Improvements in Velocipedes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Dec., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 7th Sept., 1892-Accepted, 8th Oct., 1892
I, PERCIVAL EVERITT, of 47, Cannon Street, in the City of London, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements applicable to bicycles, tricycles and other
velocipedes.
According to my invention I carry the crank shaft through the centre of the
driving wheel, the driving wheel being the steering wheel. Motion is transmitted
from the crank axle by means of gearing to the said driving and steering wheel.
In practice I find it advantageous to arrange for the crank axle to work in a
sleeve passing through the driving and steering wheel, the said wheel running on
the said sleeve.
In this case the sleeve is connected to the fork and serves as a stay or stiffener
thereto.
Deted the 8th day of December 1801
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in Velocipedes.
1, PERCIVAL EVERITT, of 47, Cannon Street, in the City 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 improvements in bicycles and other velocipedes of the
kind in which the steering-wheel serves also as the driving-wheel and in which the
pedal-shaft rotates within the hub of the driving-wheel to which motion is trans-
mitted from the said pedal-shaft by means of gearing..
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the same as applied
to a bicycle, and in the accompanying drawings-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a bicycle provided with my improvements:
Figure 2 is a view drawn to an enlarged scale of the lower end of one arm of the
driving-wheel-fork and of the gearing:
Figure 3 is a sectional view drawn to the same scale as Figure 2, the section
being taken on the line e, we Figure 1:
Figure 4 is a section on the line a Figure 3; and,
Figures 5 and 6 are elevations at right angles to each other of a detail:
Figures 7 and 8 are sections on the lines y y and z =
respectively of Figure 3.
a, a are the two arms of the driving-wheel-fork, and 6 is the sleeve upon which
the hub c of the driving-wheel rotates, the said sleeve being firmly secured in the

page_text: said arms by any suitable means. As shewn in the drawings the ends of the said
sleeve are screw-threaded (the screw upon one end being a right hand thread and upon
the other end a left hand thread) and adapted to enter correspondingly screw-
threaded holes in the end of the fork. The arms of the fork are sprung apart to
allow the sleeve to be introduced between them, and are gradually drawn together
as the sleeve is screwed up. Of course the sleeve is fixed in position with the
wheel thereon, and to allow of screwing up the sleeve I form a hole therein to
receive the pin of a suitable wrench and a corresponding hole c¹ in the hub c.
d is a gear-wheel attached to or formed integral with the hub c, and e is the
pedal-shaft having the pedal-cranks, secured thereto. g is a gear-wheel secured
to the crank, and h is a counter-shaft carried in a bearing in the fork a and
having fixed to it the gear-wheels i, j in gear with the gear-wheels d, g
respectively.
With the arrangement herein before described it will be obvious that when
motion is imparted to the pedal-shaft e the motion thereof. will be communicated
from the wheel 9 through the wheel j, the counter-shaft and the wheel i to the
wheel d and consequently also to the driving wheel of the bicycle.
It will also be obvious that if plain bearings are used, any workman skilled in
the art to which my invention relates could readily carry out the same.
As, how-
ever, it is advisable that ball-bearings should be used as far as possible I will
describe how such ball-bearings may be applied.
To apply the balls k, k between the hub c of the driving-wheel and the sleeve / I
form a recess in each end of the said hub and I confine the balls therein by means
of nuts, which are screwed into the ends of the said hub. The balls m, m
between the sleeve and the pedal-shaft e are applied in the following manuer,
that
is to say, the sleeve has recesses formed in its ends and is made of such a length
that it extends only about half-way through the holes in the end of the fork in
which the said sleeve is carried; the balls are confined in their respective recesses
by means of nuts n, n.
The balls o, o for the intermediate shaft h are arranged in recesses p, p on the
inside faces of the wheels i, j and they are confined therein by nuts q, q surrounding
the shaft and screwed into corresponding apertures in the bearing. In order to
permit of introducing these nuts 7, 9, each of them is preferably formed in two
parts rabbetted together, as shewn in Figures 5 and 6, to prevent them from
moving longitudinally relatively to each other. These two parts are placed around
the shaft in a recess provided for the purpose and are then screwed into position
by means of a wrench which engages with grooves or notches s, s, Figure 6, formed
therein. To prevent the nuts from moving after they have been screwed into
position I provide a plate t, Figures 4 and 8, which is adapted to engage with
notches in the bearing and with one notch s of each of the nuts, the said plate being
held in position by means of a screw u.
For convenience of construction I find it advantageous to make the bearing for
the shaft in two parts h1, h2 separate from the fork and to connect them by
screws v, t, as indicated most clearly in Figure 7, and then to attach the said bear-
ing to the fork by means of screws 1, as shewn most clearly in Figure 8.
The chief advantage of my invention is that by using the fixed sleeve b I provide
great rigidity and avoid the excessive wear and friction which would take place if
the driving-wheel were mounted directly upon the pedal-shaft as has hitherto been
the custom in machines in which gearing has been used for transmitting the motion
of the pedal-shaft to the driving-wheel mounted upon such axle.
Although I have described my invention as applied to a bicycle it is to be under-
stood that it is also applicable to other velocipedes in which the front wheel serves
as the driving-wheel.
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 I
am aware that it has been proposed to construct driving mechanism for velocipedes

page_text: in which a rigid tubular connection is provided between the two limbs of the fork
of the machine, within which the crank spindle rotates, and upon which the wheel
hub rotates, I therefore make no claim for so constructing such driving mechanism,
but what I claim is :-
In a bicycle or other velocipede the driving-wheel of which rotates upon a
sleeve and is operated by means of gearing substantially as hereinbefore described,
the arrangement of the ball-bearings, substantially as set forth.
Dated the 7th day of September 1892.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.