IMPROVEMENTS IN BICYCLES TRICYCLES AND OTHER VELOCIPEDES
Year: 1884

page_text: I JOHN CORNFORTH of No 26 George Road Edgbaston Birmingham in the
County of Warwick Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BICYCLES TRICYCLES AND OTHER VELOCIPEDES " to be
as follows:-
In order to facilitate the removal of the guiding handle of a bicycle I connect
the said handle to the head of the fork in the following manner. Near the top of
the head of the fork I make a bracket having a projection on its upper side. I will
call this the head bracket. The handle bar bracket fits upon the head bracket its
concave end fitting against the cylindrical head and a depression in it taking upon
the projection on the head bracket. A screw pin fixes the parts together. Or the
head bracket may be double in which case the handle bracket fits between the two
parts of the head bracket and is fixed by two screws.
In fixing in their places the dust covers of the wheels of bicycles tricycles and
other velocipedes I adopt instead of an ordinary lock nut the following construction.
I screw the cap constituting the dust cover onto the chamber containing the ball
bearings of the wheel by means of a screw in the interior of the former taking into
a screw on the exterior of the latter. In a cavity in the said chamber a light
spring is fixed the free end of the said spring carrying a pin or projection pressed
against the interior of the dust cover by the said spring. A small hole is made in
the dust cover into which hole when the dust cover is screwed home the said pin
snaps. The turning of the dust cover is prevented until by a pointed instrument
the said pin is depressed out of the hole in the dust cover when the said cover can
be unscrewed.
In applying the arrangement described in substitution for the linch pins and
lock nuts used in the construction of velocipedes I modify it in the following
manner. I make a neck or depression near the end of the screw and I attach a
plate to the face of the screw nut. This plate has a hole in it of the same size as
the hole in the screw nut and is fixed to the screw nut by a pin on which it turns.
A spring presses the said plate through a small angle on the screw nut so that in its
normal position its hole does not coincide with the hole in the screw nut. When
the screw nut is screwed home the spring plate is pressed back so as to make its
hole coincident with that of the screw nut. But when the screw nut has advanced

page_text: so far on the screw that the neck or depression in it is brought opposite the spring
plate the said plate snaps into its normal position engaging in the neck or
depression in the screw and preventing the accidental unscrewing of the nut. In
order to permit of the unscrewing of the nut the spring plate must be pressed until
its hole is coincident with that of the screw nut.
In order to facilitate the liberation of the chain from the chain wheel when it is
necessary or desirable to do so as for example in separating the parts of a tricycle
I make the chain in the following manner. I make the two side plates of one of
the links with slots for the cross pin to engage in. The said cross pin has a head
at each end. The said slots are at the end terminating near the middle of the
plates of a size sufficiently large to let the heads of the pins pass through them the
other portions of the slots having the size of the body of the pin. When it is
wished to remove the chain the slotted link is pressed towards the headed pin and
when the pin is brought into the large end of the slot the said pin is pressed
longitudinally whereby one of the side plates is detached from it and the pin is
then pressed in the opposite direction when the other plate is detached. Or the slots
may be open that is the side plates may be hook like when the cross pin may be
removed from the said sido plates without any longitudinal motion of the pin.
Dated this first day of Decembar 1884

page_text: "
I JOHN CORNFORTH of N° 26 George Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of my invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BICYCLES TRICYCLES AND OTHER VELOCIPEDES and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
In order to facilitate the removal of the guiding handle of a bicycle or tricycle,
I connect the said handle to the head of the fork in the following manner. Near
the top of the head of the fork I make a bracket having a projection on its upper
side. I will call this the head bracket. The handle bar bracket fits upon the
head bracket, its concave end fitting against the cylindrical head and a depression
in it taking upon the projection on the head bracket. A screw pin fixes the parts
together. Or the head bracket may be double in which caso the handle bracket or
the part of the handle which engages with the head fits between the two parts of
the head bracket and is fixed by two screws.
In fixing in their places the dust covers of the wheels of bicyclos tricycles
and other velocipedes I adopt instead of an ordinary lock nut the following
construction.
I screw the cap constituting the dust cover onto the chamber containing the ball
bearings of the wheel by means of a screw in the interior of the former taking into
a screw on the exterior of the latter. In a cavity in the said chamber a light
spring is fixed the free end of the said spring carrying a pin or projection pressed
against the interior of the dust cover by the said spring. A small hole is made in
the dust cover into which hole when the dust cover is screwed home the said pin
snaps. The turning of the dust cover is prevented until by a pointed instrument
the said pin is depressed out of the hole in the dust cover when the said. cover can
be unscrewed.
In applying the arrangement described in substitution for the linch pins and
lock nuts used in the construction of velocipedes I modify it in the following
manner. I make a neck or depression near the end of the screw and I attach a
plate to the face of the screw nut. This plate has a hole in it of the same size as
the hole in the screw nut and is fixed to the screw nut by a pin on which it turns.
A spring presses the said plate through a small angle on the screw nut so that in
its normal position its hole does not coincide with the hole in the screw nut.
When the screw nut is screwed home the spring plate is pressed back so as to make
its hole coincident with that of the screw nut. But when the screw nut has
advanced so far on the screw that the neck or depression in it is brought opposite
the spring plate, the said plate snaps into its normal position engaging in the neck
or depression in the screw and preventing the accidental unscrewing of the nut.
In order to permit of the unscrewing of the nut the spring plate must be pressed
until its hole is coincident with that of the screw nut.
In order to facilitate the liberation of the chain from the chain wheel when it is
necessary or desirable to do so as for example in separating the parts of a tricycle

