An Improved Construction of Bicycles and other like Vehicles.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Apr., 1898-Accepted, 6th Aug., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Construction of Bicycles and other like Vehicles.
I, ALPHONSE REYROLLE, of 20, Pancras Street, Tottenham Court 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:-
My invention relates to that construction of bicycles and other like vehicles in
which the necessary elastic action is provided by an elastic connection between the
frame and the wheels.
According to my present improvements I so construct the frame of such bicycles
and other like vehicles, that this is suspended by springs under tension from the
axles of the wheels in such manner that the points of suspension are situated
exclusively below the centre line of the wheels; by this means important advan-
tages are obtained over previous constructions of this kind in which the frame is
either entirely or partially supported above the centre line of the wheels by means
of springs under compression.
In the first place this construction enables larger wheels to be employed
and consequently increased speed and smoother motion to be obtained without
thereby raising the saddle to a higher level above the ground and in the second
place by thus raising the centre line of the wheels relatively to the saddle, the
stability of the machine is considerably increased.
Furthermore the construction is such that the steering fork extends in a per-
fectly straight line with the steering fork pillar, so that the centre line of the
suspension device for the steering wheel and the centre of the wheel itself are
in a straight line with the pillar, thus avoiding the angular position of the sus-
pending device and consequent lever or castor action between the frame and the
wheel axle, such as occurs in arrangements heretofore proposed. By this means,
as all lever action is done away with, the tendency of the wheel to oscillate
laterally on the pivot of the steering fork such as occurs in existing machines, is
entirely obviated.
I will describe my improved construction with reference to the accompanying
drawings in which Figure 1 shews a side view of a bicycle constructed according
to my invention, Figure 2 shews an enlarged vertical section of the lower part of
the steering fork and bearings for the steering wheel. Figure 3 shews a front
view thereof, partly in section; Figure 4 shews a cross section on line XX of
Figure 2; Figure 5 shews a sectional side view of the frame and bearing for the
driving wheel.
As will be seen on reference to Figures 1 to 4, the limbs AA of the steering
fork are made tubular, and extend in a perfectly straight line with the pillar P
some distance below the axis B of the steering wheel C. This axis projects
through slots A¹ formed in the sides of the tubes into the interior thereof and are

page_text: there fixed to tubular bearings D, D, which are free to slide up and down in the
tubes A.
The attachment of the axes B to the bearings D is effected as follows. The
ends of the axes are made of reduced diameter and are formed with a screw
thread as shewn at Figures 3 and 4; these reduced ends are passed through holes
in the tubular bearings D, and on the outside and inside surfaces of these holes
are fixed saddle pieces D'D², against the flat faces of which fit respectively the
shoulder of the axis B, and a screw nut E screwed on to the threaded end of B,
which nut is locked by the head of a screw F screwed into a threaded hole in the
end of B. For enabling the nut E and screw F to be fitted a hole D³ is formed
in 1 opposite the hole through which the axis B passes. For enabling the bear-
ing D with the axis fixed thereto to be introduced into the tube A, the slot A¹
hereof requires to be extended down to the lower end thereof; the lower part
of A is consequently strengthened by a clamping ring G and by a cap H fitted
on the lower end. To this cap is attached by means of the screw I and adjust-
ing nut I', with lock nut I2 the lower end of a helical spring J the upper end of
which is attached to a hook K screwed into the lower end of the sliding bear-
ing 1).
The tubular bearing D may be suitably guided in the tube A in
any convenient
manner, but I prefer to employ the ball bearing arrangement shewn, in which
balls U are held in an annular groove formed partly by the end pieces of the
tube 1 and partly by the screwed caps V. It will be seen that by screwing up
this cap the balls U will be forced outward against the tube A. and thus an
accurate fit of the bearings with a minimum amount of friction can be readily
obtained.
t
The bearing tubes D are advantageously extended upward as much as possible
into the upper part of the tubular fork, in order that the oscillations to which
the steering wheel is subjected may be transmitted through a long leverage to
the fork by means of the ball bearings U, and also in order that the upper bear-
ing may work in a higher and consequently stronger part of the fork.
The caps V are secured in position after adjustment by screws K' of which the
lower ones are formed in one with the hooks K for the springs J.
Instead of employing ball bearings as described, a split ring such as is shewn
at W in the vertical and cross sections at Figures 6 and 7 may be used the screw
cap V being made with a coned surface whereby it is made to expand the ring W
outwards, as it wears.
The cycle frame is supported upon the driving wheel L in a similar manner to
that above described that is to say, to the bars M and N of the frame are attached
two are shaped tubular pieces O, through slots 01 (Figure 5) of which project the
reduced and threaded ends of the axis P of the wheel which ends are secured to
the curved sliding bearings Q in the same manner as described with reference
to the steering wheel. The bearings Q which are constructed in the same manner as
the bearings I have attached to their lower ends suspension springs R, the lower
ends of which are adjustably attached by screws S and nuts S¹ to the caps T on
the lower ends of the tubes O also in the same manner as that in which the
springs J are attached to the caps H.
The adjustment of the bearings Q of the driving wheel for tightening the chain
is obtained by constructing the parts M of the tubular bars M which are fixed
to the curved tubular pieces 0 to slide telescopically in the tubes M, in which
when adjusted, they are secured by the clamp M².
To allow of this adjustment, the upper ends of the tubes 0 are connected by
a pivot joint to the tubular bars N, the upper ends of which are also formed with
an adjustable, slotted connection to the seat pillar.
From the above described construction it will be seen that the cycle frame is
entirely suspended from the axes of the wheels C and L by the tensional
springs.J and R, attached to the tubular bearings D and Q that are free to slide
in the tubular parts A and 0 of the cycle frame, and that the points of suspension

