Improvements in Pedals for Bicycles and like Vehicles.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Mar., 1898-Accepted, 4th June, 18.98
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Pedals for Bicycles and like Vehicles.
We, WALTER JAY BARRON (Inventor), of 461, Bedford Avenue, Borough of
Brooklyn, County of Kings, and City and State of New York, United States of
America, and ANNESLEY BURDETTE SMITH (Inventor), of 151 East 51st Street,
Borough of Manhattan, and City, County, and State of New York, United States
of America, 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:-
"
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Our invention relates to crank and pedal mechanism for velocipedes, bicycles
and other vehicles propelled by such mechanism, and has for its main object the
automatic increase of the leverage of the crank during the driving of the machine
by the foot; another object, the retention of the pedal in a level or other suitable
position for mounting the machine; another object, to obtain the benefit of a
long crank in " drop-frame or other machines wherein a short crank is necessi-
tated by the nearness of the frame to the ground; and a further object to enable
a rider with short legs to obtain the benefit of a greater leverage than he would
otherwise be able to obtain with a crank and pedal of the customary construction.
To these ends, the invention includes a pedal connected to the crank or pedal-
arm so as to turn freely on its axis in one direction while being limited to a motion
of not over one revolution in the reverse direction, thus securing that the effective
leverage of the crank may be increased beyond the leverage indicated by the
length of the crank per se. The invention also includes the combination of a
pedal-arm or crank, a pedal, and mechanism provided with an automatic clutch
connecting said pedal and said crank to cause them to form one rigid system by
which the leverage of the crank may be increased. The invention also includes,
in connection with the above, a toe-clip or arm attached to the pedal for still
further increasing the leverage. And the invention consists further in the
various features of construction and combinations of devices hereinafter more fully
described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
The clutch may be of any suitable form or construction so long as it allows free
reverse rotation of the pedal while automatically connecting the pedal with the
crank at the required times during the use of the mechanism. Thus, the clutch
may be of the pawl-and-ratchet form with one or more pawls and one or more
teeth on the ratchet wheel, the parts being so disposed that the pedal will be
locked to the crank during the downward push by the foot upon the front of the
The various clutches suitable for the
pedal or upon an arm secured thereto.
purposes in view may be described as backing-clutches; that is, clutches which
permit free backward or reverse rotation of the pedal while limiting its free
forward rotation in the described manner, and in the preferred form of the inven-
tion, allowing practically no forward rotation of the pedal at all while allowing
free backward rotation thereof.
The preferred form of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing,
forming part of this specification, in which,--
Figure 1 is a plan view partly in section or broken away, showing pedal-axle,
pedal, toe-clip, and parts of a clutch connecting the pedal and axle;

page_text: Figure 2 is an end view of the parts shown in Figure 1, certain parts being
omitted in order to show the clutch more clearly; and
Figure 3 is a view from the inner side of the crank, showing the crank, pedal,
and clip or arm.
In the various views, the same part will be found designated by the same
numeral of reference.
The pedal-axle 1, of usual or desired form or construction, is or may be rigidly
connected in any usual or desirable manner with the crank or pedal-arm 2, as by
the screw-threaded end 3 and a correspondingly threaded perforation or hole in
the end of crank 2. The pedal shown is composed of the bent plate 4 whose
parallel sides 5, 6, form the rests or plates on which the foot is placed, the cross-
bars, 7, 8, and the usual ball-bearings whose boxes only are shown. The features
thus far described are or may be of any usual or suitable construction. In this form
of our invention, we attach a circular flanged plate 9 to the pedal, as by the
screws 10 which fix the plate 9 to the bar 8, and we attach a disk 11 to the axle 1
by suitable means so that it cannot rotate, as by a spline or by means of a screw-
threaded hole in the disk engaging with a screw-threaded portion of the axle.
