Improvements in Mechanical Joints for Vehicle Frames."
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Sept., 1897-Accepted, 4th Dec., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
"Improvements in Mechanical Joints for Vehicle Frames."
I, ALBERT AUGUSTUS POPE, of Cohasset, in the county of Norfolk, State of
Massachusetts, United States of America, Manufacturer, 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 object of my invention is to provide means whereby a vehicle frame, and
especially that used in the construction of a bicycle or like vehicle consisting of
brackets and tubular members may be joined in a manner to enable the frame to be
assembled and the parts firmly united, and also one that may be readily taken
apart.
To this end my invention consists in the details of the several parts comprising the
frame and in the combination of the several parts as hereinafter described and more
particularly set out in the claims.
Referring to the drawings:-
Figure is a view in side elevation of the frame of a bicycle embodying my
improvement.
Figure 2 is a detail side view showing on enlarged scale a portion of the steering
head bracket and top frame tube connected thereto with parts cut away to show
construction.
Figure 3 is a like view on enlarged scale of the bracket and end of the tube
with parts cut away to show the threaded end of the tube.
Figure 4 is a detail view in cross section through the top frame tube and bracket
showing the location of the transverse bolt.
Figure 5 is a view in side elevation of the frame of a bicycle showing the transverse
bolt so placed as to prevent rotation of the tubes.
Figure 6 is a detail view in side elevation, on an enlarged scale, of a bracket and
tube member with parts cut away to show construction.
Figure 7 is a like view, also on enlarged scale, of the bracket and tube member
showing the tube with threaded end.
Figure 8 is a detail view of the tube end showing the recess or socket.
In the accompanying drawings my improvement is shown as embodied in a diamond
style of frame of a bicycle which comprises tube members and bracket members so
united as to constitute a rigid structure on which the handle bars and seat are
nounted, and to which the wheels are united in any ordinary and convenient manner.
A common practise in the prior art is to unite the bracket and tube members by
soldering or brazing, but such means permanently unite the members so that the
parts can be separated, as for the purpose of needed repair or the replacing of a
broken member, only by the application of heat at the joint.
It is desirable to produce a frame of sufficient strength to stand up under the stress
of use and yet be separable as to the main constituent parts, and my improvement

page_text: contemplates such a structure. By it all means such as brazing which requires the
use of a high degree of heat and the subsequent filing of surfaces of the material in
the tube adjacent to the joint are avoided. The filing of the parts is liable to
seriously weaken them without possibility of detection by even more than the
ordinary careful inspection, and this is especially true of the tubes which are very
thin.
In the practise of my improvement in one form of construction a tubular member,
as the main frame tube a, is cut to the predetermined length and arranged to fit within
the socket in the bracket member. The bracket member to which such a tubular mem-
ber is to be removably attached, as the steering head bracket c, has a tang c¹ with a
socket c² into which the end of the tube a closely fits.
On one side of the tang c¹ the ears d d¹ are provided and the material between
them is cut away or thinned out, as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, in a direction length-
wise of the tang, and a lengthwise slot e is also preferably formed through the tang
and between the ears so as to permit the alteration of the form of the socket in the
tang by drawing these ears together in some instances.
The inner wall of the socket in the bracket member may be left smooth, and the
end of the tubular member which is also in such case left smooth, fits closely within
such socket and the transverse pin f passing through the registering holes in the
lugs also projects across the tube, in such manner as to hold it firmly in its place
against lengthwise movement and also against rotation by a clamping action.
In order to provide a still firmer union of the parts one end of the pin may be
provided with a head resting against the outer surface of one of the ears and provided
at the other end with a screw thread on which a nut is located. The inner surface
of the nut pressing against the outer surface of the opposite ear is used to draw the
parts together so as to reduce the diameter of the socket and cause the walls of the
latter to bind firmly upon the tube. This additional means while desirable is not
absolutely essential to the presence of the improvement.
In the form of device shown in Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawings, the holes through the
lugs are so located that the bolt f does not strike against the tube-member the end
of which projects into the socket in the tang of the bracket on which the lugs are
formed, but the firmness of hold when inter-engaging threads on the parts are used
In the form shown
depends wholly on the clamping power of the transverse bolt.
in Fig. 3 of the drawings, where the tube is screw-threaded and fits a screw-threaded
socket in the tang, the parts will be held by the inter-engaging threads against
lengthwise movement but depend upon the clamping action of the bolt to resist
rotary movement.
In Figures 5 to 8 of the drawings a modified form of the invention is shown in
which the tubular members g and bracket members are united by a transverse
bolt which passes through registering holes in the lugs and projects into the notch
or groove g¹ in the tube in such manner as to hold the tube firmly in its place against
rotation as well as against lengthwise movement. The inner wall of the socket in
the bracket member in this form may be left smooth, as illustrated in Figure 6 of
the drawings, or the end of the tube may be threaded to enage a threaded portion of
the socket in the tang, as shown in Figure 7 of the drawings.
By the use of such a construction of the parts with the joint described the
transverse sockets in the tubular members are formed at a predetermined distance
apart, and any given model of frame may have its frame parts, including the tubular
members and bracket members standardized and thus made interchangeable owing
to the fact that the removal of the locking pin in most instances is all that is needed
in this improved construction to enable the tubular members to be separated from
the bracket members of the frame. No soldering or like means of attachment of the
tubular members and the bracket members is contemplated or employed in the
practise of my invention.
It is evident that my improvements are also applicable in cases where the longer
frame-members are made solid instead of tubular.

page_text: 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. As an improved article of manufacture, a vehicle frame comprising bracket
members and separable tubular or longer members, the bracket member having a
socket for the reception of the end of the tubular or longer member, and means for
compressing the walls of said socket in the bracket upon the end of the said tubular
or longer member, all substantially as described.
2. As an improved article of inanufacture, a vehicle frame comprising bracket
members and separable tubular or longer members, the bracket member having a
tang with a screw-threaded socket and the tubular or longer member having a screw-
threaded end fitting said socket, a lengthwise slot through the wall of the tang and a
transverse bolt for contracting the diameter of the socket in the tang, all substantially
as described.
3. As an improved article of manufacture, a vehicle frame comprising bracket
members and separable tubular or longer members, the bracket member having a
tang with a socket, a lengthwise slot, and perforated lugs located on opposite sides of
the slot, and the tubular or longer member having a transverse bolt-notch or groove
formed in it near its end, and a transverse bolt extending through the lugs and
projecting into the said notch or groove, all substantially as described.
4. In combination, in a vehicle-frame, bracket members and separable tubular or
longer members, the bracket member having a tang with a screw-threaded socket,
projecting lugs located on opposite sides of a lengthwise slot through the wall of the
tang, a transverse bolt extending across the tang and through holes in the lugs, and
the tubular or longer member with a screw-threaded end fitting the screw-threaded
socket in the tang, and a transverse bolt-notch or groove into which the transverse
bolt projects when the parts are engaged, and means for compressing the walls of the
socket in the tang upon the end of the tubular or longer mamber, all substantially as
described.
AUDENI AUUTUDIUM FUIE
Dated, Hartford, Conn. U.S.A., September 7th 1897.
D. Young & Co.
11 & 12 Southampton Buildings London W.C. Agents for the Applicant.