Improvements in or connected with Devices or Supports for Maintaining Bicycles in an Upright or Vertical Position, when at Rest.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Nov., 1898-Accepted, 21st Jan., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with Devices or Supports for
Maintaining Bicycles in an Upright or Vertical Position,
when at Rest.
I, CARL SCHREIBER, of 42, Tauentzienstrasse, Breslau, Germany, Director,
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:
This invention relates to supports for bicycles, and has for its object to construct
and arrange apparatus which will enable the rider, whilst mounted on the bicycle,
to come to rest without dismounting, the bicycle being supported in an upright
position, and to proceed again when desirable, and further the bicycle is supported
while the rider mounts or dismounts the bicycle, while it is stationary.
The apparatus consists of two side supports, carried by the frame of the bicycle,
which can be drawn up and retained in their raised position whilst riding, and
when the bicycle is brought to rest, the supports can be disengaged by the rider
so that they automatically descend until they reach the ground and are then
retained in position.
The supports are retained in their active position by means of toothed wheels
which engage with a toothed rack carried by the supports. The toothed wheels
are connected to the axle of the driving wheel, and upon starting the bicycle, they
act automatically to raise the supports to such an extent that the locking
device which serves to retain the supports in the upper position is brought into
engagement.
The accompanying drawings illustrate by way of example an apparatus constructed
and arranged according to this invention.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation.
Fig. 2 is a part rear end view of a bicycle provided with the said apparatus.
Figs. 3-8 illustrate separate parts of apparatus hereinafter more fully
described. The parts illustrated in Figs. 3-8 are shewn in vertical positions for
convenience.
On each side of the rear wheel fork a, supports b are arranged, in guides c of the
bicycle frame, (Figs. 1 and 2), which supports bare fitted with anti-friction
rollers b¹.
The supports bare retained in their upper position by means of spring pins d,
which latter are adapted to move longitudinally and engage with apertures d'
formed in the supports b; the pins may be withdrawn from the apertures by
means of shears or arms f, which are operated by a bifurcated arm e, (Figs. 3
and 4).
Arranged near the axle of the driving wheel and on each side of the bicycle, is a
double locking device for holding the supports in their lower position on the
bicycle frame (Figs. 5-7). One part of the said device consists of a sliding piece g,
and locking pin h, which is held back by a hooked arm g¹ of the said sliding
piece g; the pin h is adapted to take into holes h¹ of the corresponding support b.
The said pin serves to retain the supports in their lower position so long as the
disengaging device as hereinafter described, remains tightened or drawn up.

page_text: Upon releasing the disengaging device, a toothed wheel i which is fixed on the
axle of the driving wheel engages with a toothed rack or bar i¹ of the corresponding
support b, and prevents the latter from being pushed up. Upon starting the
bicycle, the toothed wheel i simultaneously causes the automatic return of the
support b into its upper position.
In order to prevent the engagement of the tooth wheel i with the rack bar i¹,
during the descent of the support b, the rack bar is attached by means of arms i²
to the support b Figs. 1 to 7. Or the arms 2 may consist of extensions from the
rack bar as shewn by Figure 8, the arms 2 having sockets which are brazed to the
supports ; when the disengaging device, together with the sliding piece of
the locking device are operated, which sliding piece g is connected to the said
disengaging device, the rack bar is shifted by means of a shackle g. The shackle g
is pressed forwards by a spring, and is pushed rearwards by a tappet g2 (Fig. 5) of
the sliding piece g. Upon operating the parts as previously stated, the support b
connected to the rack bar, will rotate around its axis in the guide rings c, so that
the rack bar i¹, moves away from the toothed wheel i and may then descend freely
with the support b.
The mode of operation is as follows:-When the rider desires to stop without
having to dismount, he pulls a cord or chain carried up to near the handle bar,
which is connected to the sliding pieco g, whereby the bifurcated arm e is drawn
downwards; the bifurcated arm is connected to the said sliding piece g by means
of a cord or chain, and is drawn up by a strong spring e¹. By this operation the
shears are drawn together by reason of the ends of the arins e, which slide in
slots in the shears, so that the shears fare moved together and the spring pins d
are taken out of engagement with the holes of the supports b. The supports b
can then slide down in their guide rings c.
At the same time, the downward movement of the sliding pieces y cause the
shackles g to be moved rearwards by the tappets g², so that the rack bars i¹are
moved out of engagement with the toothed wheels, and then move down at the
same time with the supports b.
The hooked arms in their downward movement with the sliding pieces g,
release the locking pins, which are pressed forwards by springs, the arrangement
being such that they allow the shoulder of the said pins (Figs. 6 and 7) to enter
into a recessed or bent portion gt directed towards the supports b. The pins bear
against the supports band the holes provided in the latter, slip by reason of a
rounded portion of the upper edge of the pins, over the latter, until the supports
touch the ground. On the supports being pushed up again, the locking pins h
fall with their sharp lower edges into the hole which is situated next below them,
and prevent any further return of the supports.
When the bicycle has stopped, upon the rider releasing the cord which serves to
operate the entire apparatus, the spring e' will pull the arme and the sliding piece g
up again. By this means the shears fare opened again, and the pins d are released,
so that they are pressed by their spring, against the supports b; at the same time
the locking pins are drawn by the upwardly moving hooked arms g¹ out of the
holes of the supports b, and the shackles 3 are pushed back by their springs;
these shackles pull the rack bars i¹ against the toothed wheels i and move them
into engagement with the latter, which now tako over the function of locking the
supports against being pushed back.
When the cyclist wishes to ride on, no special disengagement of the apparatus is
required for this purpose, because the toothed wheels i, which rotate with the axle
of the driving wheel, by their engagement with the rack bars i, raise the supports b
automatically until the holes of the latter, come in front of the ends of the pins d,
which are pressed by springs against the same. The pius & are preferably made
conical and tapering towards their ends, so that on entering into the holes di in the
supports b, they raise the latter to a slight extent, and thus move the last tooth of
each rack bar out of contact with the corresponding toothed wheel i, so that wear
of these parts during riding is prevented.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. A device for supporting bicycles, characterized by supports b arranged one on each
side of the machine, capable of moving up and down, and held in the raised position
during riding, by means of locking pins d, and which, when these pins are withdrawn,
slide in guides and fall freely by their own weight, and are secured in their active
position by means of a toothed wheel i which gears with teeth formed on rack
bars connected to said supports, such toothed wheel i being fixed to the driving
wheel, for the purpose of moving the supports automatically back into the position
of rest, when the bicycle is starting.
b
2. A form of construction of the supporting device specified in Claim 1,
characterized by the fact that to the device for disengaging the locking pins d,
there are connected by means of chains or the like, sliding pieces which, when the
supports bare let down, act to release locking pins h, which are under the action of
springs, so that said locking pins enter into holes in the supports b, and keep the
latter in the lower position, until (after the release of the means that serve for
disengaging the entire supporting device) the rack bars which are connected to
the supports by means of arins 22, are moved into engagement with the toothed
wheel i.
3. A form of construction of the supporting device specified in Claim 1,
characterized by the shackles g³ which embrace the rack bars i¹ and are under the
action of springs; which shackles, in the downward movement of the sliding pieces g,
are pushed out by means of a shoulder g² provided on the sliding pieces, in such a
manner that during the descent of the supports, the racks are kept out of
engagement with the toothed wheels i.
Dated this 10th day of November 1898.
BREWER & SON,
London and Leeds, Agents for the Applicant.