This disk 11 is provided with one or more notches 12 in its periphery (preferably
four) the ends of which may be radially disposed and the bottoms of which,
whether arced or plane, are disposed secantwise of the disk; that is to say, the
notches are shallower at one end than at the other, measured from the periphery
or center of the disk and in effect are cams for jamming the balls or rollers
between the bottoms of the notches 12 and the cupped or flanged portion 13 of
the plate 9, inside which the disk 11 fits loosely but closely. In each notch or
groove 12 is a ball or roller 14 of a diameter less than the greatest and more than
the smallest depth of the notches 12. Suitable springs 15 push the balls or
rollers 14 away from the deeper ends of the notches 12 until the balls or rollers
are stopped by the flange 13 and the bottoms of the notches about midway of the
notches. A cap-plate 16 is secured to the disk 11 by screws 17 which pass through
the plate and engage with screw threaded holes in the disk 11; the plate 16
serving to retain the balls or rollers and springs in place. Any other clutch or
locking device may be used instead of that shown without departing from our
invention, the essential feature being the provision of some means for locking the
pedal and thereby increasing the leverage. The form of clutch shown does not
allow of any rotary movement of the pedal forwardly or in the direction of
the arrows in Figures 2 and 3, thus locking the pedal to its axle and causing the
two to instantly form a rigid system. When the pedal is thus locked to the
crank 2 and the foot bears upon and applies force on that side of the pedal
farthest away from the crank-shaft or axis 18 (as bar 6 as Fig. 3) there is, in effect,
a lengthening of the crank out to the side bar (i. When the pressure is removed
from the side 6 and again comes on both sides, 5 and 6, the length of the effective
leverage is diminished to the distance between the centers of the crank-shaft and
pedal-axle or to the effective leverage of prior machines.
In order to gain as much leverage as possible while retaining the crank 2 at a
fixed length, we rigidly attach an arm, as a toe-clip 19, to the side 6 of the pedal 4,
as by a screw 20, which passes through suitable perforations in a lug 22 on the
arm or clip 19 and in the side 6, and engages a nut or nuts 21 on the screw
inside the side 6. If now the rider bears upon the arm 19, at, say, the point 23,
there is, in effect, a lengthening of the crank. If the distance 24-25, equal to
the distance from center to center of the shaft 18 and the pedal-axle be taken as
the leverage or arm of the force applied with a pedal freely revoluble in either
direction, and the rider, with our pedal in use, applies the force at 23, on the
arm 19, the leverage thereof will be equal to the distance 24-26. The forces
being equal, the gain in power is represented by the ratio of the distances 24-26,
and 21 -25. It is not essential to our invention that there be a toe-clip on the
pedal, for as pointed out above, there is a gain in leverage by applying the force

page_text: only on the forward side of the pedal. An arm 19 without the toe-covering
part 19 may be used in place of the toe-clip in order to gain greater leverage.
It will be understood from the foregoing description and from the drawings
that by rigidly connecting the pedal to the crank and by pressing upon the outer
or forward bar or plate of the pedal, an increase of leverage is obtained. Also
that by adding a toe-clip or other arm to the pedal a still further gain in leverage
is obtained. Also that the pedal and crank connecting means operates, in
addition, to hold the pedal and toe-clip in a horizontal or other suitable position
to facilitate the mounting and starting of the machine, the weight of the toe-clip
being unable to turn the pedal when the crank is brought up, as heretofore.
Also that while in effect an increased length of crank is automatically obtained
when the power is applied to propel the machine, yet this length is again auto-
matically decreased when the crank and pedal are in their lowest positions, owing
to the capability of the pedal to turn backwardly under the natural action of the
foot when about to ascend, thus providing a construction of great advantage to
riders with short legs, who were previously limited to the use of cranks and
leverage of shorter length.
Also that owing to the pressure of the springs for keeping of the balls or rollers
normally in contact with their bearing surfaces, the action of the clutch or
connecting means is practically instantaneous when pressure is applied to the
pedal to drive the crank forward. But if instantaneous clutching or locking
action be not desired, a pawl and ratchet or other like form of clutch with only
one or more teeth which would allow a partial forward revolution of the pedal
before catching or locking may be employed.
Many changes in detail construction and arrangement may be made without
departing from the spirit of our invention, the gist of which has already been
indicated and will now be set forth in the following claims.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
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1. In a velocipede or the like, a pedal turning freely in one direction on its
axis, in combination with means for preventing it from turning in the other
direction on its axis so as to effect a prolongation of the crank, substantially as
described.
