Improvements in Brakes for Bicycles, Tricycles, or other Vehicles.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Apr., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 15th June, 1893-Accepted, 12th Aug., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Brakes for Bicycles, Tricycles, or other Vehicles.
ROBERT STEUART ERSKINE Savoy Mansions The Savoy Strand London, W.C.
I do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
My invention is for a means of braking onto the rims of the wheels or onto brake
rings attached to the rims of said wheels. I can apply my brake to either front
or back wheels of cycles or vehicles, and it consists of two brake blocks, one
on either side of the wheel, pivotted on pins, clipped onto the frame or body
either by special clips or in the case of front wheels of cycles, the pins can be fixed
to movable foot rests and be at the same time used for the purpose of fixing these
rests to the front fork.
The brake blocks may be made in one or more pieces, and may have detachable
faces of metal or woodite or any other suitable material.
A brake fork is fixed at right angles to the wheel at any convenient part of the
circumference and the arms of the fork project ou either side of the wheel, towards
the centre, and are set at a suitable angle, so as to always press, on the back of the
brake blocks, directly or nearly directly behind the point of contact of the face of
the brake blocks and the wheels or brake rings. The brake fork being made of
sufficient strength to throw the strain on the frame and not on the forks carrying
the wheels.
The brake blocks are made of a convenient shape so that a movement of the fork
either towards or away from the centre of the wheels causes these blocks to press
simultaneously on both sides of the wheels or to be held clear.
The movement of the fork may be applied by hand by means of suitable levers
and rods which may work either under compression or in tension or the parts of the
brake may be made with suitable projections to enable it to be applied by the foot.
Dated this Twenty-first day of April 1893.
R. S. ERSKINE.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Brakes for Bicycles, Tricycles, or other Vehicles.
I, ROBERT STEUART ERSKINE, Savoy Mansions, The Savoy, Strand, in the.
County of London, 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 brakes for bicycles tricycles and other vehicles and has
for its object to provide means whereby the brake-blocks can be applied to the rims
of the wheels or to brake-rings attached to the rims of said wheels.
According to my invention I provide two brake-blocks adapted to be applied on
opposite sides of the wheel rim or to the brake rings secured thereto. The brake-
blocks may be furnished with detachable faces of metal or "woodite " or other
suitable material if desired. I provide moreover a brake fork, the arms of which
are adapted to press one on the back of each brake-block. The backs of the brake-
blocks are suitably formed so that when the fork is operated either by being pushed
towards or pulled away from the centre of the wheel, the brake-blocks are pressed
more or less firmly against the wheel rim or the brake-rings.
The fork is arranged to be operated either by the hand or by the feet, and the
entire apparatus may be fitted to any of the wheels of the vehicles which may be
found convenient.

page_text: In order that my invention may be more clearly understood I will now proceed to
describe the same by the aid of the accompanying drawings which for the sake of
example show my improved brake in combination with velocipede wheels.
Figure 1 is a front view of a brake constructed according to. my. invention
attached to the front fork of the machine, the wheel rim and tyre being shown in 5
section.
Figure 2 is a side view of the same.
Figure 3 is a side view shewing my improved brake arranged to be applied on
the back wheel of the machine.
Figure 4 is a section on line xx, Figure 3, and
Figure 5 is a side view of a machine fitted with a back wheel brake and drawn to
a smaller scale.
Like letters of reference denote similar parts in all the drawings.
A is the front fork of the machine; B the rim of the front wheel and B': the
spokes thereof; C the tyre which is for example of the kind known as a "Dunlop 1
detachable" tyre; A are plates which carry the foot rests A2 and which are
secured to the depending arms of the front fork A in the usual manner, an additional
safety screw As being preferably provided to prevent the plates from slipping.
"
The securing bolts of said plates A¹ are extended to form pins D' on which the
levers D are pivoted. In some cases however I pivot the levers D to the front-fork
independently of the foot rest brackets. The said levers carry at their upper ends
brake blocks D2 D2 made of any suitable material such as "woodite or they may
be of metal in which case I sometimes make them in one piece with their respective
levers. E is a fork carried by the brake rod E¹ which slides in guides A secured
to the front fork A. The said rod is operated to move up and down in the guides
by a lever pivoted on the handle bar in the usual manner, and is provided with a
spring E which tends to move it in a direction away from the centre of the wheel.
