A New or Improved Fore-carriage for Attachment to Cycles and Auto-motor Vehicles.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Oct., 1899-Accepted, 2nd Dec., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Fore-carriage for Attachment to Cycles and
Auto-motor Vehicles.
We, PAUL GALLET and GEORGES MAXIME ITASSE, both of 17, Chaussée du Port,
Boulogne-sur-Seine, in the French Republic, Manufacturers, 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:-
The present invention relates to a new or improved fore-carriage for attachment
to cycles and auto-motor vehicles and its object is to enable the immediate trans-
formation, without any alterations, of any cycle or auto-motor vehicle with two
or three wheels into a cycle or auto-motor vehicle with four and five wheels, and,
when desired, restore the vehicle thus transformed with four or five wheels, back
to its original condition, that is to say, a vehicle with two or three wheels.
All cyclists know how inconvenient it is to be obliged either to remove a wheel
or the steering gear with the object of adapting the driving removable fore-car-
riages as hitherto made.
The fitting of these fore-carriages required an alteration to be made in the
machine and consequently presented the inconvenience of deranging some of the
various parts.
It is to avoid this inconvenience that we invented the fore-carriage which forms
the subject of the present application, and which can be adapted instantaneously
to all cycles or motor vehicles without any need of altering the parts of the cycle
or motor car.
In order to make the following description as clear as possible, we give as an
example, in the accompanying drawings a bicycle furnished with our removable
fore carriage.
Figure 1 is a side elevation and
Figure 2 is a plan partly in section.
Our removable fore-carriage consists essentially of a frame a made of alum--
nium tubes or of other suitable material, for example, hard turned wood, which
tubes can be provided with suitable joints, or soldered or brazed. The frame a
is mounted on two wheels b and it supports the seat c in rigid connection with
the back rest d and the front rest. e. Behind the back rest of the fore-carriage
there is fixed a socket or clamp f which encircles the head-tube of the bicycle
this clamp can be tightened as required by suitable nuts and bolts so as to rigidly
connect it with the head-tube. The bolts and nuts which enable tightening can, of
course, be replaced by any other suitable means.
On each side of the frame a of the removable fore-carriage is a stay rod g, each
of these stays meeting at h, and there terminate in a clamp which secures them
to the bottom tube i of the frame of the bicycle.
It can easily be understood that if instead of a bicycle we have for example, a
motor-car or vehicles, or a tricycle, the point of attachment of the two stay-rods
would be selected in any suitable part of these vehicles. Likewise the height of

page_text: the socket may vary according to the kind of vehicle to which the movable
fore-carriage is to be fitted.
The lower part of the bicycle fork j has on each side a rod k; these two rods k
are pivoted to a transverse rod which is in its turn pivoted to two rods m on
the axles of the wheels b, and so transmit the steering movements given to the
wheel o.
By this arrangement one can easily understand that the cyclist by moving the
steering bar and producing an inclination of the wheel o will at the same time
move the wheels b, through the transmission means k, l, m. The correct inclination
of all the steering wheels will thus be obtained in a very simple manner and with
considerable smoothness.
It is to be clearly understood that the removable fore-carriage instead of having
a seat for one person can, very simply, be transformed, and by any suitable means,
into a luggage holder or carrier.
We reserve for ourselves the application of our removable fore-carriage to all
cycles and motor cars regardless of the number of wheels of these machines, and
also of the kind of motor employed for their propulsion. We reserve the right
to alter, according to each application, the dimensions of the clamp or socket f
and the inclination of the stay rods g, with a view to render them suitable for
application to the vehicles in question and we do not confine ourselves as to the
material used for the manufacture of the various parts forming the removable
fore-carriage.
Instead of forming a seat or luggage holder, the fore-carriage can carry a
motor to drive the vehicle by aid of a transmission chain or any other suitable
device.
It is to be clearly understood that although our drawing only shows two forks
supported by the wheels, these forks can be replaced in our fore-carriage by an
axle connecting the wheels, this axle forming bearings at its extremities, like
carriage axles or the fore-carriages now existing. Our means of suspension can
be by aid of springs, but we may also employ compressed air, either instead or in
conjunction therewith.
Our system of connection by means of two stay rods running from, our fore-
carriage and terminating in the bottom tube of the bicycle or other vehicle, allows
of these tubes being telescopic, and so making it possible to adapt these two rods
to any vehicle more or less long.
Our top means of connection, in the shape of a semi-cylindrical clamp, may be
of any other shape, according to the vehicle to which it is applied.
Steerage is effected either by the fork or more especially by connecting the steer-
ing handle of the vehicle with one of the steering parts of our fore-carriage, even
directly to the axles of two wheels.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is-
A new or improved fore-carriage for attachment to cycles and motor cars having
the parts constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as described
with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Noted this 26th day of October 1899.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
1
No. 22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.