An Improved Driving Gear for Cycles.
Year: 1896

page_text: An Improved Driving Gear for Cycles.
I CHARLES LAURENCE THEWENETI of 13 St. Augustine's Road Camden
Square London N.W. Clerk do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
The above gearing shall be constructed of a bar or bars of metal or any other
substance of any size shape or form which shall be fixed or attached in any way to
the cranks, or pedals or brackets or wheels of a cycle or multicycle on one or both
sides of the said cycle or multicycle, on the ball bearing principle, or in any other
way, so as to be able to move with ease the said bar or bars of metal or any other
substance. The said bar or bars of metal or any other substance may be formed
so as to be detachable or fixed permanently on the cranks or pedals or brackets or
wheels or any other part of the cycle or multicycle where it may be convenient or
suitable for turning or being turned by the cranks or pedals or brackets or wheels
or any other part of the cycle or multicycle. The said bar or bars of metal or
any other substance shall be fixed or attached in any way to one or more of the
said cranks or pedals or brackets or wheels of the said cycle or multicycle. The
said bar or bars of metal or any other substance shall be so formed as to fit onto
the cranks or pedals or brackets or wheels or into the same. The said bar or bars
of metal or any other substance may be so formed as to receive and run ou balls.
The said bar or bars of metal or any other substance shall have holes or apertures
formed in the same to receive the above mentioned cranks or pedals or brackets or
wheels and it may also have holes or apertures formed in it to receive screws or the
like appliances for fixing it upon the brackets or cranks or pedals or wheels or any
other part of the cycle or multicycle upon which it may be used or attaching it to
the same. The said gearing of a bar or bars of metal or any other substance shall
be for the purpose of acting in concert with and turning, a gear wheel, an ordinary
gear wheel, which is fixed upon a cycle or multicycle. This gearing constructed of
a bar or bars of metal or any other substance shall be for the purpose of turning
or being turned by one or more of the cranks or pedals or brackets or wheels upon
which it may be fixed or attached in any way for the purpose of turning or being
turned by the cranks or pedals or brackets or wheels of the cycle or multicycle
simultaneously. The above bar or bars of metal or any other substance may be
formed of one or more parts or pieces of metal or any other substauce. The above
bar or bars of metal or any other substance may have fixed or attached to them
pieces of metal or any other substance of any size shape or form to stand out from
the above described bar or bars, to fit into or onto any holes or apertures which
may be formed to receive them in the cranks or pedals or brackets or wheels.

page_text: I, CHARLES LAURENCE THEWENETI of 13 Saint Augustine's Road, Camden
Square, London N.W. Clerk, 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 an improved gear for bicycles carrying two or more
riders, and has for its object to more equally distribute over the whole length of
the machine, the propelling force arising from the combined energy of the several
riders.
In bicycles of this type arranged to carry several riders in tandem form, and
usually employed for pacing purposes, it has hitherto been customary to employ a
short endless chain extending from a sprocket wheel upon the pedal spindle of the
first or front rider, to a sprocket wheel upon the pedal spindle of the second or
next following rider, while a like short chain gears in like manner with the
sprocket wheels upon the pedal spindles of the second and third rider and so on for
whatever number of riders the machine may be arranged to carry, a like chain
from the sprocket wheel of the last or bindmost rider imparting motion to the back
or driven wheel, and it has been found in practice that in cases where the
individual propelling force of the riders is unequal, or not evenly balanced, the
chain operated by the rider exerting the most energy receives the greatest strain,
and consequently the earliest rupture. My invention is designed to obviate this,
which attain by connecting the pedal cranks (or their equivalents) of all the
riders by a rod or rods at either or both sides of the machine, after the manner of
the connecting rods of iocomotive engines, the only chain employed being that
for conveying motion from the last or hindmost rider to the back or driven
wheel.
In order that my invention and the alternative methods in which I purpose
employing the same, may be clearly understood, I have hereunto appended a
sheet of drawings, in which I have chosen to illustrate the same as applied to
any ordinary safety bicycle constructed to carry four riders, and generally
known as a quad."
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of such a machine to which my invention has been
applied, Fig. 2 being a sectional plan of the same, with the portion of the machine
above the line A B, in Fig. 1, taken away.
Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating an alternative arrangement of the said connecting
rods.
Fig. 4 is a sectional plan of a portion of a truss frame machine adapted to
receive my invention.
Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation of a portion of such a machine to facilitate the
reading of Fig. 4.
For the purposes of my invention I dispense with the usual sprocket wheels and
chains upon the pedal spinàles of the first and next following riders, except the last
or hindmost rider A, upon whose pedal spindle I mount a large sprocket wheel B,
geared by a chain C to a. small sprocket wheel D upon the back or driven wheel E
in the usual way.
According to one arrangement, upon the pedal arms of the cranks F of all the
riders, at either or both sides of the machine, I mount a metallic or other connecting
rod or bar G, suitable holes being provided in this or these, for that purpose, and
so arranged that the throw of the cranks are perfectly parallel as shewn in Figs. 1
and 2, suitable washers or plates being mounted upon the said pedal arms between

