A New or Improved Attachment for Bicycles.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Nov., 1898-Accepted, 13th Feb., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Attachment for Bicycles.
I, HENRY LEWIS DAVIS, of 27, Brondesbury Road, Kilburn, London, N.W.,
Silk Merchant, 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:-
My invention relates to that class of bicycles which are supported laterally by
supports one on each side of the bicycle, and consists in certain appliances by
means of which the said supports can be instantaneously lowered into and held in
the position for supporting the bicycle, or raised and held up so as to be clear
of the ground when they are not being inade use of. The said supports are
situated one at each side of the track of the machine, and preferably close behind
the front or steering wheel, and so placed and arranged, that if the machine be
tilted laterally in either direction (such as when describing a sharp curve), the
lower end of one or the other of the said rods may, at the will of the rider or riders,
be caused to engage with the ground, and operate for the prevention of side slip,
or the lower ends of both may be caused to make contact with the ground
simultaneously, and operate to support the machine in a vertical position when at
rest, or when the rider or riders may find it compulsory to stop the machine in a
busy or crowded thoroughfare, and this without the need of him or her or them
having to alight from the machine.
The nature cf the appliances for raising and lowering the said side supports is
fully shown in the appended two sheets of drawings, in which I have chosen to
illustrate my invention as applied to a gentleman's ordinary safety bicycle:-
Figs. 1 and 2, Sheet 1, are side and front elevations respectively of such a
machine to which my invention has been connected.
Figs. 3 and 4, are enlarged diagrams of the side and front respectively of a
portion of the front or steering fork rod of such a machine, illustrating the manner
in which I prefer to construct and arrange the levers, for operating the raising and
lowering of the before mentioned supports.
Figs. 5 and 6, Sheet 2, are enlarged views of portions of my invention further
illustrating the construction, fixation and operation of the same, as hereinafter
explained.
Fig. 7 is a section of Fig. 5 taken upon the line A B and drawn to a still further
enlarged scale for clearness of description.
Fig. 8, is a top or plan view of the upper lever or crutch, forming part of
Fig. 5.
In carrying my invention into effect, I rigidly connect, by the means of a suitable
clip a, or by other convenient means, to the lower horizontal bar A, of a lady or
gentleman's safety bicycle, and as near as convenient to the front or steering
wheel B, the upper end of a depending vertical or approximately vertical metallic
rod or plate C, of any suitable shape in cross section, but which may conveniently.
be in the form of the letter T (as shewn in cross section in Fig. 7), the lower end
of this terminating a short distance from the ground, and connected by a suitable
tie rod D, to the lower end of the rod A, preferably, near to the bottom bracket of
the machine, and I may find it convenient to arrange that the said rod D may be
adjustable in length, in order to render it adaptable for fixation upon frames of.
different formations, and I may effect this by forming one portion tubular or partly
.

page_text: tubular, and threaded internally, while the second or other portion may be a solid
rod arranged to serew into the first portion, as shewn in Fig. 5, or other suitable
means such as a spring interposed between the said two parts may be provided to
attain the same end.
Upon the rod or plate C is a sliding plate, of any suitable metal or material,
which may be of any shape in cross section according to the cross sectional
formation of C, but when the latter is of T shape in cross section as stated, I prefer
that the said sliding plate shall be made in two pieces F and G, (particularized by
Fig. 7), the latter of which is so constructed, externally, as to provide upon each
side a pair of lugs and b, and internally so as to embrace the member c, and
partially the members d of the rod or plate C, while the piece F is so formed as to
partly embrace the latter members only, the portions F and G being connected.
together at their upper ends by bolts or screws such as e and e¹ and at their lower
ends by like bolts or screws f, the former of which may pass through the
lugs band, and form pivots for the one ends of a pair of rods H and H, which
will be hereinafter referred to. The portion F is provided upon the upper end of
its outer face with a pair of lugs g and y', which pivotally carry a lever J, the
upper end of which is formed to provide a crutch or pair of arms (Fig. 8). The
lower end of F has a pair of lugs; which pivotally carry a lever K, at the lower
end of which is a hook or catch k which under certain conditions, hereinafter
explained, makes contact with a projection, or one of several projections or teeth
upon the plate F, by the tension of a spring such as m while the upper end of K is
immediately behind the lower end of the lever J as shewn in Fig. 5.
