Improvements in or relating to Chains for Transmitting Power.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Apr., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 7th Jan., 1895-Accepted, 9th Feb., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Chains for Transmitting Power.
I, CHARLES LOCK, of 23 Richford Road, Portway, Stratford, Essex, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to chains used for transmitting power, such as the driving
chains of velocipedes, and the chains used in some kinds of power driven machines.
In some of these chains (especially those intended for velocipedes) a roller is
provided at each junction of the several pairs of links, to reduce the friction against
the teeth of the chain wheels used, and the roller works upon a small axle, passing
through the intersecting links, which are bound together by riveting.
principal object in view, in the present invention, is to make the links with their
corresponding rollers readily attachable or detachable, so that a chain may be
lengthened, shortened, or repaired, with great facility.
The
The links are made in the usual manner by stamping, but are made with a
longitudinal slot having an enlarged space at the central part of the slot and link
sufficient for the passage of the roller or the head of its axle. The ends of the
slots are semicircular in form to receive the axle near its ends, or reduced portions
of the roller, as the case may be, but the extreme ends of the axle or roller are
enlarged to form heads which extend outside the links and serve to hold them
together when at the ends of the links. But when an axle is forced along the slots
in a pair of links until the head coincides with the enlarged space, the axle with
its roller may be removed transversely (or otherwise) to separate the links.
Conversely, the chain may be connected up again, or new parts inserted, by
reversing the operation required.
It is to be understood, that the form and arrangement of the axle and roller may
be modified without departing from the nature of the invention; and that I may
use a ball shaped roller with a hole through the same shaped so as to have a central
bearing only upon its axle.
Dated this 7th day of April 1894.
FAIRFAX & WETTER,
433, Strand, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Chains for Transmitting Power.
I, CHARLES LOCK, formerly of 23, Richford Road, Portway, Stratford, but
now residing at 14, Barnaby Place, Barnaby Street, Stratford aforesaid, in the
County of Essex, 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 :-
My invention relates to chains for transmitting motion from one shaft to
another, for instance, from the treadle-shaft of a velocipede to the axle of the
driving wheel.
My improved chain is composed of a series of slotted plates adapted to be

page_text: connected to cross-bars or studs to form links, the said plates being so constructed
that they can be readily applied to and removed from the studs for the
purpose of enabling the chain to be readily disconnected or lengthened or
shortened.
In the accompanying drawing,-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a chain constructed according to my
invention; and,
Figure 2 is a plan of the same :
Figure 3 is a sectional plan:
Figures 4 and 5 are elevations of one of the slotted plates and one of the studs
respectively of which my chain is built up:
Figures 6 and 7 are perspective views illustrating the method of connecting the
studs and slotted plates.
a, a are the slotted plates, and b, b are the cross-bars or studs to which the said
plates are connected, the said studs being reduced or grooved near the ends at c, c
so as to leave heads d, d on the ends of the said cross-bars or studs and a central
collar e,
the width of the grooves c, c being equal to the thickness of two of the
slotted plates a, a.
The width of the slots f, f in the links a, a corresponds with
the diameter of the reduced portion of the cross-bars b, b except that at the centre
each slot is enlarged, as at g, sufficiently to allow the heads d, d of the cross-bars b, b
to pass therethrough.
In building up a chain the plates a, a are passed over the ends of the studs, as
shewn in Figure 6, and then moved along the cross-bars or studs to the position
shewn in Figure 7.
h, h are rollers which are advantageously placed upon the collar portions e, e
of the cross-bars or studs b, b in order to reduce as much as possible any friction
between the chain and the teeth of the wheels upon which it runs.
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. A driving chain composed of a series of links slotted as described and
connected to cross-bars having reduced or grooved ends, substantially as set
forth.
2. The manufacture and use of the improved chain hereinbefore described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
Dated the 7th das of Tonor 1805
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.