page_text: the cranks F and the rod or rods, or bar or bars G, and between G and the
pedals H, to provide sufficient clearance between these to prevent the feet of the
riders from colliding with the said rud or rods, or the said rod or rods from colliding
with the cranks F. Or the said rod or rods may be so arranged as to provide ball
bearing races between themselves and the cranks F and pedals H, in which case
the said races may provide a sufficient clearance to enable me to dispense with the
before mentioned washers or plates. Or I may, in lieu of the cranks F, provide
circular or other shaped discs or wheels as suggested by dotted outline at J in
Figs. 1 and 2, a suitable stud or pin being provided upon the outer face of these
upon which to mount the said rod or rods and the pedals H, suitable provision
being made in these for the before mentioned balls if desired. Or I may dispense
with the pedals H and provide equivalent foot-rests fixed to or pivotally mounted
in like positions upon the outer or upper faces of the rod or rods G.
As an alternative arrangement, instead of using rods or plates G of sufficient
length to embrace the pedal arns of all the riders as shewn in Figs. 1 and 2,
I may employ short rods or plates G, those upon the one side of the machine
embracing the cranks or their equivalents of the first and second, and third and
fourth riders, while those upon the other may embrace the cranks or their
equivalents of the second and third, and fourth and fifth riders, and so on as
illustrated by the diagram Fig. 3.
In Figs. 4 and 5 f illustrate the manner in which I prefer to adapt my invention
to truss frame machines. According to this arrangement I construct the pedal
spindles to form cranks K, to the cross heads of which is connected one of the said
rids or plates G, the space between the lower horizontal rods L, and the forked
formation of the standards M of such a machine providing sufficient clearance for
the said cranks K, when operated by the pedal cranks F, or their equivalents Jas
illustrated by Figs. 4 and 5.
From the foregoing it will be understood that notwithstanding any individual
difference that may exist in the energy or muscular power of the riders the
combined force of the whole of them must be concentrated in the said connecting
rod or rods, and by this or these be distributed over the whole length of the
machine, so that no one portion of the machine is subjected to a greater strain
than another, and it is fair to suppose that the thus equal distribution of the
propelling force must considerably add to the speed of the machine.
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 :-
1st. In a bicycle arranged to carry two or more riders, the application thereto
of a connecting rod or rods, plate or plates, of such length as to embrace and be
connected to the whole of the pedal cranks at either or both sides of the machine,
or of such lengths as to embrace and be connected to some on the one side and
some on the other in alternate pairs, substantially as and for the purposes herein
described and shewn.
2nd. In a bicycle arranged to carry two or more riders the combination of a rod
or plate such as G, adapted to be connected to the pedal arms of the driving
cranks F, at either or both sides of the machine substantially as described and
shewn by Figs. 1 and 2 of the appended drawings.
3rd. In a bicycle arranged to carry two or more riders the combination of rods
or plates such as G', adapted to be connected to the pedal arms of the driving
cranks F of the first and second, and third and fourth riders at one side of the
machine and the pedal arms of the cranks of the second and third, and fourth and
fifth, riders at the opposite side of the machine and so on alternately according to
the number of riders, substantially as described and shewn by Fig. 3 of the
accompanying drawings.
4th. In a truss framed bicycle arranged to carry two or more riders, the
combination of cranks K formed integrally with, or connected to, the pedal

page_text: spindles, the cross heads of the said cranks being connected by a rod or plate such
as G, substantially as described and shewn by Figs. 4 and 5.
5th. In a bicycle the employment of discs or wheels such as J in lieu of pedals F,
with means for connecting thereto rods or plates such as G, and pedals such as H,
substantially as herein set forth and shewn.
Dated this 22nd day of December 1896
GEO. THOS. HYDE,
1 Broad Street Buildings, Liverpool Street, London, E.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.