The arms E of the fork E are inclined to each other and are adapted to bear on
the back of the brake-block levers D are shown. When the brake lever is operated,
the said fork E is pressed towards the centre of the wheel against the force of the
spring E and the inclined arms thereof sliding along the back of the levers Dcause
said levers to turn on their pivots D' and force the brake-blocks D' into contact
with the wheel rim or with brake rings B2 attached to the rim, thus braking the
wheel. When the brake-lever is released the fork E is pulled by the spring E' in
a direction away from the centre of the wheel and the arms E³ engage with the
pins D³ on the brake-block levers D thereby withdrawing the brake-blocks from
contact with the rim or brake-rings and releasing the wheel.
The arms of the brake fork are preferably slotted as shewn at E*, Figure 2,
and extensions D* D* on the upper parts of the brake-block levers behind the brake-
blocks are received in the said slots.
In this construction of brake, the pressure is applied directly behind the brake-
blocks and thus little or no strain is thrown on the front fork.
It will be observed that when the brake is applied by means of the brake-lever
on the handle bar the rod E' acts as a strut and is in compression. In.the.case
where the brake is fitted so as to be applied to the back wheel of the machine, L.
prefer to arrange that the brake fork shall be pulled out from the centre of said
wheel when the brake is to be applied so that the brake rod acts as a tie and is in
tension. In Figures 3 to 5 I have shown such an arrangement. The brake
apparatus is arranged in practically the same manner as hereinabove.described
with reference to Figures 1 and 2 the main points of difference being as, follows,
The plates A¹ on which the brake block levers D D are pivoted are secured to the
lower back stays A' A' of the frame, the pivots D₁ of said levers making any
suitable angle therewith. The guides A* A are secured on the diagonal or cross
members A of the frame, springs Es being provided which tend to force the. brake
fork E towards the centre of the wheel. The. arms E' of the brake fork are bent
so as to approach each other at their outer extremity and bear on the outer ends
of the brake block levers D D, which in the case shown is not directly behind the

page_text: brake blocks; this is clearly shown in Figure 4. It is easily seen that when the
brake-rod is pulled away from the centre of the wheel the brake-block levers D
will be pressed towards each other and the brake blocks D' applied to the wheel
rim B or to the brake rings B³ B³ attached thereto.
In Figure 5 a convenient manner of connecting the brake apparatus to the
brake lever on the handle bar is shewn. The brake rod E' is pivoted at F to one
arm of a bell crank lever F¹ which is pivoted on some part of the frame. To the
other arm of the lever F1 is connected by a ball and socket joint to the rod F
which is adapted to be moved up and down by the brake lever on the handle bar
in the usual manner. When the rod F is moved up, the bell-crank lever F¹ is
turned about its pivot putting the brake rod E' in tension and applying the brake
as above described. When the brake lever is released the springs E' operate to
push the fork E towards the centre of the wheel, whereupon the arms of said fork
acting on the pins D³ withdraw the brake-blocks from contact with the rim or
brake rings.
The brake apparatus may be constructed to be applied to any suitable part of
the circumference of the back wheel in a manner such as described.
My improved brake apparatus whether adapted to brake the front wheel or the
back wheel can obviously be arranged so as to be applied by the foot instead of or
as well as by a hand lever if desired.
Although I have herein described my improved brake as used with a velocipede
it is evident that a brake of similar design can be fitted to the wheels of any
vehicle, if circumstances should render it undesirable that the brake should be
applied to the tyres of said wheels.
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. A brake apparatus for wheeled vehicles, wherein the brake-blocks are mounted
on or form part of levers pivoted on the frame and are adapted to be brought into
frictional contact with the wheel rim or with brake-rings secured to the rim when
the brake is applied, in the manner hereinbefore described.
2. In a brake apparatus for wheeled. vehicles, the combination with separate
brake-blocks, of a brake fork the arms of which are inclined towards each other,
and which is adapted to be moved lengthwise for applying the brake blocks to or
removing them from the rim or brake-rings attached to the rim, in either manner
hereinbefore described.
3. The improved brake apparatus constructed substantially as described with
reference to Figures 1 and 2 or to Figures 3 to 5 of the drawings, and operating
as specified.
DAL TEA Ton 1902
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.