IMPROVEMENTS IN VELOCIPEDES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gavin Brown, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
VELOCIPEDES."
Sealed the 17th May 1870; and dated the 15th March 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gavin Brown at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents; with his Petition, on the
15th March 1870.
I, GAVIN BROWN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN VELOCIPEDES," to be as follows:-
:-
This Invention consists in applying to each wheel of a velocipede
having two or more wheels in the same plane the fork, cranks, guiding
handle, break, and seat or saddle usually fitted to the vehicle known as
the "bicycle," thereby making every wheel a driving wheel to be worked
by a separate individual. Between every two pivots of the guiding
handles of the velocipede, or if it be a bicycle between such two pivots,
a stiff backbone is suitably disposed, through which backbone the pivots
are free to revolve, and which is the only connexion between any two pivots

page_text: and wheels. The springs carrying both the formost seat and the hinder
seat or seats are attached to these backbones, the hinder springs having
eyes in them for the pivots of the hinder wheels to work through, and
being free to ride up and down clear of these pivots. I prefer to round
off the faces of the tires of the wheels and to arrange the seats as nearly
perpendicular to the axes of the wheels as practicable.
When my Invention is applied to a bicycle I provide the hinder eye or
socket of the backbone with a set screw, by means of which the hinder
pivot can be prevented from turning in this socket when one rider only
is desirous of using the bicycle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Gavin Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GAVIN
BROWN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of March, in 'the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
givè, and grant unto me, the said Gavin Brown, Her special licence
that I, the said Gavin Brown, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Gavin Brown, my executors,
administrators, and 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," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Gavin Brown, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention; and
in what manner the samic 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 Gavin Brown, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in applying to each wheel of a velocipede
having two or more wheels in the same plane the fork, cranks, guiding
handle, brake, and seat or saddle usually fitted to the vehicle known as
the "bicycle," thereby making every wheel a driving wheel to be worked
by a separate individual. Between every two pivots of the guiding
handles of the velocipede, or if it be a bicycle between such two pivots, a
stiff backbone is suitably disposed, through which backbone the pivots
are free to revolve. The springs carrying both the formost scat and the
hinder seat or seats are attached to these backbones, the hinder springs
having eyes in them for the pivots of the hinder wheels to work through
and being free to ride up and down clear of these pivots. I prefer to
round off the faces of the tires of the wheels and to arrange the seats as
nearly perpendicular to the axes of the wheels as practicable.
When my Invention is applied to a bicycle I provide the hinder eye
or socket of the backbone with a set screw, by means of which the hinder
pivot can be prevented from turning in this socket when one rider only
is desirous of using the bicycle.
And in order that my Invention may be more fully understood and

page_text: to tie the handles together by lines marked H, H; in the Figures; the
binder handle thus moving in a less degree than the fore: The hinder
pivot can be prevented from turning in its socket by tightening the set
screw I when one rider only is using the vehicle.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no
claim to any of the mechanical parts separately, but what I claim is, the
combined arrangement and construction herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gavin Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
JAMES HOY,
206, Stirling Road,
Glasgow.
GAVIN BROWN. (L.S:)