Improvements in Apparatus for Retaining or Holding Cycles in Railway Vans and other places.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Mar.,
1898
Complete Specification Left, 10th Aug., 1898-Accepted, 22nd Oct., 1898
Improvements in Apparatus for Retaining or Holding Cycles in
Railway Vans and other places.
I, JOHN HARRINGTON, of Claremont, West Street, Ryde, in the Isle of Wight,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
According to my present invention I construct an apparatus for retaining six or
eight bicycles or a less number in a vertical position with as little waste of space
as possible, the whole apparatus being attached to the roof of the railway van or
other place and when not in use being capable of being folded up or collapsed in
close contact with the said roof.
The apparatus consists of an upper bar which is securely attached to the roof in
any convenient way. At or near each end of this upper bar I pivot a hanging
frame which may be conveniently made of two parallel bars of sheet metal angle
iron or tubing and are connected together by three cross bars one at each end
and one intermediate thereof.
To the lower ends of these hanging frames I pivot two other horizontal
parallel bars which connect the hanging frames at their lower ends.
I have thus constructed a frame forming a square or parallelogram capable
of being folded or moved up so that the lower horizontal bars come into contact
with the upper bar in close proximity to the roof of the van.
I form holes in the lower connecting bars of the hanging frame through which
slide vertical rods or tubes provided with enlargements at their upper ends and
connected together at their lower ends below the bottom of the said hanging frames
where they are provided with two forks for fitting over the handle bars and have
intermediate of the same a spring hook or fork for clipping the steering tube.
Means are provided for retaining these rods or tubes in their highest position.
To each of the horizontal rods or bars are pivoted two arms which may be
extensible if desired.
Each of said arms may be made of flat sheet metal to the outer end of
which on the underside thereof is pivoted a short arm carrying a short fork at each
end thereof. These forks are lined with suitable material and are just large enough
to fit the handle bar or they may be made of spring metal to grip the handle bar.
In use the short forks are pressed down over the handle bar one on each side of
the head of the machine and thus retain the latter in a vertical position.
When it is desired to hold eight bicycles by means of the apparatus herein
described I attach a bracket or brackets having forked ends to each of the hanging
frames. By means of these forks I am enabled to support a bicycle above the
ground on each side of said frame, one fork fitting underneath the L pillar and the
other fork under the handle bar.
A locking or straining bar is employed to lock the frame in its operative
position.
When the hanging frames are made of tubes the vertical rods or tubes herein-
before described may be made to slide in the vertical tubes of said frame. In lieu

page_text: of employing the forks above described for holding the handle bars I may employ.
spring clips similar to paper clips.
Date L
Manch 1000
HARRIS & MILLS,
23, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents.
Improvements in Apparatus for Retaining or Holding Cycles in
Railway Vans and other places.
I, JOHN HARRINGTON, of Claremont, West Street, Ryde, in the Isle of Wight,
Mauufacturer, 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 :—
According to my present invention I construct an apparatus for retaining six or
eight bicycles or a less number in a vertical position with as little waste of space as
possible, the whole apparatus being attached to the roof of the railway van or other
place and when not in use being capable of being folded up or collapsed in sufficiently
close contact with the said roof. If desired the holding arms may be separately
fixed to a wall or other support.
My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1. is a
side view of apparatus for holding six bicycles.
Fig. 2. is an end view and Fig. 3 a plan of the same. Fig. 4. is a diagram
showing how six machines can be arranged to be held by the said apparatus and
Figs. 5 and 6 are respectively, a side view and a plan of one of the retaining arms
separately and capable of being fixed to the apparatus shown in the previous
Figures or to a wall or other support, The apparatus shown in Figures 1, 2, 3
consists of an upper bar a which is securely attached to the roof of a railway van or
other place in any convenient way.
At or near each end of this upper bar a I fix cross bars a¹ to which I pivot at a² a
hanging frame which may be conveniently made of two parallel bars b of sheet metal,
angle iron or tubing and are connected together by three cross bars 61 62 63, one at
each end and one intermediate thereof.
