Improvements in the Gear Cases of Bicycles, Tricycles, and other Velocipedes.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Sept., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 31st May, 1897-Accepted, 3rd July, 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Gear Cases of Bicycles, Tricycles, and other
Velocipedes.
We, JOHN VERNON PUGH, of No. 52 Lincoln's Inn, Corporation Street Birming-
ham in the County of Warwick, Mechanical Engineer and HARRY DAVENPORT, of
Earlsdon Street Earsldon near Coventry in the County of Warwick, Tinman, do
hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as follows:-
Our invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in the gear
cases of bicycles tricycles and other velocipedes. One of our improvements which
improvement we will first describe relates to gear cases of the kind described,
represented and claimed in the complete specification No. 19,512 year 1895 left by
us at the Patent Office on the 2nd day of July 1896.
In order that the first part of our present invention may be the better understood
we remark that each of the patented gear cases referred to consists of a shallow
box made in two flat symmetrical or nearly symmetrical halves engaging together
at their edges the inner side or half of the said case being soldered or permanently
fixed to the frame of the velocipede.
By our present improvements the gear cases are made wholly detachable from
the velocipedes with which they are used.
We will describe our invention in connection with the gear case of a safety
bicycle.
The outer or front half of the improved gear case is essentially the same as the
outer or front half of the patented gear case hereinbefore referred to but the inner
half of the said improved gear case is made as follows;-
We form the inner half of the case
with a trough extending along
its middle from near the front end of the said half case to the rear
end of the same, the said trough having a size and depth suitable
to permit the branch of the chain stay fork of the rear wheel to seat itself in the
said trough when the said inner half of the gear case is brought up against or
presented to the frame of the velocipede. The inner half of the case is secured
to the branch of the chain stay fork near the front end of the said case by a clip
one half of which is soldered or permanently fixed to the outer side of the said
half case the other half of the clip being attached to the fixed half so as to grip the
branch of the fork between them by screws. The said inner half of the case is
secured near its rear end to the branch of the chain stay fork after the outer half
or cover of the case has been applied to the inner half, by screws which are passed
from the front of the closed gear case through holes in the same and take into or
engage with a detachable block situated at the inner side of the branch of the chain
stay fork. The inner half of the case is provided with slides for closing its rear
end of the kind described and represented in the specification hereinbefore referred
to.
In order to attach the gear case to the velocipede the driving chain is removed
from the chain wheels, the crank and driving chain wheel are removed from the
crank axle and the rear wheel of the velocipede is preferably detached from the
frame. The inner half of the case is applied to the frame of the velocipede so as
to engage its trough with the branch of the chain stay fork and the said half case

page_text: is fixed by the clip hereinbefore described. The detached parts of the velocipede
are then replaced and the outer half or cover of the gear case is applied and fixed
to the inner half of the case.
In constructing gear cases according to another of our improvements we make
each of the said cases in the form of a flattened tube or case having a greater width
at its front than at its rear end, that is, the said flat case resembles in shape
an ordinary gear case without the semi-circular cap for closing the rear end of the
gear case. The flat case is closed at its front end. In the inner or back face and
concentric with the semi-circular closed front end is a circular hole of a size proper
to take on the crank axle. The said inner or back face of the gear case has along
its middle an inwardly projecting trough similar to the trough in the back half
of the gear case first described which trough when the gear case is in position on
the bicycle frame receives the branch of the back stay fork. The rear end of the
front face of the flat case is forked and one of the branches of the fork when
the gear case is applied to the bicycle engages behind the branch of the back stay
fork of the rear wheel and the said end is thereby secured in position. In the
front face of the gear case and near the front end of the said case is a circular hole
of a size proper to permit of the driving chain wheel being put into position on the
crank axle. The said circular hole is closed by a removable circular metallic disc
having in it a slot closed by a slide of the ordinary kind. The semi-circular cap
for closing the rear end of the case resembles the ordinary semi-circular cap used
for closing the rear end of a gear case and the said cap is fixed in position in the
ordinary way.