page_text: I make the chain in the following manner. I make the two side plates of one of
the links with slots for the cross pin to engage in. The said cross pin has a head
at each end. The said slots are at the end terminating near the middle of the
plates of a size sufficiently large to let the heads of the pins pass through them,
the other portions of the slots having the size of the body of the pin. When it is
wished to remove the chain the slotted link is pressed towards the headed pin and
when the pin is brought into the large end of the slot the said pin is pressed
longitudinally, whereby one of the side plates is detached from it and the pin is
then pressed in the opposite direction when the other plate is detached. Or the
slots may be open that is the side plates may be hook like when the cross pin may
be removed from the said side plates without any longitudinal motion of the pin.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents in front elevation the guiding
handle of a bicycle or tricycle connected to the head of the fork according to one
of my arrangements; Figure 2 represents in side elevation and Figure 3 in vertical
section a portion of the same drawn to a larger scale; Figures 4 and 5 represent
in plan and Figures 6 and 7 in side elevation the handle detached from the head of
the fork, the said Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7 being drawn to the same scale as Figures 2
and 3.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
and '7.
a is the bar of the guiding or gripping handle of the bicycle or tricycle and b is
the head of the fork to the top of which head the handle is connected. Near the
top of the head band at right angles thereto is a bracket c having on its upper
side a circular projection d and at the middle of the handle bar a is a bracket e
having a concave end e² (see Figure 5) and a circular depression in its underside.
When the handle bar bracket e is fitted upon the head bracket c the said concave
end e³ of the handle bar bracket fits against the cylindrical head at and the
depression in the said handle bar bracket takes upon the projection d on the head
bracket c as best seen in Figure 3. After the handle bar bracket e has thus been
fitted upon the head bracket c the parts are fixed together by the screw pin f
passed through the said parts in the manner seen in Figure 3. In order to remove
the gripping handle a, a from the head 6 of the bicycle fork it is only necessary
to withdraw the fixing screw pin f when the handle bar bracket can be lifted from
the head bracket and the gripping handle removed.
Figure 8 represents in front elevation; Figure 9 in plan; Figure 10 in end
elevation and Figure 11 in end elevation, partly in cross section, the arrangement
of my invention in which the head bracket is double and the handle bar bracket
fits between the two head brackets and is fixed by two screws or screws and
screw nuts; Figure 12 represents an end elevation partly in section and Figure 15
a plan of the bar handle detached from the head of the bicycle.
Figure 13 represents in elevation the head of the bicycle with the double
bracket and Figure 14. represents the same in plan.
In describing Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 I have called that portion of the
handle bar which engages with the head the handle bracket. In order to preserve
uniformity of nomenclature I call the analogous part of the handle in the modifi-
cation represented in Figures 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 by the same name that
is I call the said part the handle bracket or engaging part as it is the analogue
of and has the same function as the handle bracket Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in Figures 8 to 15.
a is the bar of the gripping handle and b the head of the fork of the bicycle;
g is the double head bracket, consisting of the upper bracket g² and lower bracket g³.
Between the two brackets 92 and g³ the middle or engaging part a³ of the handle
bar a engages. In order that the handle bracket or engaging part of the handle
bar may the better fit between the two brackets g³ & g³ the space i between the
said brackets is made concave The handle bracket or engaging part a² of the
handle bar a is held in its position between the two head brackets g³, g³ by the clip