2. In a velocipede or the like, the combination of a driving crank, a pedal,
and means for automatically, rigidly connecting the pedal and crank when
forward pressure is applied to the pedal to propel the vehicle, substantially as
described.
3. In a velocipede or the like, a pedal connected to the crank or pedal-arm to
turn freely on its axis in one direction and not over one revolution in the reverse
direction, substantially as described.
4. In a velocipede or the like, the combination of a pedal-arm or crank, a
pedal, and mechanism provided with an automatic clutch connecting said pedal
and said arm or crank to cause them to form one rigid system to increase the
leverage, substantially as described.
5. In a velocipede or the like, the combination of a pedal-arm or crank, a pedal,
and mechanism provided with an automatic backing clutch adapted to allow
free motion of the pedal in one direction and to limit its motion in the other
direction to not more than one revolution, whereby the whole may form one rigid
system to increase the leverage, substantially as described.
6. In a velocipede or the like, the combination of a pedal-arm or crank, a
pedal, and mechanism provided with an automatic ball-and-cam clutch for con-
necting said arm and said pedal, substantially as described.
7. In a velocipede or the like, the combination of a pedal-arm or crank, a
pedal-axle rigid therewith, a pedal loose on said axle, and automatic clutch-

page_text: mechanism connecting said pedal and said axle to cause them to form one rigid
system to increase the leverage, substantially as described.
8. In a velocipede or the like, the combination of a pedal-arm or crank, a
pedal-axle rigid therewith, a pedal loose on said axle, and a backing-clutch
mechanism connecting said pedal and said axle and adapted to allow free motion
of the pedal in one direction and to limit the motion in the other direction to not
more than one revolution, to increase the leverage by locking the pedal to the axle,
substantially as described.
9. In a velocipede or the like, the combination of a pedal-arm or crank, a
pedal-axle rigid therewith, a pedal loose on said axle, and a ball-and-cam clutch
for connecting said pedal and said axle, substantially as described.
10. In a velocipede or the like, the combination of a pedal-arm or crank, a
pedal, a toe-clip or other arm rigidly attached to said pedal, and automatic clutch-
mechanism connecting said crank and said pedal to cause them to form one rigid
system to increase the leverage, substantially as described.
11. In a velocipede or the like, the combination of a pedal-arm or crank, an
axle rigid therewith, a pedal loose' on said axle, an arm rigidly attached to said
pedal, and automatic clutch-mechanism connecting said axle and pedal to cause
them to form one rigid system whereby the leverage may be increased, substan-
tially as described.
12. In a velocipede or the like, the combination of a pedal-arm or crank, a
pedal, a toe-clip or other arm rigidly attached to said pedal, and a backing-clutch
adapted to allow free motion of the pedal in one direction and to limit its motion
in the other direction to not more than one revolution, whereby the whole may
form one rigid system to increase the leverage, substantially as described.
13. In a velocipede or the like, the combination of a pedal-arm or crank, a
pedal, a toe-clip or other arm rigidly attached to said pedal and ball-and-cam
clutch for connecting said crank and said pedal, whereby the leverage may be
increased, substantially as described.
14. In a velocipede or the like, the combination of a pedal-arm or crank, an
axle rigid therewith, a pedal loose on said axle, a toe-clip or other arm rigidly
attached to said pedal, and a backing-clutch-mechanism connecting said pedal
and said axle and adapted to allow free motion of the pedal in one direction and
to limit the motion in the other direction to not more than one revolution, to
increase the leverage by locking the pedal to the axle, substantially as described.
15. In a velocipede or the like, the combination of a pedal-arm or crank, an
axle rigid therewith, a pedal loose on said axle, a top-clip or other arm rigidly
attached to said pedal and a ball-and-cam clutch for connecting said pedal and
said axle, whereby the leverage may be increased, substantially as described.
16. In a velocipede or the like, the combination of a driving crank, a pedal,
a toe-clip attached thereto, and means for holding the pedal from turning for-
wardly under the weight of the toe-clip, whereby the latter may be retained in
suitable position for mounting, substantially as described.
Doted thin 14th
1000
FELL & JAMES,
Agents for the Applicants.