IMPROVEMENTS IN VELOCIPEDES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN VELOCIPEDES."-A communication from abroad
Sealed the 20th October 1871, and dated the 22nd August 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd August 1871.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VELOCIPEDES," a communication from
abroad by Louis Guillaume Perreaux, of Paris, France, to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to what are known as bicycle and other
velocipedes, and has for its chief object the facilitating the propelling
of the same, whether by a small steam engine or by manual or foot power.

page_text: In carrying out this Invention it is proposed to connect the driving
wheel or wheels with a pair of fly wheels, which magazine or store up
the propelling power and give it out as required. As a convenient mode
of applying these fly wheels they may be mounted on a driving shaft
carried in an adjustable rectangular frame mounted on brackets secured
to the main frame of the velocipede. This shaft according to one
arrangement is cranked, and is driven by a small horizontal steam
engine, the cylinder of which is fixed to the main frame underneath the
saddle spring. The driving shaft carries one or a pair of grooved
pulleys, and a band passes from them to corresponding pulleys on the
axle of the rear running wheel of the bicycle. The position of the
frame carrying the driving shaft is adjustable by means of an adjusting
screw in order to restore the proper tention of the driving bands should
they become stretched, and is then fixed by pinching screws. The
steam generator is also carried on the engine frame and is heated by the
flame obtained from petroleum or other liquid fuel contained inside the
upper part of the main frame of the bicycle, which is made tubular so
as to serve as a reservoir for that purpose. This boiler is provided with
the usual appliances of safety valve, pressure gauge, and feed pump.
The steering handle is fixed by a set screw and is made reversible, so as
to project above the top of the vertical steering spindle when required
for use or to lie below the surface thereof and if desired parallel to the
framing for convenience of transport as being more compact. The
running wheels are provided with nuts on the outer ends of the spokes
bearing against the inner periphery of the wheels in order that by
screwing outwards the said nuts the rim may be more or less expanded
and the tyre prevented from becoming loose, they also enable the
perfectly circular form of the wheels to be restored when they have lost
their form.
In lieu of or in addition to the crank and steam engine it is proposed
to provide for the rotation of the driving shaft by a ratchet and pall
motion or by a frictional mode of driving, as herein-after described,
whereby the inconveniences of the "dead centres" resulting from the
use of a crank alone are obviated.
According to one of these arrangements it is proposed to connect a
pall or palls to the saddle spring and to cause the said palls to act upon
and rotate one or a pair of ratchet wheels fast on the driving shaft, the
motion of the palls being obtained from the vertical vibrations or rising.

page_text: and falling of the spring under the weight of the rider, or two palls may
be fitted one on to each end of a lever oscillating on the driving shaft,
the said oscillations being derived from treadles and straps, which latter
pass over and are secured to a semicircular or curved surface attached
to the oscillating lever.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th February 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one,
in the thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson,
Her special license that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VELOCIPEDES," a communi-
cation to me from abroad by Louis Guillaume Perreaux, of Paris,
France, upon 'the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing, under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say :-
The said Invention relates to what are known as bicycle and other
velocipedes, and has for its chief object the facilitating the propelling of
the same, whether by a small steam engine or by manual or foot power.
In carrying out this Invention it is proposed to connect the driving
wheel or wheels with a pair of fly wheels, which magazine or store up
the propelling power and give it out as required. A. convenient mode
of applying these fly wheels consists in mounting them on a driving
shaft carried in an adjustable rectangular frame mounted on brackets
secured to the main frame of the velocipede. This shaft according to
one arrangement is cranked and is driven by a small horizontal steam
engine, the cylinder of which is fixed to the main frame underneath the
saddle spring. The driving shaft carries one or a pair of grooved
pulleys, and a band passes from them to corresponding driving pulleys
on the axle of the rear running wheel of the bicycle. The position of
the frame carrying the driving shaft is adjustable by means of an
adjusting screw in order to restore the proper tension of the driving
bands should they become stretched, and is then fixed by pinching
screws; the steam generator is also carried on the engine frame and
is heated by the flame obtained from petroleum or other liquid fuel
contained inside the upper part of the main frame of the bicycle, which
is made tubular or hollow so as to serve as a reservoir for that purpose.
This boiler is provided with the usual appliances of safety valve,
pressure guage, and feed pump. The steering handle is fixed by a set
screw, and is made reversible so as to project above the top of the
vertical steering spindle when required for use as to lie below the
surface thereof, and if desired parallel to the framing for convenience of
transport as being more compact. The running wheels are provided
with nuts on the outer ends of the spokes bearing against the inner
periphery of the wheels in order that by screwing outwards the said
nuts the rim may be more or less expanded and the tyre prevented from
becoming loose, they also enable the perfectly circular form of the
wheels to be restored when they have lost their form.

page_text: In lieu of or in addition to the crank and steam engine it is proposed
to provide for the rotation of the driving shaft by a ratchet and pall
motion or by a frictional mode of driving, as herein-after described,
whereby the inconveniences of the "dead centres" resulting from
the use of a crank alone are obviated.
According to one of these arrangements it is proposed to connect a
pall or palls to the saddle spring, and to cause the said palls to act upon
and rotate on a pair of ratchet wheels fast on the driving shaft, the
motion of the palls being obtained from the vertical vibrations or
rising and falling of the spring under the weight of the rider. Or
two palls may be fitted one on to each end of a lever oscillating on the
driving shaft, the said oscillations being derived from treadles and
straps, which latter pass over and are secured to a semicircular or
carved surface attached to the oscillating lever, or in lieu of the
ratchet and palls a friction strap may be employed encircling a friction
pulley and worked by a treadle as before described.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Figure 1 represents a portion of a velocipede provided with fly
wheels and worked by steam power constructed according to this
Invention; Figure 2 is a plan of the fly wheels and steam engine
detached; and Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6 also represent details of the
apparatus.
A are the fly wheels provided with pulleys for the reception of the
bands a, which also pass over the large pullies T on the axis of the
propelling wheel W, such wheel being provided with spokes carrying
nuts x; B is the steam cylinder with its slide or other distribution
valve; C is an opening which is provided for the introduction of the
liquids, whether spirits of wine, petroleum, oil, or other inflammable
liquid into the hollow frame E, which serves as a reservoir (Figures 1
and 5); D is a forked rod, which is so disposed as to act through palls
on ratchet wheels carried by the fly wheels by causing the spring of
the saddle to which it is secured (when adopting the English system) to
oscillate, the fly wheels being set in motion under the action of the
oscillations of the spring.

page_text: The hollow frame E before referred to serves as a reservoir to feed the
fire of the boiler through a wick placed in a tube N (Figures 1 and 5);
F is a rectangular frame which receives the two fly wheels A, A, the
boiler, and the steam cylinder B with its water reservoir, such cylinder
being placed either in the lower position shewn by full lines or in the
upper position shewn in dotted lines in Figures 1, 4, and 5; H, H¹, is a
cast-iron plate with a mortise, which admits of the plate being moved
and consequently of the bands a being stretched by the aid of a screw P,
after which the plate is fixed in position by two thumb nuts ", r¹,
(Figures 1, 3, and 4); K is the boiler, which may be of any convenient
form, such as that of a vase or cylinder (Figures 1, 5, and 6), with feed
pump and the requisite reservoir disposed either above or beneath; N is
the tube which carries the wick for feeding the fire, together with the
chimney for producing the draft; R, R', are feet or supports for the pur-
pose of securing the rectangular frame to the frame E of the velocipede;
O is a weighted lever carrying a rod, which serves as a safety valve
(Figures 1, 5, and 6); V are steam pipes which conduct the steam from
the boiler to the distribution valve and from the said valve to the
cylinder; X is the crank in communication with a connecting rod,
which is attached to the piston rod of the steam cylinder and is capable
of being placed either in front or behind the cylinder according to the
circumstances of the mounting and the size and power of the velocipede ;
Y, Y¹, are the ratchet wheels, which are intended to receive the shocks
or concussions of the springs which produce a to-and-fro motion
corresponding to the movements in the English system of working and
impart motion to the fly wheels and through them to the wheels of the
velocipede; Z is a small manometer which indicates the pressure of the
steam in the boiler (Figures 5 and 6). The manometer with its conduit
pipe should be fixed at the front of the velocipede, as shewn in Figures 1
and 5, in order to obtain greater security and to facilitate inspection.
The mechanism may if desired be so arranged that the hand of the
manometer or its principal working part may regulate the heating
surface in order to maintain the same pressure in the boiler and thus
impart a uniform velocity to the engine and thence to the velocipede.
Figure 7 shews the arrangement of the steering handle g with its
screw by which the handle is rendered capable of being turned upside
down into the position shewn by dotted lines in order to occupy less
room. Figure 8 shews the branches of the steering handle 7 on a

page_text: larger scale with the transverse sections i, j. This steering handle may
moreover be turned in a line with the wheels in order to facilitate
packing and transport.
Figure 9 shews a treadle arrangement for obtaining a constant force.
It is composed of a ratchet wheel a², in which works two palls 62, which
are attached to a rectangular bar c³, such wheel being provided with a
circular arc d², over which the belt or band which is secured at one end
to the rectangular bar and at the other end to the treadle panes. The
treadle is fitted to a piece e³, which is secured to the forked end of the
frame, and carries at one end a slotted oval projection f³, which is
´intended to serve as a stirrup for the purpose of assisting the rider when:
mounting the velocipede, or for riding according to the English system,
when considerable power is stored up or accumulated in the fly wheels,
or when the weight of the body acts on the spring of the saddle and the
power is transmitted to the treadles which actuate the ratchet wheel and
brake arrangements by the aid of levers, belts, or chains, or when the
power is transmitted to the fly wheels, which are provided with a small
ratchet wheel cast in one with or attached to the pulley.
Figures 10 and 11 illustrate the double brake and jointed lever
system. A helical spring k³ or a spiral spring, as shewn in Figure 9, fixed
at one end to the forked extremity of the frame E, and at the other end
to the system of levers, is all that is required to bring back both to their
original position in the continual reciprocating motions of the constant
force systems. These improvements may be employed either separately
or in combination.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I
consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The use of fly wheels in velocipedes substantially as and for
the purpose herein-before described.
Secondly. The peculiar methods of applying fly wheels to velocipedes
as herein-before described.
Thirdly. The use of a steam as a motive power in velocipedes and the
methods adopted of applying the same as herein-before described.

page_text: Fourthly. The use of a hollow or tubular frame in velocipedes for the
purpose herein-before described.
Fifthly. The novel mode of fixing the steering handle in order to
admit of its being turned upside down or crosswise in order to facilitate
transport as herein-before described.
Sixthly. The use of nuts on the spokes of the wheels for the purpose
of centering them perfectly as herein-before described.
Seventhly. The arrangements of ratchet wheels or friction surfaces in
substitution for cranks in velocipedes by which dead centres are obviated
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of
February One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.