page_text: or bent plate through holes l, in which screws m are passed to fix the handle.
The clip is fixed to the engaging part of the handle bar by a screw h².
When the handle bar bracket or engaging part a² of the handle bar is placed in
position between the head brackets g² and g³ the branches of the clip hembrace the
upper and lower sides of the said head brackets (see Figures 10 and 11) and the
holes 2, in the clip coincide with the holes k, k in the head bracket and by passing
taper screw pins m, m through the said coincident holes and fixing the said pins by
screw nuts, the handle bar is securely fixed to the head bracket as illustrated in
Figures 8, 9 10 and 11. By unscrewing the nuts and withdrawing the screw
pins m, m the handle bar can be detached from the head bracket.
In order to permit the bar handle being turned aside and when required
completely detached from the head of the bicycle or tricycle the arrangement last
described may be modified in the manner illustrated in front elevation in
Figure 16; plan in Figure 17; side elevation partly in cross section in Figures 18
aud 19; horizontal section in Figure 20 and front elevation and plan of portions
of the same in Figures 21 and 22.
In this modification the head bracket g, i is constructed in the manner last
described, but the clip of the engaging part of the handle bar is made in two parts
marked respectively p and q. The part p is connected to the bar handle a by the
pin p and is secured to the head bracket g by the cross pin r which constitutes a
joint pin upon which the handle bar a can be turned aside as illustrated in
Figure 22. The other part g of the clip is made in the form of a split clip or strap
for sliding upon the bar a and over the end of the head bracket g, the said part q
of the clip being fixed in its place by the headed screw pin 8 screwing into the split
clip q and binding it upon the bar handle and head bracket. When it is wished
only to turn the bar handle aside the screw pin 8 is relaxed when the clip part q
may be withdrawn as illustrated in Figure 21 and the bar handle and fixed half
clip p may be turned aside upon the pin r as illustrated in Figure 22. When it is
wished to completely detach the bar handle from the bicycle head the nut of the
screw pin is unscrewed and the said pin withdrawn. The bar handle a with the
connected half clip p may now be removed from the head of the bicycle.
Figures 23 and 24 represent in side elevation, partly in section and Figure 25 in
end elevation a portion of the wheel of a bicycle, tricycle or other velocipede
provided with dust covers fixed in their places according to my invention;
Figure 26 represents in elevation and section one of the dust covers detached.
a, a are the caps constituting the dust covers screwed at 6 on their inner faces for
screwing into the ends of the hub or chamber 6 of the wheel. In a cavity in the
end of the chamber or hub 63 is a pin or projection c pressed outwards by the light
coiled spring & (see Figures 23 and 24); c is a hole in the dust cover a into which
hole when the dust cover is screwed home in the hub the spring pin c snaps as
illustrated in Figure 23. The said dust cover is thereby locked in its place and
cannot be turned until by means of the pointed instrument f shown in Figure 24
the said pin c is depressed out of the hole e in the dust cover a, when the said dust
cover can be unscrewed and removed.
Figures 27 to 33 both inclusive represent my arrangement to be used in
substitution for the linch pins and lock nuts ordinarily employed in the construction
of velocipedes; Figure 27 represents in side elevation and Figure 28 in vertical
section the end of a screw or screwed rod with the screw nut locked thereto
according to my invention Figure 29 represents the nut in the act of being
screwed home; Figure 30 represents in plan and Figure 31 in elevation (partly in
section) the position of the locking plate while the screw nut is being screwed
home and Figure 32 represents in plan and Figure 33 in elevation (partly in
section) the said locking plate in its normal or locking position.
g is the screw or screwed rod and h is the screw nut. Near the end of the
screw g is a neck or depression i On the upper face of the screw nut h and turning
on the pin or centre k³ is a locking plate k. In the said plate is a hole of the