The said compound plate F G, slides up and down upon the plate or rod C, the
downward travel of which is effected by the tension of any suitable but preferably
spiral spring L, the upper end of which is connected to a hook or the like n
upon G, while its lower end may be connected to a hook or the like o, either upon
the lower end of the plate C or the rod D, (Fig. 5), the upward travel of F G and
their connections being accomplished by a pull upon a pair of chains, rods, conls or
wires N (preferably rods), the lower ends of which are connected to eyes in, or to
rings p, engaging with the said eyes, in the ends of the arms h of the crutch or
lever J (Fig. 8), the upper ends of N being connected to the ends of a pair of
levers O (particularized at Fig. 3), pivotted upon a collar r, fixed upon the tube P
of the front fork, these heing connected by short links, such as a, or by any other
suitable means, to the one ends of a pair of shorter levers R pivotted upon a
collar upon P, the opposite ends of 'R being connected to the lower end of an
adjustable rod S, the upper end of which is pivotally connected to a lever T,
pivotted at upon the handle bar T of the machine, and which when raised makes
contact automatically with, and is there retained by, any suitable form of spring
catch such as w, upon the said handle bar.
Referring again to the rods H and H pivotally connected at their upper ends to
the sliding plates FG as previously mentioned, these may be either solid or
hollow, or partly solid and partly hollow, and either entire from end to end
or otherwise, but for preference I form these in two parts, one of which may be
reduced in width at one end and slide within the end of the second part, and be
connected thereto by a through pin such as X, passing through the end of the one
and engaging with a short slot X, in the other, which permits a certain longi-
tudinal expansion and contraction in the said rod, limited by the length of the said
slot, and between the junction of the said upper and lower portion of each of the
said rods, I may introduce a powerful spiral spring X", the tension of which tends
to separate the said upper and lower portious, and serves to provide a sufficient
elasticity in these rods, to prevent vibration, when the wheels upon their lower ends
first make contact with the ground.
The said rods H and H, are pivotally connected at any suitable part of their
length, to the one ends of a pair of rods V, the opposite ends of which are pivotally
connected to the lower extremity of the plate or rod C, and the lower ends of H
and H', are preferably curved towards the back end of the machine, as 'shewn

page_text: in Fig. 1, and each carries at its lower end a wheel or roller such as W, which may
be provided with solid, cushioned, or pneumatic tyres as desired.
The said rods H and Hare normally held, with their wheels or rollers W out
of contact with the ground by the lever T making contact with the spring catch 10,.
and while so raised these fold up against and close to the plate or rod C as shewn
in the right hand side of Fig. 6, but when the rider desires to stop the machine
without alighting therefrom he would simply operate the spring catch w and'
release the lever T, when the tension of the spring L exerting a downward pull
upon the sliding plate FG, this and its accessories would be instantly lowered,.
taking with it the rods H and H', and these as lowered would have their lower
ends thrust outwardly by the rods V, until their wheels or rollers W made contact
with the ground, the position of the said rods then being substantially that shewn..
at the left hand side of Fig. 6, and as at Figs. 1 and 2, and at the moment that
the wheels W touched the ground the hook or catch k, on the lever K, would make
contact with one, and eventually the lower of the projections or teeth 1, on the
plate or rod C, by the tension of the spring m, as shewn in Figs. 5 and 6, and thus.
prevent the return or upward movement of the compound plate F G, and rigidly
maintain the perpendicularity of the machine, and in order that the sudden impact.
between the wheels W and the ground may not cause shock or vibration to the.
rider, is the object and purpose of the spring X" previously explained.