page_text: of the frame are considerably below the centre line of the wheel axes, so that as
the said centre lines can be raised relatively to the frame without altering the
construction, larger wheels can be employed without raising the level of the
saddle, whereby increased stability, speed and smoothness of motion will be ob-
tained.
Furthermore, by making the steering fork perfectly straight throughout, the
bearings of the steering wheel also lie in the same straight line, and consequently
there is no lever or castor action and therefore no tendency to lateral oscillation
such as occurs in cycles of present construction, and which always produces oscil-
lations and even a frictional contact between the one or the other side of the
wheel boss and its bearings.
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:
1. In bicycles and other like vehicles, suspending the frame from the wheel
axles by means of suspension springs situated entirely below the wheel axles
within tubular downward extensions of the frame, to which the lower ends of the
springs are connected the upper ends of the springs being connected to the bear-
ings of the axles arranged to slide within the tubular frames, substantially as
described.
2. In bicycles and other like vehicles with suspended frames such as referred
to in the First Claim, constructing the bearings of the wheel-axles as tubes to
which the threaded ends of the axles are secured by being passed through lateral
holes in the bearings and having nuts screwed on their inner ends, with the inter-
vention of saddle pieces, the tubular frame being slotted to allow of the said
connection, substantially as described.
3. In bicycles and other like vehicles with suspended frames such as referred
to in the First Claim, constructing the steering fork with straight limbs so that
the centres of the wheel axles their bearings and suspension springs are all situated
in a straight line with the pillar tube of the steering fork, substantially as and
for the purposes described.
4. In bicycles and other like vehicles with suspended frames such as referred to
in the First Claim, constructing the part of the tubular frame containing the bear-
ing of the driving wheel axle as circular arcs struck from the centre of the pedal
shaft and supported by tubular radius bars from the crank axle bearing, substan-
tially as described.
5. In bicycles and other like vehicles with suspended frames such as referred
to in the First Claim, the combination of a steering fork with tubular limbs A in
a straight line with the pillar tube of the steering fork, tubular bearings 1) slid-
ing within the tubular limbs A, and having fixed to them the threaded ends of
the wheel axles B by means of screw nuts E and saddle pieces D'D, tensional
springs J connected at their upper ends to hooks K on the lower ends of the
bearings D, and at their lower ends by means of screws I and nuts II to caps H
on the lower ends of the tubular frames A substantially as described with refer-
ence to Figures 1 to 4 of the drawings.
6. In bicycles and other like vehicles with suspended frames such as referred
to in the First Claim, the combination of are shaped tubular parts O, secured to
telescopic ends M' of tubular radius bars M and by pivot joints to stay bars N,
curved tubular bearings Q sliding within the tubes O, and having fixed to them
the threaded ends of the wheel axles P by means of screw nuts and saddle pieces,
tensional springs R connected at their upper ends to hooks on the lower ends of
the bearings Q and at their lower ends by means of screws and nuts to caps S
on the lower ends of the tubular frame O, substantially as described with refer-
ence to Figure 5 of the drawings.
7. In bicycles and other like vehicles with suspended frames such as referred
to in the First Claim, constructing the tubular bearings I and Q of some length

page_text: and with ball bearings U or equivalent devices adjustably secured in position by
means of screwed caps V, so as to prevent the oscillations from acting detrimen-
tally on the bearings by affording a long leverage for their transmission to the
tubular fork and by enabling the ball bearing to be accurately adjusted, substan-
tially as described.