page_text: same size as the hole in the screw nut h. On one side of the locking plate k is a
lug against which a spring rod m in the nut h bears (see Figures 31 and 33).
This spring rod m presses the said plate k through a small angle so that in its
normal position the hole in it does not coincide with the hole in the screw nut.
When the screw nut h is screwed on the screw g the locking spring plate / is
pressed back or aside into the position represented in Figures 30 and 31, and the
spring rod m is compressed, so as to make the hole in the said plate coincide with
that in the screw nut and the plate k remains in that position until the screw nut
has so far advanced on the screw that the neck or depression i in the said screw is
brought opposite the spring locking plate k. The said plate now snaps by the
action of the spring rod m into the neck i of the screw as illustrated in Figure 28
and thereby prevents the accidental unscrewing of the screw nut h. When it is
desired to unscrew the screw nut h, the lug k³ of the spring plate k is pressed upon
by the thumb so as to make the said plate take the position represented in
Figures 30 and 31. The said plate k is thereby withdrawn from the neck i in the
screw and the hole made to coincide with that in the screw nut. The screw nut
is thereby unlocked and may be unscrewed.
Figure 34 represents in side elevation and Figure 35 in plan the coupling ends of
an endless driving chain for a velocipede constructed according to my invention;
Figure 36 represents in side elevation and Figure 37 in plan the two ends of the
chain disconnected and Figures 38 and 39 represent the same in the act of being
disconnected; p. 9 are the two side plates constituting the link at one end of the
chain and r is the cross pin at the end of the link at the other end of the chain.
The said cross pin r'has heads 7,3 at opposite ends and the said pin is capable of
a sliding or longitudinal motion in the roller 8 between the ends of the link. In
each of the side plates p, q is a slot t, t the part t of the slot being of a size
sufficiently large to permit the head of the pin r to pass through it, the other
portion of the slot having the size of the body of the pin r
In order to fasten the two ends of the chain together the enlarged ends t, t of
the slots in the links p, q are brought opposite the heads of the cross pin r
and the said slots t, t are passed over the said heads and the body of the pin made
to engage with the smaller parts t, t of the slots, the heads of the said pin engaging
outside the links as represented in Figures 34 and 35. The tension on the chain
maintains the two links p, q in the fastening position represented
When it is
wished to remove the chain from the chain wheel, the ends of the chain are dis-
connected in the following manner. The slotted plates p, q are pressed towards
the headed pin r so as to bring the enlarged parts t, t of the slots opposite the
heads of the said pin. By now sliding the pin into the position represented
in Figure 39, the head 3 is no longer engaged with the side plate p and the said
side plate can be disconnected from it as represented in Figures 38 and 39. The
pin is next pressed in the opposite direction as seen in Figure 37. The head 7² is
thereby disengaged from the side plate q and the latter is liberated. In this way
the two ends of the chain are uncoupled.
Figure 40 represents in side elevation and Figure 41 in plan the arrangement of
my invention in which open slotted or hook like side plates are used in place of the
slotted side plates last described; Figures 42 and 43 represent the same views with
the two ends of the chain disconnected.
u, u are the open slotted or hook like side plates and 7,73 is the headed cross
pin for engaging with the said hook like side plates. The headed pin r, 2 m³ in
this modification need not have any longitudinal or sliding motion.
In connecting the two ends of the chain together it is only necessary to pass the
body of the pin r into the wide open ends of the hook like side plates and draw
the pin to the bottoms or closed ends of the said side plates as illustrated in
Figures 40 and 41, the heads 23 of the pin engaging outside the said plates.
The tension on the chain maintains the pin in the position represented in Figures 40 {

page_text: and 41. By pressing the pin " towards the open ends of the hook like side plates u, u,
the two ends of the chain may be uncoupled.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performned I declare that what
I claim is of "Improvements in bicycles tricycles and other velocipedes”
First. Connecting the guiding handle to the head of the bicycle or tricycle by
the combination of the head bracket c, c, d with the handle bar bracket e, e³, the
said brackets being secured together by the screw pin f substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the accompanying
Drawings.
Secondly. Connecting the guiding handle to the head of the bicycle or tricycle
by means of the double head bracket g, g³ g³ clip h on the handle bar and the
cross screw pins m, m substantially as herein before described and illustrated in
Figures 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14 and 15 of the accompanying Drawings.
Thirdly. The modification of the parts represented in Figures 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
13, 14 and 15 in the manner described and illustrated by Figures 16. 17. 18 19.
20. 21 and 22 of the accompanying Drawings in which modification the guiding
handle may be turned aside upon the head as well as completely removed from
the head.
Fourthly-Fastening the dust covers of the wheels of bicycles, tricycles and
other velocipedes in their places by making the said dust covers screw into the ends
of the chamber or hub of the wheel and locking the dust covers when completely
screwed home by means of a spring bolt or spring pin taking into a hole in the dust
cover substantially as herein before described and illustrated in Figures 23, 24, 25
and 26 of the accompanying Drawings.
Fifthly. The arrangement of parts berein before described and represented in
Figures 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33 of the accompanying Drawings to be used in
substitution for linch pins and lock nuts in the construction of velocipodes that is
to say the combination of the locking spring plate l, k², on the screw nut with
a neck or contraction i near the end of the screw or screwed rod substantially as
described and illustrated.
Sixthly. The combination of the slotted link plates p, q ou one end of the
driving chain with the sliding headed cross pin r, 2, 3 on the other end of the
chain for coupling together and uncoupling the ends of the said chain as herein
before described and illustrated in Figures 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 and 39 of the
accompanying Drawings.
Lastly. The modified coupling parts hereinbefore described and illustrated in
Figures 40, 41, 42, and 43 of the accompanying Drawings in which open slotted
or hook like link plates are substituted for the closed slotted link plates claimed in
the previous claim.