Improvements in Wheels, principally applicable for Bicycles and other Road Vehicles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Nov., 1897-Accepted, 12th Feb., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Wheels, principally applicable for Bicycles and
other Road Vehicles.
I. DAVID MORGAN, of 153, George Street, Launceston, in the Colony of Tasmania,
Monumental Mason, 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:
Whereas on the twenty-ninth day of June One thousand eight hundred and
ninety-seven, I filed an application for British Letters Patent No. 15504 for an
invention entitled "Improvements in wheels for cycles and other vehicles," in
which the essential feature was a wheel principally applicable for bicycles and other
road vehicles having a right and left hand screw threaded barrel or bub-body fitted
with a pair of correspondingly threaded flanges with which the inner ends of the
spokes of the wheel engaged, the outer ends of said spokes being in engagement
with the rim, so that by rotating said right and left hand screw threaded barrel
the flanges were brought closer together or moved farther apart as might he
required, so as to tighten or loosen the spokes at will and to put such a tension or
compression upon them as might be desired.
Now I have ascertained that a similar effect can be produced by the use of a barrel
or hub-body having a single instead of a right and left hand screw thread, and this
single screw threaded barrel or hub-body forms the substance of my, present inven-
tion which will be readily understood on reference to the accompanying drawings.
Figure 1, is a vertical central section of the hub of a wheel constructed according
to this invention.
Figure 2 is a similar view to Figure 1 showing a modification of the invention.
The same letters of reference indicate the same or corresponding parts in all the
figures.
A represents the barrel or body of the hub of a wheel working upon an axle B
and fitted with ball bearings in the ordinary way for bicycles and other light road
vehicles. According to my present invention instead of the barrel A having a
right and left hand screw thread cut upon its outer surface and extending from
about the centre of its length to each end, it is formed with a single screw thread
along the major portion of its length.
A pair of flanges C Care fitted upon this barrel and are formed with notches or
grooves or seats C prepared to receive the inner ends of the spokes D which are
made the required length, said recesses being slightly counter-sunk on the under
side to retain said spokes in position. The heads on the outer ends of these spokes
are larger than those on the inner ends in order that said inner ends may be passed
through holes in the rim of the wheel and be placed in engagement with the
recess C in the flanges C C', or the inner ends of the spokes may be secured in any
other convenient manner, as for instance by lacing them, especially in the case of
tangent spokes, through holes provided for the purpose in the flanges.
A nut C³ screw threaded to correspond with the threads upon the barrel A is

page_text: arranged behind the adjustable flange C so that this latter can be forced further
away from the fixed flange in order to tighten up the spokes, or one flange can be
screw threaded to correspond with the hub and the other can be prevented from
lateral movement thereon by means of a collar or otherwise.
In building up a wheel constructed according to this invention the flange C is
brought close to the flange C after having first slacked back the nut C³ when the
spokes D must be first passed through holes in the rim of the wheel and the inner
ends placed in engagement with said flanges; the nut is then rotated in the
opposite direction so as to force said flange C away from the flange C, the effect
being to tighten up all the spokes simultaneously and thus bring the wheel to the
proper shape with an equal tension on all the spokes after which the nut may be
keyed or otherwise secured in order that the proper adjustment may be preserved,
whilst at the same time the strain is taken off the threads.
In the arrangement illustrated in Figure 2 the nut (3 instead of being on the
inside of the flange C is shown as passing through to the outside, this arrangement
being more convenient in some instances, or if preferred the flange C can be pre-
vented from lateral movement whilst being left free to rotate whilst the other
flange C can be screw threaded to correspond with the barrel or a nut can be used.
In lieu of the above described arrangements (which operate upon what is known
as the tension principle) rigid spokes may be used and may be fitted in recesses
in the rim at one end and in the flanges at the other end, said flanges in the first
instance being at the furthest distance apart so that by rotating the barrel or hub
or nut in the required direction they will be drawn closer together and thus the
spokes will be forced against the rim and the whole wheel will be locked together.
It will be readily understood that this invention is applicable to wheels con-
structed with tangent spokes equally as well as to those constructed with direct
spokes either on the tension or compression principle.
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
First. In a wheel principally applicable for bicycles and other road vehicles a
screw threaded barrel or lub lady (such as A) having a fixed flange (such as C¹)
at one end, in combination with an adjustable flange (such as C) fitted loosely: on
the outside of said harrel or hub body. together with an adjusting nut (such as C³)
bearing against said flange and working upon the screw threaded surface of said
barrel or hub body substantially as and for the purposes herein described and
explained and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Second. In a wheel principally applicable for bicycles and other road vehicles
a barrel or hub body (such as A) having a single screw thread in combination with
a correspondingly threaded flange (such as C) adapted to be drawn nearer to or
moved further from the other flange in order to tighten the spokes ou the wheel
substantially as and for the purposes herein described and explained and as illus-
trated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this Twelfth day of October One thousand eight hundred and
ninety-seven