Improvements in Bicycles.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Oct., 1893-Accepted, 18th Nov., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Bicycles.
I, JOHN HENRY BANES, of 121, Queen Street, West, Toronto, in the County
of York and Province of Ontario, Canada, Leather Merchant, do hereby declare
the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BICYCLES," 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 improvements in the gearing and the means of support
and adjustment of said gearing, for all bicycles, single and tandem, where sprocket
chains are dispensed with and the cranks are more closely connected than by the
use of said chains. My invention is applicable to different sizes of bicycles both
high and low, with equal facility, for in the ordinary high wheel my crank and
driving gear-wheel centre (which are one) can be arranged above, forward, or
rearward of the running wheel to suit the leg of the rider, and in low-wheeled
bicycles of the ordinary model said crank centre may be placed below the centre of
running wheel, or wheels, for single and tandem.
Though my invention is applicable to high wheels, yet the speed of the gearing
makes it not advisable to apply it to wheels over thirty-six inches diameter.
I accomplish the foregoing by the means shown in the accompanying drawing in
which similar numbers of reference refer to similar parts throughout, and―
Fig. 1 represents a side view of my improved gearing and the means of supporting
the same to a bifurcated fork-the crank and a portion of the driving gear wheel
being broken away.
Fig. 2 represents an alternative means of securing the bearings in position.
Fig. 3 represents a front or rear edge view of the bearings shown by Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 represents a detail of a portion of the ordinary fork and the outer
bearing supported thereon.
Fig. 5 represents a side view of the bearings of my improved gearing carried on
the lower end of the ordinary fork and having the outer bearing removed, and―
Fig. 6 represents an edge, or front or rear view of a portion of the fork and the
manner in which the outer bearing is adjustable thereon, shown partly in section.
In my improvements in bicycles, the fork, 1, of which but the lower end is
necessary to show, the ordinary hollow elliptic-tubing may be used, or solid double
rods employed, as shown by the drawings.
In the use of the double rods as shown by Figs. 1, and 3, the lower ends are
threaded and the bearing, 2, of the main axle, 3, is secured between nuts, 4, on said
fork rods, 1, but in the ordinary hollow elliptic tube fork, 1, shown by
Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the upper half of the bearing, 2, is brazed in the usual
way to the fork, 1, and by means of bolts or studs, 6, in the upper half of
the bearing, 2, which bolts, 6, pass down through the lower half of said
bearing, 2, and through both halves of the inner bearing, 7, of the crank axle, 8,
both bearings, 2, and 7, are secured. In the double fork, 1, of rods shown by Figs. 1
and 2, the inner bearing, 7, of the crank axle, 8, is carried on said rods of the
fork, 1, similarly as the bearings, 2, of the main axle, 3, is carried and is similarly
secured between nuts, 4, or between the bearings, 2, and 7, I may employ a block, 9, as
shown in the single fork, 1, by Fig. 4, and the same block, 9, is equally applicable
on the fork, 1, composed of rods as shown by Figs. 1, and 2.
To support the crank axle, 8, outside of the driving gear wheel, 10, (which is
secured on said axle, 8, also), I employ an arm, 11, which is supported outside of
the other bearings, 2, and 7, and extends either downward or upward to the crank
axle, 8, according to the size of the wheels employed in the bicycle, but in the
drawing the arm, 11, extends downward from its support and has provision on its
lower end for carrying the crank axle, 8, in a bearing, 12.

page_text: In the double rod form of fork, 1, the arm, 11, is adjustable by nuts above and
below it similar to those securing the bearings, 2, and 7. In the single or ordinary
hollow fork 1, a plate 13, having an elongated projection 14, thereon, and a stud 15,
is employed to fit a groove 16, and slot 17, in the arm 11, and by a nut 18, on said
stud 15, the arm 11, is secured as desired.
The bearings, 2, and 7, may be held on smooth double rods in the fork, 1, by
means of set screws extending horizontally and engaging the rods in which case
the rods of the forks, 1, are not threaded and the nuts, 4 are dispensed with entirely,
also the blocks, 9.
The driving gear wheel, 10, is internally toothed to mesh with a pinion, 19, on
the main axle, 3, and drive the same in the same direction as the crank axle 8. It
will be observed that I reduce the inner end of the crank axle, 8, for the purpose
of allowing the pinion, 19, to be as nearly half the diameter of the gear wheel, 10,
as possible, so as to keep the speed of the bicycle within or about the ordinary
limit.
I employ the usual steel balls, 20, in all said bearings, 2, 7, and 12.
The block 9,
it will be understood may be varied or substituted by larger and smaller blocks, 9,
to suit the sizes and proportions of gears and pinions, 10, and 19, respectively
employed.
my
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is―
Claim, 1. The combination, with the fork having a bearing therein to support the
main axle having a pinion thereon, of a short crank axle having an internal gear
wheel thereon to mesh with said pinion, a bearing in said fork to carry the inner
end of said crank axle, and an extended arm on the fork to extend outside the gear
wheel and carry the outer end of said crank axle.
Claim, 2. The combination, with the fork having the main axle carried in a
bearing therein, of the crank axle having a gear wheel thereon to mesh with a
pinion on said main axle, a bearing on the fork to carry the inner end of the crank
axle and having means as provided for adjustment, and an adjustable extended arm
carried by the fork and having a bearing at its extremity to support the crank axle
at a point outside the gear wheel on said crank axle.
Dated this 27th day of September 1893.
TT DANTRA