Improvements in Wheels for Bicycles and other Vehicles.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Apr., 1894-Accepted, 14th July, 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Wheels for Bicycles and other Vehicles.
1, KARL USCHMANN, of 17, Wilhelmstrasse, Bergisch-Gladbach, in the Empire
of Germany, Manufacturer, 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 and accompanying drawing, that is
to say:
The present invention relates more particularly to the wheels of bicycles and
other cycles, but it is also applicable to the wheels of other vehicles.
it has for its object novel methods of construction by which the wire spokes are
fixed and stretched, which methods possess the following essential advantages over
those ordinarily heretofore used.
1. That the tightening is effected by a single movement of a central wheel
or disc.
2. The apparatus is very light.
3. It is very durable and strong, and
4. It is not liable to get out of order, and is easily repaired.
In the accompanying drawing which is in illustration of my invention, is shewn
a vertical section through a wheel constructed according to my invention.
Upon the ordinary wheel axle a is fitted the hub, which is not, as usual, made of
one piece, but is divided into two parts c and c'. One of these parts is provided
inside with a right handed screw-thread, and the other with a left handed one.
Both parts are held together by an inner tube which fits freely upon the wheel
axle, and is provided at its centre with a hand wheel b', and upon both ends with
screw threads which engage with the internal right and left handed threads upon
the parts c and c. It is evident that by turning the wheel band tube the two
halves of the hub c and c¹ are separated from or are made to approach each
other.
Each of the two halves c, c', is provided with a flange c² c³, in which the wire
spokes are hooked, but without being screwed.
By turning the hand wheel b', in one direction, the spokes which are fastened at
their outer ends to the tyre of the wheel, are drawn in radially, the flanges c² and c³
moving outward in a straight line and stretching the spokes, whilst if the two
halves of the hub are made to approach each other the spokes are slackened.
It will be easily seen, that in this way all the spokes are simultaneously
tightened or loosened, so that none is unduly stretched, and breaking is
prevented.
A further advantage is, that the ends of the spokes not being screwed, the
probability is avoided of their breaking at the screwed part of the already
sufficiently weak wire spoke.
The fixing of the spokes to the wheel tyre may be effected in different ways, as
for instance by the method shewn in the drawing, in which the tyre is provided
with slits e, and is formed with a recess round it in which a wire ring flies.
For fitting the spokes (made of thin wire such as piano wire), one end is fastened
to the flange upon one part of the hub (c) and in the drawing it is shewn passed
through one of the slits e and over the wire f, and is then brought out and
down to the other flange (c), upon the other part of the hub, to which it is
fastened.
In another method of arrangement, a sufficiently long length of piano wire is
taken and one end fastened to one of the flanges (c) and it is passed through a
slite and over the wire ring f, and then brought down and passed through a hole

page_text: in the other flange (c'), then back to the next slit e, round the wire f and down to
the next adjoining hole in the first flange, and so on until the wire has made a net-
like connection between the hub and the tyre of the wheel, the end of the wire
being then fastened in the last hole of the flange c'.
The working of the stretching apparatus will be easily understood from the
drawing.
The nuts of the ball-bearings being loosened, the two halves of the hub are
separated from each other by turning the hand wheel, a single operation easily and
quickly effecting the object.
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 :-
--
1. The method of fastening and stretching the spokes of wheels, consisting of
the internally screwed hub divided into two parts c, c', these two parts being made
to approach or recede from each other by the right and left handed screwed tube b,
turned in the required direction, substantially as described and illustrated.
2. The combination with the arrangement claimed in Claim 1, of the wire ring f,
contained in a recess in the tyre, the slits or holes e in the tyre, through which the
thin wire spokes from one part of the hub are passed round the wire f, and thence
through a hole in the other part of the hub, to which they are either fastened, or
are carried backward and forward to form a net-like connection between the hub
and the tyre of the wheel, substantially as described and illustrated.
Dated this 26th day of April 1894.
EDWARDS & Co.,
65 & 66, Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicant.