g

page_text: having frictional contact with one wheel B instead of each having its separate
friction wheel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
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1. In driving gear for road vehicles the combination with a friction wheel
arranged to rotate with the driving wheel of a second friction wheel held in
contact with the first and carried by an oscillating arm to which it is pivotted
eccentrically substantially as described.
2. In driving gear of the kind described in the first claiming clause the com-
bination with the oscillating arm D of pedals J J¹ connected with the arm by a
lever or by eccentrics E e carried by a driving-shaft and which operate the arm
through a telescopic or other device substantially as described.
3. In driving gear for road vehicles the combination with a friction wheel B
rotating with the driving wheel and a second friction wheel such as G carried by
u oscillating arm provided with an annular recess such as G¹ of a spring-con-
trolled roller such as H¹ by which the wheel G is held in contact with the wheel B
and also prevented from dropping substantially as described.
4. In a driving gear for road vehicles the combination with a friction wheel
rotating with the driving wheel of two other friction wheels which bear upon the
periphery of the first each pivotted to and carried by an oscillating arm sub-
_stantially_as described...
Daten
is th day or September 1899.
FRANK C. F. KNAAK.
Boult, Wade & Kilburn,
Agents for the Applicant.