Dated this ninth day of September 1896.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Gear Cases of Bicycles, Tricycles, and other
Velocipedes.
We, JOHN VERNON PUGH, of No. 52 Lincoln's Inn, Corporation Street, Birming-
ham, in the County of Warwick, Mechanical Engineer, and HARRY DAVENPORT, of
Earlsdon Street, Earsldon, near Coventry, in the County of Warwick, Tinman, do
hereby declare the nature of our invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement; -
Our invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described in the gear
cases of bicycles, tricycles and other velocipedes. One of our improvements which
improvement we will first describe relates to gear cases of the kind described,
represented and claimed in the complete specification of Letters Patent, granted
to us, No. 19512 year 1895.
In order that the first part of our present invention may be the better understood
we remark that each of the patented gear cases referred to consists of a shallow
box made in two flat symmetrical or nearly symmetrical halves engaging together
at their edges the inner side or half of the said case being soldered or permanently
fixed to the frame of velocipede.
By our present improvements the gear cases are made wholly detachable from
the velocipedes with which they are used.
We will describe our invention in connection with the gear case of a safety
bicycle.
The outer or front half of the improved gear case is essentially the same as the
outer or front half of the patented gear case hereinbefore referred to but the inner

page_text: half of the said improved gear case is made as follows;-We form the inner half
of the case with a trough extending along its middle from near the front end of the
said half case to the rear end of the same, the said trough having a size and depth
suitable to permit the branch of the chain stay fork of the rear wheel to seat itself
in the said trough when the said inner half of the gear case is brought up against
or presented to the frame of the velocipede. The inner half of the case
to the branch of the chain stay fork near the front and rear ends of the said case
by clips. The inner half of the case is provided with slides for closing its rear
end of the kind described and represented in the specification of the patent
hereinbefore refferred to.
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings represent respectively in front
and back elevation a gear case for a bicycle constructed according to this part of
our invention; Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the same and Figures 4, 5, 6
and 7 are cross sections taken respectively on the lines 4-4; 5-5; 6-6 and 7-7 of
Figures 1 and 2.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of
the Drawings.
a is the front half or cover of the case and b the inner or back half of the same
the said two halves engaging together at their edges as is best seen in the cross
sections Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7. The inner or back half 6 of the case has a trough e
extending from the hole d through which the crank axle passes to the rear end of
the said half 6 of the case. The rear end of the case is provided with a cap 9 which
carries one of the slides b2, 2 for closing the opening around the hub of the rear
wheel of the bicycle.
The gear case is attached to a safety bicycle in the following manner. The
driving chain is removed from the chain wheels of the bicycle and the crank and
driving chain wheel are removed from the crank axle. The inner half of the case
is applied to the bicycle frame so as to engage its trough e with the branch of the
chain stay fork, the upper branch of the forked rear end 6 of the case engaging
behind the branch of the back stay fork of the rear wheel and the crank axle
passing through the hole d in the front end of the inner half of the case. The
inner half 6 of the case is fixed in position on the branch of the chain stay fork
by the clips e, f. The detached parts of the bicycle are then replaced and the
outer half or cover a of the gear case is applied and fixed to the inner or back half b,
the opening of the slides a', a' at the front end of the cover a permitting the
cover to pass over the pedal and crank of the bicycle. The end cap g is fixed in
position and the slides 62, 62 adjusted so as to close the opening at the rear end
of the inner half 6 of the case. The opening in the upper edge of the case through
which the branch of the back stay fork passes is preferably provided with closing
slides h, h as is best seen in Figures 1 and 7 and the rear end of the cover a of the
case is preferably provided with a sliding cover a, a for protecting or partially
covering the opening through which the spindle of the back wheel passes.
The fastening of the two halves a, b of the case together is effected by fasten-
ings i, which are substantially of the kind employed in the patented gear case
hereinbefore referred to.
In constructing gear cases according to another of our improvements we make
each of the said cases in the form of a flattened tube or case baving a greater
width at its front than at its rear end; that is, the said flat case resembles in shape
an ordinary gear case without the semi-circular cap for closing the rear end of the
gear case. The flat case is closed at its front end. In the inner or back face and
concentric with the semi-circular closed front end is a circular hole of a size
proper to take on the crank axle. The said inner or back face of the gear case
has along its middle an inwardly projecting trough, similar to the trough in the
back half of the gear case hereinbefore described and represented in Figures 1 to 7
both inclusive, which trough when the gear case is in position on the bicycle frame
receives the branch of the back stay fork. The rear end of the flat case is forked
and one of the branches of the fork, when the gear case is applied to the bicycle,

page_text: engages behind the branch of the back stay fork of the rear wheel and the said end
is thereby secured in position. In the front face of the gear case and near the
front end of the said case is a circular hole of a size proper to permit of the driving
chain wheel being put into position on the crank axle. The said circular hole is
closed by a removable circular metallic disc having in it a slot closed by slides of
the ordinary kind. The semi-circular cap for closing the rear end of the case re-
sembles the ordinary semi-circular cap used for closing the rear end of a gear case
and the said cap is fixed in position in the ordinary way.
A gear case constructed according to this part of our invention is represented
in front elevation in Figure 8; back elevation in Figure 9 and the rear end partly
in longitudinal vertical section in Figure 10; Figure 11 is a cross section on the
liner, Figure 8 and Figure 12 is a cross section on the line y, y Figure 9.
A is the flattened tubular body part of the case having in its outer face or side
and concentric with the front closed end, a large circular opening closed by a
circular disc A¹ having slides a¹, a' for permitting the disc A¹ being passed over
the pedal and crank of the bicycle; c is the inwardly projecting trough in the inner
face or side of the case for receiving the branch of the chain stay fork when the
gear case is applied to the bicycle frame. The rear open end of the case is closed
by a cap g which is fixed to the flattened tubular body part A by screws 7, 7.
The case is fitted to the frame of the bicycle with which it is to be used before
the driving chain wheel and crank have been fixed on the crank axle and before
the rear wheel of the bicycle has been fixed between the branches of its fork. The
tubular body A of the case is passed on to the branch of the back stay fork of the
bicycle frame, the recessed part A2 in the front of the case being engaged behind
the branch of the back stay fork. The said flattened tubular part A of the case is
fixed by the clips c, f.
The driving chain wheel is passed through the circular opening in the front of
the case on to the crank axle and the back wheel being fitted in place, the driving
chain is passed over the chain wheels and its tension adjusted. The case is closed
by the disc A' and end cap g, and the back or inner side of the case is closed by the
slides 63, 62 in the ordinary way. The flattened tubular gear case Figures 8 and 9
may be made of two flat symmetrical or nearly symmetrical halves having flanged
edges the flange on one half being of a size proper to permit it to be turned or
beaded over the flange of the other half as is represented in the cross section
Figure 13, the two halves of the case being thereby permanently joined together.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that we claim as our
invention of, "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE GEAR CASES OF BICYCLES, TRICYCLES, AND
OTHER VELOCIPEDES";-
First; A detachable gear case consisting essentially of two flat symmetrical or 4
nearly symmetrical halves and an end cap, the said symmetrical or nearly symme-
trical halves engaging together at their edges the inner or back half of the case
having a trough for taking on the branch of the chain stay fork substantially as
hereinbefore described and illustrated in Figures 1 to 7 both inclusive of the
accompanying Drawings.
Secondly; A detachable gear case consisting essentially of a flat tubular case
or box open at its rear end which open rear end is closed by an end cap the said
case having in its back face an inwardly projecting trough for receiving the branch
of the back stay fork and in its front face and concentric with the front closed end,
a circular opening which is closed by a circular disc with slides substantially as 5
hereinbefore described and illustrated in Figures 8 to 13 both inclusive of the
accompanying Drawings.
Deted this Tante sinth
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