Improvements in Bicycles and other Velocipedes.
Year: 1896

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Bicycles and other Velocipedes.
I, EUSTACE FITZMAURICE PIERS, Baronet, of 21 Lime Street, in the City of
London, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
The principal object of my Invention is to provide an improved means for
transmitting motion from the pedals operated by the rider to the driving wheel or
wheels so that when required the speed of the velocipede can be increased without
a corresponding increase in the speed of movement of the rider's feet.
According to my Invention I transmit the power from the treadles to the driving
wheel or wheels through the medium of water or other fluid under pressure.
This may be done by providing the driving wheel or wheels with a rotary or other
engine and causing the treadles to actuate a pumping device, the rotary or other
engine and the pumping device being connected by a pipe or by pipes. The
pumping device can be so constructed that the quantity of water or other fluid
delivered therefrom to the rotary or other engine can be increased and decreased
as desired whilst the angular speed of the treadles remains the same so that when
the most convenient speed of movement of the legs of the rider has been reached
the speed of the velocipede can be increased or decreased as desired by admitting
more or less fluid to the engine and exercising accordingly greater or less power on
the treadles.
The pump for this purpose may consist of several forcing devices on the same
axis each capable of delivering water or other fluid to the pipe or pipes leading to
the engine in connection with the driving wheel or wheels, a valve or valves being
provided so that one or more of these forcing devices can be put into operation as
desired.
han 100€
I, EUSTACE FITZMAURI E PIERS Baronet of 21 Lime Street, in the City of London,
Mechanical Engineer, du 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 principle object of my invention is to provide an improved means for
transmitting motion from the pedals of the velocipede operated by the rider, to the

page_text: driving wheel or wheels and when required so that the speed of the velocipede can
be increased without a corresponding increase in the speed of movement of the
rider's feet.
According to my invention I transmit the power from the pedals to the driving
wheel or wheels through the medium of water or other fluid under pressure.
This may be done by providing the driving wheel or wheels with a rotary or
other engine and causing the pedals to actuate a pumping device, the rotary or
other engine and the pumping device being connected by a pipe or by pipes. The
pumping device can be so constructed that the quantity of water or other fluid
delivered therefrom to the rotary or other engine can be increased and decreased as
desired whilst the angular speed of the treadles remains the same so that when the
most convenient speed of movement of the legs of the rider has been reached the
speed of the velocipede can be increased or decreased as desired by admitting more
or less fluid to the engine and exercising accordingly greater or less power on the
treadles.
The pump for this purpose may consist of several forcing devices on the same
axis each capable of delivering water or other fluid to the pipe or pipes leading to
the engine in connection with the driving whool or wheels, a valve or valves being
provided so that one or more of these forcing devices can be put into operation as
desired.
In order that my invention may be well understood I will further describe the
same with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate convenient
means for carrying my invention into practice but I do not restrict myself to the
arrangements shown and described. Figure 1 is a side elevation of a bicycle
shewing the application of my invention thereto. Figure 2 is a longitudinal
vertical section through the pump case, rotary engine, and the connecting pipes
or passages when arranged for driving the velocipede at one speed. Figure 3 is a
similar section of an arrangement which will admit of the velocipede being driven
at three different speeds without varying the speed of rotation of the pedals. Figure 4
is a horizontal section along the line 3-4. Figure 3 and Figure 5 is a transverse
vertical section taken along the line 1-2 in Figure 3.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2 A is the driving wheel of the bicycle to which is
attached a rotary device or engine B the casing 6 of which is connected by pipes or
passages CC with a pumping device D comprising rotary eccentric pistons d
operated from the pedals E of the bicycle. The pump D and pipes or
passages C Care charged with water or other suitable fluid which, by operating the
pump by means of the pedals, is caused to circulate throngh the rotary engine B and
connecting pipes C C in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figure 2 the said
fluid acting on the blades or vanes of the rotary engine and so imparting rotation
to the driving wheel A of the bicycle. The inlet passage Ct to the pump is separated
from the outlet passage C, froin the pump, by diaphragms or plungers a which may
be kept in contact with the peripheries of the eccentric pistons by springs, or, as
shewn in the drawing, by the pressure of the fluid admitted by a passage e to the
upper ends of the said diaphragms or plungers. In the return pipe or passage C2 is
provided a valve c which can be operated by the rider so as to restrict more or less the
passage for the fluid through the said pipe and so retard or stop the rotation of the
wheel A.
In the arrangement illustrated by Figures 3, 4 and 5 the pumping device is
provided with three eccentric rotary pistons d d' d operated by the pedals E the said
pistons being so arranged on the pedal shaft that their major madii are at an angle of
120 degrees one to another so as to act on water or other fluid, one after another in
succession, to force the said fluid into the rotary or other engine B. Each eccentric
piston is provided with a diaphragm or plunger a separating the inlet passage C from
the outlet passages from the pump as hereinbefore described.
The three outlet passages e ce from the pump, corresponding to the three
eccentric pistons, communicate with a single pipe or passage C leading to the rotary
engine B, and each passage c', c, d, is provided with a valve F, F, F, which can be

page_text: operated by the rider so as to open and close as desired, any one or more of the
passages c1, c2, c³, for fluid fro.n the pump to the rotary engine, and so vary the
quantity of fluid admitted to the engine, whilst the angular speed of the treadles
remains the same, whereby when the most convenient speed of movement of the legs
of the rider has been reached, the speed of the velocipede can be increased or
decreased as desired by admitting more or less fluid to the rotary engine and
exercising accordingly greater or less power on the pedals.
When the valves F, F1, F2 are moved into position to close the passage for the
fluid to the engine B the fluid passes from the pump by the passages c', c', c³ past the
valves F, F, F into the return pipe or passage C².
The valves F, F', F2 may be so operated as to act as a brake to retard the
speed of the velocipede, or a special valve may be provided for the purpose in the
passage C2 as hereinbefore described.
Instead of providing special pipes for the circulation of the fluid as shown at C C² the
hollow frame of the velocipede may be utilised for the purpose.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In bicycles and other velocipedes means for transmitting, by fluid pressure,
motion from the pedals, operated by the rider, to the driving wheel or driving
wheels; substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. In a bicycle or other velocipede, a pump or pumps worked from the pedals
operated by the rider, a rotary engine or equivalent device connected to the driving
wheel or driving wheels and pipes or passages connecting the pump or pumps with the
rotary engine or equivalent device through which, by the operation of the pedals, fluid
is caused to circulate and impart motion to the vehicle substantially as hereinbefore
described.
3. In a bicycle or other velocipede the combination of two or more pumps worked
from the pedals operated by the rider, a rotary engine or equivalent device connected
to the driving wheel or wheels, or to the axle of the driving wheels, pipes or passages
connecting the pumps with the rotary engine or its equivalent, and a valve or valves
for cutting out of action one or more of the pumps as required substantially as and for
the purpose hereinbefore described.
4. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting means for driving
velocipedes by fluid pressure substantially as herein before described and illustrated
in the accompanying drawings.
5. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting means for transmitting
motion from the pedals to the driving wheel or wheels of velocipedes by fluid pressure
and for varying the speed of the velocipede without altering the speed of rotation of
the pedals substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the drawings.
Dated this 30th day of August 1897.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.