If the machine be standing upon fairly even ground, the rider may proceed at a.
walking pace with the wheels W still upon the ground, but when it is desired to
again raise these, he or she would simply raise the lever T (by grasping this and.
the handle bar of the machine in the usual way) until this automatically makes
contact with, and is held and locked by the spring catch w, and the commencement
of such raising of T would exert a pull upon the chains, rods or the like N, and by
reason of the firm contact between the catch k and the projection 1, such pull upon..
the ends of the arms h, would cause these and the lever J to take the position.
shewn by dotted outline in Fig. 5, and such movement of J would cause its lower
end to press towards the plate or rod C, the upper end of the lever K, against the
tension of the spring m, thus releasing the catch k from the projection, the..
remainder of the upward movement of the lever T serving to raise the compound
plate F G and its connections to its highest position, and the rods H and H¹ to the
position shewn at the right of Fig. 6. In order to overcome the inert position of
the said rods H and H', when first lowering these from their position of rest shewn
at the right of Fig. 6 to that shewn at the left of the same figure, I may find it
convenient to introduce between the said rods a spring or a pair of springs as
suggested at Z, Fig. 6, the tension of which would operate to thrust the said rods.
apart from each other.
In order that the short distance traversed by the movements of the lever T, may
suffice to effect the greater distance traversed by the sliding plate F G is the
object and purposes of the compound levers R and O, the approximate lowest
position of which is shewn by full lines, and their approximate highest position by
dotted outline in Fig. 3, by reference to which it will be seen, that the distance.
traversed by the ends of the levers R connected to the rod S, (which would be
equal to that traversed by the shorter end of the lever T), is one fourth or there-
abouts the distance traversed by the free ends of levers O, which may be taken to
equal the distance traversed by the vertical movements of the compound plate F G
and its connections.
I may attain the same result by dispensing with the lever O and the links or the
like s, and extend the back end of the lever R, to a point equal to the length of O,
in which case the rod, cord, wire, or the like N would be connected directly to the-
end of R.
From the foregoing it will be understood that by a judicious manipulation of the
ever T the rider may (when upon a greasy road, or turning a sharp corner) keep
the wheels or rollers W so near to without, actually touching the ground, that the
lightest inclination of the machine to either side would place the wheel W, at that

page_text: side, in contact with the ground and so prevent, or assist to prevent side slip of the
track wheels of the machine, and the said device may also be employed for
supporting the perpendicularity of the machine, after the riders have alighted
therefrom, and for assisting beginners in learning to mount and dismount.
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 :-
1st. The appliances for raising, lowering and holding in position the side supports
of a bicycle substantially as described and illustrated.
2nd. In a support for bicycles, the combination of a plate or rod such as C,
carrying a compound plate such as F G, arranged to slide vertically thereon, and
to which is connected a pair of adjustable rods such as H and H', with means for
automatically placing and locking the said rods in a position for maintaining the
perpendicularity of the machine, and means for placing and locking the same in a
position of rest, substantially as herein described and shewn by the accompanying
drawings.
3rd. In a support for bicycles, the combination of a plate or rod such as C, with
means such as a and D for connecting the same to any type of machine behind the
front or steering wheel, and upon which is arranged to slide a compound plate FG,
having pivotally connected thereto the upper.ends of a pair of adjustable rods such
as H and H', carrying at their lower ends, wheels or rollers such as W, and
pivotally connected to the plate C, by tie rods such as V, the said compound
plate FG also carrying suitable levers such as J and K, moving therewith and
operated by suitable springs such as L, and m, for automatically lowering these
and the rods H and H, and placing the wheels or rollers of the latter in contact
with the ground, with means such as k and l, for automatically locking the said
rods in this position, the whole connected, combined, and operating substantially
as herein described and shewn by the appended drawings.
4th. The support for bicycles as set forth in the preceding claims, in combination
with means for raising the compound plate F G and its connections, and placing
the rods H H in a position of rest, consisting of a crutch connected to or formed
integrally with the lever J, and having a pair of arms_hh', connected by rods,
chains, wires, or cords such as N, to long levers such as R, or to levers such as O,
linked or otherwise connected to levers such as R, mounted upon the front fork
tube P, the levers R being in pivotal connection with an adjustable rod S attached
to a lever such as T, pivotted at t, to the handle bar T', with means such as w, for
locking the lever T when raised, substantially as and for the purposes herein
described and shewn by the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 17th day of October 1896
GEO. THOS. HYDE,
1 Broad Street Buildings, Liverpool Street, London, E.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.