To the lower ends of these hanging frames 6 61 62 63 I pivot at 6 two other
horizontal parallel rods or bars c which connect the hanging frames 6 at their lower
ends.
I have thus constructed a frame forming a square or parallelogram capable of
being folded or moved up so that the lower horizontal rods or bars c may come more
or less closely into contact with the upper bar and consequently into proximity to
the roof of the van. I form holes in the connecting bars 62 63 of the hanging frame
through which slide vertical rods or tubes & provided with enlargements d' at their
upper ends and connected together by cross barsd²at their lower ends below the bottom
of the said hanging frames where they are provided with two forks d³ for fitting over
the handle bars of a bicycle and have intermediate of the said forks a spring hook
or fork d for clipping the steering tube. Means are provided for retaining these
rods or tubes d in their highest position such for instance as a chain provided with
a hook and attached to or passing around each connecting bar 63 and cross bar d² or
by binding screws acting against such rods or tubes or by other suitable means. I
have not thought it necessary to show this feature on the drawings as such will be
readily understood.
To each of the horizontal rods or bars c are pivoted or hinged two arms e e*
which may be extensible if desired.

page_text: Two of these arms, the arms e, are represented as being pivoted to lugs e¹ fixed
to the rods or bars c and two e*, as hinged to hinge flaps e² also fixed to such rods
or bars c.
Each of these arms may be made, as shown ate of flat sheet metal or as shown
at e* of rod or tube. To the outer end of each arm e e* is pivoted a short arm e³
carrying a short fork at each end thereof. These forks may like the forks d³ be
just large enough to fit the handle bar and be lined with suitable material to avoid
injury to the handle bar and to grip the same firmly. These forks may however be
made of spring metal so as to obtain an effective grip on the handle bar or they may
be made as shown in the drawings, somewhat similar to paper clips, one arm or jaw e
being pivoted to the arm e or e* and the other arm or jaw es being pivoted by means
of a pin e and lugs e to the arm or jaw e', a spring es being arranged around the
pin e and acting to force the arm or jaw es towards the arm or jaw e¹ and thereby
obtain a firm grip of the handle bar.
These arms or jaws e, e³ have a central space formed therein to enable
them to grip the handle bar on each side of the head of the machine.
In use the short forks are pressed down over the handle bars, or the spring clips
are caused to clip the haudle bar on each side of the head of the machine and the
spring hooks or forks d are caused to clip the steering tube and thus retain the
latter in a vertical position.
A locking or straining barf is employed to lock the frame in its operative position.
As shown in the drawings this locking bar is pivoted at its lower end to the
bar 63 whilst at its upper end it is formed with a slot through which is
passed a turn bolt f¹ to enable the same to be secured and released as may be
desired.
When the bars 6 of the hanging frames are made of tubes the vertical
rods or tubes d may be made to slide within such vertical tubes.
Fig. 4 is a diagramatic plan showing the positions in which six machines can be
arranged to be held by the apparatus shown at Figs. 1, 2, 3, it will be noticed that
the machines of each pair are reversed end for end in relation to each other and
that the frames and driving wheels are placed at convenient angles with their steering
wheels to enable them all to be accommodated. Single arms as shown at Figs. 5
and 6 may be hinged to a wall or other support in lieu of being carried by the fold-
ing apparatus above described.
It will be seen that these arms e e* may be folded over on to the lower
members of the folding frame or against a wall or other support when not required
for use.
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. In apparatus for retaining or holding cycles in railway vans and other
places the combination of a folding frame, vertical rods or bars mounted with
capability of sliding in the vertical members of said frame, and connected together
at their lower ends by a cross bar, a pair of forks and a spring hook or fork
carried by arms hinged or pivoted to the lower members of the folding frame, and
forks or spring clips pivoted to the outer ends of such ar.ns substantially as herein
shown and described.
2. In apparatus for retaining or holding cycles in railway vaus and other places
the combination of an arm hinged or pivoted to a wall or other suitable support and
a pair of forks or spring clips pivoted to the outer end of said arm, substantially
as herein shown and described.
HARRIS & MILLS,
23, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents.