Improvements in Oycle-pedals.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Oct., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 12th July, 1892-Accepted, 10th Sept., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Oycle-pedals.
ALFRED CHARLES BROWN, of 129 Algernon Road Lewisham, in the County
of London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention consists in applying to the pedals of bicycles or tricycles etc.,
pressure pieces for receiving the direct pressure of the foot, constructed of cork,
instead of rubber, wood, or metal as heretofore, and in providing means to fix, and
adapt the said cork pressure pieces to the purpose.
I find that such pressure pieces made of cork give a good firm hold for the foot,
reduce vibration better than rubber, and do not absorb so much energy by sluggish
yielding at the ends of the stroke, in consequence of their greater resiliency. They
also have the great advantage of being exceedingly light, are cheap to construct,
and are found to wear well.
To adapt cork to this purpose however I find that it is necessary to so construct
the pedal and pressure pieces that the latter, while capable of receiving and trans-
mitting the pressure of the foot to the framework of the pedal, shall be strongly
supported against lateral displacement, otherwise splitting and breaking soon occurs.
I therefore prefer to construct the pressure pieces in the form of rectangular, or
similar sectioned slabs of cork, and to support them laterally by means of two light
steel or other metallic strips of rather narrower breadth than the slabs, placed on
the sides of the latter, and gripped or drawn together by means of screws and nuts,
the screws passing through the cork slabs, or by other suitable means. One of these
metallic bars or side strips may then form one of the ordinary cross pieces which
connect the two end plates which carry the ball-races or crank-pin bearings of an
ordinary cycle pedal, in lieu of the toothed cross plates used on "rat-trap" pedals,
or of the plain square cross bars used with rubber pedals, two complete pressure
pieces being used on the pedal one on each side of the crank pin in the ordinary
way. The cork is thus held firmly up to its work so as to afford an excellent
bearing surface for the foot, but prevented from splitting laterally. Or the
complete pressure piece, composed of a cork slab, or of two half-breadth slabs,
gripped between two metallic side supporting strips, may be made independently of
the rest of the pedal, and arranged to be fixed on thereto by means of the afore-
mentioned clamping screws which grip the side plates together, and which screws
may then pass either through holes in the ordinary cross bar of the pedal, whether
it be a toothed plate "rat-trap" cross bar, or plain square cross bar for rubber, or
in the latter case some, (say two) of the screws may pass above, and the remainder
below the cross bar, and the cork being either in two half breadth slabs with a
recess cut for the cross bar to pass between them, or else in one piece threaded on
to the bar, and the screws put through afterwards. The bearing faces of the cork
slabs may be plain or shaped to any fancy contour. The side gripping slips for
the slabs are also preferably corrugated longitudinally, or rounded at the edges to
prevent cutting. Or the pressure pieces may be formed and fixed in any other way
such that a substantial thickness of cork is interposed between the foot and the
metallic frame of the pedal, and prevented from splitting laterally. I find that
cycle-pedals so constructed wear well, and possess the great advantages enumerated
above.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Cycle-pedals.
ALFRED CHARLES BROWN of 129 Algernon Road Lewisham in the County of
London Telegraph Engineer 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 :-
This invention consists in applying to the pedals of bicycles or tricycles etc.,
pressure pieces for receiving the direct pressure of the foot, constructed of cork,
instead of india-rubber as heretofore used, and in providing meno fix, and adapt
the said cork pressure pieces to their purpose.
I find that such cork pressure pieces give a firm hold for the foot, reduce vibration,
but do not absorb energy like rubber by sluggish yielding at the ends of each stroke,
in consequence of their greater resiliency. They also have the great advantage of
being exceedingly light, are cheap to construct, and are found to wear well.
In working out my invention I find that if cork of good quality and of close
grain is used, the pressure pieces may be made in the form of bars shaped so as
simply slide on to the square supporting bar forming part of the usual metallic
framework of the pedal, the bar being passed through the centre of the cork
piece.
In this case I prefer to shape the cork pressure-piece as shewn in Figs. 1,
and 2, of the accompanying drawings, which figs. are respectively end, and side
elevations of the cork piece A, and supporting bar or pin B, which pin is used to
connect the two end plates of the metallic framework of the pedal in the ordinary
way. The cork block or bar is preferably grooved as shewn in Figs. 1, and 2, or
recessed with a figured pattern, as Fig. 3, or in any such way as to break up the
surface and leave projections for giving a firmer hold to the foot.
Or two cork blocks may be clamped between light side supporting strips in
such way as to embrace between them the ordinary toothed bar of the form of pedal
known as the "rat-trap," as shewn in Fig. 4, in which C, C, are the cork blocks,
and D a section of the toothed bar passing between them to connect the end
plates of the pedal in the usual way. At E, E, are shewn the side supporting
strips and clamping screws, which screws preferably pass right through holes
in the cork blocks C, and bars D, and screw into nuts on the other sides, as
shewn. Or the bar D, (which of course for this purpose need not be toothed,) may
itself form one of the side supporting strips, one cork block only being then clamped
to it, in the same way.
Or I may sometimes construct the body of the pedal of wood, as shewn at
Figs. 5, and 6, in which G is the wooden body of the pedal, having holes bored in
it and filled up with cork, as shewn at F, F. "Steel cones, cups, or ball-races, are
then fixed in any convenient manner, (say by means of two screws, as shewn) into
each end of the block G, right through which a hole is bored to take the spindle
which attaches the pedal to the crank, and which spindle carries the ordinary
adjustable cones or reverse ball-races, on which the balls run, in the usual way.
The wooden block G may be thinly electroplated with metal all over before the
corks are applied, which coating makes it quite waterproof, helps to more firmly
attach the ball-races H, H, and considerably increases the strength of the whole,
because the metal casing, although thin, is well adapted by its box shape to resist
bending strain, and is prevented from collapsing by the wooden core.
The weight
of the whole is also very small.
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 a cycle pedal the interposition between the foot and the frame or body of
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page_text: 2. The forming on such cork pressure pieces of grooves, projections, or figured
recesses for the purpose of increasing the hold of the foot.
3. The use and employment for foot pressure pieces for cycle pedals, of pieces of
cork clamped between light side supporting strips as described above, so as to
prevent lateral displacement of the cork, but to transmit the foot pressure firmly to
the body or frame of the pedal.
4. The use and employment of a wooden bodied cycle-pedal, with cork
pressure pieces inserted into recesses cut therein of any shape, as, and for the
purposes above described.
5. The electroplating with metal of a wooden bodied cycle-pedal, adapted to
receive cork pressure-pieces.