Improvements in Suspension Seats or Saddles for Bicycles, Tricycles, and other Velocipedes.
Year: 1888

page_text: TRYIDIONAD DE MOLTIVATION.
Improvements in Suspension Seats or Saddles for Bicycles, Tricycles,
and other Velocipedes.
I JAMES ALFRED LAMPLUGH of the firm of Lamplugh and Brown of Great Colmore
Street Birmingham in the County of Warwick Manufacturers do hereby declare the
nature of this Invention to be as follows:-
In suspension seats or saddles for bicycles tricycles and other velocipedes as
ordinarily constructed the pressure of the thighs of the rider against the sides of the
leather covering of the seat or saddle generally causes the middle portion of the said
leather covering to rise so as to form-a-ridge-along-the middle of the saddle. This
ridge presses upwards against the person of the rider causing distress and in some
cases pain.
The objects of my invention are to prevent the rising of the middle portion of the
saddle by pressure and also to give and preserve a more suitable and more elegant
form to the leather seat of the saddle than that of ordinary saddles.
My improvements are especially applicable to the suspension seats or saddles of
bicycles tricycles and other velocipedes in which the leather coverings are divided
along the middle but it is also applicable to saddles in which the leather coverings are
undivided.
I will describe my invention as applied to a saddle the leather covering of which is
divided.
To the underside of each edge of the division in the leather I attach by sewing or
otherwise a leather strap. One of these straps is a plain strap that is a strap of the
same breadth throughout and the other strap is forked at that end which is connected
with the leather the branches of the fork being so far apart as to permit the other
plain strap to pass between them. The straps after crossing each other pass round the
middle bar or bars of the metallic foundation of the saddle and are connected by
means of a buckle carried by one of the straps and holes in the other.
By buckling the straps more or less tightly the edges of the division in the leathor
at the middle of the saddle can be drawn down more or less and prevented from

page_text: rising by pressure on the sides of the saddle. The drawing down of the leather
at and near the middle of the seat makes the seat concave at that part which
concavity besides giving the saddle a more elegant appearance makes it more
comfortable to the rider.
In place of the straps described for drawing down the middle parts of the saddle a
lace or laces may be employed. In this case holes preferably eyeletted are made in
each edge of the middle division in the saddle and the lace or laces passed through the
said holes and under the bar or bars forming the middle of the metallic foundation of
the saddle.
When the leather covering of the saddle is not divided at the middle the straps
described may be sewn or otherwise attached to the underside of the leather on either
side or the laces may be passed through two rows of holes made respectively on each
side of the middle of the seat.

page_text: Improvements in Suspension Seats or Saddles for Bicycles, Tricycles,
and other Velocipedes.
1 JAMES ALFRED LAMPLUGH of tho firm of Lamplugh and Brown of Great
Colmore Street Birmingham in the County of Warwick Manufacturers do hereby
declare the nature of my Invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
Statement:-
In suspension seats or saddles for bicycles tricycles and other velocipedes as
ordinarily constructed the pressure of the thighs of the rider against the sides of the
leather covering of the seat or saddle generally causes the middle portion of the said
leather covering to rise so as to form a ridge along the middle of the saddle. This
ridge passes upwards against the person of the rider causing distress and in some
cases pain.
The objects of my invention are to prevent the rising of the middle portion of the
saddle by pressure and also to give and preserve a more suitable and more elegant form
to the leather seat of the saddle than that of ordinary saddles.
My improvements are especially applicable to the suspension seats or saddles of
bicycles tricycles and other velocipedes in which the leather coverings are divided
along the middle but is also applicable to saddles in which the leather coverings are
undivided.
I will describe my invention as applied to a saddle the leather covering of which is
divided.
To the underside of each edge of the division in the leather I attach by sewing or
otherwise a leather strap. One of these straps is a plain strap, that is, a strap of the
same breadth throughout and the other strap is forked at that end which is connected
with the leather the branches of the fork being so far apart as to permit the other
plain strap to pass between them. The straps after crossing each other pass round
the middle bar or bars of the metallic foundation of the saddle and are connected by
means of a buckle carried by one of the straps and holes in the other. The straps
however need not cross one another.
By buckling the straps more or less tightly the edges of the division in the leather
at the middle of the saddle can be drawn down more or less and prevented from rising
by pressure on the sides of the saddle. The drawing down of the leather at and
near the middle of the seat makes the seat concave at that part which concavity
besides giving the saddle a more elegant appearance makes it more comfortable to the
rider.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in side elevation, partly in longi-
tudinal section; Figure 2 in cross section and Figure 3 in plan of underside a
suspension seat or saddle the leather covering of which is divided along the middle,
the said seat or saddle being provided with my invention.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in Figures 1, 2 and 3.
a is the leather covering of the saddle and 6 the division along its middle; c c are
the bars of the suspension frame of the seat or saddle. To the underside of one
longitudinal edge of the division a leather buckle strap d is attached at its expanded
end by eyeletting or sewing and to the underside of the opposite edge of the division b

page_text: "
a leather loop e is attached by eyeletting or sewing its expanded end to the leather
covering. The loop e carries the buckle. The buckle strap d having been passed
under the suspension frame bars e, e as best seen in Figure 2 is passed through the
buckle d and drawn tightly against the bars c, e at the same time drawing down the
loop e. The strap d is then buckled to the buckle f. The edges of the division 6 of
the seat or saddle are thus drawn down more or less and prevented from rising by
pressure of the rider on the sides of the saddle and the middle of the seat is made
and preserved concave for the purpose hereinbefore pointed out.
The two leather straps may cross one another in the manner represented in the
cross section of a saddle in Figure 4 and longitudinal section of a portion of the same
in Figure 5.
c
In this case the loop ended strap e carrying the buckle passes under or bears
against one of the bars of the suspension frame and the other strap d which is
buckled to the buckle passes round the other bar c of the suspension frame as
represented in Figure 4. The strap d is forked as seen in Figure 5 at the end which
is attached to the underside of the saddle and the loop ended strap e passes between
the branches of the fork. The action of this arrangement is the same as that first
described namely, the drawing down and preserving from rising of the leather
covering a at and near the middle of the seat."
Although I have represented the straps as connected together by an ordinary buckle
yet I do not limit myself thereto as lever buckles may be employed or any fastening
device by which the ends of the straps may be readily fastened together and unfastened
from one another.
In place of the straps described and represented for drawing down the middle parts
of the saddle, a lace or laces may be employed. In this case holes preferably eyeletted
are made in each edge of the middle division in the saddle and the lace or laces passed
through the said holes and under the bar or bars forming the middle of the metallic
foundation of the saddle.
When the leather covering of the saddle is not divided at the middle the straps
described may be sewn or otherwise attached to the underside of the leather on either
side; or the laces may be passed through two rows of holes made respectively in each
side of the middle of the seat.
Although I have only described my invention in connection with the seats of saddles
for velocipedes having leather coverings yet my invention is also applicable to saddles
having seats of other materials; and although I have described the use of straps or.
laces for drawing down the middle of the seat yet I do not limit myself thereto as
other analogous methods of attachment such for example as sewing may be employed
with like effect.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my Inven-
tion and the manner in which the same is to be performed I declare that 1 claim
as my invention of "Improvements in suspension seats or saddles for bicycles tricycles
and other volocipedes
:-
Drawing down the suspended seat of the saddle at and near the middle thereof by
means of straps laces or other attachments secured to the said suspended seat and
passed under or connected with the suspension bars or suspension frame of the saddle
for the purposes and substantially as herein before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawing.
Dated the 27th day of November 1888.
JAMES ALFRED LAMPLUGH.